The 5 items below are brief, for a change, but show a face of Israel that is anything but pretty. Of course, for those who hide their heads in the sand, who do not wish to know, it is entirely possible to ignore events and ideas as those below. And obviously, the fact that one Rabbi and followers believe it ok to kill non-Jews (including children) does not necessarily represent all Israeli Jews.
But the atmosphere here is bleak, and it’s time that Jews in particular, and the world in general, woke up to the fact that for all its advances in science and the arts, Israel is not a nice place. It might not be worse than the United States and many other countries that committed atrocious crimes against humanity. But it is not better. And in any event, that is no comfort.
The initial item below is about the rabbi condoning murder (he apparently never heard the Golden Rule). The 2nd item informs us that Israel’s KKK, Baruch Marzel and friends, will once again be allowed to demonstrate in the Palestinian community (in Israel) of Um al-Fahm. Item number 3 relates that the state refuses to pay the medical bills of a young woman who lost her eye thanks to a canister shot by a soldier, and that hit her face. Well, the state never wants to pay—not for Rachel Corrie (who, the State claimed killed herself), not for Tom Hurndall, not for Tristan Anderson (who has years of physical therapy to look forward to) and now not for Emily Henochowicz.
Item 4 informs us that work on the separation barrier has picked up a pace, and that consequently soon the village of Wallajeh will be cut off from its lands and will be surrounded on 3 sides by this barrier. Most Israelis who cite Robert Frost’s poem on mending walls like to quote the line ““Good fences make good neighbours,” without reading the whole of the poem and realizing that the narrator disagrees with his neighbor (who stated that good fences make. . .). The narrator in fact counters the neighbor, stating,
“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.” . . .
And indeed, ‘something there is that doesn’t love a wall’ and just as other walls have fallen, so will this one. But till that happens, Palestinians will suffer. And it is not unlikely that Israeli Jews will, too, eventually. One cannot forever enslave a people and expect it to remain docile.
The final item reveals that Israel is afraid of its past. Is it because it does not want Israeli youth to know the truth?
What a country. What a pity. And this is even without adding yet another depiction about the tragic destruction of an entire village yesterday.
Dorothy
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1. Haaretz Thursday, July 29, 2010
Book condoning murder has another rabbi in hot water
Head of yeshiva in West Bank settlement of Yitzhar detained by police over book permitting murder of non-Jews who threaten Israel.
The police’s Unit of International Crime Investigations on Thursday detained rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, the president of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in connection to a book that condoned the killing of non-Jews.
Ginsburg was detained for questioning days after the alleged author of the book, rabbi Yitzhak Shapira was arrested for inciting to violence. Shapira is also a rabbi at the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva.
The book, named “The King’s Torah,” deems the killing of non-Jews who threaten Israel as legal. “It is permissible to kill the Righteous among Nations even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation,” the book says, adding: “If we kill a Gentile who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments – because we care about the commandments – there is nothing wrong with the murder.”
Ginsburg, who recommended the book to his students, is a follower of Chabad. He has faced prosecution in the past for incitement to racism after having published a book insisting that there is no place for Arabs in the state of Israel. The charges were dropped after Ginsburg issued a clarification letter.
Ginsburg is a well known radical in his views on Israel’s Arab public. The police declined to comment on the ongoing investigation against him.
The Od Yosef Chai yeshiva issued a letter on Thursday condemning the police, saying that in any other enlightened country it would be inconceivable to question such an admirable man as rabbi Ginsburg.
This story is by:
Chaim Levinson
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2. [Buruch Marzel’s complaint below that rightists deserve the same priviledges as Arabs and leftists ignores the facts—that Arabs and leftists in Sheikh Jarrah, in Bil’in, and in dozens of other villages and areas experience soldiers firing tear gas, live bullets, rubber bullets, stink water, and other pleasant means, not to mention beatings and frequent detentions. And when leftists go to defend Bedouins or Palestinians in the South Hebron hills, or try to prevent demolitions they are likely to find themselves in jail. As for Arabs who demonstrate, the conditions are much worse. Yes, Baruch Marzel should be treated as Arabs and Leftists are! Indeed he should be.
Dorothy]
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Ynet Thursday. July 29, 2010
07.29.10
Deal reached: Rightists to protest in Arab town
Rightists, officials reach compromise; Marzel clashes with judge: We deserve same rights as leftists
Rightist activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir have received permission to demonstrate in Umm al-Fahm but not outside the city’s Islamic Movement offices, following a compromise with the State Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the agreement, the activists will be allowed to protest in Umm al-Fahm’s northern entrance.
A harsh verbal exchange between Marzel and Supreme Court Judge Asher Grunis took place before the compromise was reached.
“We are citizens and we deserve the same right as leftists – whose views may be closer to yours . I shouldn’t have to take my yarmulke off when I come in here to get the same rights. What Arabs and leftists deserve, we deserve too,” Marzel said.
Judge Grunis replied: “If you keep this up, we’ll throw you out of here. You should learn to behave like your friend (Ben-Gvir).”
Marzel answered: “I always get that,” to which Grunis replied: “It must be right.”
‘Important step.
Ben-Gvir said the compromise was an important step: “The High Court has made it clear to the police that we have a right to protest against Raed Salah and his Marmara-supporting friends. I hope that eventually the High Court will allow us to demonstrate outside Salah’s private residence and be awarded the rights given to Arabs and leftists.”
Marzel and Ben-Gvir in court (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Ben-Gvir, Marzel and MK Michael Ben Ari demanded to be allowed to protest outside the Islamic Movement’s offices in Umm al-Fahm during a hearing at Supreme Court on Thursday.
Ben-Gvir also compared the rightist protest to Thursday’s Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem.
“It’s unacceptable that Umm al-Fahm be immune from protests. In several hours there will be a parade which bothers me greatly with people wearing clothes I wouldn’t wear to the beach. Nevertheless, we accept the court’s ruling,” he said.
During the hearing, a police official warned that the protest will be met with resistance and may lead to injuries. The State’s representative said that police officers were injured during the last rally and estimated the demonstration would require the deployment of 2,000 police officers
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3. Haaretz Thursday, July 29, 2010
Published 10:50 28.07.10
Israel refuses to pay medical bills for American-Jewish protester who lost eye
Emily Henochowicz was wounded by a tear gas canister in a demonstration following Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid.
The Israeli government is refusing to pay the cost of medical care for an American-Jewish activist who lost an eye when Border Police officers fired a tear gas canister at her during a demonstration.
Emily Henochowicz, who studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem and also holds Israeli citizenship, took part in a protest on May 31, shortly after Israel killed nine pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Dozens of activists took part in the protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza next to the Qalandia checkpoint, south of Ramallah.
According to the IDF, demonstrators began to throw stones at the Border Police, after which the army responded by firing tear gas canisters.
According to Henochowicz, one policeman shot a canister directly at her face, shattering her jaw and causing her to lose her left eye. A Haaretz reporter witnessed the incident.
Following her her treatment at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Henochowicz’s father, who had traveled from the U.S., was handed a bill for NIS 14,000. Under advice from his lawyer, Michael Sfard, he asked the Defense Ministry cover the expense, but officials refused.
In justifying the refusal, the Defense Ministry claimed the tear gas was not fired directly at Henochowicz.
“The canister ricocheted at her after it rebound off a concrete barrier and changed direction – it was not shot directly at her,” the ministry said in a statement drafted by lawyer Sharon Zimmerman. The statement also accused Henochowicz of putting herself at risk by voluntarily participating in a breach of the peace.
In response, Sfard said that as police were still investigating the incident, it was impossible for the Defense Ministry to judge exactly what occurred.
“Either way, even if wounding of my client was the result of negligence and not criminal intent -even then the State of Israel has a moral, ethical and legal obligation to pay for her treatment,” Sfard wrote.
The Defense Ministry responded: “From our reports, we know that the Border Police acted in accordance with the law at the violent demonstration at Qalandia, and that the shooting of tear gas canisters at demonstrators was justified. Of course, we regret that Emily Henochowicz was wounded in her eye. But under such circumstances, the Defense Ministry does not cover the expenses of medical treatment.”
This story is by:
Avi Issacharoff
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4. Haaretz Thursday, July 29, 2010
Israel speeds up West Bank barrier construction following court injunction
Planned route for the West Bank separation fence surrounds village of Walajeh on three sides, separating it from large tracts of its land.
The Defense Ministry picked up the pace of work on the separation fence near the Palestinian village of Walajeh, south of Jerusalem this week, village residents and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel say.
The residents had petitioned the High Court of Justice, asking it to order the state to find an alternative route for the fence. The current route would surround the village on three sides and separate it from large tracts of its land.
The SPNI, which joined the petition as a “friend of the court,” opposes the route, which it says would critically damage the area’s unique terrace landscape.
During a court hearing Sunday, it came out that the order to expropriate village lands for the fence, which enabled the work to begin, had expired a year ago. The state’s representative had no satisfactory explanation for this, so the court issued an injunction requiring the state to explain within 45 days why the work should not be stopped. However, the justices did not order the work stopped.
The Palestinians and the SPNI say that since the injunction was issued, the Defense Ministry and the contractors have been working much faster than before. Yesterday, for example, there were five bulldozers and other heavy equipment working on a half-kilometer stretch of the fence, and other heavy equipment working elsewhere around the village.
“Yesterday and today they’ve been working like crazy,” said Ahmed Barghut, a resident of Walajeh whose house is near the work site.
The Defense Ministry says the construction is continuing at the same pace as before, and that the court rejected the petition to stop the work.
“An appeals committee found the route met the demand to limit damage to the fabric of Palestinian life and took nature and landscape into consideration,” it said.
This story is by:
Nir Hasson
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5 Haaretz Thursday, July 29, 2010
A state afraid of its past
The role of the security establishment and intelligence services is to protect the state in the present, not to hide the past.
About two weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed regulations restricting access to government archives. As Barak Ravid revealed yesterday in Haaretz, 50-year-old materials that were to be opened to the public for historical study will now remain classified for two more decades.
The decision was preceded by intense pressure from the defense establishment and intelligence services on the state archivist, Prof. Yehoshua Freundlich. The archivist accepted their position, and said “these materials are not fit for public viewing.”
The information that remains classified deals, among other things, with the expulsions and massacres of Arabs in the War of Independence, Mossad operations in foreign countries, surveillance of opposition politicians by the Shin Bet security service in the 1950s and the establishment of the Biological Research Institute in Nes Tziona and the Nuclear Research Center in Dimona.
The material was not accessible to the public previously, and the new regulations merely put a retroactive stamp of legality on the closure of the archives, which until now was sealed illegally. The state archivist warned that some of the classified materials “has implications over [Israel’s] adherence to international law.”
His words suggest that the state will be seen as an outlaw if the past deeds of the security and intelligence services are made public. But his explanations are not reasonable. Israel, which this year celebrated its 62nd birthday, can and must confront the less than heroic chapters in its past and reveal them to the public and for historical study. The public has a right to know about the decisions made by the state’s founders, even if they involved violations of human rights, covering up crimes or harassing political opponents by security means. The country is mature and strong enough to absorb the criticism that could arise if, for example, previously unpublished testimonies are discovered about the events at Deir Yassin.
The role of the security establishment and intelligence services is to protect the state in the present, not to hide the past. The new regulations, prepared in response to petitions by journalists to the High Court of Justice, reverse the trend of openness set in the Freedom of Information Law, which the Supreme Court called “a guiding law.” Israelis should study history as it happened and as it was documented, not just a censored and prettified version.
