Israel’s Evolution towards a Fascist Racist State

[jakell]

Not sure about 'nationalism' being a requisite, even though initial emotional appeals may be made on this basis.

The Nazis (for example) were not really nationalists ultimately, they invaded multiple other nations with impunity, so nationalism was not their ideology.

Huh?

The Nazi can't have been nationalists because they invaded other countries?

Correct. Being a nationalist means you regard a nation's sovereignty as important, if you only apply this to your own then that is arbitrary and therefore your 'nationalism' is not really an ideology but a temporary emotive vehicle, as it was with the Nazis.
This is another of the points that can be used against the rather unwieldy concept of white nationalism, of which I've I amassed a fair few in the 'New Europe' thread in between all the sound and fury.

Where do you get your definition of nationalism from?

It sounds to me like like more of a repackaging of nationalism as perhaps a "good" racial/ethnic separatism as opposed to the more accepted- and notorious- definitions of nationalism that we are informing actual neo-fascist proposals for our future...

Even in a non-interventionist "nationalist" social order don't you think the spectre of racist violence and oppression looms large?

No it doesn't sound like that at all. You are confabulating all these things out of thin air.

The definition of 'nationalism' I was using was clearly linked to a pre-existing nation-state, no bells, whistles or frilly bits.

[Searcher08]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3972908,00.html
Fascism in Jewish state?

Ynetnews special: Experts divided on whether nationalistic trends in Israel tantamount to fascism

Uri Misgav
Published: 10.21.10, 15:52 / Israel News


On October 10th, 2010 Israel's government decided to obligate non-Jewish naturalized citizens to pledge allegiance to a Jewish, democratic state. The debate was not fierce, with 22 ministers endorsing the proposal and only eight voting against it.

It's difficult to rule whether the decision, in and of itself, is fateful. Many Israelis supported it or remained indifferent to it, while many of its critics felt that it's mostly foolish. The law's power mostly had to do with the disturbing sense that for the first time it entrenched, in an official manner, potent forces that have been flooding our public and political discourse in the past year.

Over the years, leftist demonstrators here would chant the slogan "Fascism won't pass!" yet the Left keeps on declining, while fascism is increasingly gaining a foothold here. Significant parts of the Jewish public endorse blatant nationalistic and fascist principles, as shown by the Yedioth Ahronoth and Dr. Mina Tzemach poll published last week, including limited freedom of expression and association as well as limiting voting rights to Jews only.

These findings are prompting us to wonder out loud: Did fascism officially make Aliyah to the Jewish state?

'Reminiscent of Weimar Republic'
The very question prompts a sense of unease. Fascism emerged in Europe, spread worldwide, and is considered the most prominent historical innovation of the 20th Century and the phenomenon that affected it more than anything else. Many nations suffered terribly because of it, yet no people was more gravely hurt than the Jews. The notion that genuine fascism is possibly in Israel is supposed to be incomprehensible.

"I dedicated dozens of years of my life to studying fascism; more than I would like to recall," Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell says. "I quickly reached the conclusion that no society or culture is immune to these phenomena; however, I of course never thought we would be facing this problem ourselves."

"I'm not sure the government decision (on the loyalty oath) is a dramatic turning point. However, it is important, because it legitimized a new norm: Legislation that discriminates against different population groups in an open, official manner. This certainly does not make the democratic system healthier."

Sternhell says he is concerned by the cumulative effect of recent trends taking shape within Israeli society: The campaign against leftist professors, changes to the curriculum, attacks on academic freedom of expression, and so on. "At times, it is reminiscent of the atmosphere in the Weimar Republic or the 1930s in France. It creates a difficult atmosphere," he says.

On the other hand, other scholars are warning against using the term "fascism" too lightly. "The question is whether a threat on democracy exists," says Tel Aviv University Professor Yossi Shain. "Fascism annuls democracy and condemns the democratic discourse. It seemingly speaks out honestly on behalf of the authentic will of the people, which is being trampled by minority parties and groups. It's hard to say that these phenomena are powerful in Israel."

'Cheapening the term'
Two weeks ago, several hundred youth group members held several rallies across the nation, slamming the government's loyalty oath decision as racist and anti-democratic. Earlier, actors and authors protested the move in Tel Aviv, read out the Declaration of Independence, and published a new document entitled "Declaration of Independence from Fascism."

One of the move's initiators, author and journalist Sefi Rachlevsky, declared that "this successful and miserable people, which experienced persecution and a Holocaust, deserves independence, democracy, and a life free of fascism. The real struggle today is not between leftists and rightists, but rather, between democrats and fascists.

However, there is no argument that a fascist regime is not in power in Israel at this time. The more important question is whether, and to what extent, do we see fascistic winds blowing here. Yet one of the basic problems with fascism is its elusiveness. It's very hard to define it.

Yisrael Beiteinu's Kneset Member David Rotem says he is upset at the unbearable ease of using the term.
"Every time I take the Knesset podium, I face chants calling me a fascist and a racist," says Rotem, who initiated two proposals favoring Israelis who performed military or national service. "It's very ease to shut me up. One can refer to anything as fascism, yet this cheapens the term."

"I admit that I'm proud of my state, I will fight for my state, and I will defend my state," he says. "Does that make me a fascist? If so, then every soldier is a fascist. A fascist is not a person who wishes to safeguard his country, but rather, a person who believes that the state is his supreme value in life. And that's not me."

'Country undergoing fundamental change'
However, Professor Naomi Hazan says that disturbing fascist tendencies certainly exist in Israel at this time.

"The main manifestation is the absence of open public discourse – the opposite is true: there are forces that keep minimizing it. We're only talking about who is a patriot and who isn't. There is no debate about substance and ideas, but rather, only about loyalty."

"This process is a slippery slope. People are so bothered by daily affairs that they don't notice what's happening under their noses," she says. "This country is undergoing a fundamental change and nobody is paying attention, because it's gradual…the slope is becoming more slippery, and when things deteriorate nobody is able to stop them."


"Fascism is a historical term, which is associated with a very unique era featuring very unique problems. One cannot bring such term forward 80 years" says Dr. Oded Heilbronner, who specializes in German history. "In Israel's history we already had moments where the danger of fascism was at the door, yet nothing happened…the question is whether what we see now is escalation, or yet another false alarm."


"One of the questions here is who sets the definition. Mussolini, Franco and Peron defined themselves as fascists. In Israel, it is usually the Left that characterizes some elements as fascistic. Instead of fascism, it is perhaps more appropriate to talk about Jewish nationalism or racism, which continues a tradition lasting thousands of years."


'Radical nationalism at helm'
But why is this nationalism and racism afflicting us, and why now?


"Ben-Gurionism was pragmatic. Establishing a state was a pragmatic deed. Ben-Gurion never sought to fully explain what he meant on the ideological front. These leaders wanted results, and cared less about being right," says former Education Minister Professor Yuli Tamir. "This leadership had been replaced by a generation of people who do not aspire to build, but rather, to provoke. They want credit for the statements, not for their actions, so the statements become sharper. In media-based politics, there is a tendency to radicalize one's positions in order to gain prominence."


Tel Aviv University Professor Raanan Rein, a historian specializing in South American populism and European fascism, says that "while we are witnessing dangerous phenomenon of nationalism, xenophobia, and McCarthyism within Israeli society, characterizing this as fascism would be improper. In research and academic terms it would be wrong first and foremost because of the religious dimension, which is completely absent in European fascism."


Yet others are not as restrained. "I'm not sure that all elements associated with fascism are present here, but one element that is emerging – and should perhaps concern us more than anything else – is racism," says Professor Galia Golan, who heads the School of Government at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "I'm talking about ethnic or national intolerance entrenched through racist legislation. The definition of 'loyalty' is being linked to ethnicity, religion, or creed. None of it is supposed to be valid within a democracy, yet it is certainly vital for the various versions of fascism, and above all to Nazi fascism, of course."

"The second element is radical nationalism, which started to grow in1967, mostly within the religious-Zionist camp. Toady, the forces of this radical nationalism are at the helm, and the combination of racism and nationalism is present in our political culture," she says.


Focus on Lieberman
So do we or don't we have fascism around here? The disagreement and confusion may attest to a complex reality. "Israeli society is contending with two trends simultaneously – increased tendencies of fascism, but also liberalization," says Professor Yagil Levy, a sociologist. "Let's take academia for example. The demand to exclude lecturers and texts that do not accept Israel's Zionist character would not have emerged without the liberal winds that enabled the 'post-Zionist' camp to flourish."

"Similarly, the demand for a pledge of allegiance would not have developed without the buds of civil uprising on the part of Israel's Arabs," he says.

"The term 'fascism' is used in Israel to label de-legitimization," Professor Shain says. "I don't think we have in Israel the kind of xenophobia we see in Europe. Hatred for Arabs exists in many circles, yet we cannot ignore the effort of an Arab minority to undermine the existence of the Jewish nation in the country. This is where the issue of Lieberman's Right comes in, but to call this fascism? The questions about the nature of the state, national identity and national honor are major questions being asked across Europe. Discussing them is legitimate."

Danger of fascism? Lieberman (Photo: AP)
Lieberman is not mentioned here coincidently. Last week's poll found that no less than 60% of respondents said that he contributes to growing radical, nationalistic tendencies in the country, to the point of fascism.

"Zionism was always wise enough to reinforce itself through the deliberate blurring of boundaries in respect to our fundamental principles, because it knew that stretching these boundaries beyond their logical limit would lead to disaster," Yuli Tamir says. "The ability to reach equivocal, vague compromises guaranteed Zionism's future. Lieberman takes Zionistic principles to the limit, thereby eliminating Zionism."


Some religious figures are also losing sleep over the latest trends.


"We saw the emergence of a new Jew in Israel; this does not include Lieberman alone, but rather, anyone who voted for the (loyalty oath) law, including religious parties," says Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman. "This Jew is no longer interested in religion or in Jewish values, but rather, uses his Jewishness to produce hatred and nationalism."


"The discourse around the loyalty oath gives rise to a corrupt situation: Instead of Judaism being used to criticize nationalism, similarly to what is written in the Book Prophets, it turns into a means that leads to fascism."

"Israel should be as Jewish as democracy allows for, rather than as democratic as Judaism allows for. If Zionism means giving up democracy, I choose to give up democracy," he says.

[American Dream]

Israel really is leaning to the right these days- the majority of enfranchised citizens in this "democracy" really do endorse aggressive policies for dealing with the "terrorists", continuing ethnic cleansing, and policing the larger region.

That said, if most any state can be brutal, coercive, jingoistic etc., where does the State of Israel fit on the continuum of potentially fascistic regimes? And what makes the difference between realized and unrealized potential?

These seem like fundamental questions to me...

[Searcher08]

Israel really is leaning to the right these days- the majority of enfranchised citizens in this "democracy" really do endorse aggressive policies for dealing with the "terrorists", continuing ethnic cleansing, and policing the larger region.

That said, if most any state can be brutal, coercive, jingoistic etc., where does the State of Israel fit on the continuum of potentially fascistic regimes? And what makes the difference between realized and unrealized potential?

These seem like fundamental questions to me...

These are great questions - and speak to creating a wider based map covering the whole globe.
I shall put them on the map later today.


This morning I read the post by John Michael Greer on fascism in the USA - and there were three useful takeaways for me from it.

First -
The idea that there are a lot of similarities between the Weimar Republic and the USA now and that there is plenty of evidence that many people in the Weimar considered they lived in a fascist state.

Second
Greer's (chilling) 'thought experiment' / scenario of how it could actually arise in the US, which I will post.

Thirdly
The still a *big* difference between where we are now and Junta / Hitlerian regime.

[jakell]

This morning I read the post by John Michael Greer on fascism in the USA - and there were three useful takeaways for me from it.

First -
The idea that there are a lot of similarities between the Weimar Republic and the USA now and that there is plenty of evidence that many people in the Weimar considered they lived in a fascist state.

Second
Greer's (chilling) 'thought experiment' / scenario of how it could actually arise in the US, which I will post.

Thirdly
The still a *big* difference between where we are now and Junta / Hitlerian regime.

I commented on his post here:

http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35352&p=536524#p536519

I asked what Americans in particular thought of the above scenario as it is more apt to them, and it struck me how scenarios are likely to play out differently in different parts of the world. No bites as yet.
Sort of in the same way that the anarchist US secessionism scenarios don't apply easily to the UK.

I wasn't particularly taken with the green and black shirts thing. That could be portrayed as a 'colour revolution' type thing, but it's also too reminiscent of uniform. The rest was good though, especially about them all initially being bright young things (like the Hitler Youth were).

[American Dream]

As another thought experiment I'm imagining an alternative to the current hierarchical, statist social order.

If folks in the land of historic Palestine broke off into separate- and autonomous- ethnic/racial tribes, I imagine that jewish ethnic supremacy, jewish religious supremacy, "white" supremacy etc. would go off the hook.

Would this be a liberating scenario for all concerned? Hardly- it seems that this would bring on a social order that was much more deeply- and overtly- fascistic.

Jakell, your thoughts on this?

[bluenoseclaret]

Israel’s Unjust Justice System........ Khalid Amayreh

"Israel claims ad nauseam that it is a democratic state where the rule of law is supreme. However, upon a closer scrutiny, it is abundantly clear that Israel is a state where the law is utilized, often scandalously, to serve Jewish fascism, which what Israel is all about.

Abraham Burg, the former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset noted that “today’s Israel rests on foundations of oppression and injustice.”

In his recent book, Defeating Hitler,” Burg argues that Germany in the 1930s was ripe for fascism because of its social paranoia and its social philosophy. And both of these conditions, he says, are present in Israel.

But if Israel is a Nazi state “in the making” or going through the penultimate step of becoming a fully-fledged Nazi entity, then its justice system, an inherent oxymoron in itself, should be viewed as at least a quasi Nazi Justice system.

There is indeed monumental evidence one can easily cite to underscore the fascistic nature of the Israeli justice system. It is a system that is inherently devoid of justice if non-Jews are involved. In the final analysis, fascist states, including ethnic nationalist states such as Nazi German, apartheid South Africa and Israel, don’t and can’t produce egalitarian justice systems

Let us take, for example, the continued harsh incarceration of hundreds of Palestinian lawmakers, mayors and other elected officials now languishing in Israeli dungeons and detention camps.

These people committed no violations, threw no stones, and engaged in no violence. Their only “crime” is that they had decided to contend legislative and municipal elections that Israel itself and her guardian-ally, the United States, approved.

Needless to say, many of these virtual hostages are professionals, intellectuals, and university professors. They are the crème de le crème of the Palestinian society.

Take for example Professor Aziz Dweik, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

This man has an extensive educational background. He holds three Master’s degrees (in Education, City planning and Regional Planning), in addition to his Ph.D. in Regional and Architecture Planning which he obtained from the University of Pennsylvania.

Upon his return from the United States in the late 1970s, he founded the Geography Department at Najah University in Nablus where he served as the department’s head. He was the head of the Higher Education Committee and a member of the Scientific Research Committee at Najah University.

Mr. Dweik has been imprisoned several times by Israel. In 1992, he was one of 416 Islamic activists deported to Lebanon. During his exile, he served as the English language spokesperson for the deportees. Mr. Dweik has authored several books.

I had the honor to meet Mr. Dweik both before and after he won a seat at the Palestinian legislative council.

In one of our encounters at his Hebron home in February 2006, I remember him telling me that “I have no hard feeling toward Jews as Jews.” The problem, he said, was that our oppressors and grave-diggers happen to people claiming to adhere to the Jewish faith.

Dweik was abducted from his home in Ramallah nearly 17 months ago and has ever since been detained, mostly in solitary confinement, without charge or trial.

During his initial arraignment, Dweik confronted the Israeli judge, eye to eye, telling him that “you are walking in footsteps of your former tormentors. And you will eventually meet the same fate.”

Dweik added: “In any democratic and free country, a person is not punished, let alone imprisoned, for his thought. But, you who claim to be a democratic state, are punishing and persecuting people for their thoughts. I challenge you and challenge your court to uphold the universal standards of justice. I challenge you to uphold the universal standards of humanity.

“I am not a terrorist. I am the elected Speaker of the Palestinian Parliament. My people elected me in an election that Israel and the United States as well as the rest of the international community approved. So, why are you holding us? What crime have we committed? Or do you consider our being non-Jews a grand felony? Shame on your justice system. Shame on your court. Shame on your country.”

Obviously, Dweik has much more to say about a state which calls itself democratic while in truth it has the morality of a thief, the mentality of a murderer and the face of evil.

On Wednesday, 20 February, Dweik’s incarceration was extended on instructions from Israel’s main domestic security agency, the Shin Beth, which argued that Dweik constituted a threat to the survival and security of Israel.

Well, the last time this logic was heard was in Nazi Germany prior to and during the Second World War. Then the gurus of Nazism also argued that Jews constituted an existential threat to the security and survival of the motherland.

Is history reproducing itself?"

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-s-u ... ystem/8175


Israeli soldiers pose for photos while abusing Palestinian child

"Israeli forces in the eastern occupied Jerusalem village of al-Eizariya were caught on video on Friday posing for trophy photos as they held a wounded, handcuffed Palestinian child in a stranglehold............

The soldiers assaulted the child during clashes that took place in the [al-Eizariya] town, east of occupied East Jerusalem.

One of the soldiers tried to push the cameraman, Alarya, and his colleague, Amin Alawya, away from the scene, and was yelling at them, “Enough, enough…. go away… what do you want…”

Medical sources said the soldiers shot the child, Yassin al-Karaki, 13 years of age, with a rubber-coated metal bullet which hit the 13-year old in the leg. After he fell, the soldiers began assaulting and abusing him.

The attack took place after soldiers, who hid in a building near the Annexation Wall in the Qabsa area, ambushed a group of children, and one of the soldiers opened fire on the children.

Several soldiers then attacked and assaulted the wounded child before kidnapping him.

The soldiers took pictures of themselves with the wounded child, and one soldier picked up a Molotov cocktail from the ground, while the child shouted in Hebrew, “it’s not mine, it’s not mine”, and a soldier responded, “it’s yours, it’s Ok … it’s yours”.

One of the soldiers was holding him in a chokehold, and was mocking the child by imitating wrestling moves while other soldiers took pictures, although the child was barely able to breathe.

The soldiers then placed the child in their jeep, while one of them was still filming the incident.

Trophies

In his book Goliath, The Electronic Intifada contributor Max Blumenthal writes that such so-called “trophy” photos have a long tradition in many military forces, including Israel’s.

Blumenthal recalls a series of such photographs released several years ago by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group which documents testimonies of Israeli soldiers while protecting their identities:

Among the disturbing shots culled from Facebook pages belonging to young Israelis was a photo of four smiling troops towering over a blindfolded preadolescent Palestinian girl kneeling at the point of their machine guns; a pretty female soldier smiling winsomely beside a blindfolded Palestinian man cuffed to a plastic chair; two soldiers posing triumphantly above a disheveled corpse lying in the street like a piece of discarded trash; a soldier pumping his rifle in the air directly behind an older Palestinian woman tending to pots on her kitchen stove; a soldier defacing the walls of a home in Gaza by spray-painting a star of David and the phrase, “Be Right Back”; troops in the Gaza Strip playing with and posing beside corpses stripped half nude in acts of post-mortem humiliation; a young soldier mockingly applying makeup from a Pal- estinian woman’s dresser. The Facebook pages were so replete with documents of humiliation, domination, and violence it seemed that army basic training had been led by Marquis de Sade.


Blumenthal sees these images as documents of a “colonial culture in which Jewish Israeli youth became conditioned to act as sadistic overlords toward their Palestinian neighbors, and of a perpetual conquest that demanded indoctrination” beginning “at an early age” and continuing “perpetually throughout their lives.”

The latest shocking images from occupied Jerusalem are proof that this ugly tradition persists.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali ... nian-child

[NeonLX]

C'mon, them Palestinian children was being anti-semetic by tempting those Israeli soldiers.

[seemslikeadream]

Israel's ultra-Orthodox plan huge anti-draft protest


Jerusalem braced for a mass protest Sunday by ultra-Orthodox Jews enraged over plans to conscript their young men for Israeli military service.

Police said "hundreds of thousands" were likely to attend the demonstration alongside the main road in and out of the city and that there would be major disruption of traffic.

"Police have completed security preparations for huge demonstration this afternoon at entrance of Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands expected," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld wrote on Twitter.

He said that 3,500 police would be deployed to maintain order.

The protests were sparked by cuts in government funding to Jewish theological seminaries, or yeshivas, and a planned crackdown on young ultra-Orthodox men seeking to avoid Israel's compulsory military draft.

The cabinet last year agreed to end a practise under which tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox were exempted from military service if they were in full-time yeshiva study.

New legislation is so far incomplete, but a parliamentary committee recently approved a draft bill setting quotas for ultra-Orthodox men joining the military or civilian public service, to be implemented beginning in the year 2017.

The proposed law allows for sanctions against men who evade service, including imprisonment, a clause that enraged the ultra-Orthodox leadership, which said it would amount to the Jewish state sending people to prison for practising their religion.

- 'Stop this persecution' -

The move to force ultra-Orthodox men to serve their country is seen by many Israelis as amending the historic injustice of the exemption handed to the ultra-Orthodox in 1948, when Israel was created. At that time they were a small segment of society.

Owing to their high birth rate, the ultra-Orthodox community has since swelled to make up roughly 10 percent of the country's population of just over eight million, and continues to be the fastest growing group in Israel.

The current exemption from military service is only given to ultra-Orthodox men who commit to remain in their yeshivas, and who are hence not available for work.

This creates poverty among the ultra-Orthodox and is seen by Israel's leadership as a growing threat to the national economy.

The new policy is primarily aimed at increasing ultra-Orthodox participation in the work force.

MP Nissim Zeev, of the opposition ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said the new policy amounted to religious persecution.

"The aim (of the protest) is to send an unequivocal message to the government," he told public radio.

"Enough is enough, you must stop this persecution."

The protest and prayer meeting, called by leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis, was scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) and last for two hours, but the Jerusalem city council said roads in the area would close from 2:00 pm along with the central bus station.

"Main roads in Jerusalem and in and out of the city will remain closed until the evening," its website said.

"Public transport...will operate on a partial basis."

Military service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving three years and women two.

[bluenoseclaret]

COLD BLOODED MURDER ONCE AGAIN BY TRIGGER HAPPY ISRAELIS

Both Palestinian and Jordanian authorities have urged the Israeli government to carry out a thorough investigation into what happened. But since when was Israel honest enough to investigate its own crimes? Can murderers and child-killers be trusted to investigate themselves?

Killing judge is sheer, cold-blooded murder....By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

Official Palestinian and Jordanian reactions to the cold-blooded murder of Ra’ed (Raji) Ze’ieter by Israeli soldiers on Monday have been minimal and almost totally inadequate to say the very least.

The 38-year-old Jordanian-Palestinian judge was traveling via the Allenby Bridge Crossing when he was shot and killed by a trigger-happy Israeli soldier. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of innocent Palestinians have been murdered this way at the indifferent hands of Gestapo-like Israeli troops.

The soldier who murdered the young judge claimed that Ze’ieter attacked him and tried to snatch his rifle, prompting him to shoot and kill him.

However, there are serious questions as to the veracity of the Israeli account of the incident. Indeed, why would an unarmed man in the prime of his life, who wanted to visit his family, attack crack and heavily armed soldiers, notorious for following the motto “shoot first, and ask questions later.”!

Besides, even if the Jordanian judge scuffled with the soldier or soldiers at the Allenby Crossing, there must have been more than one way to neutralize or control the man without killing him.

After all, the man was unarmed and could hardly pose a real threat to the soldiers.

This shows that the murderer wanted to spill blood, pure and simple, knowing that the Israeli state and its racist justice system won’t punish but rather award him for the killing.

We who live in occupied Palestine under the Israeli military occupation don’t need to indulge in hypothesizing about Israeli behaviors toward the Palestinians. Cold-blooded murder has always been Israel’s modus operandi toward our people. It would be naïve to think otherwise.

We all remember how Israeli soldiers during the past two intifadas lured Palestinian school children to get to the streets in order to shoot and kill them. And then we would hear pornographically-dishonest Israeli spokespersons claim that “our soldiers shot into the air and a number of Palestinian children got killed.”!

Disgraceful reactions

The murderous killing by Israeli troops of Ra’ed Ze’ieter is not the first and won’t be the last of its kind. Israel has always been murdering innocent Arabs knowingly and deliberately since time immemorial. This is the job Israeli soldiers are trained to do.

As to the Israeli government, its media, spokesmen and mouthpieces, their job is first and foremost to justify and rationalize the murderous killings. And in case the projected justifications and rationalizations sound unbelievable or unconvincing, the Israeli lying machine would simply concoct a “rational account” of the given incident.

Both Palestinian and Jordanian authorities have urged the Israeli government to carry out a thorough investigation into what happened. But since when was Israel honest enough to investigate its own crimes? Can murderers and child-killers be trusted to investigate themselves?

Indeed, expecting Israel to conduct a thorough and honest investigation of the latest murder at the Allenby crossing is akin to seeking justice at a thieves’ den or seeking safety at a snake’s hole.

We are not demanding that Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) launch war on Israel. We know the facts on the ground too well as the two Arab entities are too weak to even think of making a truly pro-active response to Israeli provocation.

But neither Jordan nor the PA is completely helpless. Jordan does have some real diplomatic leverage it can utilize to curtail Israeli insolence and hegemony. Similarly, the PA can threaten to scale down or even stop the ignominious “security” coordination with Israel.

However, a meaningful Arab response to yet another unprovoked murder by Israel of an innocent Arab would require genuine freedom of Arab states from the state of subservience to the US, Israel’s guardian-ally.

This gets us to the inevitable conclusion that Israel will continue to murder Arabs at will, with nearly total impunity, especially in the absence of any real deterrent on the part of the Arabs. But this situation can’t be sustained forever. Oppression, if allowed to continue, justifies both resistance and violence. The Anglo-American poet W. H. Auden said:

I and the public know,
What all school children learn,
Those to whom evil is done,
Do evil in return.

Let us pray....

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/