When in some country, politicians with a problematic ideology win elections - especially after using incitement and divisive rhetoric during the campaign - some concern is naturally expected. But often the world prefers a "wait and see" approach; after all, everyone knows that demagoguery is a great vote-winning trick, and maybe the winners will just leave that behind them and gravitate to center (at least approximately so).
"Wait and See" is certainly what the world chose to do after Israelis elected their most right-wing parliament ever last February. Well, now we've seen enough. Israel's wingnuts are acting as if they own the entire friggin' country.
In particular, they have been going after their only meaningful opposition: Israel's Palestinian population and the community of progressive activists. One by one, groups are summoned for interrogation or harassed in other ways. Most recently it was Yesh Gvul's turn.
First here's Yesh Gvul's press annoncement
Press Release 26/6/09
Three members of the Yesh Gvul forum - Micha Rachman, Mordechai Zeldon and Peretz Kidron - have been summoned to interrogation by the Israeli police. The alleged grounds for the investigation is the suspicion that the group and its members engage in "incitement to evade military service", do so consistently and "promise financial incentives" to that end.
The charges are blatantly absurd - no YG activity or publication has ever "incited" against service with the army. The group campaigns against the occupation and against abuses committed by the army in enforcing the occupation, and soldiers who refuse to take part in illegal actions gain moral and political support from YG, but we have raised any objection or opposition to military service as such.
Accordingly, we can only deduce that the police action constitutes political harassment, designed to overcome growing public unease over the role of the army and the systematic abuses it commits in enforcing the occupation regime.
We hope the police and their political bosses will lose no time in dropping a ludicrous investigation which has no factual basis. But should they persist, we hope our friends and wellwishers join us in protesting this illegitimate use of resources by a police force which consistently fails to take action against right-wing extremists, racists and settler violence.
We will keep you informed of developments.
Best Wishes
Yesh Gvul
As the release indicates, YG is a conscience-objector support organization, founded and run mostly by CO's and ex-CO's. In case you don't know, unlike the US military the IDF does not recognize a CO status as such, therefore immediately putting CO's and would-be CO's at risk of incarceration and other harassment.
The group's origins are in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Again as the release indicates, the founders were IDF reservists practicing selective refusal - that is, refusing to be used for goals unrelated to the defense of state. Of course, such an open refusal aims not just to alleviate personal consciences, but also to change the reality.
YG is the oldest active CO-support group; its organizers are quite familiar with the Israeli laws relevant to its activities, and could probably lecture on these laws to the policemen interrogating them!
As to the interrogation itself, here's a more recent update.
UPDATE ON THE POLICE INVESTIGATION
As the investigation proceeds, it becomes increasingly evident that it is politically driven. The interrogators insist on posing repetitive questions about YG's alleged attempts to "incite to evasion of military service" and the supposed "monetary benefits" offered to that end.
The absurd nature of the charges is striking:
- all active YG members without exception have themselves completed full military service (+annual reserve duty);
- YG has never entertained any reservations as to military service as such;
- No YG publication of any kind - print or electronic - has ever supported evasion of service;
- and of course, in view of the above, YG has never had any motive or reason to offer financial incentives towards a purpose it has never supported.
As all these points become evident within five minutes of questioning, the fact that the police persist in chasing these trumped up charges indicates clearly that they are operating on orders from above, from the political echelons, with the intention of intimidating us and forcing us to curtail our campaign.
We shall see how long the charade can go on.
But in the meantime, we continue with our work as usual.
Best wishes,
Peretz
Peretz is a 70-something Jersualemite, who began refusing to serve the Occupation in the 1970's when it was almost unheard of.
A younger and somewhat more radical CO-support group, New Profile, was the target of police action in April. In early morning the police simultaneously raided the homes of 5 activists and confiscated their computers. Among the dangerous targets was a grandmother from Tel Aviv, who happens to be (by coincidence) a close family friend of our friends here in Seattle. That raid was timed to take place one day before Israel's Memorial Day honoring the IDF dead. Quite transparently the timing was not operational; it was designed to generate maximum hostility towards those "bad guys who encourage defection."
What's going on with the Israeli police?
Well, it helps to know that the Ministry of Police (and that of Justice, too) is controlled by the now-infamous Avigdor-Yvet Lieberman (who himself is... Foreign Minister. I still can't believe this). The guy he placed at Police is Yitzhak Aharonovitch, formerly a high-ranking police official (btw, notice how upon his discharge from the police he enjoyed a soft landing as chair of Israel's second-largest bus company; then he found the light in Lieberman's party).
At face value, a respectable and professionally appropriate appointment. But then we have this type of police "action" described above, and a lot of other stuff. For example, the police decided to prosecute Israeli Palestinians from Sheffa-Amr in the Galilee, who disarmed and killed an IDF soldier who opened fire in a public bus and murdered four citizens. In similar cases with Jewish passersby stopping and killing Palestinian terrorists, there is never an interrogation.
Then, one day the Police Minister went strolling to visit some under-cover operations, and wanted to make it into a PR affair so he invited the MSM. Here's the PR moment: (Hebrew news link, click on the video frame to play)
Minister (to officers): Can I talk.. (with the undercover agent)
Officers: Yeah, no problem. Next time they'll be under another cover.
Minister (to agent): Can I shake your hand?
Agent: Sorry I'm so dirty...
Minister: What dirty, you look like a true Araboush...
Now, Araboush is the exact Hebrew equivalent to the N-word, and it hasn't been heard in respectable company since at least the late 80's. Of course the Minister issued some lame half-apology saying that "this is not his world-view" etc. whatever. Needless to say, no resignation.
So this is the face of Israel's police nowadays. As my YG comrades sum it up, in their particular case it seems even the interrogators know they've got nothing to build on and it's just a political witch-hunt ordered from above.