Israel's Sleeping Beauties Have Awoken From Their Deathly Silence

[Israeli]

Israelis didn't know about the Palestinians' suffering beyond the dark mountains a half an hour away. For the most part, they didn’t want to know.

Gideon Levy Oct 15, 2015

What did you think, the Palestinians would sit still indefinitely? Did you really think Israel would continue on its course and they’d just bow their heads in submission?

Do you know many historical examples of that? Is there one example of a brutal occupation that persisted without stoking resistance? Apparently that's what you thought, otherwise there would have been public pressure long ago to act, because who wants terror?

But Israel slid into a deathly silence, with darkness over the abyss, and now it’s acting surprised. It voted for the right, for ultra-nationalism, racism and messianism, and now it’s feelings are hurt.

After all, what did it ask for but some quiet, to be left alone from the occupation to which it’s not even linked, and from the resistance that has fallen on it like a natural disaster. Sleeping beauty has awoken to the sound of stabbings and car-rammings, and through the cobwebs of sleep it’s asking: How did this happen? How can they be doing this to us again?

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680443

[Israeli]

1. continued...

You can’t blame Israelis — they were busy doing other things and knew nothing. Bar Refaeli’s wedding weighed heavily on people’s minds, as did events at the Allenby 40 nightclub. Israelis didn’t know exactly what was going on over there, beyond the dark mountains, half an hour’s drive from their homes — for the most part, they didn’t want to know.

The media gladly succumbed to their wishes. They hid the crimes of the occupation from people’s sight — such pictures don’t buoy ratings. The image of a Palestinian as a human being doesn’t sell newspapers. The media never reported what those people go through and what they really desire. It sufficed with diversions, incitement and propaganda. That pays better.

Politicians promised that everything would be fine, rabbis incited, settlers torched, the whole world is against us, just leave us alone. Then out of the blue those knife-wielding youngsters with murder in their eyes descended upon us. The quiet dissolved, security fizzled, businesses collapsed, dreams of jeep tours and quick vacations became uncertain.

The government blames the Islamic State and the left blames the lack of “peace talks.” Experts on Arab affairs — the southern branch of the Shin Bet security service and Military Intelligence — say it’s because of “incitement.” The wise sages of security issues say, as is their wont, that this time the other side must be hit hard. Everyone agrees that the Arabs are to blame because they were born to kill. Through this stupefying haze all connection to reality has been lost.

In the meantime, Jerusalem has become the capital of apartheid. No other city so discriminates and dispossesses or is so violent. Gun-toting Mayor Nir Barkat, who’s largely responsible for the discrimination and dispossession in his city, incites against a third of its population — an unbelievable phenomenon in its own right.

And you thought 300,000 people would acquiesce? That they’d watch settlers invade their homes as city hall denied them minimal services amid maximal property taxes? That they’d look on while the occupier arbitrarily denied them residence status, as if they were migrants in their own city?

That they would put up with Jewish gangs beating them up in full view of policemen and forgive? That a young man growing up in this reality — with his neighborhood a Soweto — would spend his life washing dishes and building homes for Jews with no chance of escaping his ghetto?

Did you really think right-wing provocations on the Temple Mount would pass quietly? That the burning of the Dawabsheh family would pass with no response — and even more so the defense minister’s arrogant claims that Israel knew who the perpetrators were but wouldn’t arrest them?

That their children would be burned helplessly with Israel not punishing anyone and they’d remain silent? That the response to all this would be more of the same: We’ll demolish, detain, dispossess, oppress, torture and kill more than ever — and (Jewish) Zion will be redeemed?

Did anyone really believe that?

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.680443

[King_David]

15. You posted the whole article here on DU , so now nobody in the world need pay Haaretz to read it

Just google it and it will point one to DU , your post , and then it could be read for free.

[azurnoir]

2. well the Israeli governments 'solution' so far is

sealing off Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem

demolishing the family homes of the attackers

revoking the residency of the attackers it is unclear if that extends to their families too

encouraging Israeli Jewish civilian citizens to arm themselves

the extent to which these things will solve any problems is unclear to be very polite

[Israeli]

3. Bibi promises victory at any cost, but who will pay the price?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the Oct. 12 opening of the winter assembly of the Knesset reminded me of the “blood, sweat, and tears” speech delivered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the House of Commons in May 1940. “We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering,” the British leader said then. “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

Netanyahu also promised victory on Monday. Victory at any costs, however long and hard the road may be. “We will also vanquish this current wave of terror,” promised the prime minister. The man who sees himself as Churchill's match promises Israeli citizens blood, sweat and tears in a war waged by an occupying nation against a people that has been striving for nearly 50 years for freedom, justice and equality.

Churchill's iconic speech was delivered in the midst of World War II, when the immense army of the Third Reich conquered nation after nation across Europe and threatened to attack Britain’s coast. In the Blitz, 43,000 British citizens were killed and a million homes were destroyed.

Netanyahu's promise to Israeli citizens is a victory by the strongest army in the Middle East in a war against children armed with stones, women armed with knives and youth armed with cars.

Since the prime minister does not do face-to-face interviews with journalists, there is no choice but to send him, by means of this column, some of the questions the Israeli public deserves to have answered and that haven’t been in his Churchillian speeches.

Mr. Prime Minister, at your speech to the Knesset you said that terrorism doesn’t stem from frustration at the lack of progress in the diplomatic process, but from the desire to destroy us. Why, then, did you hold a diplomatic process with the Palestinians? What moves you even today to offer to restart the diplomatic process with a neighbor who seeks to destroy us? Why have you called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "Sit with me" and "Try and advance the issues on the agenda?"

You said that in any peace arrangement the Palestinians would have to relinquish the right of return and to recognize the nation-state of the Jewish people. But even if Abbas relinquishes the right of return and duly recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, how many ministers in your government and your party (including yourself) would vote in favor of a decision to recognize an independent Palestinian state and to evacuate tens of thousands of settlers?

You said that Israel is a country of laws and promised, “We will not allow any party, any side, to break the law.” Are you aware that the chance that a complaint filed by Palestinians against settlers who harmed them or their property will end with a criminal conviction is approximately one in 13? How many settler outposts established on private Palestinian land have you evacuated as of today, and how many have you recognized? After all, following an order by the Supreme Court, one outpost was relocated to a nearby site, while 25 out of 100 West Bank outposts were recognized or are in the midst of a process to legalize them.

You promised to carry out the full extent of the law against “anyone who lifts their hand against innocents, Jews and Arabs alike.” One law for the Jew and the Arab. Really? How much time would it take for the Shin Bet to impose a curfew on all Palestinian villages after terrorists burned a Jewish family in their sleep in a neighboring settlement and killed the parents and their child? What punishment is given to a Palestinian stone-thrower compared to that imposed on a Jew convicted of the same offense?

If you haven’t read the 2009 legal decision of Judge Yuval Shadmi of the Juvenile Court in Nazareth, you might want to take a look. The case in question was that of a Palestinian boy from Nazareth, suspected of throwing stones at a police car during operation Protective Edge in Gaza. You’ll discover that in the judge's ruling, there’s one path for Arab minors who protested the 2014 bombing of Gaza and another for Jewish minors who protested the 2005 disengagement from Gaza.

The (Jewish!) judge reviewed relevant precedents and found not one case in which a Jewish juvenile was sentenced to prison time. On the other hand, he found that the state prosecution as a rule requests prison time for Arab juveniles suspected of ideologically motivated offenses. The judge noted that contrary to the cases of Israeli perpetrators, for whom procedures are delayed and pardons are issued, the Palestinians are offered no delayed procedures nor issued pardons. He called upon the state to stop such discrimination on the basis of nationality or religion.

You called on Palestinians in Israel not to follow a leadership that “seeks to fragment the country” and emphasized that “We want coexistence between Jewish and Arab citizens of the State of Israel.” Did you seek to bind together the country with the election day statement, “The Arabs are voting in droves?” What historical truth do you offer on which to base coexistence between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority? The nationality bill, according to which Israel is exclusively the state of the Jewish people? And maybe we should rely on your speech to the Knesset last March, when you argued that Arab-Israeli citizens are immigrants who came here following the “return to Zion” of the Jews “to the land being renewed, rebuilt?” As the son of a renowned historian, you must be aware of the fact that in 1918, at the very end of the Ottoman empire's rule of the region, the Arab population in the land of Israel counted about half a million people, compared with some 100,000 Jews there.

You promised to act against the focal points of incitement with all available means, including declaring the northern branch of the Islamic Movement illegal. You said, “There will be no immunity for those who incite and encourage terror.” Why don’t you act against Lehava, which attacks Arabs just because they’re Arabs? Why do you ignore the initiative of peace activists to make the organization illegal?

Do you think Jerusalem is still a united city? If so, what do you think of the proposal to impose a closure on Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and the call for city residents to carry weapons, assuming that this suggestion isn’t intended for the residents of Jerusalem's old Muslim Quarter?

You said that you called for a "massive reinforcement of forces," additional "regiments in Judea and Samaria" and the deployment of many border police companies to Jerusalem and across the country. With your hand on your heart, as they say, do you really believe that more policemen, more soldiers and more border police would calm the mothers whom you recently addressed in a speech, mothers who are afraid to send their children to play at the playground near their homes outside Netanya, Tel Aviv, Afula or Gedera? Should we promise our grandchildren as well blood, sweat and tears?

Source : http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/winston-churchill-benjamin-netanyahu-speech-knesset.html#ixzz3oisFuOlU

[azurnoir]

4. Who indeed but I think we know already

[shira]

5. Gideon Levy - pretending his 24/7 hate incitement, like that of other anti-Israel degenerates....

....has nothing to do with Palestinian attacks on Jews.

[Israeli]

6. " degenerates ".....

[FlatBaroque]

10. ...

BDS BDS BDS BDS BDS

[grossproffit]

13. Indeed. Buy, Diversify and Support Israel.

Love the BDS app. I know exactly which brands to buy.

[Little Tich]

7. I mostly agree with the sentiments expressed in the OP.

But, I 'm prepared to go a little bit further - I think the two-state solution has died, and that what we see is the long and painful birth of the one-state solution. There's no alternative anymore - Netanyahu has crushed all attempts at Palestinian statehood...

[DetlefK]

8. I would make a comparison to historical precedent, but then I get accused of anti-semitism again.

I'm pretty sure there is historical precedent of one kind of citizens being legally discriminated against by the majority of citizens.
Of being subjected to violence and the police refuses to help.
Of being dehumanized and the majority of the majority just flows with the propaganda, because they don't care enough about the minority to speak out in their defense.
Of a Greater Good that the minority is an obstacle to.
Of the majority having to "defend" itself against the mere presence of the minority.



Well, I would make that comparison.
And I would wonder why the lessons of the past are only supposed to apply to some people and not to others.
I would wonder how those that are shaped by this history to this day are able to ignore this history.
But then I would get an outraged reminder that I am not allowed to mention this history when talking about present incidents.

[shira]

9. One needs to know the history first, the motivations....

It's impossible to know what's really going on in I/P without realizing history from just 100 years ago. It's an Arab/Israeli conflict, not just I/P. Hate incitement & attacks on Jews go back to before 1948, not just within Palestine but all over the mideast.

Ignoring or pretending the past century's history against Jews has nothing to do with what we see today in I/P is to live in a fake fantasy world with no resemblance to this planet.

[FlatBaroque]

11. "Anti-semitic, its a trick we always use it" - FOrmer Israeli Minister

[grossproffit]

14. What a lunatic.

[Israeli]

17. Yup,.... lunatics and " degenerates " .......

.......thats us .......

Shulamit Aloni, 1928-2014: Mother and prophet of the left

The woman who made human rights the central issue of the left’s political agenda has died at 86. Fearless and true to her values, Aloni stood up to Israel’s generals and rabbis until her very last days.

Shulamit Aloni, founder of leftist Meretz party, former minister of education and the legendary mother of the Israeli civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 86. Aloni served 28 years in the Knesset. She was elected for the sixth Knesset with Labor, but later left the party and established Ratz, an avant-garde party focused on civil rights.

In 1984 Ratz became the political home of Peace Now, and in 1992 Aloni united the party with Shinui and Mapam, leading the left-wing bloc for an all-time record of 12 seats, which enabled the formation of the second Rabin government.

Aloni, who then became the new minister of education, was immediately targeted by the settlers and the ultra-Orthodox. She was forced to resign her post in 1993, following an ultimatum by Shas to Rabin. Aloni left the Knesset in 1996, but remained politically active, voicing her opinions on the occupation and human rights issues until her very last days.

For my generation of leftist Israelis born in the seventies, Aloni was probably the central figure in our political development – the person you listened to in order to know where you stand on a certain issue. She was the standard bearer of an entire political community. Not Rabin, and certainly not Peres. Shula, as she was referred to, was the voice of our political conscience.

One cannot over emphasize her influence. The woman who almost single-handedly challenged all the powers of the Israeli establishment, from the generals to the rabbis, in the same fearless manner. Her statements often became the center of national controversies. Her own personal history – she was part of the generation that founded the state, and was a former member of the Palmach underground organization – or the fact that she possessed the biblical knowledge of a Yeshiva student, allowed her to stand her own ground against any politician or institution. She just couldn’t be bullied; since her departure from politics, the left always seemed a little more scared and apologetic.

While Aloni’s confrontations with the religious parties received most of the media attention in the eighties and nineties (Shas’ Ovadiah Yossef famously said that the day of her death should be celebrated), Aloni had a profound impact on the liberal revolution of the nineties. Before Aloni, the left in Israel was focused (like the rest of the political system) on security and diplomatic issues. Aloni brought not only a new agenda, but a new language and context to the political left – one which put women’s rights, LGBT rights and Palestinian rights as its central political issues.

Everything that followed, from the rise of human rights organizations to the ground-breaking decisions by the Supreme Court on those issues could not have happened without the work of Aloni and her colleagues.

For Aloni, human rights were never abstract or theoretical, but rather rooted in the local context of politics and history. Most important of all, she taught the Jewish left that one cannot speak on human rights without mentioning the Palestinian issue. Nothing could be further from Aloni’s legacy than the cynical attempt by Israeli governments to use the hard-fought achievements of the LGBT community as part of their propaganda against the Palestinians.

In the wonderful documentary on her life made by Anat Saragusti (see below, Hebrew only), Aloni, by then long retired, is seen going to checkpoints together with women of Machsom Watch, or sitting at her desk, trying to find out the fate of 500 uprooted Palestinian olive trees. Today, in the post-Oslo, post-Intifada period, there is a renewed understanding among the left that the occupation is a human and civil rights issue, rather than a diplomatic or security-oriented problem. That was Aloni’s legacy, too.


Source: http://972mag.com/shulamit-aloni-1928-2014-the-mother-and-the-prophet-of-the-left/86245/

[King_David]

16. The "antiZionist" trick is used by actual antisemites far more frequently...

[bumprstickr]

18. almost sounds like S. Africa and the US in the slave days.

I'm probably leaping to conclusions.

[geek tragedy]

12. The threat of Palestinian violence is the only thing that prods the Israelis

into emancipating the Palestinians. And the Israelis then act surprised when the Palestinians choose violence.

[bumprstickr]

19. All power proceeds from the barrel of a gun