Vote 1: militant Zionism

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Israel E News

Vote 1: militant Zionism

Filed under Israeli politics, Opinion Editorials, Anti-Zionist Jews, Israeli Palestinian relations, Knesset members, Palestinian politics, Disputed territories, Israeli elections -

on Wednesday, August 13, 2008

By: Loewenstein, Antony

My latest New Matilda column is about the political realities in Israel and Palestine:

Antony Loewenstein looks behind the pre-election rhetoric in Israel and says the lack of a real difference between the front-runners means deeper trouble ahead for both Israel and Palestine

Israel is currently in political limbo. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s leadership of the Jewish state is nearly over due to his refusal to nominate for the upcoming Kadima primaries and rivals are positioning themselves for the poisoned chalice. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, former Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ehud Barak and former leader Benyamin Netanyahu are all possible candidates.

None of them talks about ending the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, puts his finger on what is missing from so much of the Western commentary chronically more interested in the personalities than the policies. Levy says the unwillingness of any of the candidates to make any real move towards a peace means there is really no choice for Israel’s voters, but constant demonisation of Netanyahu falsely implies that the others are moderates:

“That is the choice. That is the arsenal of candidates seeking to succeed Olmert. None speak in the name of any ideology whatsoever. A past prime minister who failed at his post and brought about the second intifada (Barak); a former chief of staff and defence minister, a cruel military man, who fanned the flames and knows only how to sow destruction and death (Mofaz); a mild-mannered foreign minister who has not advanced peace in any way (Livni); and Netanyahu - the person everyone loves to hate [ - no worse] than his fellow candidates, but immeasurably more persecuted. The media embraces Livni, accepts Mofaz as legitimate, sometimes supports Barak, but is terrified only by Netanyahu. Why?”

Meanwhile, settler violence towards Palestinians is on the increase in the West Bank, the IDF rarely intervenes and the world Jewish Diaspora remains relatively silent.

Veteran Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell, in a powerful recent essay in Haaretz, articulates what is at stake in the current political charade playing out in the Jewish state. He virtually pleads for the world to wake up and pay attention to what Israel has constructed in the occupied territories and pressure them to stop immediately. Despite his fears that the colonial enterprise will end the dream of a “democratic Jewish state” (arguably already an impossibility when one racial group discriminates against another) his words are powerful:

“…What was essential and therefore justified in the pre-state days is now assuming an ugly and violent form of colonial occupation: the authoritarian regime in the territories, the creation of two legal systems, the placing of the army and police at the service of the settlement movement, the robbing of Palestinian lands. These all symbolize not the fulfilment of Zionism but rather its burial. It is there, between Hebron and Yitzhar, that the settlements are burying the democratic Jewish state.

“…If society does not find the emotional strength to remove the noose of the settlements, nothing but a sad memory will remain of the Jewish state as it still exists.”

Alas, nobody is talking about seriously changing the power dynamic in the Middle East - and most in the region don’t expect a President Barack Obama to shift his country’s bias away from Israel’s occupation - or even attempt to halt the continued growth of settlements. Colonisation is now an essential part of Israel, and will destroy it, in my opinion.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said on Sunday that the Palestinians may soon demand a bi-national state if Israel continues to reject proposed borders. The days of the Jewish state are numbered.

A recent Australian commentator argued that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was subtly re-defining the country’s relationship with Israel to be more “even-handed” in the Middle East. However, actions speak louder than words, and maintaining an outright ban on dealing with Hamas and remaining virtually silent over Israel’s settlement project suggests a business-as-usual mentality.

One issue that has received rudimentary coverage in the Western media is the ongoing civil strife in Gaza and the West Bank. Although there has been some detail on the clan rivalries involved, there has been little discussion about the outside forces that are contributing to the instability. The elevation of Hamas in June 2007 to control of Gaza undoubtedly shifted the power dynamic in the Strip, and many established families quickly discovered the limits to their influence, but what of the US-backed Fatah forces that desperately crave dominance over Hamas?

The role of Washington has been virtually ignored in the current impasse, even after this detailed Vanity Fair essay in April that proved the Bush administration was involved in the instability, having attempted a failed coup in 2007 against Hamas by supporting Fatah forces and triggering a civil war between the rival groups. The aim was to install Fatah and wrestle power from the democratically-elected Hamas.

As recently as March, the Washington Post was reporting that these US-backed forces, being trained in Jordan, are “mired in delays, a shortage of resources, and differences between Israelis and the Americans over what military capabilities those forces should have once deployed in the territories.”

In other words, Fatah, under President Mahmoud Abbas, was willingly collaborating with Washington to provide military forces to essentially manage the occupation and suppress an opposing political party. The result, as we’ve seen over the last weeks, is a resurgent Hamas and brutal tactics from both sides (something rightly chastised by Human Rights Watch in a recent report).

But here’s the catch. Although much of the West stands by and cheers from the sidelines, pleased that the Palestinians are fighting amongst themselves, this thinking is seriously deluded. As pointed out by Daniel Levy - a former liberal Israeli peace negotiator whose blog is essential reading - Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas is threatened by the ongoing violence (something many Israeli politicians welcome, such is their desire to re-invade Gaza and attempt to destroy the Islamist group root and branch):

“…Perhaps most worrying of all is that as Palestinians lose hope in the peace process, and look despairingly at both the Fatah and Hamas leaderships, there is a danger of extremist Al Qaeda-style alternatives emerging. Such activity may already be taking place today, as politics breaks down into clan structures and groups like the Army of Islam appear. Hamas is not Al Qaeda, but the alternative to it might be.”

Palestinian lawlessness in Gaza and Israeli settler chaos in the West Bank is a toxic mix, and the Jewish state is fanning the former and ignoring the latter. The Palestinians are not blameless in this process, of course, with many rival groups positioning themselves for the spoils of (limited) power. But it’s vital to never forget the fact that Gaza remains an occupied prison, surrounded by Israel on all sides (something to be highlighted by the “Free Gaza” boat campaign this week).

More worrying still, the voices within Israel that shun any peace initiatives with the Palestinians are growing. Witness writer and playwright Naomi Ragen, soon to visit Australia, who told the Fairfax press last weekend that she opposed withdrawal from any occupied territory and supported killing all “terrorists”. Ragen, who slammed me as a “liar” and a “typical self-hating, ignorant Jew”, is symptomatic of modern, perverted Zionism. To them the Arabs are unpeople.

Jewish American professor Marc Ellis told the ABC in 2001 that contemporary Judaism was being increasingly defined through the barrel of the gun. “If we want helicopter gunships to define us as a people, say it”, he said, “but don’t pretend that helicopter gunships are not defining us.”

The Israel/Palestine conflict will never be resolved without a serious re-configuring of the Jewish mentality. Militant Zionism has become the default position.

We are barely past the starting line.

The opinions and views articulated by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Israel e News.

A prison is not a penal colony

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Ha'aretz

A prison is not a penal colony

By Haaretz Editorial

July 31 2008

Tags: report, Prison, Israel

The Public Defender's report on the situation of prisoners in 2007 reveals serious failures in Israel's prisons. The editors of the report do note that the Israel Prison Service opened its doors without reservations to the inspector, related seriously to findings and criticism, and that at the time of the editing of the report, some of the distortions had been corrected. Nevertheless, the findings are cause for concern.

Most disturbing of all is the violence by prison guards and their commanders toward prisoners and detainees, especially when it comes to minors.

The report, which examined 11 prisons and jails, reveals inter alia that at the Ofek Prison, where all of the prisoners are minors, there are disproportionate and collective punishments including, for example, shackling all four limbs to a bed. Considered a means of restraining suicidal minors that requires a doctor's authorization, this is used at Ofek as a means of punishment. This is an outrageous, inhumane method that exacerbates despair and suicidal tendencies among the prisoners.

The Prison Service claims that the problems at Ofek, considered one of the most advanced facilities (the writers of the report confirm the classrooms, leisure time activities and physical facilities have improved), stem from poor management, and in a discussion in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee they promised that the management would be replaced in the near future. If this is the case, there is no reason to wait, and it must be ensured that the new management changes the approach.

At other facilities, where physical conditions are also sometimes disgraceful - intolerable crowding, filth and negligible exposure to fresh air - cases of violence and harsh abuse were found. At all of the facilities there were beatings, delays in meetings with family members and lawyers and, worst of all, excessive punishment. It appears that the Prison Service has forgotten that prisons are not penal colonies ,and putting a person behind lock and key does not mean total and perpetual distancing from society. The period of imprisonment is supposed to be a designated period of punishment, but at the same time it must afford an opportunity for rehabilitation and provide new tools that will enable normative functioning. The Public Defender's report that sweeping punishment thwarts rehabilitation.

What is true of adult prisoners is even truer of minors. And, indeed, the report points to the need to staff the facilities for minors with superior and very skilled personnel. This, however, is not enough, as the report also reveals a serious dearth of manpower, social workers and treatment plans.

All of these are equally deleterious to the chances of rehabilitation, and moreover, transform the prisoners into recidivists who become a heavy burden on society and the economy. The harsh report does, however, have a bright spot, and this is the very fact of its existence. The flaws and injustices are grave, but there is no doubt that the oversight, and to an equal extent the exposure, that has been carried out by the Public Defender since 1999 contribute to the rectification of the norms that have engendered these flaws and injustices.

Help olim join the Jewish people

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Israel E News

Help olim join the Jewish people

Filed under Judaism, Jewish diaspora, IDF/Military, Opinion Editorials, Aliya, Russian Jewish, Israeli minorities, Israeli society, Russia - Friday, August 01, 2008 By: Avital, Colette

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Colette Avital is an Israeli Knesset Member on behalf of the Labor Party, which she has represented since 1999. Born in Bucharest, Romania, she immigrated to Israel with her family in 1950.

While still a student, she began working in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a secretary. Over the years, she rose through the ranks at the Ministry and in 2007, she was a candidate in the Israeli presidential election

She currently chairs the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Committee. Avital also currently serves as the International Secretary of the Israeli Labour Party.

Some 300-350 thousand non-Jewish immigrants live in Israel today, mostly people who emigrated from the former Soviet Union under the Law of Return. They are all Israeli citizens; most of them well integrated in Israeli society. Many serve in combat units in the IDF. Under Israeli law and the famous Status Quo arrangement, the Orthodox establishment monopolizes the conversion process in Israel.

Non-Jewish immigrants can die for the country, but cannot marry a Jewish citizen in Israel.

Two months ago an urgent meeting took place in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset. Its chairman, MK Menachem Ben-Sasson, convened the meeting following a preposterous case that took place in the Rabbinical Court of Ashdod. At the end of a simple divorce case, the court retroactively revoked the wife's conversion - which took place 15 years earlier - declaring her marriage null and void and her children gentiles. The decision not only cancelled the woman's conversion, but also discredited some 15,000 conversions preformed by Rabbi Haim Druckman, former head of the State Conversion Authority.

This meeting at the Knesset, as many before in the Immigration Committee, brought to light the catastrophic state of Israel's conversion authorities, where infighting and bickering between the omnipotent rabbinical courts and the powerless State Conversion Authority are the norm. Exposed too was the precarious situation of non-Jewish Israelis who seek to convert and face draconian measures.

Slowly but surely a sub-society is being formed in Israel: a society of citizens with Jewish ancestry who serve in the army and pay taxes, but are prevented from living as citizens with full rights integrating in Israel. Currently only 2,000 people convert every year: only 30% of the soldiers and 55% of the civilians who begin the process end up being converted. Clearly, this is a drop in the ocean. In fact, there are more non-Jewish children born to these families in Israel every year than there are converts.

Five years ago Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attempted to address this problem by establishing the State Conversion Authority in the Prime Minister's Office. Unfortunately, the new body was ineffective in substantially increasing the number of converts to Judaism. This is mainly due to the unwelcoming attitude of the rabbinical courts towards converts, as well as the rigid and protracted conversion process. A survey conducted by the Ministry of immigrant absorption found that 76% of non-Jewish immigrants said that the greatest deterrent to beginning the conversion process was the uncertainty that they will eventually be recognized as Jews. Most respondents commented that an easier and more welcoming process would encourage them to convert.

Recently, a committee headed by Erez Halfon, Director General of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, completed its work and compiled a plan to reform the conversion services in Israel. The Halfon Committee recommended the establishment of a Conversion Bureau in the Prime Minister's office, which would co-ordinate the various branches of the conversion process: special conversion courts, the various educational institutions and the information policy.

However, the recommendations of the Halfon Committee were watered down by the Prime Minister's Office. The only palpable change seems to be the transferring of budgets from the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption to the Prime Minister's Office, and the addition of some 10 Rabbis to the conversion courts. Even the idea to recruit dozens of volunteer Rabbis to expedite the conversions was knocked down. The solutions offered by the Prime Minister's office are too little too late.

We must not forget that decisions taken in Israel with regards to the conversion process have a profound effect on converts and Jews in the Diaspora. Many non-Jews are reluctant to convert in rabbinical courts which may eventually not be recognized by Israel, and many courts are reluctant to carry out conversions at all. This situation has, of course, an adverse effect on the view of many Jewish communities towards Israel, communities that often contain many converts.

Failure to solve this issue immediately means a long-term disaster for the Jewish State. The damage caused to our social cohesion and the absorption of immigrants is immense.

What is required today is a paradigm shift in thinking towards the entire issue of conversions in Israel. The monopoly in conversions given to the Orthodox should not be unconditional - it can only continue if the treatment of those wishing to convert is radically changed. Conversions must be facilitated both by a more welcoming rabbinical system and by the removal of bureaucratic barriers.

Let us not forget- the people in question have already decided to join the Jewish nation by immigrating to Israel. Their claim - as simple and honest as that of our matriarch Ruth, who declared "Your People is my people and your God- my God" - should be taken seriously.



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