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Azmi Bishara's J'Accuse |
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 by Richard Silverstein, July 30, 2007 |
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TAGS:
The gag order imposed on media reporting of the Shin Bet treason case against Azmi Bishara has been lifted. Unfortunately, we don't know much more now than we did before. But at least it has freed Bishara from enough constraints that he has published a sharp rebuttal to the charges (as much as they are known) in the L.A. Times. Haaretz has reported the case based on anonymous security sources giving their view of the charges. A dubious proposition journalistically, but that seems to be how Israeli media operates giving (too) wide latitude toward government sources. It also would be nice to see a whole lot more "alleges" in this dispatch since otherwise we're to assume we should accept the Shin Bet's allegations as truth. Here is what those sources report:
The police and Shin Bet have sufficient evidence to indict former MK Azmi Bishara for crimes such as contact with the enemy, say sources who have seen the evidence in recent weeks. The sources say it will be very difficult for Bishara to refute the evidence, even if he appears in person to participate in police interviews. ...Most of the allegations involve contact with Hezbollah intelligence agencies, which the police and the Shin Bet say were responsible for collecting intelligence on Israel during the Second Lebanon War. The bulk of the evidence is based on wire taps of Bishara's telephone conversations with Hezbollah agents. These recordings were authorized by the Supreme Court. The evidence also suggests that Bishara assisted Hezbollah in broadening the impact of its attacks on Israel by helping direct its rocket barrages and offering recommendations on how to carry out psychological warfare against Israelis. Bishara is also suspected of transferring to Hezbollah military information, but the military censor has imposed a gag order on that information. In addition to the evidence suggesting that Bishara's activities were tantamount to treason, investigators are working on an angle involving financial violations. The investigators are trying to connect evidence to suspicions that Bishara violated the law forbidding the funding of terrorism. The evidence is based on the testimony of a family of Jerusalem-based money changers who say they have delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to Bishara's home in Beit Hanina. The funds have also not been declared to the tax authorities as required by law. The investigators have so far been unable to trace the money and are not sure whether Bishara kept the funds or distributed them to other organizations. The police are considering initiating an investigation in a number of countries where the funds are known to have originated or passed through.
I'm glad to say that no U.S. publication, especially after the misinformation it's been fed by the Bush Administration for the past six years, would ever report a story like this. So what do we have? The spooks claim they have enough evidence to indict. They claim, without providing any evidence, that he had contact with Hezbollah agents. What's a real stunner is that Bishara, if the Shin Bet is to be believed, was a sort of civilian "spotter" who phoned in coordinates to the Hezbollah gunners to improve the aim of their rockets and kill more of his fellow Arabs (who suffered high casualties during these barrages). As for "transferring military information," do you think one of the most mistrusted members of the Israeli Knesset would be trusted with ANYTHING in the way of "military information." As for "offering recommendations on how to carry out psychological warfare against Israelis," we'll just have to see precisely what that means in terms of real actions rather than just allegations. All of this of course is nothing new for Bishara since the intelligence agency has been after him for years. But what is new is the corruption allegation. They believe he received several hundred thousand dollars from foreign sources. They can't determine whether he distributed them to Arab political organizations or kept it himself and they can't determine where he got the money. Sounds like a slam dunk to me. All the rest is bunk. The treason angle is bunk as far as I'm concerned. Mere ventilating for the sake of the right-wing Israeli constituency which wants Bishara's hide; and an effort to intimidate Bishara and his movement into scaling back their nationalist demands and aspirations. The Shin Bet recently announced that Israeli Arab nationalism was a grave threat to Israel and that would do everything in its power (and that covers a lot of ground both legal and not when an Israeli intelligence agency makes such a statement) to defeat such an effort whether or not it was pursued legally. When the security services of a democratic nation publicly declare that they will defeat a domestic political movement which is adhering to the rules of that democracy--is that nation still a true democracy?? It's only fair, since Haaretz in this article basically allowed itself to be a mouthpiece of the Shin Bet, to air Bishara's rebuttal in his first major article in a U.S. publication since the charges began to fly. He begins with a very apt historical comparison of his own predicament to the Dreyfuss Affair:
in an ironic twist reminiscent of France's Dreyfus affair — in which a French Jew was accused of disloyalty to the state — the government of Israel is accusing me of aiding the enemy during Israel's failed war against Lebanon in July.
The reason it is an apt comparison is that Dreyfuss too was a public official (an army officer) and member of a despised minority (a Jew in France) accused of treason. The charges against Dreyfuss were trumped up by anti-Semitic army officers who wished to cover up malfeasance by themselves and others. Of course, we only know of Dreyfuss' innocence now. In the moment, I'm sure Dreyfuss and his actions may've looked as suspect as Bishara's do to some Israelis. We will only discover the truth or falsehood of the charges against Bishara in the course of time. Perhaps the Bishara case will not turn out to be as black and white as Dreyfuss was. Or perhaps it will. Here Bishara responds to some of the basic charges against him:
Israeli police apparently suspect me of passing information to a foreign agent and of receiving money in return. Under Israeli law, anyone — a journalist or a personal friend — can be defined as a "foreign agent" by the Israeli security apparatus. Such charges can lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty. The allegations are ridiculous. Needless to say, Hezbollah — Israel's enemy in Lebanon — has independently gathered more security information about Israel than any Arab Knesset member could possibly provide. What's more, unlike those in Israel's parliament who have been involved in acts of violence, I have never used violence or participated in wars. My instruments of persuasion, in contrast, are simply words in books, articles and speeches.
Here Bishara provides a lesson in the history of Arabs in Israel:
When Israel was established in 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled in fear. My family was among the minority that escaped that fate, remaining instead on the land where we had long lived. The Israeli state, established exclusively for Jews, embarked immediately on transforming us into foreigners in our own country. For the first 18 years of Israeli statehood, we, as Israeli citizens, lived under military rule with pass laws that controlled our every movement. We watched Jewish Israeli towns spring up over destroyed Palestinian villages. Today we make up 20% of Israel's population...But we face legal, institutional and informal discrimination in all spheres of life. More than 20 Israeli laws explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews. The Law of Return, for example, grants automatic citizenship to Jews from anywhere in the world. Yet Palestinian refugees are denied the right to return to the country they were forced to leave in 1948. The Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty — Israel's "Bill of Rights" — defines the state as "Jewish" rather than a state for all its citizens. Thus Israel is more for Jews living in Los Angeles or Paris than it is for native Palestinians.
Here is the crux of the threat that Bishara poses to Israel and the reason why he drives the security apparatus crazy:
I have also asserted the right of the Lebanese people, and of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to resist Israel's illegal military occupation. I do not see those who fight for freedom as my enemies. This may discomfort Jewish Israelis, but they cannot deny us our history and identity any more than we can negate the ties that bind them to world Jewry. After all, it is not we, but Israeli Jews who immigrated to this land. Immigrants might be asked to give up their former identity in exchange for equal citizenship, but we are not immigrants.
In other words, just as Israeli Jews have ties to their brethren near and far, so too Israeli Arabs have family, cultural and super-national ties to their brethren living in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. If Israeli Jews maintain solidarity with me here in Seattle, WA--why can't Bishara maintain solidarity with Arabs of neighboring countries? This expression of solidarity clearly threatens Israeli Jews and the government. But if we look back on our own history, we find that the 19th century was full of anti-Catholic bigotry which posited that immigrant Catholics owed a greater allegiance to Rome than to America. And what is the dual loyalty canard raised against American Jews but another form of this. If all Bishara did in these alleged conversations was what he says he did here ("asserted the right of the Lebanese...and Palestinians...to resist Israel's occupation") then he has done nothing legally actionable. In this concluding section, the Arab politician lays out the history of persecution he has suffered at the hands of the Israeli justice system and places it in the context of the Arab nationalist struggle:
During my years in the Knesset, the attorney general indicted me for voicing my political opinions (the charges were dropped), lobbied to have my parliamentary immunity revoked and sought unsuccessfully to disqualify my political party from participating in elections — all because I believe Israel should be a state for all its citizens and because I have spoken out against Israeli military occupation. Last year, Cabinet member Avigdor Lieberman — an immigrant from Moldova — declared that Palestinian citizens of Israel "have no place here," that we should "take our bundles and get lost." After I met with a leader of the Palestinian Authority from Hamas, Lieberman called for my execution. The Israeli authorities are trying to intimidate not just me but all Palestinian citizens of Israel. But we will not be intimidated. We will not bow to permanent servitude in the land of our ancestors or to being severed from our natural connections to the Arab world...If we turn back from our path to freedom now, we will consign future generations to the discrimination we have faced for six decades.
Before one accepts the load of malarkey about treason and indictable offenses in the Haaretz article one ought to ponder the cogency and power of this message. In Azmi Bishara, Israeli Jews have found a worthy adversary, one who will challenge them "where they live." People may hate this man. They may find him an odious charlatan. But in a way he is the mirror image of Israeli Jews and their attitudes toward their fellow Arabs. Bishara seems to be saying: "if you hate my people I will become an adversary worthy of that hatred." The Israeli majority, in its smugness and racist notions of Arab inferiority, has found a leader who reflects back at them their intolerance. So, yes, Bishara may be a demagogue. He may be a hot-headed, egotistical show-boater. He may incite Arab anger and even hatred against the State. But what do Jews expect? Have they met their Arab fellow citizens anywhere near halfway? I hear echoes of Martin Luther King's FBI harassment in Bishara's invocation of the American civil rights movement in this passage:
Americans know from their own history of institutional discrimination the tactics that have been used against civil rights leaders. These include telephone bugging, police surveillance, political delegitimization and criminalization of dissent through false accusations. Israel is continuing to use these tactics at a time when the world no longer tolerates such practices as compatible with democracy.
As I wrote above, whatever this man's weaknesses, this paragraph in particular makes clear Bishara's ability to invoke references to his audience's own political history and experience in order to draw them closer to his own. A worthy adversary and one to be reckoned with.
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Anonymous
This is an absurd rant by an author who is obviously incapable of objectively dealing with the complicated subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Neil Cassidy
Why can't we get reasonable commentary like this from main stream media. Good post.
Anonymous
Dreyfus was a french patriot who fought in the french army and served in the front lines of the army during WW1 despite being in his late 50s. His son won medals from the french army. Bishara is a traitor who "thanked" hezbollah for committing war crimes against his own country. The comparison is absurd and offensive.
And I'm laughing at the claim that israeli jews are the immigrants. Last I checked it was arafat who was born in Egypt and sharon, Olmert, Netanyahu, and Barak who were born in Israel.
François Blumen...
Well, I'm sure glad that if "we don't know much more now than we did before" we still know enough to blame Israel. That's uncommon enough to bring attention to this case.
Poor man's life is in terrible danger: "Israeli police apparently suspect me of passing information to a foreign agent and of receiving money in return. Under Israeli law, anyone — a journalist or a personal friend — can be defined as a "foreign agent" by the Israeli security apparatus. Such charges can lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty."
The DEATH PENALTY! I surmise it has been re-established overnight specially to do away with the enemies of Israel... ("In 1954, Israel abolished capital punishment except for those who committed Nazi war crimes.
In the 54 years that Israel has existed as an independent state, only one person has been executed. This person was Adolf Eichman..." http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/jewishethics/capital.sht...)
We can also thoroughly enjoy the "apt comparison" of this injured victim with Dreyfus's case: " Of course, we only know of Dreyfuss' [sic] innocence now. In the moment, I'm sure Dreyfuss [sic again] and his actions may've looked as suspect as Bishara's do to some Israelis."
Nobody knew of Dreyfus's innocence back then! One of the -perhaps *the*- most famous political pieces ever written by a novelist -Zola's "J'accuse"- is most likely, let me guess, a fabrication of the International Jewish Consipracy dating from the 1980's? (http://www.chameleon-translations.com/sample-Zola.shtml)
But most of all, let us remember the plight of this man, "But we face legal, institutional and informal discrimination in all spheres of life." After all, this poor man's freedom of speech and political rights were constrained by the evil Israelis whom he had to deal with daily as a... member of the Israeli parliament.
Please, next time you feel like denouncing an injustice, check your facts for your historical analogies. Then you might want to pick a more worthy cause -sure, there is plenty of discrimination of Arabs in Israel; I somehow doubt that a former member of the Israeli parliament, however, has been the greatest victim of those wrongs. You start your post by claiming that we don't know much about the case, but then you seem to accept at face value the defence's claims, and already postulate a forthcoming conspiracy theory to mask up the truth. Can't you at least wait for a verdict to denounce an injustice?
Anonymous
Neither Palestine nor Palestinians have ever existed. Bishara is an Arab whose ancestors came from the Gulf of Arabia. It would be great if all these savages went back to their homeland.
Neil Cassidy
I'm guessing that there will never be an injustice involving an Arab that someone like Blumen will ever acknowledge.
richards1052
The problem with ideologues is they are so intent on propagandizing they don't bother with little issues like accuracy. Bishara did none of the things this commenter claims. He opposed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He refused to call Hezbollah an enemy of the Israeli Arabs.
You are possibly unaware that Avigdor Lieberman called for stringing up Bishara by a lamppost and other MKs have called for Bishara to be executed. And do you feel that putting someone in prison for life instead of executing him merely because you dislike his ethnicity and political views is a satisfactory approach to this matter?
And you know this how? Were you alive or are you a historical expert on the period? Zola knew of Dreyfus' innocence, why would you presume that no one else would? Do you think no other Frenchmen could smell a rat when they heard the charges against him? No French Jew saw through the charade? Yr claim is preposterous.
And you think having Israeli intelligence agencies investigate every Arab MK for offenses is NOT a constraint of their freedom of speech & political rights? You think the prospect of spending yr life in jail is not a constraint? What is it then?
There will never BE a verdict because the Shin Bet conveniently allowed Bishara to leave the country because it knew its case would never stand up in a court of law. You dispute my view of the case yet present no argument or evidence of yr own about what happened thus making yr own claims suspect.
Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam (blog)
Mahler
Haaretz is a mouthpiece of the Shin Bet? When's the last time you were in Israel?
The only time it will actually matter is when the State's evidence is examined IN COURT, not by you. Perhaps this is why Shin Bet doesn't lay all its cards down on the table now for your oh-so dispassionate scrutiny.
How can you actually buy the Dreyfus analogy? Did Dreyfus visit Prussia and denounce the legitimacy of France's very existance? While you try to paint Israel as a racist police state, the reality is that Israel is the only democracy that has allowed its members of parliament to visit countries with which it is still in an official state of war. Israel has allowed this for years if not decades.
How you can take Lieberman's blustering to represent state policy, and support the absurd notion that there is a .00000001% possibility that Bishara could be executed is nothing but (more) intellectual dishonesty. If Israel didn't use the death penalty for Samir Kuntar, who murdered a toddler by crushing her head with a rock, it won't execute an Arab MK.
On the whole, this piece is dripping with the bogus anti-zionist narrative that betrays your inherent bias. You unquestioningly accept the implicit lie in Bishara's letter that every Arab refugee from '48 was expelled or fled in fear. Many willingly left at the behest of the neighboring Arab states and some of their own leaders in anticipation of an Arab victory and subsequent genocide against the Yishuv. Also, as is standard of all "lessons" like the one you eagerly imbibe from Bishara, there is no mention whatsoever of the Arab High Committee's outright rejection of the UN's partition plan, and every preceding compromise proposal since the 1920's.
As obnoxious as Lieberman is about not recognizing Arab rights, Bishara and his party are equally if not worse in refusing to accept that there is a valid Jewish right to statehood, and an uninterrupted connection between that land and the Jewish nation. Their desire for a single, binational state is really a desire for a Palestinian state with a Jewish minority. We've seen how well ethnic and religious minorities are treated in other Arab-Muslim-majority states, but Bishara (among too many others) would have you believe that in "Palestine" it can and will be different. No thanks.
Pieces like this are why anyone with moral and intellectual integrity, with an interest in Israeli history and politics, would do well to avoid Tikun magazine like the plague.
Anonymous
"The problem with ideologues is they are so intent on propagandizing they don't bother with little issues like accuracy. Bishara did none of the things this commenter claims. He opposed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. He refused to call Hezbollah an enemy of the Israeli Arabs."
He praised hezbollah for its great victory over israel, a "victory" that entailed sending rockets into civilian areas that killed both jewish and arab israelis. The "invasion" of lebanon was caused by hezbollah invading israel and killing and kidnapping israeli soldiers.
Dreyfus fought for france, and was a french patriot his whole life. Is Bishara an Israeli patriot?
François Blumen...
Obviously it gets me misunderstood.
Neil, if you've read the end of my comment, you'll notice that what I'm really trying to say is that I believe that making an enormous and misinformed fuss about a supposed injustice of someone whom was likely not the victim of an injustice -or not nearly as much as more 'ordinary' Arab Israelis- is obscuring the discrimination and injustices that are happening otherwise.
Re. the death penalty, I don't think that I have anything to add to what Mahler just said. As to the life sentence, as I said, I think it'd be a bit premature to criticise a sentence that hasn't yet been passed in a judgement that hasn't yet happened...
R. Silverman writes: "Nobody knew of Dreyfus's innocence back then!
And you know this how? Were you alive or are you a historical expert on the period? Zola knew of Dreyfus' innocence, why would you presume that no one else would?"
It seemed to me that you were the one implying that 'nobody knew of Dreyfus's innocence back then' when you wrote: "Of course, we only know of Dreyfuss' innocence now. In the moment, I'm sure Dreyfuss and his actions may've looked as suspect as Bishara's do to some Israelis."
R.S. writes: "And you think having Israeli intelligence agencies investigate every Arab MK for offenses is NOT a constraint of their freedom of speech & political rights?"
I'm just let's say, strongly disturbed by the picture you paint of an amazingly unequal, unfair, unjust Israel in which the most oppressed guy can still make it to Parliament. Doesn't it seem weird to you?
" You dispute my view of the case yet present no argument or evidence of yr own about what happened thus making yr own claims suspect." -since I was being mostly ironical and sarcastically commenting on your own arguments, all I can say is that I'm glad that you should find those "claims" "suspect"...!
Happy to see that the correct spelling of the name of your historical reference was re-established in the meanwhile!
Neil Cassidy
Apology accepted Blumen. I don't know that much about Bishara he could be a murderous ass, but I've been watching Silverstein for some time. He gets goofy sometimes but most of the time he is right on. When he thinks there is a problem there is usually a problem.
Adam Shprintzen
Oh the cruel irony of claiming the injustice towards Bishara, a member of the highest legislative body in Israel, yet one whose very view of the state he serves is that it shouldn't exist. Funny, perhaps that is in itself mildly treasonous?
To say that Bishara's contacts with any number of foreign governments over the year is merely an example of pan-Arabic friendship is at the least misleading, and at the most dangerously naive. Bishara has, in fact, repeatedly stated his explicit support for Hezbollah, both in visits to Syria and Lebanon. Would this not be akin to a sitting Senator proclaiming her/his support for Al Qaeda?
There are so many Israeli-Arabs whose work, both for their community and Israel at large, deserve our sympathy, support and adulation. The precise facts are certainly still to surface regarding this specific case against Bishara. To claim a parallel with Dreyfuss is so entirely ahistorical and clearly an attempt to stir ye olde pot. Is it not possible to discuss specific events without proclaiming historical parallels meant to inflame?
Chaim Borg
Silverstein seems to have an obsession with Azmi Bishara. The comparison with Dreyfus is obscene. A more accurate comparison is with Conrad Henlein, leader of the Sudeten Germans to provoke war with Germany. Henlein and Hitler worked hand and glove, like Bishara and Assad. Azmi Silverstein should consider the fate of the Sudeten Germans after WWII. They were expelled from Czechoslovakia to Germany for being a fifth column
richards1052
In fact, the Shin Bet has laid out its case in the Israeli media replete w. lurid charges of espionage and corruption w/o actually revealing a shred of the actual evidence. Further evidence that they have no case. Surely if they had one they would've been able to come up w. a single piece of actual evidence.
Isn't it interesting that a man who merely wants Israel to be a "state of ALL its citizens" becomes someone who "denounces its legitimacy" in the eyes of pro-rightists? Pls. provide evidence of this charge before you level it or accept yr charge as unfounded.
I have done no such thing. I am a progressive Zionist who believes deeply in Israel as a democratic state of the Jewish people AND all its citizens. But yes, racism is rampant in Israel. And the national security apparatus runs rampant as exemplified by the travesties of this case. I hope Israel can deal with these issues better than some of the commenters in this thread.
Uh, maybe because he is the deputy prime minister??
I resent this calumny. I am NOT an anti-Zionist. So forget the propagandist phrases, they won't work in my case. I have no bias AGAINST Israel. My bias is for Israel. But alas an Israel diff. than the one you seem to envision.
Who is a more reputable scholar in this field--you or Benny Morris (who, by the way, completely endorses the idea that Israel SHOULD HAVE expelled all Israeli Arabs in 1948). Of course, not EVERY Arab left in fear or or was expelled forcibly. That would be a ridiculous claim. But Morris states that the vast majority left for those reasons. You can dispute this if you like. But take it up w. Morris, the dean of Israeli historians of the period--not with me.
Beware the rightist who attempts to characterize the views of those he considers anathema. Bishara wishes for complete equality for Arab citizens of Israel. It is interesting that such a view threatens you so deeply. There are countless ways in which Jewish AND Arab rights could be guaranteed in a state in which Jews and Arabs had equal rights. But for you this immediately becomes an Arab plot for dominance over Jews. I guess now you know how Israeli Arabs have felt about Israeli Jews for 60 yrs.
You can't even be bothered to do enough research to discover that I am not affiliated with Tikkun Magazine. My blog is Tikun Olam. There IS a difference.
I note the apology to the commenter. Why not one to me as well? Yr sarcasm is snarky, annoying & condescending & does nothing to advance yr arguments.
My name is NOT Silverman. There now you've made a mistake. Should I be as snarky in pointing it out to you as you were in pointing out my error in the spelling of Dreyfus' name?
Cleary, you've never made such a mistake yrself otherwise you wouldn't lord it over yr inferiors so.
I was saying that the prevailing wisdom of Dreyfus' time & Bishara's among the majority of Frenchmen or Israelis may've been that they were guilty. But history will likely prove otherwise for Bishara as it did for Dreyfus.
Weird? No. The fact that Israeli Arabs vote guarantees they will have representation in Knesset. But it doesn't guarantee those MKs will have any power, which they don't. When was the last time an Israeli coalition government was willing to include an Arab party within it? And if every one of yr ethnic group's representatives in Knesset is investigated for security or other breaches what is that nation saying about its views of those MKs and their constituents. Yes, it basically spits on them. And if you think that's harsh I have a short list of several hundred disgusting comments Jewish MKs have made about Arab MKs. Oh no, there's no racism in Israel. All's well in Glockamora.
Ah yes, the treason sluts braying for Bishara's hide. You do so make Israel look like a paradise of brotherly love. BTW, again you've presented no evidence whatsoever of Bishara's supposed view that Israel shouldn't exist. Why don't you take a second & try a Google search & find something that remotely supports this claim.
Not at all, because unlike you, Bishara recognizes that Syria will eventually be a peaceful neighbor of Israel. Unlike you, he wants to advance that moment. He'd like to find a common thread for Israel and Syria on which to build peace, not war. Bishara always qualifies his statements about Hezbollah in the context of his opposition to the Lebanon war, which almost every Israeli I know believes was an utter disaster. He believes Israel had no business fighting that war (though it certainly had business responding to the Hezbollah kidnapping in some PROPORTIONAL way). But at the time only the progressive Zionists & Israeli Arabs within Israel were prepared to say the Emporer had no clothes. Now, you want to label him a traitor & throw him in prison for life.
Why don't you write a blog post here & tell us about one instead of spending yr time dissing me. Do something positive. I've written precisely such posts at my blog. Why don't you try it too. If you don't like the image of Israel I portray no one's stopping you fr. portraying yr own positive image of Israeli Arab relations. Send me a link when you do.
Ah yes, the old "Arabs are Nazis" red herring. Don't you just love the Jewish Islamophobic penchant w. equating anyone who doesn't sing Hatikvah on key with Adolph Hitler?
And here we have an expulsionist. Very nice. Let's expel all the Arabs we didn't get rid of in 1948. Since Borg is so obssessed with Nazis he'd be willing to become one himself if he could just get rid of those noxious "fifth columnists." And what would he do with Jewish "fifth columnists" like myself. Try us before a Jewish Nuremberg tribunal??
Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam (blog)
Anonymous
Bishara is a traitor. Plain and simple. There are have been many great israeli arabs from Amos Yarkoni to Salim Joubran, but Bishara a man who has spent his life hurting Israel and defaming it isn't one of them. I would accept the comparison to dreyfus if he had fought for Israel, but he wasn't in the army. He spent his time underminding the state.
Belva Plain
Silverstein claims to be a "progressive zionist" which means he can claim to be pro-Israel while defending someone who calls for Israels destruction. What I am most curious about is what Silverstein does for a living. How can he blog all day while we poor saps have to work for a living. Is Silverstein funded by the Saudis? It would be a good investment on their part
Adam Shprintzen
There really is no need to take a defensive tone towards me at least (though understandable for some of the above comments). I merely was attempting to counter your point of view, which no matter how much I disagree with I still think is completely valid and debatable.
Re: Bishara, my comments were more geared towards the entirety of his career, not specifically regarding last summer's war. In 2001 in Syria, at a memorial celebrating the life of dictator/fascist and all around nice guy Hafez Assad, Bishara claimed solidarity with Hezbollah, a group whose explicit goal is the destruction of the state of Israel. By connection, is that not an endorsement of that very policy?
Regarding his most recent trip to Syria, a country who mind you has not taken away its state of war with the state of Israel, Bishara stated that, "We are Syria's allies and will continue to be in contact with it on the national level, through our well-known views."
Jamal Zahalka, also a Balad Knesset member clarified the trip stating that it was,
“was aimed at expressing solidarity with Syria, as well as discussing the recent developments in the region, particularly following the wild Israeli aggression against Lebanon.” (quoted from Ynet, Sept. 9, 2006)
The precise facts regarding last summer are still to come out (the money that Bishara has received would certainly seem to indicate something ungood going on, but time will o nly tell). However, it is certainly clear that his fundamental perspective on the state of Israel runs counter to the established nature of the state. This is fair enough; all are allowed to have their own opinions. However, when serving as an elected member of the state's legislative body, an inherent problem exists.
As an aside, but semi-related, for a great article attempting to counter Bishara's perspective regarding Jewish national identity, check out Ben Dror Yemini in Ma'ariv from a few months ago:
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/571/620.html
amir
That's an excellent article by Ben Dror Yemini which I had not read before. I have recently had an argument with RS at his blog http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2007/04/24/bishara-as-rorsc... about parities between Jews and Arabs in Israel where I had made many of the same points the Yemini made in his article. How much easier life would've been if I just had linked to his article and been done with it. amir
Anonymous
I think the analogy of Bishara and Henlein is very appropo. Both are failing politicians stirring up hate for political gain. Henlein considered himself a Czech citizen, he considered himself a Sudeten German. Bishara doesnt consider himself an Israeli, he considers himself a Palestinian with an Israeli passport. Bishara's antics defeat all those who want Israeli Arabs to become part of Israeli society, and confirm the worst fears of Israeli Jews who view the Israeli Arabs as 5th columnists. Strangely, his biggest supporter is Silverstein, who calls himself a zionist, but a zionist who supports a binational state, where Jews will be a minority. We are tired of hearing that world peace will only occur after Jews are put in their place
Anonymous
Yeah, but if Bishara were an Israeli officer and patriot falsely accused of treason in order to cover up for the failures of other officers and convicted in spite of the fact that evidence that would have exonerated him was witheld or hidden and the public and press had, in their minds convicted because he belonged to a minority group, well then the analogy would be perfect.
François Blumen...
Ohhh, I've been called 'snarky'... This being Jewcy, I'll take it as a mega-compliment, thanks!
richards1052
I'm gratified that you take such an interest in my personal life. I could give a crap about yours.
Adam: I apologize. When every comment attacks your pt of view it is sometimes hard to see through the thicket that yr opponent is actually taking yr views seriously though at the same time disagreeing with you.
Israel's explicit goal is the destruction of Hezbollah and Hamas for that matter. Does anyone think Israel will succeed in this? No. Does anyone think that Hezbollah will succeed in this? Do many reasonable people think that Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah will eventually come to some sort of understanding that will resolve the issues that divide them? I think so. And if you argue that this is impossible & that Hamas & Hezbollah will never come to such an understanding--I'd argue then that these movements will eventually lose their political relevance & be superceded by a movement that will recognize the forces of history that cannot be denied.
This is preposterous. At least say "the money Bishara is alleged to have received." Does a Shin Bet prosection via the medis constitute uncontestable proof of this charge in yr book? Let me never come before you in yr court of law. Even the Shin Bet has not been able to clarify where the money it alleges he received came from. This is the quality of the "evidence" the have against him.
NO, a man who wants the state of Israel to be a "state of all its citizens" is merely embodying Israel's own Declaration of Independence. The "nature" of the state is in dispute. You claim it can never be consonant with the views of someone like Bishara. This is precisely the view that people like J. Edgar Hoover took of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. Who has been proven more legitimate in the eyes of history? I claim that an Israel that treats Jews and Arabs equally is precisely in the nature of the Israel that I and tens, if not hundreds of thousands of other Israelis wish to see. You cannot wave such views away with the flick of your wand by saying they're treif. They are not. They are a legitimate part of the Israeli political debate.
No, I would say the Shin Bet's antics in prosecuting Bishara through the media and its investigation/persecution of every other sitting Arab MK for various alleged infractions does an even better job of ensuring that Arabs will never feel truly welcome within Israeli society.
Would reasonable readers here do me a favor and whenever any commenter attempts to characterize what I believe: don't believe them. I do not support a binational state in which Jews would be in a minority. I support a state of Israel with similar demographics to the current situation; but a state which guarantees equality to its majority & minority.
The fact that you take something I said about you as a compliment only further reinforces how out of touch with reality you are.
Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam (blog)
Adam Shprintzen
Richard,
You bring up a good, fundamental point here; namely that Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah (and umm, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, etc...) exist as fundamentally counter-philosophical forces. As such, I would argue, such forces could never actually co-exist. The conflict as it exists (at least between these forces, not the Israeli-Arab conflict at large) will never be truly over until there is a distinct victor and a defeated opponent. Israel wants to exist as a Jewish state (yes, one with equal rights for its minorities--a dichotomy that I do not see as being a contradiction...I really enjoy Irshad Manji's chapter on this precise issue in The Trouble With Islam. Israel is a multi-national democracy, but one with a national character..in a sense a state based in principles of affirmative action). Hezbollah and Hamas believe that the entirety of the land that Israel exists on is rightfully theirs. These two opposed points of view can never exist in harmony. Because fundamentally we are looking at a battle of ideas (certainly flawed ideas on both sides, but...). And can there really be productive negotiation with groups who believe in the enslavement of women? The stoning to death of gays?
This is not an indictment to say that there is no one to talk to, of course not. Just these groups specifically, as they exist are just fundamentally untenable.
richards1052
There are no such things as permanent enemies in history or the world. I am not arguing that the hatred embodied by Hamas or Hezbollah will ever turn into love or possibly even respect. But it doesn't have to in order to end the cycle of violence. All that has to happen is for all warring parties (& I include Israel here) to realize that they gain less by killing than they gain by not killing. Certainly none of them are at this point yet. But history & political change are slow evolutionary processes. I see the glass as half full while you see it as half empty (or maybe completely empty). Of course these forces can co-exist & they will. Maybe not precisely in their current political structures. But they will co-exist.
This is a standard rightist perspective. Israel must win at all costs. War to the bitter end. Israel as Sparta. There's a little problem w. this world view. It's failed until now & will always fail as long as Israel continues to beleive in it. There can no more be a distinct victor & vanquished than there could be if there was a Cold War nuclear battle bet. the U.S. & USSR. Your recipe is the equivalent of mutually assured destruction. Israel cannot afford to fight to the last man though you might wish it to.
Alas, this is not so. I wish it were. If it were I would be a much happier, more content Zionist than I am. There are forces working within Israel to encourage such processes. But they are in a distinct minority. All relevant Israeli polls point to enormous racism running rampant among Israeli Jews toward their fellow Arab citizens. There is MUCH work to be done I'm afraid.
This is an ideologue's perspective, but not a realistic one. If you know anything about Hamas you know that there are factions within it who represent more extreme & more pragmatic tendencies. There are important Hamas figures who understand the limitations on what is possible & accept the need for compromise. The fact that Israel refuses to talk to Hamas (though a majority of Israeli public opinion embraces the idea of doing so according to polls) means that such pragmatism cannot be tested.
History is full of examples of phenomena which people at the time said could never happen; and guess what? It did. Such blanket statements are made to be disproved by history & they will.
No one says you have to love yr enemy or embrace their political/religious system. All you have to do is get them to stop wanting to kill you & vice versa. Would I prefer a Hamas which was closer to democractic norms & western cultural values as I know them? Sure. But do I insist on this as a condition of trying to make peace w. them? Nah.
I've got news for you. It's them or nothing. Israel can't make peace with the "nice" countries like Jordan, Turkey, or Dubai. Israel will have to make peace with the neighbors & enemies that it faces, not the ones it wishes it had.
Richard Silverstein
Tikun Olam (blog)
Anonymous
You make very eloquent and laudable statements regarding your hopes and desire's for Israel and yet how can you expect anyone to take you seriously when you make the absurd comparison between Azmi Bishara and Dreyfuss.
Adam Shprintzen
A point that I somehow skirted over and foolishly left off....there can be no actual settlement between two parties of polar opposites unless there is a victor OR one party gives up on its ideological quest. This is hardly a rightist stance, I would say, unless someone would see the internationalist policies of FDR as being rightist.
In this sense, I find it difficult to believe that Israel en mass will ever give up its desire to be a Jewish state. Likewise, I find it unlikely that Hamas, Hezbollah and other such groups would ever give up its ideological goal of liberating what it sees as being holy Islamic land. This is not a call for war; though certainly in some instances it is inevitable. Rather, a realistic approach towards knowing that one cannot truly negotiate with groups whose literal goal is the negation of one's existance. During the Cold War the US and Soviet Union continually held close diplomatic relations (one of the really interesting and curious aspects of that period, I would say). Yet despite the fact that the two nations held differing socio/political/economic systems, neither made its cause (despite periods of blustering speech of worldwide revolution) the destruction of the other society. Yes, there is variance within Hamas, just like any movement. There are certainly politicians who connected themselves to the Hamas movement because of their reformist policies (or at least rhetoric). However, this does not negate the fact that it is a misogynistic, racist, hateful (the charter quotes extensively from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion") movement. And in my opinion, and I understand that this is where we split, such irrationality can never be either trusted or spoken to on a rational level.
Richard, it is wonderful to desire for Israel to do all it can in order to find those who truly can be negotiated with--and certainly we can all agree that Israel has not done nearly enough in this sense. But should we not expect more from our Arab brothers and sisters? To support and deal with those who believe in equal rights and modernization? Or do we continue the failed policies of post-Orientalism, where we make excuses for barbarism, mysogny and hate?