Racist Atmosphere in Israel is Getting Worse

Here are a few stories from last week, from news sources in Hebrew:

• Two Palestinian Members of Parliament, Taleb a-Sana and Ahmad Tibi, have received death threats. “You’re dead, dirty Arab” said the voice-mail recordings. A-Sana responded by accusing “the right-wing MKs (Members of Knesset—the Israeli Parliament) of fanning the hatred.”

• Hanin Zouavi, an Arab-Israeli MK who was on board the Mavi Marmara when it was boarded by Israeli commandos, stands to lose her parliamentary privileges. The Knesset Committee voted 7-1 to recommend revocation her parliamentary rights. A leaflet distributed in the Knesset by Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, a MK from the right-wing National Union party, featured an image of a smiling Zouavi with the words “erasing the smile from the Terrorists’ face.”

• 400 Palestinian schoolchildren were cursed and abused by a crowd while on a parade celebrating the world soccer championship. The schoolchildren, aged 6-13, carried flags of the participating countries as well as the Israeli flag (although Israel did not make it into the competition, they were advised by the Ministry of Education to carry its flag for safety reasons). Nonetheless, they endured thrown eggs and tomatoes, and cries of “do you think it’s your country that you can do what you want?”

Israel is Preparing for a Prolonged Regional War

Ha’aretz newspaper in Hebrew reports that as a part of preparations for a prolonged regional war, Israel has recently lobbied the United States to purchase more weapons, including more precision-guided JDAM bombs for its air force. Israel has also requested that the US increase its emergency arsenals in Israel.

Political Aid to Gaza

The opponnents of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza condemn it as a political provocation, and say that the activists on board are not humanitarians, but hypocritical Terrorists.

I agree that the Freedom Flotilla was indeed a political mission rather than a humanitarian one. As such, despite—or because of—its tragic climax it must be considered a success. This is not in any way a stain on either the activists’ characters or their motivations; rather it is a credit to their courage and wisdom.

The Need for an International Investigation

This morning I was tagged on a Facebook post entitled “EVIDENCE on[sic] IDF SHOOTHING[sic] before ENTERING VESSEL.” It was a link to a video that has been recently released of the beginning of the assault on the MV Mavi Marmara. It appears that this video was shot after the Israelis jammed satellite communications on board the Turkish vessel, and that it had been somehow recovered later.

The Siege of Gaza

It has now been three years since Israel imposed its cruel and crippling siege of the Gaza Strip. I find it incredible, as a Jew and as a human being, that Israel—which calls itself the Jewish State—would blockade nearly a million and a half people in a small territory, effectively turning it into an enormous ghetto, periodically raid and murder them, and deprive them of a list of goods that seems to have been compiled for sadistic effect.