Mondoweiss
Western leaders grow deaf to Israeli abuses
Middle East
Jonathan Cook on November 3, 2016 8 Comments
UNESCO headquarters in Paris
Israel has just emerged from its extended, three-week high holidays, a period
that in recent years has been marked by extremist religious Jews making
provocative visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Many go to pray, in violation of Israel’s international obligations. Most
belong to groups that seek the mosque’s destruction and replacement with a
Jewish temple – and now enjoy support from within the parliament, including
from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party.
A rash of such visits last autumn outraged Palestinians and triggered a wave of
so-called “lone-wolf” attacks on Israelis. The attacks only recently abated.
Taking advantage of the renewed quiet, Israel allowed a record number of
ultra-nationalists to visit the mosque, figures released last week show.
Parties of Israeli soldiers are also now entering the site.
The police, whose recently appointed commander is himself from the extremist
settler community, has recommended too that restrictions be ended on visits by
Jewish legislators who demand Israel’s sovereignty over the mosque.
Israel’s treatment of this supremely important Islamic holy site symbolises for
Palestinians their powerlessness, oppression and routine humiliation.
Conversely, a sense of impunity has left Israel greedy for even more control
over Palestinians.
The gaping power imbalance was detailed last month at a special hearing of the
United Nations security council. Hagai El-Ad, head of B’tselem, which monitors
the occupation, termed Israel’s abuses as “invisible, bureaucratic, daily
violence” against Palestinians exercised from “cradle to grave”.
He appealed to the international community to end its five decades of inaction.
“We need your help. … The occupation must end. The UN Security Council must
act. And the time is now,” he said.
Israeli politicians were incensed. El-Ad had broken one of Israel’s cardinal
rules: you do not wash the country’s dirty linen abroad. Most Israelis consider
the occupation and Palestinian suffering as purely an internal matter, to be
decided by them alone.
Netanyahu accused B’tselem’s director of conspiring with outsiders to subject
Israel to “international coercion”.
With the US limply defending El-Ad’s freedom of speech, Netanyahu found a proxy
to relaunch the attack. David Bitan, chair of his party, both demanded that
El-Ad be stripped of his citizenship and proposed legislation to outlaw calls
for sanctions against Israel in international forums.
Unsurprisingly, El-Ad has faced a flood of death threats.
Meanwhile, another UN forum has been considering Israel’s occupation. Its
educational, scientific, and cultural body, UNESCO, passed last month a
resolution condemning Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian holy sites,
and especially al-Aqsa.
Again, Israelis were enraged at this brief disturbance of their well-oiled
machinery of oppression. The abuses documented by UNESCO were overshadowed by
Israeli protests that its own narrative, one based on security paranoia and
Biblical entitlement, was not the focus.
While Israel exercises ever more physical control over Palestinians, its moral
credit is rapidly running out with foreign audiences, who have come to
understand that the occupation is neither benign nor temporary.
The rise of social media has accelerated that awakening, which in turn has
bolstered grassroots reactions like the boycott (BDS) movement.
Aware of the dangers, Israel has been aggressively targeting all forms of
popular activism. Facebook and Youtube are under relentless pressure to censor
sites critical of Israel.
Western governments – which joined the chorus of “Je suis Charlie” after ISIL’s
lethal attack on the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo magazine last year – have
cracked down on the boycott movement. Paradoxically, France has led the way by
outlawing such activism, echoing Israeli claims that it constitutes
“incitement”.
And left-wing social movements emerging in Europe face loud accusations that
any criticism of Israel is tantamount to an attack on all Jews. Notably, a
British parliamentary committee last month characterised as anti-semitic parts
of the opposition Labour party under its new leader Jeremy Corbyn, a champion
of Palestinian rights.
In these ways, European governments – fearful of upsetting Israel’s patron in
Washington – have been trying to hold in check popular anger at a belligerent
and unrepentant Israel.
Illustrating that caution, UNESCO was forced last week to vote a second time on
its resolution, this time removing the word “occupation” and, against normal
practice, giving equal status to the occupier’s names for the sites under
threat from its occupation.
Even with the resolution neutered, UNESCO’s usual consensus could not be
reached. The resolution – pushed by the Palestinians and Arab states – passed
by a wafer-thin majority, with European and other governments abstaining.
Israel and its enablers have successfully engineered a hollowing out of
official discourse about Israel to blunt even the mildest criticism.
Gradually, as the UNESCO vote and Corbyn’s experiences in the UK highlight,
western powers are accepting Netanyahu’s doubly illogical premises: that
criticising the occupation is anti-Israel, and criticising Israel is
anti-semitic.
Incrementally, western leaders are conceding that any criticism of Netanyahu’s
policies – even as he tries to ensure the occupation becomes permanent – is
off-limits.
El-Ad called for courage from the UN security council. But his words have
fallen on deaf ears.
A version of this article first appeared in the National Abu Dhabi.
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Western leaders grow deaf to Israeli abuses
Middle East
Jonathan Cook on November 3, 2016 8 Comments
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UNESCO headquarters in Paris
Israel has just emerged from its extended, three-week high holidays, a period
that in recent years has been marked by extremist religious Jews making
provocative visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Many go to pray, in violation of Israel’s international obligations. Most
belong to groups that seek the mosque’s destruction and replacement with a
Jewish temple – and now enjoy support from within the parliament, including
from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party.
A rash of such visits last autumn outraged Palestinians and triggered a wave of
so-called “lone-wolf” attacks on Israelis. The attacks only recently abated.
Taking advantage of the renewed quiet, Israel allowed a record number of
ultra-nationalists to visit the mosque, figures released last week show.
Parties of Israeli soldiers are also now entering the site.
The police, whose recently appointed commander is himself from the extremist
settler community, has recommended too that restrictions be ended on visits by
Jewish legislators who demand Israel’s sovereignty over the mosque.
Israel’s treatment of this supremely important Islamic holy site symbolises for
Palestinians their powerlessness, oppression and routine humiliation.
Conversely, a sense of impunity has left Israel greedy for even more control
over Palestinians.
The gaping power imbalance was detailed last month at a special hearing of the
United Nations security council. Hagai El-Ad, head of B’tselem, which monitors
the occupation, termed Israel’s abuses as “invisible, bureaucratic, daily
violence” against Palestinians exercised from “cradle to grave”.
He appealed to the international community to end its five decades of inaction.
“We need your help. … The occupation must end. The UN Security Council must
act. And the time is now,” he said.
Israeli politicians were incensed. El-Ad had broken one of Israel’s cardinal
rules: you do not wash the country’s dirty linen abroad. Most Israelis consider
the occupation and Palestinian suffering as purely an internal matter, to be
decided by them alone.
Netanyahu accused B’tselem’s director of conspiring with outsiders to subject
Israel to “international coercion”.
With the US limply defending El-Ad’s freedom of speech, Netanyahu found a proxy
to relaunch the attack. David Bitan, chair of his party, both demanded that
El-Ad be stripped of his citizenship and proposed legislation to outlaw calls
for sanctions against Israel in international forums.
Unsurprisingly, El-Ad has faced a flood of death threats.
Meanwhile, another UN forum has been considering Israel’s occupation. Its
educational, scientific, and cultural body, UNESCO, passed last month a
resolution condemning Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian holy sites,
and especially al-Aqsa.
Again, Israelis were enraged at this brief disturbance of their well-oiled
machinery of oppression. The abuses documented by UNESCO were overshadowed by
Israeli protests that its own narrative, one based on security paranoia and
Biblical entitlement, was not the focus.
While Israel exercises ever more physical control over Palestinians, its moral
credit is rapidly running out with foreign audiences, who have come to
understand that the occupation is neither benign nor temporary.
The rise of social media has accelerated that awakening, which in turn has
bolstered grassroots reactions like the boycott (BDS) movement.
Aware of the dangers, Israel has been aggressively targeting all forms of
popular activism. Facebook and Youtube are under relentless pressure to censor
sites critical of Israel.
Western governments – which joined the chorus of “Je suis Charlie” after ISIL’s
lethal attack on the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo magazine last year – have
cracked down on the boycott movement. Paradoxically, France has led the way by
outlawing such activism, echoing Israeli claims that it constitutes
“incitement”.
And left-wing social movements emerging in Europe face loud accusations that
any criticism of Israel is tantamount to an attack on all Jews. Notably, a
British parliamentary committee last month characterised as anti-semitic parts
of the opposition Labour party under its new leader Jeremy Corbyn, a champion
of Palestinian rights.
In these ways, European governments – fearful of upsetting Israel’s patron in
Washington – have been trying to hold in check popular anger at a belligerent
and unrepentant Israel.
Illustrating that caution, UNESCO was forced last week to vote a second time on
its resolution, this time removing the word “occupation” and, against normal
practice, giving equal status to the occupier’s names for the sites under
threat from its occupation.
Even with the resolution neutered, UNESCO’s usual consensus could not be
reached. The resolution – pushed by the Palestinians and Arab states – passed
by a wafer-thin majority, with European and other governments abstaining.
Israel and its enablers have successfully engineered a hollowing out of
official discourse about Israel to blunt even the mildest criticism.
Gradually, as the UNESCO vote and Corbyn’s experiences in the UK highlight,
western powers are accepting Netanyahu’s doubly illogical premises: that
criticising the occupation is anti-Israel, and criticising Israel is
anti-semitic.
Incrementally, western leaders are conceding that any criticism of Netanyahu’s
policies – even as he tries to ensure the occupation becomes permanent – is
off-limits.
El-Ad called for courage from the UN security council. But his words have
fallen on deaf ears.
A version of this article first appeared in the National Abu Dhabi.
