10 nov 2019
A coalition of U.S. Jewish organizations sent a letter to the leaders of Israel’s political parties, warning them against full or partial annexation of occupied West Bank, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged on September 17, 2019 to annex Jordan Valley, which makes up 30 % of the West Bank area, if he is to be re-elected.
According to liberal advocacy group J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, “carrying out unilateral annexations in the West Bank would ultimately destroy Israeli democracy and lead the country down a disastrous path to permanent conflict.”
The letter stated that if the United States president, Donald Trump, and his administration were to endorse the annexation, Israel should not take this as a sign of long-term American policy.
“Simply put, the approach of this president does not represent the long-term interests and likely future policy of the United States,” the U.S. based Jewish groups warned.
In March 2019, the U.S. ignored a decades-long international consensus and recognized Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The coalition stressed that the annexation could harm Israel’s relations with the U.S. Jewish population, because the “vast majority of American Jews support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Thirteen groups signed the letter, Middle East Monitor reported, including ten members of the Progressive Israel Network – an umbrella coalition that includes J Street and the New Israel Fund.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pledged on September 17, 2019 to annex Jordan Valley, which makes up 30 % of the West Bank area, if he is to be re-elected.
According to liberal advocacy group J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, “carrying out unilateral annexations in the West Bank would ultimately destroy Israeli democracy and lead the country down a disastrous path to permanent conflict.”
The letter stated that if the United States president, Donald Trump, and his administration were to endorse the annexation, Israel should not take this as a sign of long-term American policy.
“Simply put, the approach of this president does not represent the long-term interests and likely future policy of the United States,” the U.S. based Jewish groups warned.
In March 2019, the U.S. ignored a decades-long international consensus and recognized Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The coalition stressed that the annexation could harm Israel’s relations with the U.S. Jewish population, because the “vast majority of American Jews support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Thirteen groups signed the letter, Middle East Monitor reported, including ten members of the Progressive Israel Network – an umbrella coalition that includes J Street and the New Israel Fund.
9 nov 2019
Edmond Sichrovsky with broken glasses and a cut on the lip after he was repeatedly kicked in the face by Israeli riot police while non-violently resisting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Wadi al-Hummus on July 22.
Austrian citizen of Jewish origin Edmond Sichrovsky, who was banned and deported from Israel on suspicion of volunteering in Palestine on Friday, October 25.
International Solidarity Movement, Features, Press Releases
The Austrian national Edmond Sichrovsky arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on October 24, Thursday, 7:45AM from Amman, Jordan. At immigrations and passport control, he was detained by Israeli authorities and questioned by two separate officers.
His luggage was searched and he was forced to hand over his mobile phone to Israeli intelligence officers, who searched his private messages, chats, social media, phone contacts, photo gallery, and browsing history, as well as subjecting him to a body search. He was accused of volunteering in Palestine, which is not prohibited under Israeli law.
Their claim was based on the finding of several missed calls on his phone from unsaved numbers registered in Palestine. Sichrovsky’s interrogator then informed him that he was banned from entering Israel and would be forcibly deported.
Authorities demanded he admit to volunteering in Palestine and sign a document accepting his deportation due to “illegal immigration considerations”, which he refused to sign. After 6 hours in detention, he was released to the airport departure zone. After being forced to wait in the airport for almost 17 hours, he was deported to Amman, Jordan at 00:30 on October 25. Israeli authorities initially told him the deportation flight would be paid for by the Israeli government.
After boarding, Sichrovsky was informed that he had to pay $500 USD for his own deportation flight, which he was forced against his will to board, or face legal action from the airline for unpaid fees.
Sichrovsky had previously volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), documenting and reporting on human rights abuses by Israeli forces in Occupied Palestine. He was violently assaulted in Wadi al-Hummus by officers from the notorious Israeli riot police unit Yassam while opposing demolitions of Palestinians’ homes. The 22-year-old is the grandson of Harry Sichrovsky, a renowned Austrian Jewish writer and journalist, and nephew of Peter Sichrovsky, two-time European Parliament member and former head of the far right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO).
Sichrovsky said: “Growing up, my grandparents being some of the only ones in their entire family to survive the Holocaust in Austria, ’Never again’ is something I heard a lot and resonate strongly with. To me, ‘Never again’ isn’t just for Jews, it means never again should anyone in the world have to suffer because of their religion, race, or what they were born into.
That’s why I came to volunteer in Palestine. Israel claims to be ‘a homeland for Jewish people around the world’, yet by banning and deporting me and other Jews with differing political opinions, they have shown that Israel is a home for Jews only if they don’t question or speak up about the government’s apartheid policies. My ban and deportation from Israel only confirms what I have seen again and again in Palestine: that the Israeli government will do anything to keep people from seeing its brutal Occupation, ethnic cleansing, and daily violations of Palestinians basic human rights.”
Sichrovsky also called on Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg to make a public statement on Israel’s detention and deportation of an Austrian citizen who had not violated any Israeli law. He called the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv while being held in Ben Gurion airport, but was told that they “could not provide any assistance.”
An ISM spokesperson gave the following statement: “ISM strongly condemns the Israeli government’s banning and deportation of an international volunteer. By forbidding entry to its those with differing political views Israel is acting like the anti-democratic state it really is. Governments whose citizens have been banned must call out Israel on these blatant attempts to hide its crimes from the world. To not do so is to condone Israel’s abuse of human rights and silencing of those who speak about them.”
Note to journalists:
Israel controls all borders and entrance points (land, sea, and air) into Palestine, except a small land border between Gaza and Egypt, meaning virtually anyone intending to enter Palestine must enter through Israeli immigration authorities. Israel routinely bans and deports volunteers, activists, human rights observers, and academics suspected of anti-Occupation views or of activities in anti-Occupation or Palestinian organizations.
Prominent Jews banned from Israel due to their political views include CODEPINK co-founder Ariel Gold, and American-Jewish academics Normal Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky.
In 2017, Israel passed a law permitting foreign nationals to be banned from Israel for calling for the boycott of Israel or Israeli illegal settlements. There is, however, no law prohibiting volunteering in Palestine or association with legal organizations active in Palestine.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles.
Jews banned from Israel for political reasons:
Ariel Gold: https://mondoweiss.net/2018/07/deports-activist-supporting/
Noam Chomsky: https://www.haaretz.com/1.5121279
Norman Finkelstein: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/26/israelandthepalestinians.usa
Others banned from Israel for political reasons in 2019:
British activist Garry Spedding: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-denying-entry-to-left-wing-british-activist-for-second-time-since-2014-1.6844179
US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-ban/israel-will-not-let-u-s-congresswomen-visit-deputy-foreign-minister-idUSKCN1V51
For more details contact Edmond Sichrovsky at
Phone: +20 0127 983 4929
Email: edmond.sichrovsky@gmail.com
Or contact ISM at:
Phone: +44 7757 616902
Email: palreports@gmail.com
Austrian citizen of Jewish origin Edmond Sichrovsky, who was banned and deported from Israel on suspicion of volunteering in Palestine on Friday, October 25.
International Solidarity Movement, Features, Press Releases
- An Austrian citizen of Jewish origin and grandson of Holocaust survivors was banned from entering Israel on suspicion of volunteering in Palestine. After being interrogated, searched, and held for 6 hours at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, Edmond Sichrovsky, 23, was forcibly deported to Amman, Jordan.
- It is not prohibited by Israeli law to volunteer in Palestine.
- ISM calls on the governments of deported international volunteers to condemn the actions of the Israeli Occupation and apartheid regime.
The Austrian national Edmond Sichrovsky arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on October 24, Thursday, 7:45AM from Amman, Jordan. At immigrations and passport control, he was detained by Israeli authorities and questioned by two separate officers.
His luggage was searched and he was forced to hand over his mobile phone to Israeli intelligence officers, who searched his private messages, chats, social media, phone contacts, photo gallery, and browsing history, as well as subjecting him to a body search. He was accused of volunteering in Palestine, which is not prohibited under Israeli law.
Their claim was based on the finding of several missed calls on his phone from unsaved numbers registered in Palestine. Sichrovsky’s interrogator then informed him that he was banned from entering Israel and would be forcibly deported.
Authorities demanded he admit to volunteering in Palestine and sign a document accepting his deportation due to “illegal immigration considerations”, which he refused to sign. After 6 hours in detention, he was released to the airport departure zone. After being forced to wait in the airport for almost 17 hours, he was deported to Amman, Jordan at 00:30 on October 25. Israeli authorities initially told him the deportation flight would be paid for by the Israeli government.
After boarding, Sichrovsky was informed that he had to pay $500 USD for his own deportation flight, which he was forced against his will to board, or face legal action from the airline for unpaid fees.
Sichrovsky had previously volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), documenting and reporting on human rights abuses by Israeli forces in Occupied Palestine. He was violently assaulted in Wadi al-Hummus by officers from the notorious Israeli riot police unit Yassam while opposing demolitions of Palestinians’ homes. The 22-year-old is the grandson of Harry Sichrovsky, a renowned Austrian Jewish writer and journalist, and nephew of Peter Sichrovsky, two-time European Parliament member and former head of the far right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO).
Sichrovsky said: “Growing up, my grandparents being some of the only ones in their entire family to survive the Holocaust in Austria, ’Never again’ is something I heard a lot and resonate strongly with. To me, ‘Never again’ isn’t just for Jews, it means never again should anyone in the world have to suffer because of their religion, race, or what they were born into.
That’s why I came to volunteer in Palestine. Israel claims to be ‘a homeland for Jewish people around the world’, yet by banning and deporting me and other Jews with differing political opinions, they have shown that Israel is a home for Jews only if they don’t question or speak up about the government’s apartheid policies. My ban and deportation from Israel only confirms what I have seen again and again in Palestine: that the Israeli government will do anything to keep people from seeing its brutal Occupation, ethnic cleansing, and daily violations of Palestinians basic human rights.”
Sichrovsky also called on Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg to make a public statement on Israel’s detention and deportation of an Austrian citizen who had not violated any Israeli law. He called the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv while being held in Ben Gurion airport, but was told that they “could not provide any assistance.”
An ISM spokesperson gave the following statement: “ISM strongly condemns the Israeli government’s banning and deportation of an international volunteer. By forbidding entry to its those with differing political views Israel is acting like the anti-democratic state it really is. Governments whose citizens have been banned must call out Israel on these blatant attempts to hide its crimes from the world. To not do so is to condone Israel’s abuse of human rights and silencing of those who speak about them.”
Note to journalists:
Israel controls all borders and entrance points (land, sea, and air) into Palestine, except a small land border between Gaza and Egypt, meaning virtually anyone intending to enter Palestine must enter through Israeli immigration authorities. Israel routinely bans and deports volunteers, activists, human rights observers, and academics suspected of anti-Occupation views or of activities in anti-Occupation or Palestinian organizations.
Prominent Jews banned from Israel due to their political views include CODEPINK co-founder Ariel Gold, and American-Jewish academics Normal Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky.
In 2017, Israel passed a law permitting foreign nationals to be banned from Israel for calling for the boycott of Israel or Israeli illegal settlements. There is, however, no law prohibiting volunteering in Palestine or association with legal organizations active in Palestine.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles.
Jews banned from Israel for political reasons:
Ariel Gold: https://mondoweiss.net/2018/07/deports-activist-supporting/
Noam Chomsky: https://www.haaretz.com/1.5121279
Norman Finkelstein: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/26/israelandthepalestinians.usa
Others banned from Israel for political reasons in 2019:
British activist Garry Spedding: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-denying-entry-to-left-wing-british-activist-for-second-time-since-2014-1.6844179
US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-ban/israel-will-not-let-u-s-congresswomen-visit-deputy-foreign-minister-idUSKCN1V51
For more details contact Edmond Sichrovsky at
Phone: +20 0127 983 4929
Email: edmond.sichrovsky@gmail.com
Or contact ISM at:
Phone: +44 7757 616902
Email: palreports@gmail.com
8 nov 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennet
Appointment will be brought to the government for approval at its upcoming plenum; Likud and New Right parties will immediately form a joint faction in the current Knesset
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Naftali Bennet minister of defense in his caretaker government on Friday.
Likud said that the two met at the Prime Minister's Office, and that the incumbent proposed to Bennett to take up the post - which Bennet accepted. The appointment will be brought to the government for approval at its upcoming plenum.
It was also reported that Bennett agreed that if a solution to the current political deadlock was found and a new government was established, such as a broad unity government or a narrow government, another person would be appointed minister of defense.
Bennett's partner in the leadership of the "New Right," Ayelet Shaked, will not be given a ministerial position in the transition government. Only if a new government is formed, is she likely to get an appointment.
Netanyahu and Bennett also agreed that the Likud and New Right parties will immediately form a joint faction in the current Knesset (like Likud and Yisrael Beytenu had done in the 19th Knesset) and commit to acting together as a joint faction throughout the current Knesset.
The two parties may also run together in the next elections.
Blue and White officials strongly criticized the decision to appoint Bennet defense minister, labeling it 'inappropriate'.
"Instead of promoting the government that the people have chosen and want, Netanyahu continues to fortify himself in his immunity bloc (referring to Likud's right-wing bloc, which consists of far right and ultra-Orthodox parties)," said the officials. "Appointing an 'apprentice' to the post of defense minister is an inappropriate act for the most sensitive system in the state and for the State of Israel".
Bennett's cynical appointment was made out of a narrow and personal political interest and not a look at the good of the security establishment and the State of Israel".
The country deserves a prime minister who puts Israel first. Blue and White will continue to strive for a government in general and a unity government in particular".
Appointment will be brought to the government for approval at its upcoming plenum; Likud and New Right parties will immediately form a joint faction in the current Knesset
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Naftali Bennet minister of defense in his caretaker government on Friday.
Likud said that the two met at the Prime Minister's Office, and that the incumbent proposed to Bennett to take up the post - which Bennet accepted. The appointment will be brought to the government for approval at its upcoming plenum.
It was also reported that Bennett agreed that if a solution to the current political deadlock was found and a new government was established, such as a broad unity government or a narrow government, another person would be appointed minister of defense.
Bennett's partner in the leadership of the "New Right," Ayelet Shaked, will not be given a ministerial position in the transition government. Only if a new government is formed, is she likely to get an appointment.
Netanyahu and Bennett also agreed that the Likud and New Right parties will immediately form a joint faction in the current Knesset (like Likud and Yisrael Beytenu had done in the 19th Knesset) and commit to acting together as a joint faction throughout the current Knesset.
The two parties may also run together in the next elections.
Blue and White officials strongly criticized the decision to appoint Bennet defense minister, labeling it 'inappropriate'.
"Instead of promoting the government that the people have chosen and want, Netanyahu continues to fortify himself in his immunity bloc (referring to Likud's right-wing bloc, which consists of far right and ultra-Orthodox parties)," said the officials. "Appointing an 'apprentice' to the post of defense minister is an inappropriate act for the most sensitive system in the state and for the State of Israel".
Bennett's cynical appointment was made out of a narrow and personal political interest and not a look at the good of the security establishment and the State of Israel".
The country deserves a prime minister who puts Israel first. Blue and White will continue to strive for a government in general and a unity government in particular".
Following a visit to the occupied West Bank, U.S. Democratic Congressman Andy Levin, earlier this week, criticized Israel for repeatedly demolishing Palestinian homes in a small village that has been rebuilt numerous times, WAFA reported.
The trip included a tour of the Susya village, in the southern occupied West Bank, which has been repeatedly under threat of demolition for the past 30 years based on Israeli claims that homes in the area were erected without the necessary permits.
Levin said he was also deeply concerned to see the Israeli government denying local residents access to water in the village.
He tweeted:
“Yesterday, I travelled to the southern West Bank, including the Palestinian village of Susya, which the Israeli government has destroyed twice and currently denies access to water.”
“Yet we watched the government utility, right before our eyes, lay in pipes right across the village’s land to deliver tap water to an illegal Israeli outpost nearby,”
– as quoted by the London-based Al-Arabi Al-Jadid.
Levin watched how Jewish settlers nearby are granted government-supplied amenities, yet the Palestinians remained “resilient”.
He stated: “It was simply incredible. As angry as the situation made me, the resilience of the Palestinian villagers left an even stronger impression.”
Levin was among the numerous members of US Congress to condemn Israel’s decision to ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, also a representative from Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from visiting Israel.
The trip included a tour of the Susya village, in the southern occupied West Bank, which has been repeatedly under threat of demolition for the past 30 years based on Israeli claims that homes in the area were erected without the necessary permits.
Levin said he was also deeply concerned to see the Israeli government denying local residents access to water in the village.
He tweeted:
“Yesterday, I travelled to the southern West Bank, including the Palestinian village of Susya, which the Israeli government has destroyed twice and currently denies access to water.”
“Yet we watched the government utility, right before our eyes, lay in pipes right across the village’s land to deliver tap water to an illegal Israeli outpost nearby,”
– as quoted by the London-based Al-Arabi Al-Jadid.
Levin watched how Jewish settlers nearby are granted government-supplied amenities, yet the Palestinians remained “resilient”.
He stated: “It was simply incredible. As angry as the situation made me, the resilience of the Palestinian villagers left an even stronger impression.”
Levin was among the numerous members of US Congress to condemn Israel’s decision to ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, also a representative from Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from visiting Israel.
A United Nations body has, for the first time, called on Israel to amend or cancel its Jewish Nation-State Law in order to comply with an international human rights convention that it ratified in 1991, according to a press release, WAFA reported.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) released, October 18, its concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Israel, which includes a list of concerns, recommendations, and actions that Israel must take in order to comply with its obligations.
This finding and recommendation marks the first time that a UN monitoring committee determined that the Jewish Nation-State Law does not comply with a human rights treaty ratified by Israel, and calls on Israel to either amend or repeal the law, said ADALAH, the Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel, a non-governmental organization (NGO)
In response, Adalah attorney Myssana Morany sent a letter, November 6, to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit calling on him to express his opposition to the law in a response he is slated to submit to the Israeli Supreme Court by November 17.
In its October 18 report, UN CESCR raised deep concerns about the discriminatory effect of the law on Israel's non-Jewish population including their rights of self-determination, non-discrimination, and cultural rights.
UN CESCR also called on Israel to respond to its concerns regarding aggravation of already-existing ethnic segregation and from increasing budgetary discrimination in other concluding observations – particularly the Bedouin population in the Negev region.
Adalah had earlier, on August 7, 2018, filed with the Israeli Supreme Court, a petition against the Jewish Nation-State Law on behalf of all of the Arab political leadership in Israel – the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Arab Mayors, the Joint List parliamentary faction, and also in the name of Adalah.
In the November 6 letter, Adalah argues that UN CESCR’s review strengthens the arguments in its Supreme Court petition which maintain the Jewish Nation-State Law contradicts the key principles of human rights as enshrined in international treaties, including those in the UN Charter.
Adalah Attorney Morany spoke at the NGOs briefing to CESCR’s review of Israel at United Nations Headquarters in Geneva on 30 September. She emphasized that Israel’s policy in the Negev desert is one of forced displacement and forced urbanization, guided by the false and misleading depiction of the region as a vast empty space that must be used for settlement of Israeli Jewish citizens only.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) released, October 18, its concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of Israel, which includes a list of concerns, recommendations, and actions that Israel must take in order to comply with its obligations.
This finding and recommendation marks the first time that a UN monitoring committee determined that the Jewish Nation-State Law does not comply with a human rights treaty ratified by Israel, and calls on Israel to either amend or repeal the law, said ADALAH, the Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel, a non-governmental organization (NGO)
In response, Adalah attorney Myssana Morany sent a letter, November 6, to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit calling on him to express his opposition to the law in a response he is slated to submit to the Israeli Supreme Court by November 17.
In its October 18 report, UN CESCR raised deep concerns about the discriminatory effect of the law on Israel's non-Jewish population including their rights of self-determination, non-discrimination, and cultural rights.
UN CESCR also called on Israel to respond to its concerns regarding aggravation of already-existing ethnic segregation and from increasing budgetary discrimination in other concluding observations – particularly the Bedouin population in the Negev region.
Adalah had earlier, on August 7, 2018, filed with the Israeli Supreme Court, a petition against the Jewish Nation-State Law on behalf of all of the Arab political leadership in Israel – the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Arab Mayors, the Joint List parliamentary faction, and also in the name of Adalah.
In the November 6 letter, Adalah argues that UN CESCR’s review strengthens the arguments in its Supreme Court petition which maintain the Jewish Nation-State Law contradicts the key principles of human rights as enshrined in international treaties, including those in the UN Charter.
Adalah Attorney Morany spoke at the NGOs briefing to CESCR’s review of Israel at United Nations Headquarters in Geneva on 30 September. She emphasized that Israel’s policy in the Negev desert is one of forced displacement and forced urbanization, guided by the false and misleading depiction of the region as a vast empty space that must be used for settlement of Israeli Jewish citizens only.
7 nov 2019
Omar Shakir, Regional Director of Human Rights Watch
Most global democracy indices rate Israel as the most democratic state, or even the only democratic state, in the Middle East.
Freedom House and many others have also given Israel high scores regarding human rights, political freedoms and the right of people to express freely what’s on their minds. They classify Israel as a “free” state.
In the light of such positive ratings, oppressed people all over the world should think of Israel as their ideal when they plan to escape from their own political oppression. However, the reality is very different; tests in the real world expose the fact that Israel is a racist state within which discrimination is entrenched very deeply in both policies and practices. The state deals with people according to their political or religious views, as well as their ethnicity.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a previous ruling of a lower court that Human Rights Watch Director in Israel, Omar Shakir, must be deported from the country in 20 days just because of his political ideas and beliefs. The court said that Shakir promoted the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement (BDS), which calls for non-violent boycotts of the state in order to bring about an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
The Times of Israel reported that the ruling handed down by the Jerusalem District Court in April stated that, “Not only did [Shakir] not prove that he had abandoned his calls for a boycott of Israel, but he has continued to carry out his agenda as evident from his actions and statements.” The ruling was based on a false premise because it referred to a Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories as “Israel”, despite settlements’ illegal status in international law.
The court clearly wanted to suppress Shakir’s way of thinking so that he would put aside his own beliefs. Most of the world except the United States, as well as international bodies, agree that the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal, and yet here we have a court in Israel punishing someone critical of them.
According to the Times of Israel, the Israeli courts ruled on Shakir’s deportation precisely because of his rejection of the Israeli occupation; it said that he was denied an Israeli work visa in 2017 due to concerns that he was engaged in “anti-occupation” activity. In 2018, it added, the Israeli interior ministry refused to renew his work permit because of his support for BDS.
Shakir’s deportation is not an isolated incident. There are many other examples which prove that there is no place for real democracy in Israel. Many of the country’s civil and military courts have been used solely to justify Israeli violations against the Palestinians and international law. This is not limited to Israeli judges; it is a plague which has spread to other state officials too.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most authoritarian leaders on earth, and faces multiple corruption charges. Under his leadership, Israeli police are tasked to crack down on any gatherings of more than 50 people because such gatherings require permits. The police can even impose restrictions on smaller events just to deter those who protest against his government and corruption.
Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz felt no shame about praising Rabbi Ovadia Yosef at a Shas Party memorial event marking six years since his death, even though Yosef described the Arabs as snakes and claimed that God was sorry that he created them. Nevertheless, they are currently the most popular politicians in Israel.
I am not alone in questioning the credibility of Israeli democracy. Consider, for example, what the policy director of Israel Policy Forum, Michael J Koplow, wrote early this year to Haaretz. Netanyahu’s actions, he said, have “damaged one of Israel’s most valuable national security assets… one of Israel’s most potent claims on the world stage [which] is that it is the only democracy in the Middle East.”
The aforementioned democracy and freedom indices have been accused of being biased; they do not take into account the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Israel’s rating is very different when looked at through the prism of international law or UN reports, which state that Israel “is imposing an apartheid regime of racial discrimination on the Palestinians.”
The claim that Israel is a democratic state “has always been disingenuous, ahistorical and tinged with racism,” wrote Josh Ruebner in the Huffington Post. “Israel can claim to be a democracy only in the sense that apartheid South Africa could also claim to be so: an ‘ethnocracy’ with full democratic rights for the privileged race or religion; lesser or no democratic rights for those with undesirable skin colour, ethnicity, nationality or race.”
A state which enacts democracy and democratic principles for the benefit of one particular section of society at the expense of a substantial number of “others” cannot claim to be a democratic state. That is a fact which should be obvious to any reasonable person. It is thus a disgrace that Israel and its supporters can continue to get away with making its “disingenuous” claim, while maintaining an “apartheid regime”, suppressing and violating human rights and killing Palestinians with self-declared impunity.
In answer to the question is Israel really a democratic state, we have to stand up and say no, it is most definitely not.
Most global democracy indices rate Israel as the most democratic state, or even the only democratic state, in the Middle East.
Freedom House and many others have also given Israel high scores regarding human rights, political freedoms and the right of people to express freely what’s on their minds. They classify Israel as a “free” state.
In the light of such positive ratings, oppressed people all over the world should think of Israel as their ideal when they plan to escape from their own political oppression. However, the reality is very different; tests in the real world expose the fact that Israel is a racist state within which discrimination is entrenched very deeply in both policies and practices. The state deals with people according to their political or religious views, as well as their ethnicity.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a previous ruling of a lower court that Human Rights Watch Director in Israel, Omar Shakir, must be deported from the country in 20 days just because of his political ideas and beliefs. The court said that Shakir promoted the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement (BDS), which calls for non-violent boycotts of the state in order to bring about an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
The Times of Israel reported that the ruling handed down by the Jerusalem District Court in April stated that, “Not only did [Shakir] not prove that he had abandoned his calls for a boycott of Israel, but he has continued to carry out his agenda as evident from his actions and statements.” The ruling was based on a false premise because it referred to a Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories as “Israel”, despite settlements’ illegal status in international law.
The court clearly wanted to suppress Shakir’s way of thinking so that he would put aside his own beliefs. Most of the world except the United States, as well as international bodies, agree that the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal, and yet here we have a court in Israel punishing someone critical of them.
According to the Times of Israel, the Israeli courts ruled on Shakir’s deportation precisely because of his rejection of the Israeli occupation; it said that he was denied an Israeli work visa in 2017 due to concerns that he was engaged in “anti-occupation” activity. In 2018, it added, the Israeli interior ministry refused to renew his work permit because of his support for BDS.
Shakir’s deportation is not an isolated incident. There are many other examples which prove that there is no place for real democracy in Israel. Many of the country’s civil and military courts have been used solely to justify Israeli violations against the Palestinians and international law. This is not limited to Israeli judges; it is a plague which has spread to other state officials too.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most authoritarian leaders on earth, and faces multiple corruption charges. Under his leadership, Israeli police are tasked to crack down on any gatherings of more than 50 people because such gatherings require permits. The police can even impose restrictions on smaller events just to deter those who protest against his government and corruption.
Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz felt no shame about praising Rabbi Ovadia Yosef at a Shas Party memorial event marking six years since his death, even though Yosef described the Arabs as snakes and claimed that God was sorry that he created them. Nevertheless, they are currently the most popular politicians in Israel.
I am not alone in questioning the credibility of Israeli democracy. Consider, for example, what the policy director of Israel Policy Forum, Michael J Koplow, wrote early this year to Haaretz. Netanyahu’s actions, he said, have “damaged one of Israel’s most valuable national security assets… one of Israel’s most potent claims on the world stage [which] is that it is the only democracy in the Middle East.”
The aforementioned democracy and freedom indices have been accused of being biased; they do not take into account the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Israel’s rating is very different when looked at through the prism of international law or UN reports, which state that Israel “is imposing an apartheid regime of racial discrimination on the Palestinians.”
The claim that Israel is a democratic state “has always been disingenuous, ahistorical and tinged with racism,” wrote Josh Ruebner in the Huffington Post. “Israel can claim to be a democracy only in the sense that apartheid South Africa could also claim to be so: an ‘ethnocracy’ with full democratic rights for the privileged race or religion; lesser or no democratic rights for those with undesirable skin colour, ethnicity, nationality or race.”
A state which enacts democracy and democratic principles for the benefit of one particular section of society at the expense of a substantial number of “others” cannot claim to be a democratic state. That is a fact which should be obvious to any reasonable person. It is thus a disgrace that Israel and its supporters can continue to get away with making its “disingenuous” claim, while maintaining an “apartheid regime”, suppressing and violating human rights and killing Palestinians with self-declared impunity.
In answer to the question is Israel really a democratic state, we have to stand up and say no, it is most definitely not.
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