autumn part i ragbag - israel jerusalem bds

8/8/2019 Autumn Part I Ragbag - Israel Jerusalem BDS

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Autumn Part I Ragbag

The Rise of Fascism in Israel, BDS, East JerusalemUpdates & Videos

The Rise of Fascism in Israel

Denied entry into Israel, Chomsky likens Israel to 'Stalinist

regime' by Amira HassSummer Camp Of Destruction: High Schoolers Assist Razing

Bedouin Town by Max Blumenthal

Israel condemned over Bedouin village demolitionby AmnestyInternational

Rahat mosque razed; police officers stoned by Ilana Curiel

Uprooting the Bedouins of Israel by Neve Gordon

Israeli Rabbi Preaches "Slaughter" of Gentile Babies by JonathanCook

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison by Gideon Levy

Harming Democracy in the Heart of Democracy by AttorneyDebbie Gild-Hayo

Becoming a GSS state by Yossi Gurvitz

Israel Forces Complete Exercise for Population Exchange bet weenIs., PA by Sergio Yahni

PA adopts textbook, banned in Israel, offering both sides'narratives by Or Kashti

Top 10 worst errors Israel is about to make by Bradley BurstonIsrael's right needs perpetual war by Zeev Sternhell

Israeli police recruiting from settlements for first time byJonathan Cook

The rotting Safed cheese by Gideon Levy

Safed man harassed for renting apartment to Bedouin by EliAshkenazi

South Africa is already here by Zvi Bar'el

Israel is proud to present: The aggressor-victim byGideon Levy

Israel has turned 'Jew' into a hollow, separatist title by AviramaGolan

Carmiel initiative tries to prevent home sales to Arabs by NadavMayost

New prize to encourage 'Zionist art' by Tomer Velmer, Roni Soferand Merav Yudilovitch


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Videos

Israel: Rise of the Right Ilan Mizrahi

Def amationYoav Shamir

Sheikh Jarrah, Ground Zero for Peace Harvey Stein

Destruction of Al-Arakib Jillian Kestler-D'AmoursDr. Richard Falk's message to the One Democratic State Conference

Young Jews Disrupt Netanyahu at Jewish General Assembly

Controversy in Jerusalem: The City Of David 60 Minutes

The Whole World is Against Us An item on BDS broadcast on IsraeliChannel 10. The voiceover is in Hebrew but a significant part is inEnglish.

Seizing Control: Shows Israeli settler and government strategy totake East Jerusalem

The Shift: Prof. Menachem Kleins book-launch at The American ColonyHotel (10 parts)

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After denied entry to West Bank, Chomsky likens Israelto 'Stalinist regime'

Linguist Noam Chomsky was scheduled to lecture at Bir ZeitUniversity near Ramallah, meet PA Prime Minister Fayyad.

By Amira Hass, Haaretz, 17 May 2010

The Interior Ministry refused to let linguist Noam Chomsky into Israeland the West Bank on Sunday. Chomsky, who aligns himself with theradical left, had been scheduled to lecture at Bir Zeit University nearRamallah, and visit Bil'in and Hebron, as well as meet with PalestinianPrime Minister Salam Fayyad and various Palestinian activists.

In a telephone conversation last night from Amman, Chomsky toldHaaretz that he concluded from the questions of the Israeli official that

the fact that he came to lecture at a Palestinian and not an Israeliuniversity led to the decision to deny him entry.

"I find it hard to think of a similar case, in which entry to a person isdenied because he is not lecturing in Tel Aviv. Perhaps only in Stalinistregimes," Chomsky told Haaretz.

Sabine Haddad, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, confirmed toHaaretz that the officials at the border were from the ministry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9d4BLaXZCMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apx2iOasIFk&feature=relatedhttp://www.vjmovement.com/truth/834http://www.youtube.com/user/jkdamours#p/uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfYrXty1Ft0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjLm6d2Mzgghttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/14/60minutes/main6958082.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitlehttp://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=741770http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuGALhavochttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsRKtoA6YfUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9d4BLaXZCMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apx2iOasIFk&feature=relatedhttp://www.vjmovement.com/truth/834http://www.youtube.com/user/jkdamours#p/uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfYrXty1Ft0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjLm6d2Mzgghttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/14/60minutes/main6958082.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitlehttp://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=741770http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tuGALhavochttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsRKtoA6YfU


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"Because he entered the Palestinian Authority territory only, his entryis the responsibility of the Office of the Coordinator of GovernmentActivities in the Territories at the Defense Ministry. There was amisunderstanding on our side, and the matter was not brought to theattention of the COGAT."

Haddad told Haaretz that "the minute the COGAT says that they do notobject, Chomsky's entry would have been permitted."

Chomsky, a Jewish professor of linguistics and philosophy at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, had spent several months atKibbutz Hazore'a during the 1950s and had considered a longer stay inIsrael. He had been invited by the Department of Philosophy at Bir Zeit.

He planned to spend four days in the West Bank and give two lectures.

On Sunday, at about 1:30 P.M. he came to the Israeli side of the borderwith Jordan. After three hours of questioning, during which the borderofficer repeatedly called the Interior Ministry for instructions,Chomsky's passport was stamped with "Denied Entry."

With Chomsky, 81, were his daughter Aviva, and a couple of old friendsof his and his late wife.

Entry was also denied to his daughter.

Their friends, one of whom is a Palestinian who grew up in Beirut, wereAllalowed in, but they opted to return with Chomsky to Amman.

Chomsky told Haaretz that it was clear that his arrival had been knownto the authorities, because the minute he entered the passport controlroom the official told him that he was honored to see him and that hehad read his works.

The professor concluded that the officer was a student, and said helooked embarrassed at the task at hand, especially when he beganreading from text the questions that had been dictated to him, andwhich were also told to him later by telephone.

Chomsky told Haaretz about the questions.

"The official asked me why I was lecturing only at Bir Zeit and not anIsraeli university," Chomsky recalled. "I told him that I have lectured agreat deal in Israel. The official read the following statement: 'Israeldoes not like what you say.'"

Chomsky replied: "Find one government in the world which does."

"The young man asked me whether I had ever been denied entry intoother countries. I told him that once, to Czechoslovakia, after theSoviet invasion in 1968," he said, adding that he had gone to visitousted Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubcek, whose reforms theSoviets crushed.

In response to the official's question, Chomsky said that the subjects ofhis lectures were "America and the world," and "America at home."


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The official asked him whether he would speak on Israel and Chomskysaid that because he would talk of U.S. policy he would also commenton Israel and its policies.

He was then told by the official: "You have spoken with [Hassan]Nasrallah."

"True," Chomsky told him. "When I was in Lebanon [prior to the war in

2006] I spoke with people from the entire political spectrum there, asin Israel I also spoke with people on the right."

"At the time I read reports of my visit in the Israeli press, and thearticles in the Israeli press had no connection with reality," Chomskytold the border official.

The official asked Chomsky why he did not have an Israeli passport.

"I replied I am an American citizen," Chomsky said.

Chomsky said that he asked the man at border control for an officialwritten explanation for the reason his entry was denied and that "itwould help the Interior Ministry because this way my version will not bethe only one given to the media."

The official called the ministry and then told Chomsky that he would beable to find the official statement at the U.S. Embassy.

The last time Chomsky visited Israel and the West Bank was in 1997,when he lectured on both sides of the Green Line. He had also planneda visit to the Gaza strip, but because the Palestinian Authority insistedthat he be escorted by Palestinian guards, he canceled that part of thevisit.

To Haaretz, Chomsky said Sunday that preventing him entry is

tantamount to boycotting Bir Zeit University. Chomsky is known tooppose a general boycott on Israel. "I was against a boycott ofapartheid South Africa as well. If we are going to boycott, why not theUnited States, whose record is even worse? I'm in favor of boycottingAmerican companies which collaborate with the occupation," he said."But if we are to boycott Tel Aviv University, why not MIT?"

Chomsky told Haaretz that he supports a two-state solution, but notthe solution proposed by Jerusalem, "pieces of land that will be called astate."

He said that Israel's behavior today reminds him of that of South Africa

in the 1960s, when it realized that it was already considered a pariah,but thought that it would resolve the problem with better publicrelations.

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The Summer Camp Of Destruction: Israeli HighSchoolers Assist The Razing Of A Bedouin Town,By MaxBlumenthal, 31 July 2010

AL-ARAKIB, ISRAEL On July 26, Israeli police demolished 45 buildingsin the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Arakib, razing the entirevillage to the ground to make way for a Jewish National Fund forest.The destruction was part of a larger project to force the Bedouincommunity of the Negev away from their ancestral lands and intoseven Indian reservation-style communities the Israeli government hasconstructed for them. The land will then be open for Jewish settlers,including young couples in the army and those who may someday beevacuated from the West Bank after a peace treaty is signed. For now,the Israeli government intends to uproot as many villages as possibleand erase them from the map by establishing facts on the ground inthe form of JNF forests. (See video of of al-Arakibs demolition here).

Moments beforethe destructionof the Bedouinvillage of al-

Arakib, Israelihigh school age

policevolunteerslounge onfurniture taken

from a family'shome. [Thefollowing four

photos are byAta AbuMadyam of Arab

Negev News.]

One of the most troubling aspects of the destruction of al-Arakib was a

report by CNN that the hundreds of Israeli riot police who stormed thevillage were accompanied by busloads of cheering civilians. Whowere these civilians and why didnt CNN or any outlet investigatefurther?

I traveled to al-Arakib yesterday with a delegation fromTaayush, anIsraeli group that promotes a joint Arab-Jewish struggle against theoccupation. The activists spent the day preparing games and activitiesfor the villages traumatized children, helping the villagers replacetheir uprooted olive groves, and assisting in the reconstruction of their
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine.htmlhttp://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine.htmlhttp://www.negev.org/About/negev_desert.htmhttp://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/blueprint-negev/http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/blueprint-negev/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvD-2BsPAQU&feature=player_embeddedhttp://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/27/israel.bedouins.demolitions/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=K3vLQYhbZ8qhttp://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/27/israel.bedouins.demolitions/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=K3vLQYhbZ8qhttp://www.taayush.org/http://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine.htmlhttp://mondoweiss.net/2010/07/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine.htmlhttp://www.negev.org/About/negev_desert.htmhttp://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/blueprint-negev/http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/blueprint-negev/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvD-2BsPAQU&feature=player_embeddedhttp://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/27/israel.bedouins.demolitions/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=K3vLQYhbZ8qhttp://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/07/27/israel.bedouins.demolitions/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=K3vLQYhbZ8qhttp://www.taayush.org/


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demolished homes. In a massive makeshift tent where many of al-Arakibs residents now sleep, I interviewed village leaders about theidentity of the cheering civilians. Each one confirmed the presence ofthe civilians, describing how they celebrated the demolitions. As Icompiled details, the story grew increasingly horrific. After interviewingmore than a half dozen elders of the village, I was able to finallyidentify the civilians in question. What I discovered was more

disturbing than I had imagined.

Israelipoliceyouthvolunteers

pickthroughthe

belongings an al-Arakib family

Arab Negev News publisher Ata Abu Madyam supplied me with a seriesof photos he took of the civilians in action. They depicted Israeli highschool students who appeared to have volunteered as members of theIsraeli police civilian guard (I am working on identifying someparticipants by name). Prior to the demolitions, the student volunteerswere sent into the villagers homes to extract their furniture andbelongings. A number of villagers including Abu Madyam told me thevolunteers smashed windows and mirrors in their homes and defacedfamily photographs with crude drawings. Then they lounged around onthe furniture of al-Arakib residents in plain site of the owners. Finally,


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according to Abu Matyam, the volunteers celebrated while bulldozersdestroyed the homes.

What we learned from the summer camp of destruction, AbuMadyam remarked, is that Israeli youth are not being educated ondemocracy, they are being raised on racism. (The cover of the latestissue of Madyams Arab Negev News features a photo of Palestiniansbeing expelled to Jordan in 1948 juxtaposed with a photo of a family

fleeingal-Arakiblastweek.The

headline reads, Nakba 2010.)

The Israeli civilian guard, which incorporates 70,000 citizens includingyouth as young as 15 (about 15% of Israeli police volunteers areteenagers), is one of many programs designed to incorporate Israelichildren into the states military apparatus. It is not hard to imaginewhat lessons the high school students who participated in the levelingof al-Arakib took from their experience, nor is it especially difficult topredict what sort of citizens they will become once they reachadulthood. Not only are they being indoctrinated to swear blindallegiance to the military, they are learning to treat the Arab outclassas less than human. The volunteers behavior toward Bedouins, who

are citizens of Israel and serve loyally in Israeli army combat unitsdespite widespread racism, was strikingly reminiscent of the behaviorof settler youth in Hebron who pelt Palestinian shopkeepers in the oldcity with eggs, rocks and human waste. If there is a distinctionbetween the two cases, it is that the Hebron settlers act as vigilanteswhile the teenagers of Israeli civilian guard vandalize Arab property asagents of the state.

According to residents of al-Arakib, the youth volunteers vandalized homesthroughout the village
http://www.police.gov.il/english/Volunteers/Pages/default.aspxhttp://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15873http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3540418,00.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIjdZIJfdYhttp://www.police.gov.il/english/Volunteers/Pages/default.aspxhttp://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15873http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3540418,00.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIjdZIJfdY


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Thespectacle ofIsraeli youthhelpingdestroy al-Arakib helpsexplain why

56% ofJewishIsraeli highschoolstudents donot believeArabsshould beAllalowed to

serve in the Knesset why the next generation wants apartheid.Indeed, the widespread indoctrination of Israeli youth by the military

apparatus is a central factor in Israels authoritarian trend. It would bedifficult for any adolescent boy to escape from an experience like al-Arakib, where adults in heroic warrior garb encourage him toparticipate in and gloat over acts of massive destruction, with even atrace of democratic values.

Youth volunteers extract belongings from village homes asbulldozers move in...and the destruction begins

As for the present condition of Israeli democracy, it is essential toconsider the way in which the state pits its own citizens against oneanother, enlisting the Jewish majority as conquerers while targeting theArab others as, in the words of Zionist founding father ChaimWeizmann, obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path.

Historically, only failing states have encouraged such corrosivedynamics to take hold. That is why the scenes from al-Arakib, from thedemolished homes to the uprooted gardens to the grinning teens whojoined the mayhem, can be viewed as much more than the destructionof a village. They are snapshots of the phenomenon that is layingIsraeli society as a whole to waste.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story645.htmlhttp://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story645.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/poll-half-of-israeli-high-schoolers-oppose-equal-rights-for-arabs-1.264564http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story645.htmlhttp://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story645.html


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Israel condemned over Bedouin village demolitionAmnesty International, 25 November 2010

Amnesty International has condemned the Israeli authorities followingthe demolition of a Bedouin village in southern Israel for the seventhtime since July.


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Makeshift homes that residents of al-Araqib village in the Negev haderected after a previous demolition last month were bulldozed on 22November by the Israel Lands Administration. The residents, all Israelicitizens, were again evicted by riot police.

We condemn these repeated demolitions that aim to forcibly evict theresidents of al-Araqib from the land they have on lived forgenerations, said Philip Luther, Amnesty Internationals Deputy

Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The fact that the village has been demolished seven times in fourmonths shows that this is not some administrative mistake but aconscious Israeli government policy of dispossession.

The village of al-Araqib is one of more than 40 Arab villages in Israelnot recognized by the Israeli authorities, despite the residents Israelicitizenship and their long-established claims to their lands.

Residents of these unrecognized villages, many of which are locatedin Israels Negev desert, lack security of tenure and services includingwater and electricity.

At least 50 of the 250 residents of al-Araqib village are again living inthe ruins of their homes, attempting to rebuild them. Others arecamping in tents in the village cemetery.

As in previous demolitions, no eviction or demolition order waspresented to the inhabitants. Israeli authorities have previouslydetained residents and their supporters when they demanded to see ademolition order.

Israeli media reported in early 2010 that the government had decidedto triple the demolition rate of Bedouin constructions in the Negev. As

the government does not recognize the villagers land tenure, itmaintains that their settlements are illegal.

Al-Araqib village was first demolished by the authorities on 27 July2010, and residents were evicted by a force of over 1,000 riot policeofficers. At least 46 homes were destroyed, thousands of olive treesand other crops uprooted, and possessions including electricitygenerators, vehicles and refrigerators confiscated.

Villagers refused to leave their land, and rebuilt makeshift shelters tolive in. These were again demolished by government officialsaccompanied by riot police on 4 August, 10 August, 17 August at dawn

during Ramadan while the villagers were fasting, on 12 September, 13October, and again this week.

In addition to the demolitions in al-Araqib, the Israeli authorities havedemolished Palestinian homes this week in the occupied West Bank,including East Jerusalem.

On 24 November, the Jerusalem municipality demolished a home in theal-Tur neighbourhood of East Jerusalem as well as nine structures usedby Palestinian businesses in Issawiye and Hizma. On the same day the


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Israeli military demolished three buildings in Jiftlik and another inQarawat Bani Hassan, both villages in the West Bank.

Today Israeli forces demolished seven structures in Khirbet Yarza,including two homes and a mosque, and another residential building inal-Rifaiyya; both are villages in the West Bank.

Dozens of Palestinians have been made homeless as a result of these

demolitions, while others have had their livelihoods devastated.The Israeli government must stop its policy of home demolitions bothin communities inside Israel, such as al-Araqib in the Negev, and alsoin the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, said PhilipLuther.

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Rahat mosque razed; police officers stoned

Land Administration personnel demolish mosque built inBedouin city without a permit; residents demonstrate, throwstones at security forces; no injuries. Mayor: Crime committedagainst entire public by wicked government

By Ilana Curiel, Ynet, 7 November 2010

Some 700 police officers secured Israel Land Administration personnelwho demolished a mosque in Rahat in the early hours of Sundaymorning. The mosque was built without a proper permit.

Hundreds of the Bedouin city's residents demonstrated against the

mosque's demolition, and some of them threw stones at police officers.No injuries were reported, and officers used tear gas to disperse thecrowd. Five residents were detained.

Police forces have yet to leave the Negev city for fear of riots.

Hundreds of police officers securing Rahat (Photo: Roee Idan)


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Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen called the razing of the mosque a"complex and sensitive operation" and said it was carried out withrelative ease due to the officers' "high performance level."

Southern District police chief Cmdr. Yochanan Danino, who supervisedover the operation, said, "We acted with resolve to enforce the rule oflaw and relayed a message that Israel Police will not ignore illegalactivity while remaining sensitive to the Muslims' feelings."

Danino noted that the courts had ruled that the mosque wasconstructed illegally on public property.

However, Rahat Mayor Faiz Abu-Seheban called the mosque'sdemolition a "crime committed by the State and government againstan entire public. I am shocked and furious.

The mayor declared a general strike in the city and said, "We'll bringschool children to see the rubble."

One resident urged Abu-Seheban to resign, saying, "We are not part ofthe State of Israel."

Mosque ruins in Rahat (Photo: Roee Idan)

The mayor said the land on which the mosque was built is under theRahat Municipality's jurisdiction, "but I guess we are living in a ThirdWorld country.

"We could have reached a compromise and the razing could have beendelayed, but this is a wicked government," Abu-Seheban said.

Police officials said the mosque was demolished after the conclusion ofall judicial proceedings.

A Land Administration official said, "The construction of the mosque onState-owned land was funded by the Islamic Movement's NorthernBranch in violation of the law."

The Islamic Movement's representative in the city, Yusef Abu Juma,said the mosque would be rebuilt. "Now we are all together theIslamic Movement's northern and southern branches. Arabs from all


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across the country will come here to rebuild the mosque. There aremosques that were built without a permit all over Rahat."

Another resident said, "How would Jews feel if a synagogue would havebeen destroyed? It's the same thing."

Rahat resident Younes Abu Janem said, "Seeing the mosque beingdestroyed is infuriating. They would never destroy a synagogue."

Another resident called the mosque's destruction "racist." He said theproperty was previously used to conduct drug deals and that themosque was built to eradicate the phenomenon.

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Uprooting the Bedouins of IsraelNeve Gordon, The Nation, December 2, 2010

Despite the fact that it was the seventh demolition since last July, this

time the destruction of the Bedouin village Al-Arakib [1] in the IsraeliNegev [2] was different. The difference is not because the homelessresidents have to deal this time with the harsh desert winter; nor in thefact that the bulldozers began razing the homes just minutes beforethe forty children left for school, thus engraving another violent scenein their memory. Rather, the demolition was different because thistime Christian evangelists from the United States and England wereinvolved.

I know this for a fact because right next to the demolished homes, theJewish National Fund put up a big sign that reads: GOD-TV [3]FOREST, A Generous donation by God-TV made 1,000,000 tree saplings

available to be planted in the land of Israel and also provided for thecreation of water projects throughout the Negev. GOD-TV justifies thiscontribution by citing the book of Isaiah: I will turn the desert intopools of water and the parched ground into springs.

TheJewish National Funds [4] objective, however, is not altruistic, butrather to plant a pine or eucalyptus forest on the desert land so thatthe Bedouins cannot return to their ancestral homes. The practice ofplanting forests in an attempt to Judaize more territory is by no meansnew. Right after Israels establishment in 1948, the JNF planted millionsof trees to cover up the remains of Palestinian villages that had been

destroyed during or after the war. The objective was to help ensurethat the 750,000 Palestinian residents who either fled or were expelledduring the war would never return to their villages and to suppress thefact that they had been the rightful owners of the land before the Stateof Israel was created. Scores of Palestinian villages disappeared fromthe landscape in this way, and the grounds were converted into picnicparks, thus helping engender a national amnesia regardingthe Palestinian Nakba [5].

For several years, I thought this practice had been discontinued, butthanks to the JNFs new bedfellows and the generous donation ofRory
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/28/ethnic-cleansing-israeli-negevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negevhttp://www.god.tv/http://www.jnf.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Dayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Alechttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/28/ethnic-cleansing-israeli-negevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negevhttp://www.god.tv/http://www.jnf.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Dayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Alec


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and Wendy Alec [6], who established the international evangelicaltelevision channel GOD-TV, within the next few months a millionsaplings will be planted on land belonging to uprooted Bedouins.

God-TV can afford such lavish gifts, since it boasts a viewership ofnearly half a billion people, with 20 million in the United States and 14million in Britain. The television channel regularly features evangelicalleaders such as Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Kenneth

Copeland and John Hagee, at least some of whom espouse ChristianDispensationalism and believe that all Jews must convert toChristianity before the Second Coming.

The viewers are asked to open their wallets in order to sow a seed forGod. In this case, the donations seem to have actually been allocatedtoward sowing seeds, but these seeds are ones of hate and strife. Theyare antithetical to Isaiahs prophecy about the people beating theirswords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Indeed, ifIsaiah were alive today, he would probably be among the first to lie infront of the bulldozers in an effort to stop the destruction of the

Bedouin homes.Links:[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/28/ethnic-cleansing-israeli-negev[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev[3] http://www.god.tv/[4] http://www.jnf.org/[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Day[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Alec

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Israeli Rabbi Preaches "Slaughter" of Gentile Babiesby Jonathan Cook, Nazareth, 4 August 2010

A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank wasquestioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli policestepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions thekilling of non-Jews, including children and babies.

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is one of the leading ideologues of the mostextreme wing of the religious settler movement. He is known to be achampion of the price-tag policy of reprisal attacks on Palestinians,including punishing them for attempts by officials to enforce Israeli lawagainst the settlements.

So far the policy has chiefly involved violent harassment ofPalestinians, with settlers inflicting beatings, attacking homes,throwing stones, burning fields, killing livestock and poisoning wells.

It is feared, however, that Shapiras book The Kings Torah, publishedlast year, is intended to offer ideological justifications for widening thescope of such attacks to include killing Palestinians, even children.
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Although Shapira was released a few hours after his questioning lastMonday, dozens of rabbis, as well as several members of parliament,rallied to his side, condemning the arrest.

Shlomo Aviner, one of the settlement movements leaders, defendedthe books arguments as a legitimate stance and one that should betaught in Jewish seminaries.

But in a sign of mounting official unease at Shapiras influence on thesettlement movement, the Israeli military authorities also threatenedlast week to enforce a decade-old demolition order on Yitzharsseminary, which was built without a permit.

Dror Etkes, a Tel Aviv-based expert on the settlements, said the orderwas unlikely to be carried out but was a way to pressure Yitzhars 500inhabitants to rein in their more violent attacks.

He said the authorities had begun taking a harder line against Yitzharonly since Shapira and several of his students were suspected oftorching a mosque in the neighboring village of Yasuf last December.

Shapira is trying to redefine the conflict with the Palestinians, turningit from a national conflict into a religious one. That frightens Israel. Itdoesnt want to look as though it is fighting the whole Islamic world,Etkes said.

He added that the rabbi and his supporters were closely associatedwith Kach, a movement founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane thatdemands the expulsion of all Palestinians from a Greater Israel.Despite Kach being banned, officials have largely turned a blind eye asits ideology has flourished in the settlements.

It may be illegal to call oneself Kach but the authorities are more than

tolerant of settlers who hold such views and carry out violent attacks.In fact, what Kahane was doing in the 1980s seems like childs playcompared with todays settlers.

In the 230-page book, Shapira and his co-author, Rabbi Yosef Elitzur,also from Yitzhar, argue that Jewish law permits the killing of non-Jewsin a wide variety of circumstances. The terms gentiles and non-Jews in the book are widely understood as references to Palestinians.

They write that Jews have the right to kill gentiles in any situation inwhich a non-Jews presence endangers Jewish lives even if thegentile is not at all guilty for the situation that has been created.

The book sanctions the killing of non-Jewish children and babies:There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will growup to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmeddeliberately, and not only during combat with adults.

The rabbis suggest that harming the children of non-Jewish leaders isjustified if it is likely to bring pressure to bear on them to changepolicy.

The authors also advocate committing cruel deeds to create theproper balance of terror and treating all members of an enemy


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nation as targets for retaliation, even if they are not directlyparticipating in hostile activities.

The rabbis appear to be offering justifications in Jewish law forcollective punishment and other war crimes of the kind committed bythe Israeli army in its attack on Gaza in the winter of 2008.

Pamphlets similarly calling on soldiers to show no mercy were

distributed by the armys rabbinate as troops prepared for the Gazaoperation, in which 1,400 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians,were killed. Religious settlers have come to dominate many combatunits.

An investigation last year by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group,found Shapiras seminary had received government funds worth atleast $300,000 in recent years. American and British groups have alsocontributed tens of thousands of dollars in tax-deductible donations.

According to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, the Yitzhar settlers haveresponded to the demolition order against their seminary bythreatening to publish documents showing that the housing andtransport ministries were closely involved in the project too.

The settlers have repeatedly rampaged through nearby Palestinianvillages, most notoriously in September 2008, when they were filmedshooting at homes in Assira al-Kabaliya, smashing properties anddaubing Stars of David on homes. Ehud Olmert, the prime minister ofthe time, termed the settlers actions a pogrom.

The same year a religious student from Yitzhar was arrested for firinghome-made rockets at Palestinian villages close by.

In April, Yitzhars settlers marched through the village of Huwara and

pelted a Palestinian familys home with stones in reprisal for thearrest of 11 of their number.

A settler from Yitzhar was questioned last month over the fatalshooting of a 16-year-old Palestinian, Aysar Zaban, in May, reportedlyafter stones were thrown at the settlers car. The teenager was shot inthe back.

Last week, the settlers attacked Burin, shooting at villagers andburning fields.

In most of these cases, the settlers who were arrested were released ashort time later either by the police or the courts. In January, a

Jerusalem judge freed Rabbi Shapira for lack of evidence in the arsonattack on the mosque.

Yitzhak Ginsburg, an authority on Jewish law and a mentor to Shapira,was questioned by police last Thursday over his endorsement of thebook. In the past Ginsburg has praised Baruch Goldstein, a settler whoopened fire in Hebrons Ibrahimi mosque in 1994, killing 29 Palestinianworshippers.

In 2003 Ginsburg was accused of incitement for publishing a book thatcalled for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the occupied


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territories, but the charges were dropped after he issued aclarification statement.

A group calling itself Students of Yitzhak Ginsburg recentlydistributed a leaflet urging Israeli soldiers to spare your lives and thelives of your friends and show no concern for a population thatsurrounds us and harms us.

Kach was founded in 1971 by the late Meir Kahane, an American rabbiwho immigrated to Israel. He won a seat in the Israeli parliament in1984 on a platform of expelling all Palestinians from Israel and theoccupied territories. As an MP, he drafted legislation to revoke theIsraeli citizenship of non-Jews and ban sexual relations between Jewsand gentiles.

The political party was banned from running for the Israeli parliamentin 1988 and the movement was outlawed six years later. Although thegroup is considered a terrorist organization in the United States andmost of Europe, its ideology has been Allalowed to thrive in thesettlements.

Today, dozens of rabbis espouse an interpretation of Jewish religiouslaw identical to or worse than Kahanes.

Michael Ben Ari, a former Kach leader, was elected as an MP last yearfor the far-right National Union party, which holds four seats in the 120-member parliament.

Avigdor Lieberman, who leads the parliaments third largest party andis foreign minister, briefly joined the party before it was banned. Hisown partys anti-Arab No loyalty, no citizenship program includesechoes of Kahanes ideology.

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A Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison

If the court indeed deports Mairead Corrigan-Maguire we'llknow that our court system is also tainted to the teeth

By Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 3 October 2010

The photograph was recently distributed by the IDF's propagandists:Mairead Corrigan-Maguire is seen being taken off the abducted shipRachel Corrie at Ashdod port, as a soldier from the world's most moralarmy holds out his hand to help the honorable woman disembark. Itwas not long after the IDF's violent takeover of the Mavi Marmara, andIsraeli propagandists were now hastening to peddle their cheapmerchandise, showing how Israel treats "real" peace activists, asopposed to the Turkish "terrorists" on the earlier vessel.


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Only four months have passed since the earlier event, and the verysame lady has now spent a weekend in the deportees' cell at Ben-Gurion Airport. While we were having another warm, pleasantweekend, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate sat in an Israeli jail andnobody seemed to care. We were not ashamed, we were not outraged,we did not make a sound. It was a spectacle that could only have takenplace in Israel, North Korea, Burma (Myanmar ) and Iran - the state

imprisoning and deporting a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize - andraised no more than a yawn here.

One court has already upheld the deportation, in a characteristicallyautomatic action, and the Supreme Court will debate it today.

The new Israel is once again portrayed as an indrawn, detestable state,with a branch of the thought police at Ben-Gurion Airport. World-renowned intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and NormanFinkelstein, Spain's most famous clown Ivan Prado and now MaireadCorrigan-Maguire, are deported from it shamefacedly only becausethey dared to visit the country. And all this is backed by pathological

public indifference.The Irish Corrigan-Maguire is the victim of state terror. A formersecretary at the Guinness Brewery in Belfast, she had three nephews,all children at the time, who were killed during a British targetedassassination in Northern Ireland. Their mother, her sister, whocommitted suicide some time later, was also badly injured in theattack. Corrigan Maguire eventually married her sister's widower andadopted his children. The frightful family tragedy turned her into apeace activist, and she began to hoist the flag of non-violentresistance. For this she won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1976 (awardedretroactively the following year ).

In recent years, Corrigan-Maguire has tried to hoist this flag in Israel,which knows a lot about state terror, assassinations and killingpassersby, yet is now brutally closing its gates in her face.

Corrigan-Maguire demonstrated in Bil'in a few months ago and tookpart in two flotillas to Gaza. This is her sin. Israel is also claimingCorrigan-Maguire "ran wild" while officials tried forcibly to put her onan airplane. It is difficult to imagine this gentle woman running wild.She herself says she only tried to resist passively in order to completethe petition procedure granted her by law.

Israel, like North Korea, must have something to hide about itsoccupation regime and this is why it prevents people of consciencefrom entering and report about it to the world. Israel, like North Korea,is afraid of anyone who tries to protest against it or criticize its regime.No terrorists will enter here, but neither will anyone who opposes terroryet dares to criticize the occupation. For safety's sake,let's call them"terrorists" too, as we falsely called the Turkish activists. It will make iteasier for us to deal with them. Yes, we prefer terror, because we knowwell how to handle it.


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All those who are preaching sanctimoniously to the Palestinians topractice non-violent resistance had better take a look at the deportees'prison in Ben- Gurion Airport. This is how non-violent protesters will betreated. A peace activist is being held there, a woman of consciencewho was Allalowed to receive her personal effects over the weekendonly after the invention of the district court in Petah Tikva. She awaitsthe ruling of our beacon of justice, the Supreme Court, which, one may

guess, will also not dare to object to the deportation.If the court indeed upholds the disgraceful act today, in response tothe Adalah organization's petition, then we'll know not only what we'vebecome - that this is how we treat those who advocate non-violence -but that our court system is also a collaborator in the treachery and istainted to the teeth.

A Nobel Prize laureate sits in Israeli detention, a few days after Israelhijacked another Gaza-bound aid boat, whose passengers included aJewish Holocaust survivor, an Israeli father who lost a child to terror,and an air force pilot-turned-conscientious objector. It hijacked the

boat to prevent them from reaching their destination and remindingthe world of the blockade. This is the portrait of Israel today.

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Harming Democracy in the Heart of Democracy

An ACRI Position Paper Ahead of the Knesset's Winter Sessionby Attorney Debbie Gild-Hayo of ACRI, 5 October 2010

For links to the texts of all Knesset bills and document cited, pleaseview the complete PDF version of this document.

Background

Over the past two years, we have been increasingly troubled byexpanding tendencies to harm Israel's democracy. These trends areextensively surveyed in the State of the Democracy Report publishedby The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) in intermittentchapters. The two chapters that have been published so far deal witheducation system, and with the status of the Arab minority in Israel.The three future chapters will address the Knesset and the judicialsystem, free media, and freedom of protest and political activity.

A source of great concern is the fact that one of the key rings in whichthe Israeli democracy is threatened is the parliament itself - the veryheart of democracy. Ahead of the upcoming opening of the Knesset'sWinter Session, we have drafted this brief review. It surveys the mainaspects of anti-democratic trends in the Knesset, focusing on anti-democratic legislation, which includes bills that harm basic democraticrights - mainly the freedom of expression and political protest, andequality before the law; verbal and even physical abuse of members ofthe Knesset minority factions at this time;[1] attempts to delegitimizeand infringe on the legitimate and much-needed operations of human-
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rights and social-change organizations;[2] and attempts to restrict thefreedom of Israel's academy. The above are most troubling signs,attesting to the deterioration of Israel's democratic regime.

The attacks against Israel's democracy are mainly characterized byattempts to silence social or political minorities' views or publiccriticism; attempts to delegitimize political rivals, human-rightsorganizations, and minorities; attempts to restrict parties with positions

or activities that do not coincide with the political majority's desireddirection; and by presenting minorities in the Israeli society as enemiesof the State, generalizing in an attempt to infringe on their civil andpolitical rights.

As a result, the basic principles of the Israeli democratic system areharmed; there is ongoing infringement on issues such as the freedomof expression, and human dignity and equality; on the possibility ofupholding the pluralism of views and thoughts; on the freedom tocongregate and protest; and on the legitimacy of certain views andstands. We are witnessing a reality of increasing tyranny against

social, political, and national minorities, which harms their very rights.It should be noted that these events have been taking place againstthe backdrop of a social and political reality which is always veryloaded and often very harsh. Over the past 2 years, for example, wewitnessed the continuation of the occupation and all that it entails: fireon Israel's southern area, the military operation in Gaza, the flotillaaffair, terror attacks, and more. We believe, however, that raising thebanner of "A Self-Defending Democracy" is a cynical attempt toinfringe on a democratic right of some minority (ethnic, social, orpolitical) and is neither legitimate nor just. We believe that the State ofIsrael and its democracy must be defended, albeit proportionally and

appropriately, and that basic rights may be denied or restricted only inthe most extreme cases - as the Israeli law currently stipulates. It isinappropriate to legitimize the denial of minority rights as a matter ofroutine.

These anti-democratic moves employ various means, most troubling ofwhich is the use of allegedly legitimate parliamentary tools, mainlythrough legislation. In recent years, we witnessed harsh andunprecedented remarks by senior politicians against political andhuman rights organizations, as well as various minorities, coupled by avariety of restrictive moves against them. At the same time, attempts

were made to promote legislative initiatives and bills that clearlyimpair on the Israeli democracy and the rights, positions, and civilstatus of parties that did not belong to the political majority at thetime.

It should be remembered that remarks and/or moves by seniormembers of the Israeli political establishment, particularly members ofthe Knesset, which has been a symbol of Israel's democracy and itsmain upholder, have far-reaching implications on the Israeli publicstands and attitudes toward democracy, human rights, and political,social, and ethnic minority groups. Surveys that the media carried over
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the past two years indicate that the Israeli public, mainly Israeli youths,support undemocratic and racist views.

Ahead of the Knesset's October 2010 Winter Session

The 18th Knesset's Winter Session 2010-11 will commence on October10th. Anticipating it, we wish to warn against the troubling trend ofinfringement against democracy in Israel as expressed through the

persistent promotion of anti-democratic bills, decisionmaking process,and conduct by Members of Knesset (MK). The Knesset plenum andcommittees have recently served as platforms for offensive and anti-democratic discourse.

In July 2010, at the close of the last Knesset Summer Session, TheAssociation for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) sent a letter to the primeminister and the Knesset speaker in which we warned about thetroubling trend of infringement on democracy, pointing at theimportant role the Knesset plays in defending democracy, and callingon them to take steps to end that trend.[3]

In the letter, we presented a list of bills promoted in the Knesset todemonstrate this troubling trend. At this time, ahead of the opening ofthe Winter Session, we wish to offer an update on these bills, some ofwhich were not promoted while others were.

First, we wish to address bills that were listed in the aforementionedletter, and new bills that were submitted since and were not promotedbecause the Ministerial Legislation Committee rejected them, probablydue to lack of agreement among its members (additionally, we list abill that was passed and thus, naturally, will not be discussed in theupcoming Knesset session).

1. Bill on MK's Pledge of Allegiance (David Rotem)According to this bill, all MKs are required to pledge allegiance to theState of Israel as Jewish a democratic state, to its laws, symbols, andnational anthem. The bill intends to delegitimize and even practicallyprevent minority groups from partaking in the Israeli democraticprocess.Status: Not promoted due to lack of coalition agreement.

2. Bill Denying the High Court's Right to Rule on Nationalization(Rotem and another 44 MKs)This bill, which intends to bypass the High Court of Justice (HCJ), wasdevised in the wake of HCJ discussions of the Nationalization Act,

though the court has not yet ruled against it, but probably may do soin the future.Status: Not promoted due to lack of coalition agreement.

3. Bill for the Establishment of a Constitution Court (DavidRotem)This bill wishes to restrict the Supreme Court. In a democracy, theseparation of powers means that the court must defend the rule of thelaw and prevent harm to human rights in general and to constitutionalrights in particular through legislation, among other things. The


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proposed bill, which aims at denying the HCJ powers through a seriesof acts, severely harms the principle of the separation of powers, theprotection of human rights, and the democratic system.Status: Not promoted

4. A series of government-initiated bills that intend to restrictthe Knesset's opposition factionsSeven MKs may split from a Knesset faction to establish a new faction -

not one-third of the original faction members; increasing the quorumneeded for budget-related bills to 55 MKs; if after a vote of no-confidence is endorsed by a Knesset majority, the new candidate forprime minister should fail to form a coalition-based government, theousted government should regain its seat; a cabinet member who quitsthe Knesset shall be replaced by another on his faction list.Status: passed the first reading; it seems there is no intention topromote further it at this time.

5. Bill or Pardoning Disengagement Offenders (Rivlin et al)Though legislation that eases punitive measures against persons who

exercised their right to political protest is welcome in principle, thisparticular bill is problematic because it makes a distinction betweenpolitical and ideological activists of various groups. Instead ofpromoting a general principles of "going easy" on protesters, this billwas promoted by the current political majority in favor of theirelectorate alone .[4]Status: the Knesset passed the bill; the HCJ is currently reading apetition against its inequality.

6. The Cinema billAccording to this bill, the entire crew of a film that seeks public fundingwill have to pledge allegiance to the State of Israel as a Jewish

democratic state, its laws, symbols, etc. This bill infringes on thefreedom of expression, protest, and artistic and creative expression -referring only to a specific political, national, and social group.Status: not promoted.

7. Bill on Denying an MK's Parliamentary Status (Dani Danon)According to this bill, the parliamentary status of an MK may berevoked by a majority of 80 MKs if he expressed his opposition Israel'sexistence as a Jewish and democratic state, incited to racism, orsupported an armed struggle against the State of Israel.Status: Not approved by the government.

________________________________________________________________________

It may be expected, however, that some of the bills that the Knessetstarted promoting in the previous session will be actively promotedfurther in the upcoming session. Following is a list of bills that webelieve carry high probability of promotion and even ratification, withsuch or other wording, and turn into state laws in the coming WinterSession.


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1. The Nakba Bill (Alex Miller)According to this bill, persons marking Nakba Day as a day of mourningfor the establishment of the State of Israel will be sentenced to prison.The government endorsed the bill but, in the wake of public protests,its wording was changed to state that persons marking Nakba Dayshall be denied public funds. Even this "minimized" version still legallyimpairs on the freedom of expression, as the political majority bans a

certain political view.Status: The bill passed the first reading and will be discussed by theKnesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee ahead of its secondand third reading.

2. Anti-Incitement Bill (Zvulun Orlev)An amendment of the existing act, according to which personspublishing a call that denies the existence of the State of Israel as aJewish and democratic state shall be arrested. This is an extension ofthe penal code, which intends to incriminate a political view thatanother political group does not accept.Status: Passed the preliminary reading and may be discussed by the

Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee ahead of its firstreading.

3. Nationalization, Pledge of Allegiance (David Rotem)According to this bill, all Israeli citizens will have to pledge allegianceto the State of Israel as Jewish a democratic state, and do a term ofmilitary or national service.Status: The government did not endorse this bill; a ministerialcommittee rejected it in May 2010, but another attempt was made inJuly to get the cabinet to endorse it and failed. Additional attempts topromote this bill may be expected.

4. Bill on Admission Committees of Communal Settlements(David Rotem, Israel Hason, Shay Hermesh)According to this bill, admission committees may turn down candidatesfor membership with a communal settlement if they "fail to meet thefundamental views of the settlement," its social fabric, and so on. Thebill primarily intends to deny ethnic minorities' access to Jewishsettlements, offering the possibility to reject anyone who does notconcur with the settlement committee's positions, religion, politicalviews, and so on. It should be noted that ACRI filed petition against thisbill, which is pending with the HCJ. [5]Status: The bill passed the first reading and will be discussed by the

Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee ahead of its secondand third reading.

5. Bill on Funds from Foreign Political Entities (Elkin et al)According to the (original version) of this bill, any person or groupfinanced by a foreign nation must register with the party registrar andimmediately report each contribution, mark every document in thisspirit, and state at the opening of any remark they make that they arefunded by a foreign state. The bill names strict penalties too. Inpractice, the bill intends to delegitimize and impair on the activities of


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organizations that receive funds from, among other sources, foreignstates. Though the Israeli law already makes reporting such donationsimperative, this bill wishes to expand the existing law and force certaincivil organizations to mark their activities as subversive andillegitimate. Furthermore, the bill practically refers to the activities ofspecific civil groups, focusing on human rights organizations, implicitlyincriminating them when compared with other bodies or individuals

funded by foreign non-state entities.[6] It should be noted that we senta letter to the foreign minister recently warning against the state'sillegitimate intervention in fundraising by Israel's civil organizations.[7]Status: An amended version of the bill was endorsed by the KnessetConstitution, Law, and Justice Committee; and will soon be presentedfor a first reading and then discussed by the committee ahead of itssecond and third reading.

6. Bill on Infiltration (Government)The bill stipulates, among other things, that infiltrators based on theircountry of origin, and persons who assist them (!) may be sentenced to5 to 7 years in prison. This bill follows the trend of delegitimizing

human rights and aid organizations and individuals who help refugeesand labor immigrants.Status: The government pulled back the bill, but key points from it willbe introduced through a new bill which, to the best of our knowledge,is currently drafted by the Justice Ministry.[8]

7. Bill Against Boycott (Elkin et al)According to this bill, persons who initiate, promote, or publish materialthat might serve as grounds for imposing a boycott against Israel arecommitting a crime and a civil wrong, and may be ordered tocompensate parties economically affected by that boycott, including

fixed reparations to the tune of 30,000 shekels, freeing the plaintiffsfrom the need to prove damages. If the felon is a foreign citizen, hemay be banned from entering or doing business with Israel; and if it isa foreign state, Israel may not repay the debts it owes that state, anduse the money to compensate offended parties; that state mayadditionally be banned from conducting business affairs in Israel. And ifthat is not enough, the above shall apply one year retroactively.

This too is a bill that discriminates against certain political groups inIsrael, and is introduced by the political majority in an attempt toneutralize the political opposition it is facing. Primarily, the bill intendsto reject legitimate boycotts of products of settlements, and thus

severely impairs on a legitimate, legal, and nonviolent protest tool thatis internationally accepted (including by Israel), while impairing on theIsraeli citizens' freedom of expression, protest, and congregation.[9]

Status: The bill passed a preliminary reading and the KnessetConstitution, Law, and Justice Committee will discuss it ahead of itsfirst reading. It should be noted that a ministerial committee rejectedthe chapters pertaining to foreign citizens and states, probably out ofconsideration for Israel's foreign relations, and spiked the retroactiveclause.
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8. Bill on Revoking the Citizenship of Persons Convicted ofTerrorism or Espionage (David Rotem)This bill infringes on the basic rights of Israel's citizens because when acitizenship (which in itself is a basic right) is denied, a series of basicrights that follow from it are denied too. Furthermore, the Israeli PenalCode already specifies ways of dealing with persons convicted ofterrorism or espionage.[10]

Status: The bill was discussed by the Knesset Interior Committee,which will continue discussing it ahead of its first reading.________________________________________________________________________

On top of these, two additional bills submitted over the past 2 monthsmay be promoted in the coming session:

1. An Associations Bill (ban on filing suits abroad against Israelipoliticians or army officers), according to which an association thatdeals with suits against senior Israeli officials abroad may not beestablished, or will be shut down.

2. Bill banning wearing veils in public, according to which, it wouldbe illegal to cover one's face in any public location, under penalty ofimprisonment.________________________________________________________________________

We further wish to stress that there is a tough and intolerant approachtoward minority members and stands in the Knesset, as expressed inplenum and committees' discussions. This trend was particularly visibleafter the flotilla affair, and included verbal and even physical abuseagainst MK Zuabi, as well as other Arab MKs, during and after theplenum discussion, when the Knesset discussed the revocation of her

parliamentary rights. It should be noted that a petition was filed withthe HCJ against that revocation, under the pretext that it was anundemocratic act.

The prevailing atmosphere is not expected to change soon, certainlynot during the current loaded period of talks with the Palestinians,terror attacks, rocket firing from Gaza, and the debate over freezing ornot freezing construction works in the territories.

Answering our letter, dated July 2010, the Knesset speaker wrote thathe too is uncomfortable with some of the bills mentioned in our letter,saying that he feel that "the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish

nation, and as a Jewish and democratic state, is strong enough andneeds no 'fortifications' such as those proposed by the bills youmentioned in your letter. I believe that, often unintentionally, theyactually weaken and not bolster it."[11]

Additional Issues on the Knesset Agenda Ahead of the October2010 Session

While dealing with anti-democratic laws, we constantly work againstlegislation that impairs on human rights in all aspects of life.
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At this time, we deem it particularly important to address two topicaland central issues that carry human-rights implications that theKnesset will discuss in the upcoming session:

The Planning and Housing Reform - A new planning and constructionlaw is about to be introduced that has far-reaching implications thatmight impact on all aspects of the Israeli residents' lives. We believethat the currently proposed reform might impair on the public's

participation in related forums and on the protection of publicinterests. Cooperating with other organizations, we work to amend andcorrect the suggested reform so as to introduce tools that wouldensure appropriate representation, the implementation of the public'sparticipation, and that various social interests are considered.

The State Budget and the Arrangements Act - Israel's biannual budgetfor 2011-12 will be discussed and sealed in the coming months. Wefeel that the suggested budget contains numerous resolutions andamendments that impair on human rights in a wide range of issues. Onbehalf of ACRI and in collaboration with additional organizations, we

drafted several position papers on issues such as - impairing on thecourts' accessibility; impairing on the rights of the unemployed andseekers of state Allalowances; harming the laborers' rights; infringingon the residential rights of inhabitants of public housing, and so on.

Below are a few additional issues (samples only) that we handle andwhich are expected to be raised in the upcoming Knesset session:

1. A long line of bills dealing with immigration and civil status isexpected to be discussed as part of the Arrangements Act, governmentdeliberations ahead of the forming act, the new anti-infiltration bill, andmore.

2. An amendment we initiated, banning discrimination in publicservices that will not Allalow further selection at club entrances, will bediscussed by the Knesset Economic Committee in preparation for asecond and third reading.

3. An amendment of the National Health Act, adding a standingmechanism for updating the medications basket that will ratifycontinuity, which we initiated together with the Knesset LaborCommittee, will be discussed soon, having passed the first reading inthe previous Knesset.

4. A bill we initiated offering a program to replace the Wisconsin

Program, which the Knesset Labor Committee will discuss.Summary

Anti-democratic tendencies in the Knesset are gaining momentum and,regrettably, the Winter Session is expected to follow on the lastsession's trends. We feel, however, that it is important to point out thatnot all the anti-democratic bills were promoted, and that some of thosethat were promoted have undergone significant changes thatminimized the damage they might cause. The last Knesset sessionstood out in laying the foundations for anti-democratic legislation, but


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the vast majority of the legislation processes concerning theaforementioned bills is not yet over. In this respect, the coming sessionwill be a trying time. If the said bills should ripen and turn into statelaws, their potential damage to democracy would be realized; butshould the Knesset sober up and restrain itself, protecting ourdemocracy against the tyranny of the majority, the Israeli parliamentwill pass the important test of the democracy's durability.

Even if the anti-democratic bills - some, or even all, of them - do noteventually become laws - even then, Israeli democracy will havealready sustained a serious blow. For the issue has yet another, publicand educational, lasting aspect. The winds blowing from the Knesset,through these legislative efforts, are already affecting the public,helping to create a public perception of Israeli Arabs as always suspect,of human rights activists and organizations as enemies of the State,and of basic democratic norms as subject to the majority's whims.Thus, the activities of many MKs, often supported by leading cabinetmembers, effectively provide the public with ongoing classes in anti-democracy.

In conclusion, we would like to cite remarks that the Knesset speakermade on 2 August 2010, addressing Foreign Ministry cadets, aspublished in Haaretz: "Certain MKs address the people's sentiments,and in doing so create an international image of Israel as an Apartheidstate. [Such MKs] create a wrongful discourse between Jews andArabs in the Knesset that reflects on the existing conflict in the Israelisociety."[12]

We hope that in the upcoming session, the MKs will sober up andchange the parliament's direction, and that the trends of tyranny of themajority will be replaced by new approaches that will restore essential

democratic values and reintroduce the need to protect them into theheart of our democracy. Either way - whether the Knesset mends itsways or not - ACRI will keep guarding democratic values, monitoringthe Knesset's legislative processes, and doing everything it can to helppromoting the values of equality, social justice, and human rights.

[1]See our letter to the Knesset speaker, dated 6 June 2010, following the flotilla events, and hisreplydated 10 June 2010.[2]See our letter to the President, the prime minister, and the Knesset speaker, dated 31 January 2010,concerning the delegitimization of human rights organizations.[3]See our letter dated 21 July 2010[4]See an ACRI position paper on the issue dated 25 June 2010.[5]See an ACRIposition paper on the issue dated 21 December 2009.[6]See an ACRIposition paper on the issue dated 9 August 2010.[7]See an ACRIletter to the foreign minister, dated 1 September 2010.[8]See an ACRIposition paper by the Refugees' Rights Forum on the issue dated 4 June 2008.[9]See a position paperon the issue dated 7 September 2010.[10]See an ACRIposition paper on the issue dated 4 July 2010.[11]See the Knesset Speaker's letterdated 3 August 2010.[12]http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1182847.html. Read English translation of the articlehere.

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Becoming a GSS state

Yossi Gurvitz, +972blog, 7 October 2010
http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftn12http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref1http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref1http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=770http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=771http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=771http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref2http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref2http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/lettertoperes310110.pdfhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref3http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref3http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=772http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref4http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref4http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref5http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref5http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=773http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=773http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref6http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref6http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/bill5769ACRIcomments.pdfhttp://www.acri.org.il/pdf/bill5769ACRIcomments.pdfhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref7http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref7http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=774http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=774http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref8http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref8http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=775http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=775http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref9http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref9http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=776http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=776http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref10http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref10http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=777http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=777http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref11http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref11http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=778http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=778http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref12http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref12http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1182847.htmlhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=779http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=779http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftn12http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref1http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=770http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=771http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref2http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/lettertoperes310110.pdfhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref3http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=772http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref4http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref5http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=773http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref6http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/bill5769ACRIcomments.pdfhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref7http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=774http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref8http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=775http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref9http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=776http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref10http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=777http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref11http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=778http://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=769#_ftnref12http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1182847.htmlhttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/story.aspx?id=779


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The government is considering a Terror Bill, which is rather anewfangled thing: at the moment we have that cherished Britishheirloom, the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, and some bitsand pieces of it haphazardly passed into law. Unfortunately, thesuggested bill is likely to make the already unhealthy Israelidemocracy even more moribund. I wish to thank ACRI for theirdefinitive guide to the bill (both are Hebrew PDF files).

The bill is problematic in many ways. The destruction of governmentsymbols (pg.6) will be considered a terrorist act i.e., if you burn anIsraeli flag, you become a terrorist; an act of legitimate protest will notonly put you behind bars, it will put you there for a particularly longtime, since one of the main goals of the bill is to lengthen the prisonterms of terrorists.

Another point is that the Minister of Security is empowered, using hisown judgment, to declare an organization as a terror organization (pg.9). He is supposed to do so at the request of a service chief,presumably the GSS (General Security Services) chief, and the latter

has to provide the support of the Counsel General; but it is anadministrative act, not a judicial one, and the members of theorganization in question have no way to defend themselves. In fact,the first time an organization may hear its actually a terrororganization is when the Minister declares it so.

Admittedly, its somewhat difficult to summon representatives of Az A-Din Al Qassam so that they may put forward their views before theminister makes his decision, but this bill wont have much to do withmilitary organizations; it specifically (pg. 2) refers to the Dawaorganizations, Hamas charity societies and associations. And who is tosay whether a charity is in fact a Hamas front? Why, the GSS.

Suddenly, a charity finds itself on the wrong side of the law. Its bankaccount is frozen, its name is libeled. When they make it to theSupreme Court, to appeal the decision, they appear before the Courtas the representatives of a society already declared to be a terrororganization and the judges, who happen to be mortal, will considerthem to be such.

A third point is that the law creates a circle of terror capable of almostinfinite enlargement. Lets assume, for the sake of the argument, thata person donates to some society. That society happens to supportPalestinian education facilities; some of those, things being what they

are, will be Hamas facilities. Bang! The society, and the donor, havesuddenly become terrorists.

Fourthly, once a person becomes suspect of terrorism, theres a lot ofunpleasant and irregular things that may happen to him. They ought tobe enumerated, because they are, in a large sense, the core of this bill.

>> The bill Allalows for a significant increase in the use of secretinformation - i.e. information, generally claimed to be derived fromintelligence sources and sometimes fabricated, presented to the courtwith the without the knowledge of the accused. This creates a situation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_(Emergency)_Regulationshttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/terror010710.pdfhttp://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/8367331D-4DA7-433D-9910-AA980719E335/19851/TazkirTeror.pdfhttp://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/islam/bldef_dawa.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_(Emergency)_Regulationshttp://www.acri.org.il/eng/http://www.acri.org.il/pdf/terror010710.pdfhttp://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/8367331D-4DA7-433D-9910-AA980719E335/19851/TazkirTeror.pdfhttp://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/islam/bldef_dawa.htm


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of prisoners acquitted throughout the history of Israel because theirconfession was extracted from them by torture is zero. This despite thefact that the Landau Commission, in the 1980s, found the GSS has liedsystematically in thousands of cases.

And as if all this wasnt enough, the Minister of Security (or the ArmyChief of Staff!) can, based on his own judgment, throw an Israeli citizeninto administrative detention and keep the evidence against him

secret. He may also make certain, if he so chooses, that an Israelicitizen loses his job or fails to find another; that he may be prohibitedfrom meeting with his friends and colleagues; and that he may beprevented from leaving the country which persecutes him withoutAllalowing him a proper defense.

The minister (or the general) may, at their discretion, Allalow thatperson a hearing; but they may decide to do so up to three weeks afterthe restrictions came into action. The suspect may demand a hearingat a Regional Court; but one assumes this would be the GSSs homecourt, the Petah Tikva Regional Court and its pet judge, Einat Ron (who

handled both the Kamm and the Makhoul cases, and is a formermilitary prosecutor who tried to cover up the killing of a Palestinianboy). Such things just happen. The bill contains many more annoying,even dangerous, items; but compared to the above, they are indeedimmaterial.

Now, hold on, you say; who guarantees that the Minister (or thegeneral) will actually sign the administrative order? Who says he wontread the secret material with disgust, refuse to serve as Shin BetDirector Yuval Diskins rubber stamp, and kick the GSS down thestairs? There are two answers to these questions. One, the freedom ofa person ought not to depend on the reasoning of a political figure,

much less a general; and two, I cannot remember a single case inwhich the GSS requested an administrative arrest order and didnt getit. If this bill becomes a law, the freedom of every citizen will be inquestion as soon as he annoys the GSS, and even the flimsy defenseshe had so far wont stand.

The danger, of course, is not equally spread. The good Zionist citizens,who praise the IDF and who believe the GSS without a second thought,will not generally be in any danger. But more skeptical citizens,those with a critical bent, those whose attitude to Zionism isproblematic, will know that from now on that they can, with a few

clicks of the keyboard, lose whatever is left of their rights. That, onesuspects, is precisely the goal of the GSS, who just a few years backinformed us that its purpose includes the suppression of subversion,even when this subversion is legal and intends to influence thefuture of Israel in legal and non-violent ways. In short, this bill must notpass.

But it will, of course.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anat_Kammhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameer_Makhoulhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anat_Kammhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameer_Makhoul


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Israel Forces Complete Exercise for PopulationExchange between Israel, PA

By Sergio Yahni, Alternative Information Center (AIC), 10 October 2010

The Voice of Israel Radio reported that on Thursday (7 October), Israelisecurity forces completed a comprehensive security exercisesimulating the response to mass demonstrations of Palestinian citizens

of Israel following conclusion of an agreement with the PalestinianAuthority (PA). Amongst other things, the security forces ran throughscenarios of violent demonstrations following any possible agreementfor population exchange with the PA.

This exercise fits the vision of the Minister of Internal Security, YitzhakAharonovitch and his party Yisrael Beitenu, which support populationexchange between Israel and the PA should a peace agreement besigned.

In May 2004 the Chairperson of Yisrael Beitenu and then Minister ofTransportation, Avigdor Liberman, proposed the idea of population

exchange as part of his comprehensive plan for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The essence of this plan is that Israel would annex the settlement blocsin the West Bank and in parallel, transfer territory in Israel's trianglearea, an area populated by Palestinians, to the Palestinian state thatwould be established. According to the plan, Palestinians living in thisarea would lose their Israeli citizenship, unless they would chose tomigrate to Israel in its new borders and swear loyalty to the state.

According to a 2006 study conducted by Shaul Arieli, Dubi Schwartzand Hadas Tagari from the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies,

approximately 148,000 Israeli citizens would lose their citizenship insuch a population exchange.

This plan is not new in the history of the Zionist movement. Already in1937, David Ben Gurion wrote in his diary that the primary contributionof the Peel Commission is its proposal for population exchangebetween the Jewish and Arab states to be established.

Approximately 300,000 Palestinians were deported from the West Bankduring the June 1967 war and in its immediate aftermath.

To date a detailed plan for implementing Liberman's proposal has notbeen published, and the exercise that concluded on 7 October is the

first time that Israeli security forces are focused on the operativeaspects of such a plan. The exercise was conducted by Israel's PrisonAuthority and included participation of the Home Command, the Israelipolice, the military police and fire fighters, amongst others.

According to the Voice of Israel, in the event that the plan forpopulation exchange would be implemented, security forces wouldestablish at the Golani (Maskana) Junction in the Upper Galilee adetention centre for citizens who oppose it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Commissionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Commission


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Prof. Dan Bar-On of Ben-Gurion University and Prof. Sami Adwan ofBethlehem University.

"Unfortunately, the Palestinians are further along than the IsraeliEducation Ministry when it comes to acknowledging the other side ofthe conflict," said an official involved in administering the textbook inthe Sha'ar Hanegev school. "While [the Palestinians] approved theproject, here they are summoning the principal for clarifications. This is

a highly embarrassing situation."

Israeli officials said that the Education Ministry's order to discontinuethe use of the textbook was issued without any official vetting of thebook's contents or the supplementary coursework. It was only after theproject garnered media attention that the ministry's pedagogicsecretariat, Zvi Zameret, asked to see the textbook.

The final edition of the textbook, which was published last year, offersboth the Israeli and Palestinian historical narratives of the Middle Eastconflict while also Allalowing for students to note their thoughts on thematerial. The book covers the early stages of the Zionist movement all

the way through to the past decade. It has been published in English,Arabic, and Hebrew.

Last August, a delegation of Swedish mayors visited Israel and thePalestinian territories. During the visit, the delegation signed acooperation agreement with the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council andthe Palestinian Authority's Education Ministry. As part of the project, asmall group of students from each area would learn from the textbookwhile the teachers would exchange information and instructionmethods.

Later this month, a delegation of Israeli and Palestinian teachers is

scheduled to take part in a workshop in Sweden as part of the firststage of the joint project. In the second stage, 11th and 12th gradestudents from Israel, the PA, and Sweden are to meet in joint sessionsto discuss the textbook.

"Ramallah approved the project only after PA officials read thetextbook, while in Israel the book was banned even though officials inJerusalem did not even check its contents," said one official. "From thePalestinian standpoint, this is a breakthrough because they are readyto teach the Israeli narrative. On the other hand, in Israel they arehunkering down in old positions."

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A Special Place in Hell / Top 10 worst errors Israel isabout to make

Making major mistakes: what they are, why they matter, wherethey stand, and what you can do about it.


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By Bradley Burston, 12 October 2010

1. The Loyalty Oath.

What it is: A proposed amendment to Israel's Law of Citizenship, which,if approved by the Knesset, would require non-Jews seeking citizenshipto pledge allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state." Thebill does not require Jews to make the same declaration.

Why it matters: A watershed measure which has been widelycondemned as formally racist, passage of the bill, a key demand ofAvigdor Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu party, could also fuel Lieberman'sdrive to head the Israeli right, and eventually, run for the premiership.

Where it stands: Approved by the cabinet this week by a 22-8 vote,with all Labor ministers and three Likud MKs opposed. To become law,it must now pass three Knesset votes in the coming months.

What you can do: Add your voice to those working to defeat passage ofthe law. The law must have the support of the Likud [27 seats] andLabor [13] in order to pass. Write to Prime Minister and Likud Chair

Benjamin Netanyahu and to Defense Minister and Labor Chair EhudBarak to urge them to bar the bill from passage. The individual e-mailaddresses of all Likud MKs may be found by clicking their names on theKnesset website. Senior Likud MKs Benny Begin, Dan Meridor andMichael Eitan, as well as Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin have alreadyspoken out strongly against the Loyalty Oath. Others are believed tohave serious reservations, and may be persuaded to abstain or work tokeep the bill from reaching the Knesset floor.

The Association for Civi

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