"If you can’t ride two horses at once, you better get out of the circus," wrote John le Carré in one of his books. In his context, of course, the term "circus" referred to the ironic nickname by which British intelligence agents call their service.
Cinema festival in Gaza - photos: Masmerim quarterly
"No
decent political leader would join the Netanyahu Circus, this last-minute cabinet
hanging on the most slim of parliamentary majorities which you formed for the
sole purpose of perpetuating your rule” stated opposition leader Yitzchak
Herzog during the tense debate when the new government was sworn in. "You did
not appoint a Foreign Minister, you keep that portfolio vacant “as a deposit” -
in the hope of still getting myself and my party to join in a government
hanging by a thread, a government struggling on a tightrope like an acrobat in
the circus. No use. Foreign affairs are too important to leave untended, you
should tonight appoint a Foreign Minister from your own party, to hold that
ministry for as long as your cabinet lasts. It would be best for the future of
Israel when this circus cabinet which you narrowly formed not be sworn in at
all – and if sworn in today, that its days be short. For the future of Israel, the
opposition which I head will strive to have a new cabinet formed in Israel, a
cabinet not headed by you."
Netanyahu
insists on keeping the Foreign Affairs portfolio in his own hands, even at the cost
of a bitter confrontation with Gilad Erdan, hitherto his closest confidant, who
had expected to get the Foreign Ministry as a reward for years of dedicated
service to Netanyahu in both inter-party and intra-party struggles. Evidently Netanyahu
still entertains the hope that sooner or later Herzog would relent, take up the
position of Foreign Minister and present to the world a "sane" and “moderate”
image behind which extreme right-wing policies could be carried on - as did Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni in the previous Netanyahu
cabinets.
"If
you lay a hand on the Supreme Court, you will find me confronting you – with an
enormous following at my back" continued Herzog. "If you lay a hand
on minorities in the Israeli society, as you did in the last election campaign,
if you talk to them and about them as you spoke on elections day, you will find
me confronting you – with an enormous following at my back. The Prime Minister
of the State of the Jews must not discriminate against citizens on grounds of
race, religion, sexual orientation or skin color". If Herzog does keep his
word and leads the opposition along the lines laid down in this maiden speech,
he will be entitled to the apologies of many observers and commentators who had
expressed a cynical doubt of his commitment to maintain the struggle.
Netanyahu
has appointed three women to ministerial positions in his cabinet. Gila Gamliel
got the longest title ever bestowed on an Israeli cabinet minister: Minister
for Senior Citizens, Gender Equality, Equality of Minorities, and the Advancement of Young People and Pensioners".
Personally, her appointment did not
arouse public opposition. Opposition Knesset Members – especially the women
among them - expressed even sympathy for her and the hope that she would have
at least a measure of success in realizing at least some of the goals expressed
in the long name of her new Ministry. In contrast, the announced appointment of two other new women ministers -
Miri Regev as Minister of Culture and Ayelet Shaked as Minister of Justice – did
provoke widespread public uproar, and not without reason.
Miri Regev
had had a successful military career, holding the position of Chief Military
Censor, and then of IDF Spokesperson, at the rank of Brigadier-General -
achievements which at the time gained her the reputation of a strong assertive
woman. As a Knesset Member she became known mainly for repeated bouts of crude racist
demagoguery - against Arab citizens of Israel (in particular, against the Arab woman
Knesset Member Haneen Zoabi) and most particularly against refugees from Africa
who maintain themselves with in the slums of south Tel Aviv. "The Sudanese
are a cancer in our body, they should be sent back where they came from. The
situation in south Tel Aviv is unbearable, I want to see the Saharonim
Detention Center brim-full of 7000 infiltrators and illegal immigrants en route
to deportation” declared Regev in a speech to an unruly crowd in south Tel
Aviv. Immediately afterwards, Regev’s listeners started rampaging through the
streets, beating up any black-skinned person they encountered. Of course, Regev
announced immediately that that had not been her intention at all.
On Uri
Weiss’ blog I found the following comment: "There are some who view
positively the successful military and political career of Miri Regev - on
Feminist grounds. They should be reminded that Regev was instrumental in formulating the procedure of “Hot Return”,
under which soldiers in the border area were instructed to immediately return
to the Egyptian side any African refugees trying to enter Israel. Often, women
refugees who were returned to the Egyptian side immediately fell victim to gang
rape by Egyptian soldiers waiting on the other side”.
This
practice of "Hot Return" was disliked by some of the soldiers who
were charged with enforcing it. In the last recorded case, the Israeli troops did
return eighteen male black "infiltrators"
to the Egyptian side of the border, but refused to deport the three women who had
been with them - especially since the Egyptian soldiers waiting on the other
side of the border have shown with unmistakable hand gestures their intentions
regarding the women.
Ultimately,
the entire "Hot Return" procedure was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court
in Jerusalem. Thereupon, an alternative procedure was formulated, whereby the
Sudanese and Eritrean refugees were detained without trial and sent to the "open
prison" of Holot deep in the Negev desert, with government officials coming
and pressuring them to sign their consent to "voluntary deportation”. Three
Christian refugees from Eritrea agreed to sign such a form and were put on a
plane to Rwanda. From the airport there, they were deported again, eventually
ending up in Libya - where they fell into the hands of ISIS militants who
included them in a group of summarily executed Christians.
The
ISIS video depicting the killings was seen by people who had known the three in
Israel, both other refugees and members of the Israeli refugee aid
organizations. The aid organizations held a protest rally in central Tel Aviv,
under the slogan “No more deporting of refugees to their deaths!”. For her
part, Miri Regev convened a special meeting of the Knesset Interior Affairs Committee
“to inquire into the sources of funding
of the refugee aid organizations",
since “these organizations are undermining the Jewish character of
Israel”. Such are the main qualifications which Miri Regev brings to her new
role as Minister of Culture of the State of Israel.
The
refugee aid organizations have twice filed appeals with the Supreme Court
against the law which authorizes the protracted detention without trial of asylum seekers. Twice did the judges rule the law
to be unconstitutional and in contravention of the Basic Law on Human Dignity
and Liberty, but the right-wing majority in the Knesset for the third time
enacted the Refuge Detention Law, with minor changes. Now pending before the
Supreme Court is another appeal by the refugee aid organizations, and within a
few months the judges will have to decide whether or not to once again overturn
that law.
This
is where Netnayhau’s second new woman minister comes in - Ayelet Shaked, Minister
of Justice (originally slated to be Minister of Culture, before managing to upgrade
herself in the fierce cabinet-forming negotiations). Shaked's public profile of
polite and civilized talk is very different from that of Miri Regev. Ahead of
taking up her new appointment, the new Justice Minister went on record stating
her “great esteem for the judges of Israel’s Supreme Court, whose high
reputation is world-wide," but added in passing that she would act "to
prevent the Court from interfering in the work of the Knesset." She also
noted that in making new appointments to the Supreme Court she would give
preference to “conservative judges who avoid undue intervention with the actions of the Executive and Legislative Branches"
rather than "over-activist judges”.
This
was more than a hint to the two legislative acts which Ayelet Shaked had been
promoting long before she got a chance to penetrate into the nerve center of
the Israeli legal system. The first is the "Overcoming Clause" which
- in case of the Supreme Court ruling a law to be unconstitutional or in violation
of Human and Civil Rights - would authorize the Knesset to nevertheless
re-enact the offending law. A second Shaked initiative would be a change in the
composition of the Judicial Appointments Committee, which would give
politicians in general - and right-wing politicians in particular – a far
bigger role in the appointment of new judges to the Supreme Court.
Are
the Supreme Court judges intimidated and frightened by all this? Maybe they
are. First, the court dismissed the appeal against the "Boycott Law" which
was passed by the Knesset four years ago. By majority vote, the justices ruled
that voicing a call for a boycott of products made at a settlement in the
Occupied Territories is “tantamount to calling for a boycott of the State of Israel
itself" - and that therefore, it is
permissible to institute judicial proceedings against anyone making such a
boycott call and demand substantial sums
for “damages caused by the call for boycott”. Justice Elyakim Rubinstein went
further, quoting from the traditional Passover liturgy the words "in every
generation, enemies rise up to annihilate us…
Justice
Rubinstein, along with his colleague Neil Hendel, also took part in the decision
to reject the appeal by residents of the “unrecognized” Bedouin village of Umm
al-Hiran in the Negev. The court ruling in effect enables state authorities to completely destroy and raze the
village, in order to make place for a Jewish community (specifically, a Jewish
religious community) which would also be
called Hiran. It was no avail to the Hiran residents to point out that they have
lived continuously on that location in that place since 1956, nor that on that
year they had been transferred there by the authorities of the State of Israel when
Kibbutz Shoval was established on their original lands. The judges ruled that
the Bedouin residents are to be considered illegal squatters who have no right in the land and whom the
state may remove at its sole discretion. And within a single day, a virtually
identical ruling was made by Justice Noam Solberg, who rejected an appeal by
residents of Susya in the South Hebron Hill and authorized the state to
demolish their homes and give over the land to the nearby Israeli settlement –
which is also named Susya.
The
difference - at least theoreticall: Hiran is a village within the internationally
recognized sovereign territory of the State of Israel, whose residents are legally Israeli citizens for all
intents and purposes, while Susya is in Occupied Territory under Israeli
military rule. But as the veteran Amira Hass noted on the pages of Ha’aretz, the
fact of an identical policy of dispossession being implemented on both sides of
the Green Line (pre-’67 border), in both cases authorized by the Supreme Court with
identical arguments, gives greater credence to those who regard the State of
Israel - from foundation in 1948 until the present day – as a predatory entity
bent on limitless oppression and dispossession. Hass expressed doubt on whether
the Supreme Court can still be regarded as a bastion of Civil and Human Rights
threatened by malevolent politicians, pointing out that Justice Solberg who
rendered the ruling on Susya lives himself in a West Bank settlement.
In its
latest ruling (so far) the Supreme Court has granted its approval to the “Dance
of the Flags”, the traditional annual march held by young settlers and their
sympathizers on “Jerusalem Day". That date marks the anniversary
(according to the Jewish calendar) of the 1967 regarded by celebrants as “The
Unification of the City of Jerusalem” (in the other narrative, as the time when
Palestinian East Jerusalem was occupied
and annexed by Israel without asking or getting the consent of its inhabitants).
To mark this happy day, the Religious Zionist youths tend to march in their
thousands through the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, waving Blue-and-White
flags, with many of them taking this opportunity to also chant "Death to
the Arabs!", kick at the locked doors behind which Old City residents are
hiding, and smash any Arab property in their path. Towards "Jerusalem
Day" which will fall on 17 May this year, the "Ir Amim" (City of
the Peoples) association appealed to the Supreme Court to change the route of
the Dance of the Flags and divert it away from Arab populated areas. The judges
ruled that although chants of "Death to the Arabs!" constitute a criminal
act, that "in view of the police undertaking to prevent incitement and
sedition, it would be possible to maintain the march’s traditional route."
The Israeli
authorities’ intention to demolish and raze the village of Susya might be the
first test case which the Palestinians would present to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague. The State of Palestine - recognized as a sovereign
political entity by the Un General Assembly, though not yet established in practice
on the ground – has gained membership of the International Court, but so far
had not yet lodged specific complaints about particular Israeli acts. It might
be that precisely the destruction and expulsion of a small impoverished rural
community - which had never taken part in any violent activity and none of whose
members engaged even in stone-throwing
at the height of the First or the Second Intifada - might prove a very
difficult challenge for even the best legal counsel which the Government of
Israel could muster.
Several
reports from various sources indicate that Israel’s "Diplomatic Tsunami",
of which commentators and politicians have long warned, is indeed approaching. An official Vatican
document made clear that from now on the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with
the State of Palestine - no longer with
the Palestine Liberation Organization, as was the case for many years. Thus,
the Catholic Church, headed by the
popular Pope Francis, joins with the Swedish government which recognized the
State of Palestine a few months ago and inaugurated a Palestinian Embassy in
Stockholm.
At the
Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the strategic dialogue meeting held annually
between the foreign ministries of France and Israel's became the scene of tense
confrontation and conflict between opposing senior diplomats. The main bone of
contention was the initiative of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to promote
in the UN Security Council a new resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
The French draft resolution is expected to include such principles as
establishing the boundaries of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines with land
swaps, Jerusalem as the capital of two states, setting a timetable for ending
the negotiations and the convening of an international peace conference. The inclusion
in the French draft of a formula providing for some form of recognition of
Israel as a Jewish state did not appease the Israeli diplomats, who leveled
harsh words at their French counterparts, and were answered in kind.
The
French foreign minister recently accepted
an American request to stall the process until after the completion of the
nuclear agreement with Iran on June 30, but he is determined to bring the resolution
to a vote a in the Security Council in September, when the UN Assembly General is due in New York. According to rumors circulating
in the corridors of power, the Americans would not block the French initiative
- and might even openly support it. Officially, the US Administration announced
its desire to "work with the new Netanyahu Government" and ask it to
provide practical evidence of its commitment
to Two State Solution - but Obama soon followed it with stating
explicitly that he does not expect a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian deal in the
coming year. The European Union reiterated the request, with its Foreign
Affairs High Representative Federica Mogherini due to visit Jerusalem next
week.
In
fact, there is no real need to conduct any in-depth examination of Netanyahu’s
intentions. Just before the elections, Netanyahu announced explicitly that
"a Palestinian state will not be established on my watch." After the
elections he issued a clarification which made little difference for the bottom
line: "In principle I am still in favor of a Palestinian state, but in practice
it is not feasible in the current situation in the Middle East." The term
"Palestinian State" was conspicuously absent from the new Netanyahu Government’s program. While
paying some lip service to “promoting the negotiations process”, the program
commits the Netanyahu government to "preserving Israeli national, security
and historical interests." This formulation can imply the preservation of Israeli
rule not only in every location defined by the IDF as 'needed for state security",
but also in locations where Jews had lived in one historical period or another
- which would leave very little, if anything, to the Palestinians.
In the
absence of a fig leaf in the form of Herzog in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
international pressure is expected to rise, focusing on such demands as the freezing of settlement construction and/or
an end to Israeli army night raids and detentions in the A area of the West
Bank, which is supposed to be under full Palestinian control. "If the
Americans make such demands after the conclusion of their negotiations with
Iran, it would be out of personal vindictiveness against Netanyahu and wanting
to topple him" said an unidentified
senior Likud party official on the radio. Ofir Akunis, one of the new young ministers
appointed by Netanyahu, expressed his concern that “a difficult situation on the
international arena is in store for Israel," and expressed hope that due
to this situation Herzog might yet be mollified and consent to join the
government and save the situation... Outgoing Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, once Netanyahu's close partner and now his foe, stated: "This new
government is living on borrowed time. It can’t withstand the international pressure
which already began and which will increase in September. You can already see
the impact on the ground.
The Palestinians are not only
turning to The Hague, but also asking FIFA to expel us."
Indeed,
the most immediate Palestinian move is that led by Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Soccer Federation, and
a senior Palestinian politician, asking the International Soccer Federation
(FIFA) to vote on a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel's membership and prevent Israeli
soccer players from participating in international contests. The vote is due on
May 29. According to FIFA rules, authorizing a suspension requires a 75%
majority of the delegates present at the vote. The Palestinians would probably
find it hard to mobilize such a large majority among the participating soccer associations.
However, even a Palestinian majority falling short of that would cause great embarrassment
to Israel.
Rajoub
comes to the FIFA Congress armed with a long list of charges: Israel restricts
the freedom of movement of Palestinian soccer players between Gaza and the West
Bank, as well as abroad, restricts the entry of soccer teams from the Arab and
Muslim World to play in the Palestinian Territories, causes damages to Palestinian
soccer facilities and imposes restrictions on the importation of soccer equipment
from abroad – and also that soccer matches in Israel are often the scene of
blatant anti-Arab racism, especially where the notorious Beitar Jerusalem Club
is involved. But the charge which the Israeli Soccer Association might find the
most difficult to handle is that five clubs based in West Bank settlements have
been admitted to the Israeli Association, despite its being an Occupied Territory
where the Israeli association has no authority. Could it be that exactly when
the power position of the settlers in the Government of Israel has reached a
new peak, the government would dare to stop the activities of the settler
soccer teams in order to save Israeli soccer as a whole?
A Foreign
Ministry official said that an Israel suspension from FIFA could have far-reaching consequences, much beyond the
damage caused to the Israeli soccer teams. He said such a move could create a
precedent that would give a boost to similar moves in other international sports
organizations - and to moves to boycott Israel in general. It can be remembered
the sports boycott which had been imposed on South Africa was one of the
deciding factors that led to ordinary white South Africans accepting the need
to terminate Apartheid...
Meanwhile,
just in this week when Miri Regev was appointed to the position of Israel’s Minister
of Culture, there took place an extraordinary cultural event in the Gaza Strip.
As reported by the Masmerim Quarterly, a documentary film festival opened in
what had been until last summer the Shuja'iyya Neighborhood in eastern Gaza. The festival includes 28 films from
different countries, on the theme of Human Rights. Posters announcing the
festival were hung on the remains of destroyed buildings, the films themselves projected
on a white sheet stretched across a broken wall.
With “the
generosity of rich beggars”, the Karama Film Festival deployed sixty meters of Red
Carpet through the ruins. Hundreds responded to the invitation. Khalil
Al-Mozain, Palestinian film director and one of the initiators, says that one
of the messages issuing from the three-day festival is that Gaza residents are
ripe for the reconstruction operation promised by dozens of First World
countries, which so far failed to arrive.
"We
invite those who lost their homes to walk along our Red Carpet " said Al-Mozain
to the Chinese News Agency. "Normally, it is Kings and Presidents or
famous movie stars who walk on a Red Carpet. No less deserving of this honor
are the residents here, still suffering great deprivation”.
It is
not clear from the report how the organizers got the actual films for their festival. Israel has not boasted of giving any
assistance, and the Egyptians have long since lost the keys of the Rafah Crossing.
On the other hand, with the special magic Red Carpet of this film festival, the
riddle of how the films got there is the least intriguing.
---
Jerusalemites
will not keep silent in the face of racism!
Stop
the March of Hate on Jerusalem Day!
We
will be standing in protest against racism on Safra Square, in Jerusalem's
Jaffa Street, at 5:00 pm on Sunday May 17, 2015.
The Flag Dance Parade on Jerusalem Day has become a focus for extremist groups, disseminating hatred, racism and violence.
The
march through the streets of the Eastern city, particularly in the Muslim
Quarter of the Old City, is routinely accompanied by racist slurs and insults, destruction of property and physical violence
against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
Year after year, the Jerusalem police and municipality fail to take any real steps to stop the violence and incitement. In the past stormy summer, violence and racism threatened to completely dominate and overwhelm the public sphere. This year we say a loud and clear No to the violence, the hatred and the incitement which threaten the delicate fabric of daily life in Jerusalem.
This year we will manifest a significant, nonviolent presence on the street. We will remind the inhabitants of Jerusalem that there is another way. We will not stand silent in the face of racism!
No to the parade of violence and incitement passing through the Muslim and Palestinian neighborhoods!
Yes to tolerance and coexistence in our city!
------------
Dance of the Flowers vs. Dance of the Flags
Tag Meir is excited to help an initiative of Jerusalemites who have decided to put an end to racism in the city.
Tonight, following the march of the flags for Jerusalem Day, we are going to march in the old city of Jerusalem and distribute flowers to all residents of the Old City.
We want to show the faces of Jerusalem residents who want to live together peacefully and crave to see better days of love between all the people of the city.
We are going to paint the Old City - its streets, stores, allies and people with a lot of flowers, colors and love.
We will meet at 6pm at Safra Square (by city hall) where you will be able to take your flowers and we will walk from Tsahal square towards Damascus Gate and Jaffa Gate.
If you truly care about this city, on all its residents, join us and spread the word.
