Antony Loewenstein

How can Zionists in Israel expect Arabs to declare their love for a Jewish state when this is taking place?

Civil rights groups in Israel have expressed outrage at the announcement last week that a special undercover unit of the police has been infiltrating and collecting intelligence on Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority by disguising its officers as Arabs.

It is the first public admission that the Israeli police are using methods against the country’s 1.3 million Arab citizens that were adopted long ago in the occupied territories, where soldiers are regularly sent on missions disguised as Palestinians.

According to David Cohen, the national police commissioner, the unit was established two years ago after an assessment that there was “no intelligence infrastructure to deal with the Arab community.” He said that, in addition, undercover agents had been operating in East Jerusalem for several years to track potential terrorists.

Israel’s Arab leaders denounced the move as confirmation that the Arab minority was still regarded by the police as “an enemy” — a criticism made by a state commission of inquiry after police shot dead 13 unarmed Arab demonstrators inside Israel and wounded hundreds more at the start of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000.

In a letter of protest to Israeli officials this week, Adalah, a legal rights group, warned that the unit’s creation violated the constitutional rights of the Arab minority and risked introducing “racial profiling” into Israeli policing.

Although the police claim that only Arab criminals are being targeted, Arab leaders believe the unit is an expansion of police efforts to collect information on political activists, escalating what they term a “climate of fear” being fostered by the rightwing government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Racism, mainstream Israeli-style:

“When Israel sends a sophisticated satellite into space, the Arabs come up with a new kind of hummus,” Dr. Dan Schueftan told students during his course on Israel’s security perspective in the diplomacy and security program for senior managers at Tel Aviv University.

An essay that was published in last Friday’s weekend supplement reveals that during his lectures, Dr. Schueftan made additional remarks such as “The Arabs are the biggest failure in the history of the human race. There’s nothing under the sun that’s more screwed up than the Palestinians”; “The Iran-Iraq war was, in Hanna Szenes’s words, ‘My God, my God, I pray that it never end. Seven years of pure pleasure”; “Throughout the Arab world, people fire guns at weddings in order to prove that they have at least one thing that’s hard and in working order that can shoot.”

Schueftan has a great deal of influence over high-ranking members of the security establishment and the upper political echelon. Several high-ranking officials of the Mossad and of the army took his course at Tel Aviv University as well. Some of them did not like Schueftan’s remarks. “Even if we enjoyed the course itself, we didn’t like the style,” one student said. Another student even left the course after several meetings. “It’s not respectable and even vulgar to make remarks like that during a lesson,” she said. “I chose not to confront him. That’s not why I went to university. I chose to leave.”

As Omar Barghouti, a leader of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, writes:

The racist utterance by Prof. Dan Scheuftan of Tel Aviv University is quite typical in the Israeli academy, a bastion of racism that has for decades proven to be an essential, reliable and very effective partner in the Israeli regime of oppression against the Palestinian people. The peculiar thing about this specific incident is that it got reported; 99% of similar incidences go unreported. It is no big deal today in the Israeli academy to make revolting racist remarks against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims that would cause an uproar in any decent society had they been made against ANY minority, let alone against Jews! But, then again, who said Israel was a “decent” society?!

Israeli star academics, like Arnon Sofer, who considers himself the conceptual father of Israel’s Wall in the occupied territory and the brain behind most of the Jewish-only colonies — Mitzpim — in the predominantly Palestinian Galilee in the north of Israel, are celebrated by the academy, not censured. The Mitzpim project, after all, is a normal — if not very successful — Israeli exercise in demographic control and geographic development.

Israel’s arguably most influential and celebrated philosopher, Asa Kasher, co-authored the code of conduct of the Israeli occupation army, giving “moral” justification for extra-judicial killings, collective punishment, among other acts that are regarded as crimes of war in international law. A normal Israeli exercise in moral philosophy.

And the list goes on … endlessly. The history of the Israeli academy is more than anything else the history of providing the academic and intellectual scaffolding, design, justification and normalization of Israel’s fatal cocktail of apartheid, occupation and settler-colonialism. As Ilan Pappe rightly points out, Israeli academics, with a few bright exceptions, act like ambassadors that whitewash their state’s crimes and justify its every violation of international law and basic human rights.

The role of the Arab world in creating and maintaining the Palestinian refugee crisis, more than 60 years after the state of Israel was born.

There is much blame to be shared around.

I’m on my way to the first J Street conference in Washington DC. Extreme Zionists in the US call the group “cranks“. Other so-called leading Jews in the US are equally spooked. What, some Jews meeting who don’t love the settlements and want to bomb every country in the Middle East? Lynch them!

Gideon Levy in Haaretz has his say:

Israel has been dealing one blow after another to the rest of the world. While China has still not recovered from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s absence from the reception at its Tel Aviv embassy – a serious punishment for China’s support for the Goldstone report – France is licking its wounds after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “vetoed” a visit by the French foreign minister to Gaza. And Israel has dealt another blow: Its ambassador in Washington, Michael Oren, will boycott the conference next week of the new Israel lobby J Street.

China, France and J Street will somehow get by despite these boycotts, Turkey will also recover from the great vacationers’ revolt, and we can expect that even the Swedes and Norwegians will recover from Israel’s loud reprimands. But a country that attacks and boycotts everyone who does not exactly agree with its official positions will become isolated, forsaken and detestable: North Korea of today or Albania of yesterday. It’s actually quite strange for Israel to use this weapon, as it is about to turn into the victim of boycotts itself.

Israel strikes and strikes again. It strikes its enemies, and now it strikes out at its friends who dare not fall exactly in line with its official policies. The J Street case is a particularly serious example. This Jewish organization rose in America along with Barack Obama. Its members want a fair and peace-seeking Israel.

That’s their sin, and their punishment is a boycott.

The fact that Kadima leader Tzipi Livni has endorsed the conference is hardly something to celebrate. The woman has a long history of starting wars against the Palestinian people.

It seems that anybody who has any hesitation about J Street – including me, for the record – must be smeared by the self-proclaimed spokespeople of the American Jewish community. That suggests insecurity, not strength. Open debate about Israel/Palestine requires an honest reckoning of every issue, no hesitations, and J Street is simply a place for many of us to gather and discuss. And plan.

Here’s Daniel Luban in IPS with the run-down of the fear:

The basic premise of J Street is that it is possible to be both liberal and pro-Israel. If the hardliners succeed in destroying J Street, and with it any viable outlet for liberal pro-Israel sentiment, they will force the younger generation of American Jews — who are overwhelmingly Obama Democrats — to choose between support for Israel and liberalism. No doubt some will choose Israel, but far more will choose liberalism. And in that case Israel will face a predicament far bleaker than whatever it fears from J Street.

Why are so many Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka and wanting to come to Australia?

Here’s why.

Australians for Palestine public advocate Michael Shaik publishes the following in the Australian:

Nine months since the end of the offensive, Gazans continue to live in plastic tents alongside the ruins off their homes because Israel refuses to allow building materials into Gaza.   The Israeli government reasons that, by inflicting such punishment on Gaza’s population, it will eventually overthrow Hamas, but it is unclear how doing so will enhance its security.

In August Hamas fought a pitched battle with the al-Qaeda affiliated Jund Ansar Allah, which has exploited the desperation of Gaza’s population and decimation of its police force to establish itself in Gaza’s refugee camps.

Should Obama exercise the US veto to bury the Goldstone report so soon after having accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”, he would not only undermine his efforts to restore America’s stature as the leader of the free world but also seriously compromise the standing of the United Nations, which would have to concede that its Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not apply to Palestinians.

To its credit, the Murdoch paper provides some space (albeit very little) for such views. Most other Australian print outlets simply ignore the issue.

A strong New York Times story about the Gaza tunnels that keep the people there alive:

Dusty sacks filled with cans of Coca-Cola were being loaded onto trucks by young boys, headed for supermarkets in Gaza City. Thousands of motorcycles were lined up on display in a nearby stadium, ranging in price from $2,000 to $10,000.

At Nijma market, refrigerators, flat-screen televisions, microwaves, air-conditioners, generators and ovens filled the tents, all at inflated prices, having been spirited into this town on the border with Egypt through tunnels under the sand. Some Gazans have even purchased cars smuggled in parts into the isolated Palestinian enclave.

The tunnels emerged as an essential lifeline for Gaza two years ago, when Israel imposed a political and economic embargo after Hamas took over the area. Israel did its best to obliterate them during its three-week military offensive in Gaza last winter, saying they were being used for smuggling weapons and explosives.

But the builders set to work immediately after that, and with little hope of the border crossings with Israel opening anytime soon — and rich profits to be harvested — there are more tunnels now than ever, and Rafah has turned into a shopping mecca where the tunnel owners are kings.

“If the siege were to be lifted,” said Osama, 22, a tunnel owner, “I would end up in intensive care.” Osama would not give his family name, fearing he would never be able to travel legally out of Gaza if identified. Locally, he goes by the nickname of Doda, which means worm.

Ramallah Underground, a Palestinian hip-hop group that talks about life under Israeli occupation, are in Melbourne now:

Israel continues to meddle inside Lebanese territory, a violation of international law:

The detonation of Israeli surveillance devices near the southern village of Houla represent a success for Israel against archenemy Hizbullah, while also raising pressure on the Shiite group and further eroding the security situation in south Lebanon, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Wednesday.

Two electronic listening devices planted near the Israel-Lebanon border self-destructed last weekend as people approached, while the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) destroyed a third article of espionage equipment. The existence of sophisticated Israeli spy technology inside Lebanon, albeit uncovered, still signifies a victory for the Jewish state in its struggle against Hizbullah, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science.

“A small breach is a success,” he said. “Even if it’s a minor breach, it’s a success.”

This is therefore unsurprising:

The Lebanese President, Michel Suleiman, accused Israel on Tuesday of spying on his country in violation of a United Nations peace resolution.

“There is a difference between spying carried out by people who have been detected and detained, and detectors and spying equipment which have been found during last week,” he told reporters in Spain where he is on a state visit.

“These spy networks discovered on Sunday, in means of spying, are a clear violation by Israel of the UN Resolution 1701, even more so than Israel routine violation of Lebanese airspace.” The president added.

Hezbollah, who discovered a spying device on a cable between the villages of Mays and Jebel, said that they were installed by Israel after the summer 2006 war. While the UN reported that, they were place during the July 2006 war.

Collective punishment, pure and simple:

Israel has decided to allow coffee and tea into the besieged Gaza Strip starting on Thursday, a Palestinian official said.

Nasser As-Sarraj, undersecretary of the Ministry of National Economy said that Palestinian authorities received word from Israel of the change in policy, which apparently removes coffee and tea from a list of banned items.

Israel bans imports of hundreds of specific items into Gaza as a part of its blockade of the territory which began in June 2007. The government says the materials are banned for security reasons.

Next week’s J Street conference in Washington DC (controversy abounds, so I can’t wait to be there to experience it up close) continues to draw the wrath of hardline Zionists. Here’s Isi Leibler, recently calling for the ex-communication of dissident Jews:

This weekend J Street is launching its first major convention at which it claims 160 members of Congress and a number of former Israeli left-wing politicians will participate. Only 18 months old, J Street already boasts of a $3 million budget which, while minuscule compared to AIPAC’s $70 million, is nevertheless impressive. It also receives glowing liberal media coverage, especially from The New York Times.

American Jews take pride in being an open and pluralistic community. So why make a fuss about an organization, even if it does engage in activities that many would consider offensive? Besides, blackballing such a fringe group would lead to accusations of attempting to stifle freedom of expression and transform it into a martyr.

However, the fact is that no one is seeking to deny freedom of expression to J Street or other groups hostile to Israel. The issue is whether organizations should be able to exploit the Jewish community as launching pads to campaign against the Jewish state while presenting themselves as mainstream Jews.

Most Jews would concur that a red line should be drawn between legitimate criticism of Israel and concerted campaigns to pressure the US or any government to force the democratically elected government of Israel to make concessions which could imperil the lives of its citizens.

…

IN SHORT, J Street has established a virtually consistent track record of hostility against Israel. One has yet to see it release a single statement backing Israel on any substantive issue. It vigorously campaigns to pressure the US government to be “tough” and force Israel to make unilateral concessions. It financially supports the election of anti-Israeli congressmen and raises the specter of dual loyalties. It continuously defames mainstream Jewish organizations, depicting them as extremists. It receives financial support and praise from Arabs and foes of Israel. To suggest that such an organization is “pro-Israel” is utterly preposterous.

Today Israel is undergoing a critical phase in its relationship with the US. The pressures on the Jewish state are not limited to calls to freeze settlements. In the aftermath of the toxic Goldstone report, Israelis travelling abroad may now face the threat of prosecution. Israel also faces the challenge of defining defensible borders and addressing the danger of a nuclear Iran. In these and other existential challenges, Israel is largely dependent on US support which J Street seeks to undermine.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of committed Jews are outraged by a Jewish organization whose principal raison d’être is to lobby the US to act harshly against Israel. The limited support J Street enjoys comes principally from those uninvolved in Jewish life. Indeed, Ben-Ami even told The New York Times that his members are comprised primarily of intermarried youngsters who attend “Buddhist Seders.” That probably explains why J Street could endorse the staging of the contemporary anti-Semitic blood libel play Seven Jewish Children.

No one seeks to deny Israeli bashers freedom of expression. But there is a need to make the public aware that J Street represents an insignificant group of uncommitted Jews. It must be exposed as hostile to Israel and marginalized from the Jewish community. If Americans understand this, J Street’s ability to undermine Israel will largely be neutralized.

Jews, you have been warned. There is only way to be a good Jew; anti-Arab, angry, pro-settlements and blinded by nationalism.

One of Israel’s finest journalists, Amira Hass, has won the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour described Hass as “one of the greatest truth-seekers of them all.”

This is her acceptance speech:

Allow me to start with a correction. “Ah, how impolite,” you’d rightly think. But anyway, we Israelis are being forgiven for much worse than impoliteness. What is so generously termed today by the International Women’s Media Foundation as my “lifetime achievement” needs to be corrected, because it is failure. Nothing more than a failure. A lifetime failure. Come to think of it, the “lifetime” part is just as questionable. After all, it is about a third of my life, not more, that I have been engaged in journalism. Also, if the “lifetime” part gives you the impression that I am soon going to retire, then this impression has to be corrected, as well. I’m not planning to end soon what I’m doing.

What am I doing? I’m generally defined as a reporter on Palestinian issues. But, in fact, my reports are about the Israeli society and policies, about domination and intoxications. My sources are not secret documents and leaked-out minutes which were taken out of meetings of people with power and in power; my sources are the open ways by which the subjugated are being dispossessed of their equal rights as human beings.

There is still much more to learn about Israel, to learn about my society and about the Israeli decision makers, who invent restrictions such as: Gazan students are not to study in a Palestinian university in the West Bank, some seventy kilometers away from their home. Another ban: children above the age of eighteen are not to visit their Palestinian parents in Gaza, if the parents are well and healthy. If the parents are dying, Israeli order-abiding officials would have allowed a visit. If the children are younger than eighteen, the visit would have been allowed, as well. But on the other hand, second-degree relatives are not allowed to visit dying or healthy siblings in Gaza. It is an intriguing philosophical question, not only journalistic. Think of it. What, for the Israeli system, is so disturbing about reasonably healthy fathers or mothers? What is so disturbing about a kid choosing and getting a better education? And these are but two in a long, long list of Israeli prohibitions.

Also, when I write about the progressively decimated and fragmented Palestinian territory of the West Bank, it’s not just about people losing their family property and livelihood that I write. It’s not only about the shrinking opportunities of people in disconnected, crowded enclaves. It is in fact a story about the skills of Israeli architects. It is a way to learn about how Israeli on-the-ground planning contradicts official proclamations, a phenomenon which collectivizes the acts of all Israeli governments in the past as in the present.

In short, there is so much to keep me busy for another lifetime, or at least for the rest of my lifetime. But, as I said, the real correction is elsewhere. It’s not about achievement that we should be talking here, but about a failure. It is the failure to make the Israeli and international public use and accept correct terms and words which reflect the reality, not the Orwellian Newspeak that has flourished since 1993 and has been cleverly dictated and disseminated by those with invested interests. The peace process terminology, which took reign, blurs the perception of real processes that are going on: a special Israeli blend of military occupation, colonialism, apartheid, Palestinian limited self-rule in enclaves, and a democracy for Jews.

It is not my role as a journalist to make my fellow Israelis and Jews agree that these processes are immoral and dangerously unwise for all of us. It is my role, though, to exercise the right for freedom of the press in order to supply information and to make people know. But as I’ve painfully discovered over the years, the right to know does not mean a duty to know. Thousands of my articles and zillion of words have evaporated. They could not compete with the official language that has been happily adopted by the mass media and is used in order to dis-portray the reality, official language that encourages people not to know. Indeed, a remarkable failure for a journalist.