New Trends in Arabic Anti-semitism

New Trends in Arabic Anti-semitism from Henrik Clausen on Vimeo.

Lieberman is simply telling the truth

From BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 125, January 13, 2011, by Prof. Efraim Inbar, Professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman takes a blunt approach to politics, one that is often met with resistance at home and abroad. But despite his not-very-diplomatic style, Lieberman's views on issues like the "peace process" and the Israel-Turkey relationship are representative of a large majority of the Israeli public, and his assessments are often right on the mark.

...The chances of reaching a comprehensive agreement in the near future with the Palestinians, within 12 or 36 months, are indeed nil, as Lieberman has pointed out. The Palestinian Authority is not willing to make any concessions in peace negotiations on Jerusalem or on refugees. It rejects recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation-state. Lieberman is correct also in pointing out that the PA lacks any legitimacy to close a deal with Israel. Abu Mazen’s corrupt regime relies on Israeli bayonets to defend it from Hamas. This is what Lieberman has said, and he is correct in his assessment.

Moreover, his views reflect the sober assessment of a large majority of Israelis. Even large swaths of the Israeli Left agree that there is no Palestinian partner for a full peace.

So why is it so terrible to tell the truth?

Similarly, Lieberman’s evaluation of the behavior of the current Turkish government is right on the mark. Turkey, under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, has not missed an opportunity to pick a fight with Israel over the past two years, and there is nothing Jerusalem can do but wait for better times. Erdogan-led Turkey is not interested in good relations with Israel, primarily because under his helm Turkey is distancing itself from the West and displaying a greater Islamic coloration in its foreign policy. Anti-Semitic sentiments also fuel the hostility toward Israel. Israelis agree with Lieberman’s refusal to be a "punching bag for Turkey." Thus, it makes no sense to apologize and pay compensation to those who sent IHH terrorists to help Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Actually, Lieberman’s assertion that it is Turkey which owes Israel an apology seems more logical. This probably makes sense to most Israelis, who witnessed the brutal treatment of Israeli naval commandos on the Turkish ship at the hands of so-called “peace activists.”

Similarly, Lieberman's promotion of a loyalty oath is well in synch with majority Israeli opinion. Israeli Arab leaders have become increasingly vocal and violent in their support for Palestinian irredentism – and Israeli Jews want to see them checked.

Most Israelis instinctively feel, as well, that the Ultra-Orthodox-controlled Rabbinate is much too narrow and unwelcoming in its approach to Russian-Israelis who want to convert to Judaism.

Another bingo for Lieberman.

Lieberman’s attack on left-wing NGOs being fifth columns is also striking a responsive chord among many Israelis that are fed up with Israel’s use of force being portrayed systematically as a human rights violation. After all, the IDF is making consistently great efforts to behave admirably moral.

The truth is often unpleasant. As a result, the seemingly noble and relentless search for an unavailable peace formula is preferred by many to acceptance of the bad news that there is no chance to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon. Incredibly generous Israeli concessions by Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert did not bring about peace because of the Palestinians' insatiable appetite....

Traitors and responsible citizens

From THE JERUSALEM POST, Jan. 6, 2010, by Danny Ayalon:

... while Arab MKs [Members of the Knesset] are becoming more extreme and less allied with the state that pays their wages, many of their constituents are seeking greater integration with the Jewish state.

A recent report published by Shlomit, the National Service Placement Organization, indicated that the past year has seen an almost 100-percent increase in the number of Arab-Israelis volunteering for National Service. While the total numbers are not staggering, they do represent a sizable portion of the Israeli Arab sector that is moving toward greater civic responsibility.

During a recent rally at the Erez crossing, Balad MK Jamal Zahalka hurled disgraceful abuse at Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who he said enjoys "classical music and killing children in Gaza." He then reiterated these remarks in an interview with Dan Margalit on theNew Evening TV show until Margalit became so incensed with this blood libel that he ordered Zahalka to leave.



Earlier at the same rally, MK Taleb a-Sanaa (UAL-Ta'al) allowed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to use his cellphone as a speaker to direct his torrent of abuse against Israel to the assembled crowd. Sanaa is an employee of the state and thus receives certain benefits like a cellphone, which means that our taxes were being used by a member of an organization sworn to destroy our state. This is unacceptable and should be a matter of concern for all.

Can one imagine a scenario where an American congressman relayed the rants of Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri to a crowd in the US using a state-funded communications device? No nation on earth would accept this situation, and this is why Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has rightly demanded that Sanaa be charged with supporting a terrorist organization.

IT HAS long been clear to us that the public declarations of many Arab MKs are primarily for foreign consumption, where they seek the approval of extreme elements in the wider Arab world. These elected officials do not serve their constituents' interests properly and continually propel outside agendas at the cost of providing adequate representation to the Arab Israeli population.

It is clear, not only from Shlomit's statistics, but also from our frequent visits to Arab towns and villages, that many in these communities are interested in greater partnership with the state and its institutions. However, actions and comments like those by Zahalka, Sanaa and, most notoriously, former MK Azmi Bishara, have tarnished the image of the Arab Israeli leadership.

...It is time to create a legal bar of acceptable behavior for an elected official who receives his stipend and benefits from the taxpayers' purse.

...We must make it clear that when one is elected to Knesset, representation is for the people of Israel only and not foreign elements, especially those involved in murderous terrorism. MKs are elected by the people, to serve the people, and are funded by taxpayers' money; it is to the Jewish and democratic State of Israel and its laws that they remain accountable.

Israel Beiteinu applauds those Arab Israelis who volunteer for the army or National Service and continually seek greater integration with our state. To those in the Arab Israeli leadership who continually pander to foreign elements and ignore their constituency, we will continue to remind them that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. No other nation can accept less.

Israeli Ministers to discuss loyalty bill

From Ynet News, 3 January 2010, by Aviad Glickman:

The Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs is slated to discuss a controversial motion on Sunday which will bring the question of Arab MKs' loyalty back to the center of the public debate.

The proposal, by Chairman Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) demands Basic Law: The Knesset, be amended in a way that requires every Israeli MK declaring loyalty to the "State of Israel" to add the words "as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, and to its symbols and values".

Rotem's fellow faction members MK Robert Ilatov, MK Moshe Matalon and Mk Alex Miller also signed the motion.

Rotem told Ynet: "In recent years there has been an unacceptable phenomenon of MKs acting against the Knesset's values, and at times even against laws and rules legislated by the Knesset."
He added that "anyone who heard or saw MKs El-Sana and Zahalka's slanderous comments in recent days against the defense minister, and even allowed Israel's greatest enemy Ismail Haniyeh to speak to the public using a mobile device which is the property of the Knesset and the State, understands that there is a need to take steps to make MKs loyal to the State."

Aides close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the matter, "This is a change to a basic law. According to coalition agreements, this requires the consent of the entire coalition. The matter has yet to be discussed. According to our estimates, Labor is expected to object to it, and the law may not go to a ministerial committee." ...

The Jewish State & Its Arabs

From Commentary magazine, January 2009, by Hillel Halkin:

...The fact that Israel’s Arab citizens also belong to a Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim world with which Israel has fought bloody wars and remains embroiled in conflict has complicated their situation enormously. ...the greater conflict has caused Israeli Jews to regard them as an actual or potential fifth column and increased prejudice against them. ...[and] it has not only led them in many cases to identify more with Israel’s enemies than with Israel, it has encouraged them to think that, although a minority in Israel, being part of an overwhelming majority in the Middle East precludes their accepting minority status. Increasingly, therefore, their demand has been, not to be a more fairly treated minority, which is something a Jewish state indeed owes them, but not to be treated as a minority at all.

This demand is expressed programmatically in four different statements that emerged from the Israeli Arab community in the years 2006-2007:

• A Future Vision for the Palestinian Arabs in Israel, issued by the National Committee of Arab Mayors;
• A Democratic Constitution, released by the Adallah Legal Center for the Rights of the Arab Minority in Israel;
• The Haifa Declaration, the work of the Mada al-Karmel Center for Applied Social Research; and
• An Egalitarian Constitution for All, written by the Arab Israeli jurist Yusef Jabarin.

As the four documents are remarkably alike in their contents, and the first three were composed by joint teams of Israeli Arab politicians, academics, and intellectuals, they can be justifiably viewed as representing the thinking of the Arab elite in Israel today.

This thinking can only be chilling to most Jews, for—although calling for Arab-Jewish dialogue and reconciliation—it insists on the dismantlement of Israel as a Jewish state. As put by A Future Vision for the Palestinian Arabs in Israel, “Israel [as envisioned by the document’s authors] will cease to carry out all policies and programs that are tainted by favoring the majority, and will act to remove all privileging of one national group over another, especially on the practical, structural, legal, and symbolic levels.”

In effect, as A Future Vision and its companion documents make clear, this would mean revising practically every aspect of Israeli existence, starting, on the “symbolic” level, with the name “Israel” itself, the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah, and the Israeli flag with its star of David, and ending, on the “practical” level, with the return of Arabs to villages deserted by their families in 1948 and the restitution of lands expropriated for Jewish use. Israel’s Jews would also have to apologize for their “responsibility for the Palestinian nakba [catastrophe] of 1948 and its horrendous consequences for the Palestinians in general and those living in the [to-be-renamed] state in particular.”

Among the “structural” and “legal” changes demanded by A Future Vision, A Democratic Constitution, The Haifa Declaration, and An Egalitarian Constitution are:

• The abolition of all government and government-supported institutions, such as the Jewish Agency and the Israel Lands Authority, which have been used in the past to channel budgets, activities, programs, and property to specifically Jewish causes, organizations, or individuals.

• The repeal of the Law of Return, which grants all Diaspora Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

• The demotion of Hebrew from the official language of Israel to an official one alongside Arabic, so that Arab schoolchildren would study no more Hebrew than Jewish schoolchildren study Arabic and Arabic-language universities would be established for Arab students who do not wish to continue their higher educations in Hebrew.

• Self-rule for Israeli Arabs in such areas as religion, culture, and education, in which they would have autonomous control over their own institutions and the budgets allotted them.

• Arab veto power over all legislation pertaining to the internal affairs of the Arab community or affecting Arab-Jewish relations. A Democratic Constitution suggests two possible ways of doing this. One would be a special Knesset committee, half its members belonging to political parties “defined and characterized as Arab or [mixed] Arab-Jewish,” whose approval of new laws would be necessary. The other would allow Arab parties in the Knesset to block measures opposed by 75 percent of their members.

Thus, despite the frequently voiced insistence of Israel’s Arab leadership on Israel’s becoming a “state of all its citizens,” this state would not be, like France or the United States, a unitary one in which everyone is equal before the law within the framework of a single dominant national culture and majority-rule political system. Rather, it would be a formally bi-national polity or “consensual democracy” in which all citizens would be assigned to either its Jewish or Arab sector, each of which would administer its own internal affairs and promote its own identity. How the two would be collaborate in formulating and implementing policies in such supra-sectoral realms as economic affairs, foreign relations, national defense, and so forth, is left deliberately vague in all four documents.
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The campaign of Israeli Arabs for full equality has often been compared to the civil-rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s in the United States. And yet the demands of A Future Vision, A Democratic Constitution, The Haifa Declaration, and An Egalitarian Constitution are the very opposite of that movement’s. They seek not the integration of Israeli Arabs into Israel’s life but their isolation from it. “Separate but equal,” the principle struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 1954 desegregation decision, could be their motto. The possible “Israelification” of Israel’s Arabs, far from being desirable, is viewed by them as a threat. Rather, they are for the de-Israelification of Israel’s Jews.

Indeed, one of the most striking things about these four documents is their demonstrative lack of sympathy for Jewish national experience and feeling. While repeatedly calling on Israeli Jews to make room for the “Palestinian narrative,” they have no room of their own for the Jewish narrative. Zionism is for them, in the words of The Haifa Declaration, no more than “a colonialist settlement movement in Palestine,” which, “with the collaboration of world colonialism and reactionary Arab powers,” successfully achieved “its goal of conquering our homeland.” Although this conquest is now a fact to be acknowledged, and the right of Israel’s Jews to self-determination cannot be denied....

.... For the most part, Zionist leaders, counting on the immigration to Palestine of Europe’s millions of still unmurdered Jews, had never doubted a Jewish state’s capacity to absorb a large Arab minority while giving it full political equality. Even Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the head of the sometimes stridently nationalist Revisionist party, was adamant on this point. Any Jewish state that came into being, he insisted, would be a democracy for its Arab citizens as well. No other arrangement would be acceptable.
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But can a state be both Jewish and democratic? Israel’s Arab leadership says it cannot be, and many Western intellectuals and political commentators now agree. How, they ask, can a country, even if it operates on a one-man, one-vote basis, be democratic for its minority when its official symbols, holidays, heroes, and religion are those of the majority that this minority feels dispossessed by; when the minority must learn the majority’s language to get along but not the other way around; when the majority is linked to a diaspora any member of which can join it for the asking, while the diaspora to which the minority is linked is denied this privilege; when there are state-supported institutions that work for the benefit of the majority only; and when the majority has the political power to pass whatever laws, and conduct whatever policies, it deems to be in its own interest without taking the interests of the minority into account? A Jewish democracy, it is argued, is a contradiction in terms. A country can be by contemporary international standards either Jewish or democratic, but not both.

Not so, argue Alexander Yakobson, a historian at the Hebrew University, and Amnon Rubinstein, a professor of constitutional law and former Israeli minister of education, in a new book entitled Israel and the Family of Nations.2 Not only, the two maintain, is the supposed contradiction between Israel’s Jewishness and its democratic nature a false one, it is also not true that Israel is an anomaly in today’s world, the only purportedly democratic country in which the religious and ethnic identity of a majority is given preferred status. The same is true of many other democracies, too, and while one can debate its desirability, it is clearly not incompatible with democracy itself. And yet, although the constitutions and political systems of numerous countries in Europe and elsewhere have ethnocratic features, these are never criticized in the same terms as they are when found in Israel.
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Here are a few of the many examples that Yakobson and Rubinstein give:

• Greece, which has Albanian- and Turkish-speaking Muslim minorities, adopted a constitution in 1975 that designates the “Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ” as the country’s “prevailing religion” and Greek Orthodox priests, unlike other clergy, receive state salaries. Moreover, descendants of Greek families that have lived abroad for generations can apply immediately for citizenship upon establishing residence in Greece, whereas other would-be immigrants must wait eight years. (In the 1990’s, 200,000 ethnic Greeks received citizenship immediately upon arriving from the ex-Soviet Union.)

Other countries favoring immigrants who are ethnic compatriots of the majority are Germany, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, and Armenia. The German Federal Republic, for example, has laws extending automatic citizenship to all Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union), even though many of them, as Yakobson and Rubinstein write, “lived in those areas for hundreds of years, without any civic or geographic connection with the modern German state.” In contrast to which, one might add, it was only in the year 2000 that the millions of children of foreign workers born in Germany, mostly from Turkey, were given citizenship, which until then had been denied even to third-generation German Turks.

• The constitution of Spain refers to Castilian as “the official Spanish language of the state,” which “all Spaniards have the duty to know.” Catalan and Basque, on the other hand, are included among “the other languages of Spain” and are official only in their own regions. Hindi is, alongside English, one of the two official languages of India, even though it is spoken by only a third of the population. Canada has permitted Quebec to declare French its sole official language, although 20 percent of the province’s inhabitants are English-speakers. Quebec’s laws mandate the use of French but not English for all public and commercial notices and require non-English-speaking immigrants to send their children to French schools. Most other democratic states and nations also relegate minority languages to a secondary status.

• Numerous democratic countries, among them Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, retain the Christian cross on their flags even though they have non-Christian populations, including large numbers of Muslim immigrants. Other countries have national anthems that might be considered offensive to minorities. Italy’s, for example, glorifies the Italians’ war of independence against Austria, even though northern Italy has a German-speaking population that is ethnically Austrian in origin.

...And that is Yakobson and Rubinstein’s point—namely, that the privileging of a majority and its identity need not be harmful to a country’s democratic functioning as long as members of minority groups are dealt with on an equal basis as individuals, even if their corporate or collective rights fall short of the majority’s. But can what works fairly well in Spain be made to work in Israel, too? Or has Israel, demographically and politically, already missed that train, which can now no longer be boarded?
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Precisely because they could have been better, Jewish-Arab relations in Israel proper are more tragic than Jewish-Arab relations in the occupied territories. In the latter, head-on conflict was unavoidable once the Arab states refused to negotiate a peace settlement with Israel following the 1967 war, thus paving the way for Israeli settlements. But the case of the Arabs who remained in Israel in 1948 was a different one. Had they been dealt with more generously, and had Israel taken the same interest in their welfare as it took in that of its Jews, their attitude toward the country they live in might have been different today, too.

But Israel’s Arabs cannot be absolved of their share of responsibility, either. As a sizable minority, their potential political power has always been great. Yet this potential has been wasted—in the early years of Israel’s history through its successful cooptation by Israel’s Jewish parties, and more recently by the radicalization of Arab politics to the point that demagogic Israel-bashing and blind support for the Palestinian cause in the occupied territories has taken precedence over all attempts to work constructively with the Jewish political establishment for the practical improvement of Israeli Arab life. All three of the Arab parties currently represented in the 120-member Knesset—the United Arab List with four seats, the Democratic Front with three, and the National Alliance with three—are considered, with good reason, beyond the pale by the Jewish parties, with whom they are thus unable to form coalitions and alliances. As a result, their political utility is nil.

Is it too late for a new direction? To judge by A Future Vision, A Democratic Constitution, The Haifa Declaration, and An Egalitarian Constitution, it is. The positions taken by them would put Israel’s Arab minority on a collision course with its Jewish majority that could only lead to catastrophe.

But these are the positions, as I have said, of an elite. A poll has shown that only 30 percent of ordinary Israeli Arabs have even heard of the four documents. Like people everywhere, these Arab citizens of Israel are less interested in collective rights than in the betterment of their own lives. Might it not be still possible to strike a grand bargain with them—one whereby Israel’s governments would undertake to carry out a wide range of anti-discrimination and affirmative-action programs to make up for years of indifference, and Israeli Arabs, for their part, would choose leaders willing to accept minority status and work within its framework rather than seek to overthrow it?

One cannot expect Israeli Arabs, under present circumstances, to be Israeli patriots. But they can be expected to show the same understanding for Jewish experience as they expect Jews to show for theirs, and to realize that life in a Jewish state, even if not all its freedom and openness can be enjoyed by them, has its advantages for them too, and that they would not necessarily be better off in the slums of Cairo or in Arab police states like Syria and Jordan. Indeed, one suspects that they do realize this more than they publicly care to admit. How else explain the fact that every time an Israeli politician has broached the idea of a territorial swap with the Palestinian Authority in which Israeli Arab towns in the Wadi Ara area, on the Israeli side of the 1967 border, would be exchanged for Jewish settlements on the West Bank, these towns’ inhabitants have reacted with indignation and alarm?

The sociological and political changes that Israel’s Arab community has been undergoing are not simple. Israeli Arabs have indeed been radicalized, but they have also, paradoxically, become more Israeli in the process. Israeli culture has changed who they are. They have begun—at least when not in the grip of Islamist ideologies—to act more like Israelis, think more like Israelis, talk more like Israelis. (Anyone overhearing an Arabic conversation in Israel these days cannot but be struck by the amount of Hebrew words, phrases, and even entire sentences in it.) For all their sense of solidarity with their fellow Palestinians in the territories, and with Arabs and Muslims in other places, they know they are different. This knowledge is troubling and has produced the fear of Israelification reflected in the four documents; but it is also something that can be appealed to.

Israel’s Arabs do not need a “separate but equal” corporate existence. They need fair-employment laws, fair-housing laws, better schools, better infrastructure in their towns and cities, more self-owned businesses, larger government budgets, better and more effective political representation, and fuller integration in Israeli society. They need many of the same things that American blacks needed, demanded, and eventually got in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s...

...Fortunately, there is good news in this regard. The evidence from all over the world is that birthrates come down as economic well-being goes up. The pill is only the material cause of fewer children. The efficient causes are modernization, secularization, higher standards of living and health care, more years of education, a higher percentage of working mothers, greater individualism, an ethos of self-fulfillment and self-advancement. The more Israelified and the better becomes Arab life in Israel, the smaller Israeli Arab families will be. Politically incorrect or not, this is the Jewish-Arab problem’s best hope. One would have to be short-sighted not to act on it

How and why Muslims riot in liberal democracies

From Jewish World Review, 27/3/09, by Caroline B. Glick:

Tuesday's violent riots in Umm el Fahm and the debate which accompanied them are emblematic of one of the greatest challenges facing not only Israel, but much of the Western world today. Far right Jewish Israeli political activists held a peaceful demonstration in the radical Arab-Islamist dominated city of Umm el Fahm in the Galilee under heavy police protection. Thousands of Arab Israelis supported by far left Jewish Israeli political activists reacted with violent rioting. And the media blamed the violence on the peaceful Jewish Israeli demonstrators.

...In accordance with the police guidelines, Tuesday the marchers were transported to the outskirts of the town in bullet-proof buses. 2,500 policemen deployed along Wadi Ara highway, and throughout the town to protect them. They were allowed to march holding flags and singing folksongs for a half an hour and then returned to their bullet proof buses.

In the meantime, thousands of local residents standing on rooftops and crowding into the streets began rioting. They threw volley after volley of rocks at the Jewish marchers and the police protecting them. They cursed them. They cursed the police. In the end, some 15 policemen were wounded by the projectiles - including Inspector General Shahar Ayalon, the Deputy Superintendent of the National Police.

As far as the media were concerned, the fact that thousands of Arabs attacked the police and the lawful demonstrators ...[and] that these Israeli Arab citizens claimed to be personally insulted and injured because the demonstration "forced" them to set their eyes on their national flag was seemingly understandable.

The fact that these Israeli citizens rejected Israel's flag while waving Palestinian and Islamic flags was neither newsworthy nor controversial.

No one in the media asked the Arab rioters whom they felt threatened by...[or]why seeing Jews marching with the flag of Israel should provoke them to attack.

... Ben Ari, Marzel and Ben Gvir were not the cause of the enormous police presence. They were a danger to no one. The reason the police were forced to deploy so massively was because they believed that the Arabs would violently attack the Jewish demonstrators. It was the Arabs, not the Jews whom the police feared would break the law. And as it works out, they were right.

...As far as Israel's media are concerned, Arabs cannot be expected to act like responsible citizens. They cannot be required to abide by the law like the rest of the country's citizens. ... All Arab actions are but reactions to Jewish provocations...

...Either we encourage our Arab citizens to fully accept both the rights and duties of citizenship or we continue - through either populism of cowardice - to facilitate their rejection of our society. If we embark on the first path, we will safeguard our national identity as a Jewish liberal democracy. If we remain on the second path, we will imperil our lives, our way of life and our national existence.

Shouts for coexistence at Lieberman speech

Amazing!!! Even before the election Lieberman is is having a positive effect...see this from Ynet News, 3/2/09, by Yael Branovsky [my own emphasis added - SL]:

Arab Israelis protest outside Haifa conference hosting Yisrael Beiteinu leader, some shouting slogans in Russian..."... we will live here together ...Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."

The atmosphere became heated when a group of Lieberman supporters arrived on the scene, singing "no citizenship without loyalty." Police separated the more belligerent individuals on each side.

Jafar Farah, director of the Mossawa Center - the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel – was arrested during the rally for suspicion of assaulting police officers. He was later released to house arrest by the Haifa Magistrates' Court.

...Lieberman said that the Likud party intended to support his party's platform and implement a loyalty test to citizens. ...

Arab parties in Israel win disqualification appeal

From Ynet News, 21/1/09, by Aviad Glickman:

High Court overturns Central Elections Committee's decision to bar Balad, United Arab List-Ta'al from participating in nearing elections

Balad's Zahalka (L) and UAL-Ta'al's Tibi in court (Photo: Dudi Vaaknin)

The High Court of Justice overturned Wednesday the Central Elections Committee's decision to disqualify the Arab parties, Balad and United Arab List-Ta'al from taking part in the next Knesset race.

The Central Elections Committee explained its decision by saying that since neither party recognized Israel as the Jewish homeland, they were not eligible to bid in the nearing general elections. Twenty-six of the committee's members were in favor of barring Balad from the elections, while 21 supported the decision to ban United Arab List-Ta'al.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, appealed the decision with the High Court of Justice, on behalf of both parties.

Wednesday's appeal was heard before a nine-judge panel, as required by law: The petition filed by United Arab List-Ta'al on its disqualification was granted unanimously, while Balad's appeal was granted by a majority of eight, with Justice Edmond Levy objecting.

......Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman condemned the court's decision: "(Former Chief Justice) Aharon Barak once said that democracy doesn’t have to kill itself to prove it was alive. The court threw that sentiment out today, and virtually gave the Arab parties permission to kill Israel's (character) as a Jewish and democratic state.

"We will not give up," he added, "and we will make sure to pass the citizenship bill in the next Knesset. That will put an end to the disloyalty shown by some of Israel's Arabs." [Lieberman is referring to visits by Arab MKs to Damascus and their meetings with terrorists, as well as many statements denigrating the state - SL.]

Sharon Roffe-Ofir and Yael Branovsky contributed to this report

Poll: 76% oppose truce without Shalit

This, from Ynet, 9/1/09 (2 weeks ago) is interesting reading now:

War and Peace Index shows Jewish public supports Gaza operation, objects to ending it if kidnapped soldier is not released as part of agreement, even if rocket fire stops. Arab public conveys opposite views

A majority of the Jewish public in Israel opposes a ceasefire in Gaza without kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release, according to the monthly War and Peace Index poll conducted about a week and a half after the start of Operation Cast Lead.

Beyond the decisive support for the Israel Defense Forces' operation, the public also backs the raid's continuation even if Hamas holds fire under certain conditions.

The respondents were asked, "If a ceasefire agreement with Hamas could be reached, but without including Gilad Shalit's release, do you believe Israel should or should not sign such an agreement?" About 76.5% gave a negative answer, while only 17.5% responded positively.

Asked whether Israel should or should not halt its military activity in the Strip if Hamas is ready to stop firing on southern communities in exchange for the opening of the crossings, 80% responded negatively. In other words, the majority of the public believes Israel should not halt its operation even if Hamas accepts such an offer.

Before the recent days – which saw additional IDF casualties, and many casualties among the Palestinian and UN workers – the operation was supported by a sweeping majority of the Jewish public: 94% of the Jewish public said they support or very much support the operation, 92% said they believe it benefits Israel in terms of security, and a clear but smaller majority believes the operation helps Israel diplomatically as well.

About 92% of the population justifies the Air Force strikes in Gaza despite the damage caused to infrastructure and the civilian population's suffering. The decision to send in ground forces was also widely supported, with 70% saying this was a necessary move.

Barak leads trust index
Asked whether the operation must be continued, a vast majority of the public shares the same opinion, with 90% of respondents saying the operation should be continued until Israel reaches all of its goals.

This support was accompanied by the estimate of 70% of the public that the chances of the operation achieving all of its goals are high or quite high, and that the government has a clear plan of action as to ways to continue the operation (75%).

The wide support for the ongoing fighting seems to be fed largely by the public's positive estimates today in regards to the IDF's fighting abilities (93%) and the southern communities' stamina (87%).

In light of the wide support, it's not surprising that the leaders linked to the operation receives relatively high trust scores, although there are differenced between the different officials.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi leads the trust scale with 85%. This is likely because the IDF is considered "above" the political arena.

Ashkenazi is followed by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak (62%), and by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu (53%). Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is located at the bottom of the trust scale with only 44%.

The findings from a similar survey held among Israel's Arab citizens paint an opposite picture on almost every question. For example, 85% of the Arabs oppose the operation; 93% believe Israel should halt it based on an agreement which would include Hamas ceasing the rocket fire in exchange for opening the crossings; and 80% believe Israel should sign a ceasefire agreement even if it fails to include Shalit's release.

Terrorism goes on and on ...

In case you forgot why we have those nasty checkpoints in the West Bank, see this, by Efrat Weiss and Ali Waked from Ynet News, 22/10/08:

A 17-year old Palestinian was detained when soldiers at Hawara checkpoint near Nablus found a molotov cocktail and a pipe bomb on his person. The youth was transferred to security forces for questioning.

...and this from THE JERUSALEM POST, Oct. 23, 2008, by jpost.com staff and Judy Siegel:

Terrorist kills man, wounds cop in J'lem

86-year-old Avraham Ozeri was killed and a police officer was moderately wounded Thursday morning when they were stabbed near a school on Vardinon Street in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood by a young Palestinian terrorist.

Police said that the assailant, 21-year-old Mohammad Elmadan, from a village near Bethlehem, was stopped for inspection by a pair of officers, a man and a woman, when he pulled out a large knife and attacked the man....

...The attack was the second in a month in Jerusalem and the fourth since July.

On September 22, a Palestinian plowed his car into a group of soldiers at a busy intersection, injuring 13 before he was shot dead.

In two incidents in July, Palestinians carried out attacks on city streets using heavy construction machinery, killing three people and wounding several others.

700 police officers deployed in Acre after Arab-Jewish riots

From THE JERUSALEM POST , Oct. 10, 2008, by Yaakov Katz and Jpost.com staff:

Some 700 police officers were deployed in Acre Friday morning to help restore calm to the city following the Arab-Jewish Yom Kippur riots....

[Israel Police Commissioner Ch.-Insp. Dudi] Cohen said that police would aim to restore calm to the city with the help of reinforcements. "What happened on Yom Kippur was very severe, and both the city's Jewish and Arab leaders, as well as the police, will learn lessons from it..." he said...

...Hundreds of the city's Arab residents vandalized Jewish-owned shops and vehicles and clashed with police in the violence, which broke out on Wednesday night.

On Thursday evening, tensions boiled over again during a demonstration held by Jews against the previous evening's occurrences. Both Jews and Arabs clashed with police in various parts of the racially divided city, leading to 10 arrests. In total, at least eight people were lightly wounded in the successive nights of violence....

...Acre Mayor Shimon Lancry ...blamed Acre's Arab residents for the outbreak of violence. "The incidents over Yom Kipper were very severe, all red lines were crossed," he added. "The Israel Police must use the investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice."

Police said the disturbances were sparked deliberately on Wednesday evening when an Arab driver, Tawfik Jamal - a resident of Acre's Old City - made his way to the predominantly Jewish Ben-Gurion neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, blasting loud music from his vehicle as a provocation on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar....

..."This was a provocation. An Arab driver arrived in a Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur with blaring music, and refused to leave when asked to by local residents. We believe he was intoxicated. This was a deliberate act," Galilee Police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Eran Shaked said.

The verbal confrontation between Jamal and the local residents quickly deteriorated into violence, as rocks and bottles were thrown at Jamal's vehicle. According to Jamal, he and his two passengers fled the car. The three were taken to hospital where they were treated for light wounds and discharged.

In the meantime, police said, false rumors that Arabs were seriously harmed or killed by Jews reached the Old City, and caused a far more serious and organized incident in Acre.

Responding to the rumors, hundreds of Arabs set out from the Old City toward the Ben-Gurion neighborhood, walking down a main road, smashing store windows and cars along the way. Reports said the mob shouted "Kill the Jews," "Allahu Akbar," and "If you come out of your homes, you will die." ...

Arabs and Jews Clash on Yom Kippur in Akko

From Arutz Sheva, 10/10/08, by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz:

Jews fearing a terror attack stoned an Arab driver, and Arabs rioted and vandalized Jewish property in the mixed Mediterranean coastal city of Akko (Acre) during the Yom Kippur holiday and fast. Clashes began Wednesday evening and lasted through Thursday night. Police are on alert to prevent further provocations or acts of vengeance.

The day of violence began Wednesday evening, just after the start of the Yom Kippur fast, when an Arab driver from Akko's Old City entered a majority-Jewish neighborhood. The vehicle apparently raised suspicions, as in Israel it is considered unacceptable for anyone other than emergency vehicles to drive on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, although it is not forbidden by law. The driver had to bypass a barrier set up to block traffic at the entrance to the neighborhood.

A resident of Akko told Israel National News that the motorist was spotted driving at a high speed towards a park where a group of Jewish youth had gathered. Fearing they were the target of a vehicular terrorist attack - of the type that has been perpetrated several times in recent months - the youths pelted the car with rocks and called for help. Jews from the neighborhood gathered and the driver took refuge with his relatives, a local Arab family.

At that point, Akko Arabs were called to come to the aid of the driver and his family, with the help of a rumor that Jews had killed an Arab resident of the Old City. One police officer, the Arab driver and another person were lightly injured as hundreds of people, Jews and Arabs, clashed in the streets.

'If You Leave Your Homes, We'll Kill You'
Police, representatives of Akko City Hall and local Arab leaders managed to end the clashes, but the violence continued as Arabs heading back to their neighborhoods ran riot through Jewish areas of the city. Calling "Death to the Jews" and Allah hu akbar ("Allah is great"), the rioters vandalized hundreds of Jewish-owned shops and vehicles, and threw rocks at people on their way to or from Yom Kippur prayers.

According to an eyewitness, "The Arabs threatened Jews that if they left their home they'd be attacked. The Arabs began vandalizing Jewish-owned cars in the street and smashing windows. Afterwards, we saw them coming with axes and slashing tires. It was awful. Residents were afraid to leave for the synagogue." Sources in the Akko municipality claimed that among those inciting the Arab mobs were known Islamist activists. Police arrested eight people on suspicion of involvement in the violence. Four people were arraigned Thursday, the others will see a judge on Friday.

More Violence as the Fast Ends
Clashes resumed Thursday night after the fast ended, with demonstrations by hundreds of Jews and Arabs near the train station in the eastern section of the city and near the housing projects in the northern neighborhoods. Jewish youths set fire to an empty lot and attempted to make their way to other parts of the city.

Police blocked the eastern entrance to Akko and have been pushing Jewish protesters back towards a local first aid station. To disperse the crowds, police used stun and gas grenades, as well as water hoses, but had difficulty controlling the demonstrators. Clashes with the police continued sporadically into the night, as the Northern District Police Chief, Shimon Koren, is personally overseeing the crowd control operations.

Police are deploying hundreds of officers, patrol cars and special forces in the city's hot spots. "We know that Jews intend to carry out acts of revenge, but we are not talking about an organized initiative," a police spokesman said. "The force will prevent any such interaction."
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter is monitoring the situation closely, but did not announce any intention of going to Akko for a field inspection.

Where's the deterrence of East Jerusalem terrorists?

From Haaretz, 23/07/2008, by Amos Harel:

Responding to the sharp rise in terrorist attacks in the capital, carried out by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities are keen to expedite procedures that would authorize the resumption of punitive measures, such as the razing of terrorists' homes.

For the second time in three weeks, a Palestinian terrorist went on a rampage with a bulldozer in central Jerusalem. Twenty four Israeli civilians were injured, one seriously, before the driver was shot and killed by a Border Police officer and a civilian. ...

.... Security sources expressed concern Tuesday at the sharp rise in the number of attacks in the capital, and the role of East Jerusalem's Arab residents in them. Since the start of the year there have been five major attacks in Jerusalem, claiming the lives of 12 Israelis.

During the first half of the year, the Shin Bet security service arrested 71 Palestinians from East Jerusalem suspected of being involved in attacks, compared to 37 such arrests during the entire year of 2007.

In the first seven years of the second intifada (which began in September 2000), some 270 East Jerusalem residents were arrested for similar suspicions. The same security sources said that the last three attacks in West Jerusalem (at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva and the two bulldozer attacks) constitute a new challenge for Israel, and stressed that at present there is no means to counter them.

The combination of a lone terrorist, who decides to attack without having an organizational structure behind him, and the freedom of movement an Israeli identity card guarantees East Jerusalem Arabs, constitutes a weak point in Israel's defenses, making it difficult to prevent similar attacks in the future.

The security sources further said that in the near future, efforts will be made to accelerate those administrative processes that will result in the razing of the homes of the two bulldozer terrorists from East Jerusalem.

Israel ceased destroying the homes of terrorists in 2005. However, as a result of the recent attacks in the capital, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak called for resuming the punitive acts...

...Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin is in favor of resuming the policy. Speaking at the Knesset prior to Tuesday's attack, he said that Israel faces a "problem of deterrence" in East Jerusalem because it lacks any effective punitive tool, like razing homes.