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New law invokes censure from Israel’s friends
By LARRY HAIVEN
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Sat, Jul 23
When even mainstream North American Jewish organizations condemn Israeli policy, you know things are bad in that country.
Imagine that the U.S. had made it illegal in the 1960s for citizens to urge a boycott of California grapes, and that Canada had banned talk of a seal-hunt boycott. These actions would rightly be considered gross violations of freedom of speech guarantees in our constitutions.
But last week, the Israel Knesset (parliament) did just that. It made it illegal for any Israeli citizen or organization to urge a boycott of Israeli goods, even those from illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon warned that the law’s “broad definition of a boycott on the State of Israel is a violation of the core tenet of freedom of political expression.” Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, from the ruling Likud party, warned: “Woe betide the Jewish democratic state that turns freedom of expression into a civil offence.” Groups have already challenged the law in the Israeli courts.
Even Abraham Foxman, the staunchly pro-Israel head of the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League, told Israel’s Army Radio: “It is a sad day for Israeli democracy … and … unnecessary legislation which will only do damage to the democratic state of Israel.”
Most other American pro-Israel organizations, like the Zionist Organization of America, have criticized the law, as have many European Union governments.
But that’s not the only anti-democratic law passed recently. One law allows small Israeli communities to exclude “unsuitable” persons, clearly directed at Palestinian Israelis. Another outlaws any event mourning the “Nakba” (the displacement of three-quarters of a million Palestinians in 1948). Yet another annuls the citizenship of anyone found guilty of “security offences” (i.e. Israeli Palestinian protesters).
A proposed bill would broaden the state’s ability to punish Israeli peace groups. Afraid that the Israeli Supreme Court might hobble these initiatives, some parliamentarians are even trying to rein in the power of the courts to review Knesset laws.
So what sort of madness has taken hold of the Israeli parliament? Why are the legislators ignoring even Israel’s friends who warn that this is poisonous for its international reputation?
Journalist Yossi Verter explains in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz (July 15): “The settlers are the real government of Israel.” He suggests that the Knesset has been hijacked by parties run by or in favour of the Israelis who occupy illegal settlements in the West Bank, many of whom are religious fanatics and a law unto themselves.
Groups of West Bank settlers have been terrorizing their Palestinian neighbours for years — tearing up trees, disrupting olive harvests, bullying communities, taking over and building homes on Palestinian lands and burning mosques, among other outrages. Much of this receives Israeli army and police protection; some evokes a blind eye from the state; a small minority receives state punishment.
As Verter points out, the tail may be wagging the dog. Moderate Israelis are leaving the country. Israeli sentiment is increasingly unfriendly to fellow citizens of Palestinian descent (20 per cent of the population). At least half of Israelis reportedly want them to leave the country. Public opinion is moving relentlessly to the right. The fringe parties of today may well be the governments of tomorrow.
The vaunted Israeli democracy has never been available to the residents of its occupied territories. It is now increasingly unavailable to its own citizens, a cause for alarm for many of its foreign supporters.
Yet official Canadian Jewish organizations and the Canadian government to date have been eloquent in their silence on this issue. Will we hear from them?
Larry Haiven is a member of Independent Jewish Voices — Halifax and a professor at Saint Mary’s University.
Independent Jewish Voices – Halifax member Herb Gamberg speaks at rally for the Tahrir (Canadian Boat to Gaza) in front of Greek visa office in Halifax, 5 July 2011.
Herb Gamberg at Tahrir Rally Halifax
Nova Scotia should not be choosing sides
By SAMIRA TAHA, LINDA SCHERZINGER and LARRY HAIVEN
The Chronicle Herald Thu, Jun 2 – 4:54 AM
Imagine a country, let’s call it Country X, that frequently abuses the human rights of people under its rule, denying many of them citizenship and freedom to move, taking their land, practising arbitrary search and seizure, and placing many of them in jail without trial for long periods of time.
Imagine that Country X’s armed forces dropped hundreds of tonnes of bombs on people under its rule and then moved in on the ground to destroy their homes, businesses and municipal services. In the process, they killed thousands, including children.
Imagine that all of this activity was fully documented, not only by the United Nations and by international human rights and aid organizations, but also by human rights groups within Country X.
Imagine if the world community, including the United Nations (with many resolutions), roundly condemned the leaders of Country X and urged them repeatedly to stop these abuses. Imagine that the leaders of Country X continued to deny the abuses. Imagine that people and governments the world over were frustrated with these antics and that Country X was increasingly isolating itself.
Imagine that, desperate to combat its quarantine, Country X tried to “normalize” relations with other countries. As part of this effort, an X-ian official approached the government of Nova Scotia to establish “closer business ties.” The premier of Nova Scotia ignored the abuses and proposed sending a provincial delegation to Country X, saying he was “entranced with the people and the advances made in various fields, including science and technology, agriculture, business and education.”
Nova Scotians would naturally be outraged to see our government doing this. At the very least, we would say that our province was choosing sides — it was aiding and abetting the actions of Country X. And we would demand that Nova Scotia instead do much more to help achieve a permanent end to the abuses. Or at least, that Nova Scotia cancel the junket and remain non-partisan on the issue. Wouldn’t we?
Now imagine that “Country X” has been a pseudonym and its real name is Israel. And you get the picture.
On June 15, the Nova Scotia government, through Nova Scotia Business Inc., is hosting a workshop for Nova Scotia companies where representatives of the Atlantic Jewish Council and the government of Israel will prepare them for a trip to Israel in October. Will the politicians and business leaders hear both sides of the issue? Will the politicians and business leaders make independent visits to Gaza and the West Bank to see the situation for themselves? Will the business delegation speak with independent Jewish and Palestinian human rights committees? Not likely.
Letters, calls and emails to the Nova Scotia government from representatives of the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities and from Jewish peace groups have received cursory responses, and requests for a meeting have been ignored.
At a time when the world community is working to resolve the situation, when Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups are increasingly vocal and suffering for it, when even U.S. President Barack Obama has challenged Israel’s policies, Nova Scotia should not be going the other way. Sometimes, friends need to tell friends they are wrong and back it up with action. And if Nova Scotia cannot, or will not, do this, it should step to the side and stop making things worse.
The authors, respectively, are a Palestinian Muslim, a Christian and a Jew living in Halifax.
Judy Haiven, Halifax : Letter to the Editor
National Post : published Thursday, March 04, 2010
Israeli Apartheid Week defended …
Re: A Festival Of Bigotry, editorial, March 2.
It’s funny. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed more than 1,400 Palestinians (400 children), maimed more than 5,000 and left 20,000 homeless after Israel’s 21-day siege of Gaza, last December and January. And Israel has admitted to using phosphorus shells during the Gaza operation.
In contrast, Israel Apartheid Week kills no one. It maims no one; it makes no one homeless — yet on campuses across Canada, if the Conservative government has its way, people will not be allowed to speak out and name the atrocities that Israel has committed and continues to do to the Palestinians. Apartheid is not too strong a word to label Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians. Even former prime minister Ehud Barak calls it that. I am Jewish and support the right of Canadians to have Israel Apartheid Week.
Judy Haiven, associate professor, Department of Management, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax.
IJV Halifax Rally: January 10, 2010
"At IJV-Halifax-sponsored rally January 10, Halifax postal worker Toni MacAfee reports on her adventures in Cairo as part of the Canadian delegation to the Gaza Freedom March."
Members of IJV-Halifax and Canadians, Arabs and Jews for a Just Peace leaflet shoppers at Mountain Equipment Co-operative store in Halifax on 28 November, 2009.Click here for more about our MEC campaign
For information on the MEC campaign and Source Vagabond: www.boycottisraeliapartheid.org
For information on Boycott Divestment Sanction Israel campaigns: www.caiaweb.org or www.bdsmovement.net or www.bigcampaign.org
For comprehensive lists of Israeli companies profiting from the occupation: www.whoprofits.org and www.gush-shalom.org/Boycott/boyceng.htm
