'Witch hunt' against Israel's war critics
Jerusalem (AFP) - In Israel, dissent against the war in Gaza is bitterly
quashed. The few who speak out complain of being harassed, intimidated
or even sacked. The once mighty left has disappeared.
In
Israel, as in most countries during time of war, the local media have
been patriotic champions of the offensive, uniting behind their boys on
the frontline, sending them presents, highlighting the suffering of
Israeli citizens and downplaying suffering on the other side.The few who have spoken out of line have been threatened or denounced as traitors.
- Intimidation kept people away -
Some Israelis who criticised the offensive, even on private Facebook pages, complained of being ostracised.An Arab Israeli nurse was briefly suspended then reinstated. Other Arab Israelis also complained of being sacked.
"There's a whole level of intimidation that's kept a lot of people away," said Steven Beck of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel when asked why there had not been more protests.He likened the atmosphere to the period directly preceding the assassination of prime minister and Nobel peace laureate Yitzhak Rabin, shot dead by a Jewish extremist in 1995.
"Things that were shocking back then, really, really shocking have become common place... now the needle is moving to a whole new level to the extreme," Beck said."The question is, is it going to boil over into something or will it dissipate."
Explanations are complex.
Source
It has been Israel's deadliest
conflict in years. More than 1,960 Palestinians were killed and 64
Israeli soldiers died fighting what some see as an unwinnable war.
And
yet the only significant protest in Israel so far saw thousands late
Thursday demand an end to Hamas rocket attacks, dissatisfied with the
status quo after ground troops pulled out and a ceasefire was extended.
Liberal
newspaper Haaretz decried Friday what it called a "witch hunt" against
leftists and civil rights organisations after the director of the
national service administration, Sar-Shalom Jerbi, told rights group
B'Tselem it was being blacklisted as an employer. "I
feel obligated to exercise my power and stop the state assistance
provided to an organisation that works against the state and against
soldiers who are heroically giving their very lives to protect the
safety and well-being of all citizens," Jerbi wrote in a letter.
He
accused B'Tselem of disseminating lies and slander, endangering the
state and publishing information that encourages Israel's enemies and
leads to violent anti-Semitic acts against Jews around the world.The
rights group denounced the move as an attack on Israeli democracy, and
asked supporters to sign an online petition to support freedom of
expression and democracy.
Yizhar
Beer of the Keshev Centre for the Protection of Democracy in Israel
says it has never been more difficult to voice dissent in a country
which prides itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East.
- Overwhelming support for war -
Israeli
public opinion has overwhelmingly supported the war. A poll carried out
by The Israel Democracy Institute last month said 95 percent of Israeli
Jews believed the offensive was just.
In a country with compulsory national conscription, almost everybody has a friend or relative in the army.Hamas
rocket attacks have tormented millions of Israelis, inflicting fear and
panic in border communities, regardless of the fact that hundreds are
shot down and just three civilians have been killed since July.
After
Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy accused air force pilots of
perpetrating "the cruelest (and) most despicable deeds" against Gaza's
weakest and most helpless," his employer hired him bodyguards.Readers cancelled their
subscriptions, people stopped in the street to insult him and government
whip Yariv Levin denounced him as a liar, a "mouthpiece of the enemy"
who should be put on trial for treason.
"I
have never faced such aggressive reaction, never," Levy told AFP in his
cramped office at Haaretz in Tel Aviv, away from the coffee shops where
he fears being insulted."Nobody cares here about the suffering of Gaza. More than this, if you dare to express empathy you are a traitor," he said.
Some Israelis who criticised the offensive, even on private Facebook pages, complained of being ostracised.An Arab Israeli nurse was briefly suspended then reinstated. Other Arab Israelis also complained of being sacked.
"There's a whole level of intimidation that's kept a lot of people away," said Steven Beck of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel when asked why there had not been more protests.He likened the atmosphere to the period directly preceding the assassination of prime minister and Nobel peace laureate Yitzhak Rabin, shot dead by a Jewish extremist in 1995.
"Things that were shocking back then, really, really shocking have become common place... now the needle is moving to a whole new level to the extreme," Beck said."The question is, is it going to boil over into something or will it dissipate."
Explanations are complex.
For
Beer, it is rooted in the growth of the religious right and
ultra-Orthodox communities, the powerful Jewish settler movement and the
ongoing occupation of the West Bank."The extremist section of Israeli society has kidnapped the state of Israel," he said.
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