søndag 30. juli 2023

Senéad O'Connors brev til Itamar Ben Gvir i 1997

Sinéad O’Connor var forut for sin tid.
Allerede i 1997 skrev hun  brev til Itamar Ben Gvir:

"Sinéad O’Connor to Ben Gvir in 1997: ‘You bring terror to the children of the world’"

"Irish singer who died Wednesday wrote to the far-right activist, who was 21 at the time, after he took credit for canceling her concert in Jerusalem."

Etter avlysingen skrev Sinéad åpnet brev til Ben Gvir.
Hun avslutter brevet sliK:
"She ended the letter by warning Ben Gvir that “God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world. So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.”

 

Skudeneshavn  30. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

 

Kilde:
27. juli 2023
https://www.timesofisrael.com/sinead-oconnor-to-ben-gvir-in-1997-you-bring-terror-to-the-children-of-the-world/

torsdag 27. juli 2023

Kommers i barnehagen IV

Private Barnehagers Landsforbund (PBL) har bestilt en rapport om den samfunnsmessige verdien av private barnehager.

Det er Menon Economics som har fått oppdraget, og de har levert denne rapporten i mai 2023.
"RAPPORT
DEN SAMFUNNSØKONOMISKE VERDIEN AV PRIVATE BARNEHAGER"
For barna, foreldrene og samfunnet for øvrig"
(se hele rapporten under Kilde)

Menon Economics har sammelignet kostnader i kommunale og private barnehager.
Og oppdragsgiver PBL har da konkludert at private barnehager de siste 20 årene har spart samfunnet for 36,4 milliarder kroner:
"Resultatet av barnehageforliket i form av økt dekningsgrad, og derigjennom mer effektivt barnepass har, i et middels scenario, en samlet verdi på 36,4 milliarder kroner i dag." (se PBL-melding av 8. mai 2023 under Kilde).

Men er dette sant?
Hvilke kostnader er det egentlig Menon har tatt med?
Jo dette er kun  ..... Driftskostnader.
Kapitalkostnader og Husleie er holdt utenfor:

Om dette skriver Menon (side 82 i sin rapport)

 Sitat:
"5.4 Vår metode
I dette delkapittelet beskriver vi hvordan vi har beregnet kostnader og offentlig ressursbruk på henholdsvis
private og kommunale barnehager. For å ha et best mulig sammenligningsgrunnlag, har vi valgt å kun estimere
barnehagenes driftskostnader, ekskludert avskrivninger og husleie. Vi holder avskrivninger og husleie utenfor
ettersom dette er svært vanskelig å estimere for de kommunale barnehagene, jamfør drøftelsen i kapittel 5.3.1.
Grunnen til at vi kun ønsker å sammenligne driftskostnader er at øvrige kostnader, som eksempelvis
finanskostnader, også er vanskelig å sammenligne på grunn av mangelfull data for kommunale barnehager."

 Framhever denne setningen fra Menon:
"Vi holder avskrivninger og husleie utenfor ettersom dette er svært vanskelig å estimere for de kommunale barnehagene."

Men der finnes også andre rapporter, bestilt av Knnskapsdeaprtementet og utført av BDO, (se melding fra Regjeringen av 31. mars 2023 under Kilde). Menon omtaler innholdet i BDO-rapportene bl.a. slik (side 82):

Sitat:
"BDO finner at barnehagene i gjennomsnitt fikk sine eiendomskostnader dekket gjennom kapitaltilskuddet og
beregnet andel tilskudd til eiendom av driftstilskuddet i 2020. Samtidig finner de at totalt mottatt tilskudd ikke
dekker totale eiendomskostnader på sektornivå. Videre finner de at det varierer mellom ulike typer barnehager
i hvilken grad de har kostnadsdekning på eiendomskostnader. BDO finner at barnehager som leier lokaler av
egen gruppering/konsern hadde lavest kostnadsdekning som følge av høy intern husleie."

Framhever siste setning i BDO-analysen:

"BDO finner at barnehager som leier lokaler av egen gruppering/konsern hadde lavest kostnadsdekning som følge av høy intern husleie."

Konklusjon:
Menon har levert en bestillingsrapport som UTELATER bl.a. husleie.
Og høy huskeie er garantert etter at de store barnehage-konsernene har solgt sine eiendommer med milliardgevinster.
Hvordan skal disse milliardene hentes inn av de nye eierne? - Jo, gjennom høy husleie.

Er det noe som er garantert for disse private barnehagene, så er det nettopp høy husleie.
Men dette ekskluderer behendig Menon og PBL.

Slik fortsetter ledelsen for de store private barnehagene i Norge å villede offentligheten.
Er ingenting lært om redelighet og moral?


Skudeneshavn  27. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

 

Ny info:
29. juli 2023
Lagt inn kommentar under denne artikkelen iHaugesunds Avis :
https://www.h-avis.no/bedre-tjenester-til-lavere-pris-tilsvar-til-sv/o/5-62-1565529

 

Kilde:
8. mai 2023
https://www.pbl.no/aktuelt/pedagogikk/fersk-rapport-private-barnehager-gir-mer-mangfold-like-god-kvalitet-og-store-offentlige-besparelser/

Mai 2023
https://www.menon.no/wp-content/uploads/2023-62-Den-samfunnsokonomiske-verdien-av-private-barnehager.pdf

31. mars 2023
https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/to-rapporter-om-kostnader-i-barnehager/id2970702/

mandag 24. juli 2023

Lærebok i hvordan autokrater overtar et demokrati - Eksempel fra Israel

Artikkel i Haaretz, som egentlig er en bokanmeldelse om "Lærebokfor autokrater".
Forfatterene er professor Kim Lane scheppele.
Den beskriver trinnene ved en autokrats overtakelse av ledelsen av et land ved "lovlige" former i et demokrati.

Bokens tillel er "Autocratic Legalism" og ble publisert i 2018.
Artikkelforfatteren i Haaretz bruker boken som bakgrunn for denne artikkelen:

"The Book Israelis Must Read Today to Understand Their New Reality"

"Prof. Kim Lane Scheppele's 'Autocratic Legalism' – which explains how modern-day tyrannies gradually weaken the gatekeepers – will buoy the battle for Israel's democracy"

Utdrag:

Om Netanyahu:
"We’ve heard that Netanyahu is a true democrat, amid quotations from the past in which he enthusiastically defended the independence of the courts. Levin, meanwhile, has been portrayed as someone who sat in a forest hideout for 20 years working on a bomb to destroy democracy. But these depictions conceal the truth: Netanyahu is an authoritarian leader, heart and soul.

He palled around with populists like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, and maintained close relationships with shameless dictators like Orbán and Vladimir Putin. The judicial overhaul we’ve been experiencing for nearly seven months is just the tip of a long process that has been pursued – fortunately for us – incautiously. There has been plenty of strutting, hubris and eye-poking, but the process has been Netanyahu’s goal for many years, even before he was indicted."

Om utdannelse:
"Forgive us, Israeli children, for we have been inattentive. The struggle over education has been neglected; it’s as if the ultra-Orthodox schools were part of a different country. The religious-Zionist community has an independent education system, and if that weren’t enough, there’s the long tradition of religious-Zionist politicians demanding the education portfolio in order to influence children of secular families as well." 

............................

Konklusjon:

Leseverdig informasjon, med tydeliggjøring av en prosess som har pågått lenge.
Og om Netanyahus langsiktige plan, samt om et flerdelt skolevesen.


Skudeneshavn  24. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen


Kilde:
24. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/life/books/2023-07-24/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-book-israelis-must-read-today/00000189-8265-db55-abfb-e27dacce0000

lørdag 22. juli 2023

Netanyahu åpner opp om "Jabotinsky and I"

.
Etter en lang innledning går artikkelforfatter over til å beskrive en tale Netanyahu nylig har holdt.
Dette avsnittet i artikkelen er kalt "Jabotinsky and I"
Her hyller Netanyahu Jabotinsky og sin far, - de er hans ledestjerner.
Mao: For å forstå Netanyahu må man forså hva Jabotinsky sto for.

"With Eyes Wide Open, Netanyahu Marches Israel Toward the Abyss"

 Utdeag: (HELE artikkelen nederst under Kilde)
"Jabotinsky and I

On Tuesday afternoon a memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky was held on Mount Herzl. Netanyahu, who gave the main speech, dedicated his opening comments to “a trait of leadership … that made Jabotinsky one of the giants of Zionism: His ability to identify opportunities and dangers at any given time. … He had a prophetic ability to predict the future and foresee developments that would affect the fate of our people.”

After exhausting the superlatives for the father, the son found time to shower some on himself. He noted the principles that Jabotinsky, the leader of the Beitar youth movement and the right-wing Irgun militia, believed in, such as “the Iron Wall,” the notion of a militarily strong Jewish community surrounded by enemies.

Netanyahu said he imbibed such principles “from Jabotinsky and my father,” adding: “Even a hundred years after the principle of the iron wall was set in the writings of Jabotinsky, we continue to implement it successfully.”

Konklusjon:

Netanyahus ledestjerne er Jabotinsky., og forsterket av BiBis far.
Det definerer forholdet til palestinerne og Israels nabostater: Knallhard makt - "Iron Wall".

EDIT:
27. juli 2023
Advarsel fra Tamir Pardo, Mossadsjef 2011-2016:
"Ex-Mossad chief: Netanyahu allies worse than KKK, overhaul is his ‘master plan’
Tamir Pardo claims PM is in control, it’s an ‘urban legend’ he’s under thumb of extremist partner..."

Er det noen som kjenner Netahanyau, så er det Mossad-sjefer.
Han henger udiskutabelt bjella på Netanyahu.

Skudeneshavn  22. juli 2023 / 27. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen 

På Twitter:
4. november 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1720761731796910540

 

Ny info:
27. juli 2023
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-mossad-chief-netanyahu-allies-worse-than-kkk-overhaul-is-his-master-plan/

Kilde:

https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Jabotinsky

 
21. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-21/ty-article/.premium/with-eyes-wide-open-netanyahu-marches-israel-toward-the-abyss/00000189-748f-de6d-a1ef-f5efad990000?lts=1690048141139

 

HELE artikkelen i Haaretz 21. juli 2023

Analysis |

With Eyes Wide Open, Netanyahu Marches Israel Toward the Abyss

Events in Israel over the past six months are entirely Bibi's responsibility, handiwork and shame: a defense, social, economic, diplomatic and moral catastrophe. Gantz's main opposition party won't come to his rescue

 

 

Verter 20/7

Credit: Amos Biderman

In 2016, an American journalist asked Benjamin Netanyahu how he’d like to be remembered. “As the protector of Israel,’ came the reply.

Let’s set aside Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the growing strength of Hamas and the weakening of the Palestinian Authority, the increasing power of Hezbollah and its transformation from a terror organization into an army with tens of thousands of precision-guided missiles. During Netanyahu’s 12 uninterrupted years as prime minister, none of these threats was “eliminated.” That was an unrealistic expectation.

His boasting notwithstanding, not everything depends on him. Like every leader, like every human being, he has failures as well as accomplishments.

On the other hand, what has been happening in Israel in the past six months and what is yet to come is entirely his responsibility, his handiwork and his shame: a defense, social, economic, diplomatic and moral catastrophe. Israel has never radiated weakness and vulnerability as it does today: The military reserves are falling apart, the United States is turning its back, foreign leaders are staying away, the economy is sustaining daily blows and the societal rift is growing deeper and wider. “The army is still ready for battle,” the military spokesman announced drily this week. These words must be read and reread. The eyes see but the brain refuses to believe this even on the 10th reading. “Still?”

The title to which Netanyahu aspired has been denied to him. He doesn’t have the time it would take him to repair the immense  strategic damage he has wrought on the state and its critical systems. He will go down in history as Israel’s official liquidator; as the man who received a functioning state on an upward trend on December 29, 2022 and turned it, almost instantly, into a bleeding, riven entity. This is not a “vibrant” and “resilient” democracy, as he and President Isaac Herzog told U.S. President Joe Biden and Congress. This is a democracy under attack, whose elected government has declared war on it, seemingly determined to grind it into the dust. This is a democracy hanging by a thread, which if not for the impressive protest movement would have become a thing of the past, a dim memory, by now. The leaders of the protest, people who before January were mostly anonymous, are already deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize.

A demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv this week.
A demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv this week.Credit: Itai Ron

Early this week, the Prime Minister’s Office issued instructions to select cabinet members and coalition lawmakers for handling the media in light of the protracted collapse on all fronts and from every direction, as follows: 1. Blame the rift between Washington and Jerusalem on opposition leaders and reserve-duty generals.
  The subtext, or subliminal message if you will: Biden is an old, clueless sucker who gets his information from fake news. 2. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, is to blame for Netanyahu’s non-invitation to the White House. 3. The expanding and dangerous phenomenon of reservists not reporting for duty is the fault of the principled soldiers and officers, our finest sons and daughters, who never before, under any government, hesitated to leave their homes, work and families when called to action. 4. The barbed messages emanating from the Oval Office are the fault of The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who is “hostile” to Netanyahu. 5. All the other ills that are besetting us are the fault of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the “most dangerous person in the country today,” in the words of the troublemaker in the Justice Ministry, David Amsalem, who has received dangerous backing through the thundering silence of Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin. 

 Everyone else is to blame, as always, except the person at the head of the pyramid. He is only responsible for successes. In tandem, Netanyahu is waging a systematic propaganda campaign, wise from his perspective, against “insubordination.” The issue bothering him most is one that lies within his comfort zone. In this battlefield he has the advantage, in contrast to the battle over the reasonableness standard, where he is at a disadvantage. This won’t give him points in public opinion, but it will at least bolster his “base,” which loathes “elites” and pampered residents of tony Tel Aviv neighborhoods.

Demonstrations against the judicial overhaul in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Demonstrations against the judicial overhaul in Jerusalem on Thursday.Credit: Sraya Diamant

Only he and his toxic envoys, such as Amsalem, Shlomo Karhi and Galit Distal Atbaryan, could transform a critical struggle over the face of Israel’s democracy into a sterile yet sickeningly effective identity-politics debate. The head of a government replete with draft dodgers, with representatives of entire sectors that preach institutional draft dodging, while extorting and receiving immense budgets for institutions that encourage evading conscription, with criminals who were found unworthy of serving and women opportunistically posing as religious, is repeatedly inciting against and attacking with venom the people he labels “refuseniks.”

When the process started, people were divided over repealing the reasonableness clause. Over time, despite the issue’s complexity and the feebleness of the media in explaining it, more people have realized the scope of the horror, thereby increasing the number of protesters. Netanyahu lost the narrative battle when he tried to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He is now losing it again. He didn’t think masses of people would protest a supposedly technical matter, giving Levin and Simcha Rothman the green light to proceed, assuming he was on firm ground. He is willing to pay a huge price, frightened of his base which is inflamed by the extremists he fostered. He is walking toward the abyss, with eyes wide open.

Updating the story

U.S. President Donald Trump described his administration’s policy toward Iran as “maximum pressure.” That description also fits the Biden administration’s policy toward Netanyahu.

Not toward Israel – which is still a strategic ally enjoying all the privileges of close ties with America – but toward the man heading it, who is so loathed as to be virtually a pariah. Any “warmth” or “friendliness” there may have been in Netanyahu’s phone call with Biden reflected the president’s attitude toward a democratic Israel, not toward the prime minister leading it down a suicidal path alien to their “shared values.”

President Isaac Herzog addressing the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
President Isaac Herzog addressing the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP

Biden was well-briefed and understood how critical this week and the start of next week are. That explains the barrage of diplomatic cruise missiles launched at Netanyahu from Washington – the White House spokeswoman’s stubborn refusal to confirm that the two men would meet there, the briefings to Friedman and the advice from “senior administration officials” to believe the Times columnist (and not Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s most political national security adviser ever).

In the run-up to President Herzog’s visit, Netanyahu vented his rage on anything that moved. His diplomatic tantrum finally ended in the longed-for call from Biden, followed by the conflicting stories. 

The moment the call ended, Netanyahu’s people said it was warm, friendly and didn’t include a word about the judicial overhaul. Officials in Washington erupted and took care to describe a tense call with massive emphasis on Biden’s warning against the legislation and its ramifications.

Who should we believe? The White House or the Prime Minister’s Office? Come on, really. Netanyahu’s lying manipulation of the call, which humiliated the president, didn’t exactly help repair the relationship.

The cold shoulder from Washington and the fog surrounding the meeting are driving Netanyahu and his wife Sara crazy. They desperately need a nice trip to a respectable destination, with all its perks. Not just a hop over to Cyprus, like the one planned for next week. That’s why we were told this week about the government’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and, more important, that Netanyahu will “soon” visit Rabat.

A bit of perspective: Israel never had a problem granting Morocco recognition, and the previous government also discussed doing so. But the Bennett-Lapid government had conditions – upgrading Morocco’s representation in Israel from a liaison office to an embassy, inaugurated by Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and signing a series of trade agreements. 

Israeli lawmakers voting on the bill to overturn the reasonableness clause in the Knesset on Wednesday.
Israeli lawmakers voting on the bill to overturn the reasonableness clause in the Knesset on Wednesday.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

But Rabat took its time, the government changed, and now Netanyahu is granting the king’s wish for a red carpet. That’s how desperate the Netanyahus are for a state visit overseas.

The visit itself has no real value. The Israeli Liaison Office in Rabat was inaugurated by then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, and five ministers in the current government have already made pointless visits to Morocco, a friendly destination for guests. Unlike the occupants of the White House, 10 Downing Street or the Elysée Palace, King Mohammed VI isn’t worried about Israel’s democratic future.

Instead of staying in his burning country and doing what one would expect of a sane leader, Netanyahu is looking for trips and honor. That’s how a five-hour visit to Cyprus (including meetings) became a two-day holiday, no less. Sara’s presence explains it. With her, there are no quickies. She demands the whole package – tours, shopping, meals at glamorous restaurants and generally laundry service as well.

No one to talk to

On Monday, the Knesset will vote on whether to cancel the Supreme Court's authority to declare a government decision unreasonable. This means a shattering of the corruption ceiling, which already kept rising every time Netanyahu formed a government. If the governing coalition follows through, the new law will provide cover for the wantonness of the current coalition.

Until the vote, Netanyahu still has the option to seduce the opposition with empty promises about “broad agreements” and a “discussion” later on.

On Wednesday he was preempted by Benny Gantz, who learned the art of trickery from the best. In a prime-time announcement, the chairman of the opposition National Unity Party offered the prime minister immediate talks on the reasonableness issue. (Talks that wouldn't create “an opening for corruption,” he noted, probably to the sound of laughter from the government benches.)

 

Benny Gantz on Wednesday offering the government talks on the reasonableness standard.
Benny Gantz on Wednesday offering the government talks on the reasonableness standard.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

His second condition was a commitment that any future legislation on the “reforms” would be done by broad agreement. However you look at it, it’s a nonstarter.

In the hours before the announcement, Gantz and his party's Gideon Sa’ar, Gadi Eisenkot and Chili Tropper met in a side room to decide what to do. Some believed that Netanyahu, in his distress as the reservists threaten to forgo reserve duty and the Americans ramp up their proverbial carpet bombing, would say yes.

Either way it’s a win-win, they said. If he says yes, we stopped the downslide. If not, everybody will see who the obstructionist is.

“In the end, despite all our sympathy and support, the protests have their limitations.” Tropper told me. “You can’t offer the public more and more protest. And it’s not that we’re naive. Even if Bibi would say yes, this wouldn’t guarantee us that in the next session he wouldn’t restart the madness and continue with the unilateral legislation. Still, we felt we had to do something that might stop the accident that's about to happen.”

Tropper is relentless in his pursuit of compromise. In recent weeks he has been in constant contact with three legal experts: Raz Nizri (a former deputy attorney general,) Yedidia Stern and Yuval Elbashan. They've been in frantic contact with Netanyahu’s people: Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and the minister for whatever need be, Ron Dermer. The jurists, none of whom is a great liberal, tried to reach an agreement on the reasonableness standard.

Theoretically, Netanyahu had an interest in it, to assuage the reservists and the Americans. The three updated Tropper. Bottom line: Fuchs and Dermer, on behalf of the prime minister, said no, even to the relatively generous offers presented to them.

Chili Tropper speaking in the Knesset on Monday. "Today the big extremists are in Likud."
Chili Tropper speaking in the Knesset on Monday. "Today the big extremists are in Likud."Credit: Sraya Diamant

Tropper hears the voices and reads the op-eds urging Gantz and his party to offer themselves as spare parts to replace the two extremist parties in the government, Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism and Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit.

“Not an option,” he rightly says. “They used to think we’d replace Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and all the problems would be solved. But today the big extremists are in Likud – Levin, Distal Atbaryan, Amsalem, Karhi, [Tally] Gotliv. Last time [in the 2020-21 national unity government] we had 17 lawmakers and we couldn’t deal with that bunch. Now we’re 12.”

Jabotinsky and I

On Tuesday afternoon a memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky was held on Mount Herzl. Netanyahu, who gave the main speech, dedicated his opening comments to “a trait of leadership … that made Jabotinsky one of the giants of Zionism: His ability to identify opportunities and dangers at any given time. … He had a prophetic ability to predict the future and foresee developments that would affect the fate of our people.”

The audience had no trouble divining the identity of the leader to whom the speaker ascribes similar traits. Then he got to the crux of the matter.

“My father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, flew to London on the eve of the Holocaust and convinced Jabotinsky to move his center of operations from England to the United States. Both of them, Jabotinsky and my father, saw the difficult condition of the Zionist movement. They both crafted a firm and informed Zionist line to extract our people from their straits.”

Netanyahu described his father’s work after Jabotinsky’s death in great detail. Shortly after arriving in the United States, Netanyahu Sr. “continued in his efforts to persuade the American administration to support the establishment of a Jewish state … that would serve American interests. It was a revolutionary idea!”

Anyone unversed in the history of the right-wing Revisionist movement may err in thinking that Jabotinsky and Netanyahu Sr. were a pair of titans, which they weren’t. Benzion was the leader’s aide for a few months; later on he did diplomatic work in the United States, but it was unrelated to Jabotinsky.

Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday speaking at the memorial service for Ze'ev Jabotinsky on Mount Herzl.

Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday speaking at the memorial service for Ze'ev Jabotinsky on Mount Herzl.Credit: Sraya Diamant

The son’s choice to dedicate more than a few words to his father at another man’s memorial is part of his habit of always placing himself, his father or his wife at the center of the event. Any event, relevant or not. Everything revolves around them, everything started with them, everything will end with them.

Without Bibi there would be no country, without his brother there would be no Entebbe, without his father there would be no Zionism. “Whose memorial is this anyway?” one of the attendees asked himself.

After exhausting the superlatives for the father, the son found time to shower some on himself. He noted the principles that Jabotinsky, the leader of the Beitar youth movement and the right-wing Irgun militia, believed in, such as “the Iron Wall,” the notion of a militarily strong Jewish community surrounded by enemies.

Netanyahu said he imbibed such principles “from Jabotinsky and my father,” adding: “Even a hundred years after the principle of the iron wall was set in the writings of Jabotinsky, we continue to implement it successfully.”

For a moment it was unclear why the audience had gathered on Mount Herzl. Whose praises had they come to sing? The commemorated? The commemorator? His father?

“We, his disciples,” Netanyahu called himself and Likud's lawmakers. It’s a miracle that the tombstone didn’t shatter. Disciples, maybe, but not of the movement’s founder Jabotinsky or of his successor, Menachem Begin. Maybe of Meir Kahane, Joseph McCarthy, Vladimir Putin or Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Without blushing at all, Netanyahu waxed wistfully about the deceased's spirit of “national unity.” Jabotinsky “would never have accepted the incitement to objection to serve in Israel’s military. … That’s the end of the military, undermining the foundations of our common existence; it could destroy the house. … Jabotinsky would have harshly castigated those who incite to rebellion to destroy all that we’ve built here together,” said the inciter in chief and despoiler of national unity.

Here, for some reason, he forgot to mention his father and his brother Iddo, who signed a petition calling for objection ahead of the 2005 Gaza pullout. Not fair. If you’re going to bring family into it, go all the way.

Speaking of national unity, what about Mr. Itzik Zarka, the darling of the Likud brass from the chairman on down? It's a week since we were graced with his deep thoughts on the Holocaust, and Netanyahu’s promise to offload the prodigal son has yet to be fulfilled.

Maybe it’s due to Zarka's threats about the evidence he has on his phone, or simply because parting is such sweet sorrow. After all, they're all of the same flesh and blood; Zarka is just a particularly extreme mutation of Amsalem.

fredag 21. juli 2023

- Israelsk psykolog om israelsk psyke - Og om "Honningfellen"

Artikkel om og intervju med professor emeritus Daniel Bar-Tal.
Bar-Tal er psykolog og utga i november 2022 boken: "Sinking into the Honey Trap"
Boken omtales i en artikkel i Haaretz 20. juli 2022:

"Netanyahu’s Assault on Democracy Was Predicted by This Psychologist. He Also Sees a Silver Lining"

"Political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal wrote the book on the Israeli psyche, but even he has been surprised by the huge public protests against the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul – and the growing recognition of its connection to the occupation."

"To paraphrase the protest sign, the central theme of “Sinking into the Honey Trap: The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” is this: If you ignore the occupation, you’ll get a dictatorship." 

Bar-Tal konkluderer:
He continues: “People are starting to comprehend that it is the same government turning a blind eye to these pogroms that is trying to undermine our legal system and shake up the religious status quo. They’re suddenly waking up to the fact that all these things are connected, and that’s a very big step.

Ikke uventet resultat over tid:
Okkupasjon korrumperer okkupanten mest.


Skudeneshavn  21. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen


På Twitter:
21. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1682320509365518336

23. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1683041235714592769

Kilde:
https://www.amazon.com/Sinking-into-Honey-Trap-Israeli-Palestinian/dp/1637237162

20. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-20/ty-article-magazine/.premium/netanyahus-assault-on-democracy-was-predicted-by-this-psychologist/00000189-6e65-de4e-adeb-ffe55cb70000

tirsdag 18. juli 2023

- Any analogy between Palestinian refugees and Jewish immigrants from Arab lands is folly in historical and political terms

Overskriften her er fra en artikkel fra 2003 av Yehuda Shenhav.
Han er professor i sosiologi ved Universitetet i Tel Aviv Universitet.
 
Yehouda Shenhav
"Hitching a Ride on the Magic Carpet"
"Any analogy between Palestinian refugees and Jewish immigrants from Arab lands is folly in historical and political terms"

Utdrag fra artikkelen:

"Any reasonable person, Zionist or non-Zionist, must acknowledge that the analogy drawn between Palestinians and Mizrahi Jews is unfounded. Palestinian refugees did not want to leave Palestine. Many Palestinian communities were destroyed in 1948, and some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled, or fled, from the borders of historic Palestine. Those who left did not do so of their own volition.

 In contrast, Jews from Arab lands came to this country under the initiative of the State of Israel and Jewish organizations. Some came of their own free will; others arrived against their will. Some lived comfortably and securely in Arab lands; others suffered from fear and oppression."

I artikkelen av Yehuda Shenhav viser han til en lang historie der israelske organisasjoner og myndigheter ikke ønsket å kalle jøder som kom til Israel fra arabiske land for ..."flyktninger".


Skudeneshavn  18. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen


Kilde:

https://english.tau.ac.il/profile/shenhav

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yehouda_Shenhav

15. august 2003
https://www.haaretz.com/2003-08-15/ty-article/hitching-a-ride-on-the-magic-carpet/0000017f-dc85-df62-a9ff-dcd708790000?lts=1689696812329

Marokko og Israel: Okkupanter hjeklper hverandre

Det er kommet melding at Israel anerkjenner Marokkos rest til okkuperte Vest-Sahara.

Min Twittermelding om dette 18. juli 2023

Dette er som #Trump planla det med de såkalte #AbrahamAccords, at okkupanter hjelper hverandre. Og her følger det også med våpen og militær kompetansde fra #Israel til #Marokko. Her skal det rustes opp.

Skudeneshavn 18. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

På Twitter:
18. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1681239552072056833

 

Kilde:
6. juni 2023
https://www.jns.org/middle-east/abraham-accords/23/6/6/293053/

mandag 17. juli 2023

Om Israels våpensalg til Myanmar m.fl - Fokus på Israels Høyesterett

Sterk lederat\rtikkel i haaretz fra 2019.

Det gjelder Israels slag av våpen til det militære diktaturet i Myanmar, se Kilde

"Good Luck in Your Genocide Trial"
"For years Israel secretly authorized weapon sales to Myanmar, even after the accusations of mass slaughter, rapes and the burning of Rohingya villages become known and after a European Union arms embargo and U.S. sanctions on the country." 

Det henvises her også til en artikkel fra 24. oktober 2017, se Kilde
"Israel Sold Advanced Weapons to Myanmar During anti-Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing Campaign"
"Israeli-made navy patrol boats custom-fitted with remote weapon stations are part of arms deals estimated to be worth tens of millions."

Dette følges opp nå i 2023 av nok en artikkel i Haaretz:

Opinion |
"How Israel’s Supreme Court Rubber Stamps Arms Deals to Dictators"
"The Supreme Court is hardly a defender of human rights abroad when it helps repress democracy by using gag orders to obscure the truth about Israeli arms deals to brutal regimes including Myanmar during and after the Rohingya genocide. It’s time Israel’s people protest this too."
 
Sterk melding, og denne gang om Israels Høyesterett.
Det påpekes at retten ikke griper inn i salg av militært utstyr til undertrykkende diktaturer.
På samme måte som retten sanksjonerer IDFs brudd på folkeretten i okkuperte palestinske områder.

På tide med mer søkelys på Israels Høyesterett?
Slik rabbiner Avidan Freedman ber om 16. juli 2023 ....


Skudeneshavn  29. november 2019 / 17. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

På Twitter:
23. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1683055891178725377

9. november 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1722711046949916866


Kilde:

16. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-07-16/ty-article-opinion/.premium/how-israels-supreme-court-rubber-stamps-arms-deals-to-dictators/00000189-5ebe-d481-afbd-5ebe14a00000

29. november 2019
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/good-luck-in-your-genocide-trial-1.8196994

24. oktober 2017
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2017-10-24/ty-article/israel-sold-arms-to-myanmar-during-ethnic-cleansing-campaign/0000017f-db6c-d856-a37f-ffece3470000

torsdag 13. juli 2023

Israelsk angrep på tysk MØ-ekspert Muriel Asseburg blir ambassadesak

Et intervju med tyske Muriel Asseburg på Youtube den 28. juni 2023 (se Kilde) har skapt israelsk forargelse.

Hennes artikkel fra 2019 er også relevant, se Kilde.
"Putting the Controversy About BDS in Germany into Perspective" 

 Og her er israelske reaksjoner:

1) Israel Hayom 7. juli 2023:

"German analyst blasted for backing Palestinian right to 'resist'"

"Israeli Embassy in Germany issues a harsh statement against Muriel Asseburg, who works for a research institue that advises the Germany federal parliament."



2) Haaretz 10. juli 2023:

"Why Israel Is Attacking Germany's Top Middle East Expert"

"Muriel Asseburg says the Israeli embassy manipulated her quotes, while her workplace, a prominent German think-tank slammed the embassy's 'insinuations and personal defamations' against her"

 

 13. juli 2023 forsvarer den tyske ambassadøren til Israel Muriel Asseburg:

"German Ambassador Denounces 'Harassment' of Top Mideast Expert by Israeli Far Right"

"German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert responded on Twitter to the public rebuke of Dr. Muriel Asseburg, condemning a video in which a far-right activist appears to be filming her and accusing her of antisemitism during a visit to Israel"


Skudeneshavn 13. juki 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

Kilde: 

Om muriel Asseburg
https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/researcher/muriel-asseburg

13. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-13/ty-article/.premium/german-ambassador-denounces-harassment-of-top-mideast-expert-by-israeli-far-right/00000189-4ed8-d371-a389-defc4e7e0000

10. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-10/ty-article/.highlight/why-israel-is-attacking-germanys-top-middle-east-expert/00000189-3e8f-d145-a1e9-3fff6a260000

7. juli 2023
https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/07/07/german-analyst-blasted-for-saying-to-ignore-israeli-suffering-back-palestinian-terrorism/

28. juni 2023
Nahost-Expertin Muriel Asseburg über Israel & Palästina - Jung & Naiv: Folge 647
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=333rt6aUVnE

2019
PIJ Volume 24 no 3
Muriel Asseberg
https://pij.org/articles/1964/putting-the-controversy-about-bds-in-germany-into-perspective

tirsdag 11. juli 2023

Artikkel i NY Times 10. juni 2023 om IDFs siste operasjon i Jenin

Lesverdig ytring i NY Times om IDFs siste operasjon i flyktningeleiren i Jenin.
Her får man god innsikt i Israel/Palestina-konflikten av en kjenner av historien.

HELE artikkelen nederst under Kilde


Skudeneshavn  11. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen


Kilde:

10. juli 2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/opinion/jenin-israel-west-bank.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

HELE artikkelen i NY Times 10. juli 2023:

Guest Essay

The Tale of Two Invasions: What the Last Attack on Jenin Tells Us About Israel Now

A woman sits, looking sad, in front of her destroyed home in the Jenin refugee camp.
The Jenin refugee camp near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, last week.Credit...Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images -- LightRocket, via Getty Images

Mr. Baconi is a former senior analyst for Israel/Palestine at the International Crisis Group and the author of “Hamas Contained.” He serves as president of the board of al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

LONDON — Our screens are filled once again with images of weeping women, children, and the elderly marching down the street with their hands raised or waving white garments from slow-moving vehicles. Palestinians have seen this before, having lived through a long history of expulsions from their homes and villages under the threat of fire.

The newest images came in last week during the Israeli invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Reporters and ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent, which struggled to reach the injured, were impeded by military obstacles.

At a Fourth of July event in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli Army had attacked “the most legitimate target on the planet — people who would annihilate our country.” He was referring to months of armed resistance against Israeli settlers by young men in the Jenin refugee camp.

More than 20 years ago, another right-wing prime minister, Ariel Sharon, led an extensive military campaign against the same refugee camp. It was two years into the second Palestinian uprising. Palestinian suicide bombers, some of whom hailed from Jenin, had rocked Israeli streets. In response, the Israeli Army invaded the West Bank and ravaged the Jenin refugee camp, then, as now, a center of Palestinian resistance.

A Palestinian boy inside a destroyed home in the occupied West Bank Jenin refugee camp on Thursday, following a large-scale, two-day Israeli military operation.
Credit...Zain Jaafar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A 7-year-old Palestinian amid the rubble of the Jenin refugee camp following the Israeli incursion in June 2002.
Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

The two invasions unfolded in vastly different contexts. Between 2002 and 2023, the illusion of partitioning the land into two states disintegrated. It exists now only in diplomatic talking points, hollowed out of all meaning, and replaced by a consensus among international and Israeli human rights organizations, including B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, that Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, vindicating what Palestinians have long believed.

For most Jewish Israelis, this shift is barely perceptible, as they continue to be effectively sheltered from the cost of their government’s policies toward Palestinians. The Palestinians, meanwhile, are experiencing growing despair and fatigue, ground down by the daily structural violence. With the absence of any hope for statehood, and with no viable political leadership to lead the struggle, some take matters into their own hands through armed and unarmed forms of resistance, others are apathetic or preoccupied with the crippling effort to support their families, and many live in fear.

In 2002, though round after round of American-mediated negotiations had faltered, there was still the hope — and the expectation — that a peace process would resume. The two-state solution was touted as the only option for peace. The framework of territorial partition — that Israel would withdraw from the territories it had occupied in 1967 in exchange for peace with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors — was the dominant policymaking approach.

But as the Second Intifada came to an end, Israel intensified practical measures to expand its occupation and undermine the two-state solution while maintaining the diplomatic pretense of engaging with peace efforts. With the financing of Western and Arab donors, Israel pacified the West Bank with neoliberal incentives even as it hollowed out the core of its economy and carved up the Palestinian territory with expanding settlements. It implemented security coordination measures with the Palestinian Authority, turning the Palestinian government into a key partner for managing local resistance. The Palestinian Authority, for its part, initiated an expansive state-building agenda as it sought to project an image of an authority with control, one that was setting the foundations of a future Palestinian state.

Under Mr. Sharon, Israel also unilaterally reconfigured its occupation of the Gaza Strip, dismantling its settlements and initiating a territorial disengagement that proponents of the two-state solution celebrated — perhaps genuinely, but naïvely — as a step toward peace, one that demonstrated the possibility of Israeli territorial withdrawal paving the way for eventual Palestinian rule.

Like Jenin, the Gaza Strip also has a history of resistance against Israeli occupation. With Hamas’s rise to power in 2006, Israel, in coordination with Egypt, tightened a hermetic blockade on the strip, effectively severing it from the rest of Palestine, and experimented with military techniques to force the population into submission.Alongside food restriction policies and an economic chokehold, this took the form of devastating military assaults. The military referred to this doctrine as “mowing the lawn,” the approach of using disproportionate military force to periodically weaken Palestinian resistance and manage a restive population chafing against Israeli control.

Last week, Israel turned this military approach, perfected in the Gaza Strip, onto the West Bank, as it cordoned off the refugee camp in Jenin, pummeled it from the air and ground and destroyed crucial infrastructure for water and electricity as a form of collective punishment.

In the time between the two invasions of Jenin, Palestinians throughout the West Bank have been systematically funneled — through land expropriation, home demolitions and expansion of settlements — into isolated urban centers surrounded by land occupied by Israel. Just like Gaza, most urban centers in the West Bank can now be, overnight, entirely severed from the ecosystem around them, as was witnessed in Jenin.

Today, there is no need for Israeli officials to sugarcoat their policies for fear of diplomatic reprisal, or to mitigate against the presumption of eventual partition. The transformation of Israeli political culture that accelerated after the violence of the Second Intifada and the impunity Israel enjoys internationally have culminated in the most right-wing government in Israeli history.

In the two decades between these invasions, Israeli officials have rendered explicit their desire to consolidate what Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has called “a regime of Jewish supremacy” in all the areas under their control. Less than two weeks before the most recent invasion, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, prodded the government to launch a military offensive while urging an expansion of settlements in the West Bank. “There needs to be a full settlement here,” he said. “We have to settle the land of Israel and at the same time need to launch a military campaign, blow up buildings, assassinate terrorists. Not one, or two, but dozens, hundreds, or if needed, thousands.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority, teetering on the wreck of its plans for a state, has been irreversibly integrated into the structure of Israeli apartheid, maintaining a Bantustan-like authority that helps pacify its population for Israeli gains.

Beneath this evolving context is a singular constant: Israel’s ability to sustain its settlement of Palestinian territory without accountability, while equating Palestinian resistance to terrorism. That this framing has long been accepted among the major Western powers is particularly galling for Palestinians in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where resistance to illegal occupation is hailed as heroic and supported by Western weapons and military training.

The international community has left Palestinians in a permanent condition of statelessness, denied the right to self-determination and self-defense. While Israeli officials use openly racist statements, like saying Israel should “wipe out” an entire Palestinian town, the Biden administration is pushing for Israel’s integration into the region through bilateral peace deals, building on the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords, with barely a nod to Palestinian rights.

Residents of the Jenin camp, some of whom had fled from their homes in what is now Israel in 1948, are refugees once again. And some of the toddlers who were in the camp in 2002 are now the young men of the Palestinian resistance. As the history of other struggles against apartheid and colonial violence have taught us, today’s children will no doubt take up arms to resist such domination in the future, until these structures of control are dismantled.

Tareq Baconi is a former senior analyst for Israel/Palestine at the International Crisis Group and the author of “Hamas Contained.” He serves as president of the board of al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

Utkastelse i Øst-Jerusalem etter 70 år

Familien Bar Laban er kastet ut fra sitt hjem i Øst-Jerusalem etter å ha bodd der i 70 år.
Leiligheten er overtatt av en israelsk stiftelse basert på israelsk lovgivning om eiendomsrett fra før 1948.
Denne retten gjelder bare for eiendommer eid av jøder.

Det må tas med at Øst-Jerusalem er okkupert område, ulovlig annektert av Israel.
Og at den angitte israelske lovgivning om eiendomsrett der er ugyldig.

Nedenfor er flere oppslag om saken.
Her vises en overskriften på AP-artikkel fra 28. juni 2023:

"As a lengthy legal battle ends, a Palestinian family braces for eviction from Jerusalem home"

EDIT 12. juli 2023:
FN skriver, se Ny Info:
"GENEVA (12 July 2023) – The forced eviction and displacement of the Ghaith-Sub Laban family and many other Palestinian families in east Jerusalem may amount to a war crime of forcible transfer and must be immediately reversed, UN experts* said today."

Klar meldign fra FN:
- Krigsforbrytelse


Skudeneshavn  11. juli 2023 / 12. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

 

Ny Info:
12. juli 2023
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/israel-un-experts-condemn-forced-eviction-east-jerusalem-families

Kilde:
11. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/origivati/status/1678618161027899393

11.7.2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-11/ty-article/.premium/palestinian-family-evicted-from-east-jerusalem-home-to-make-way-for-israeli-settlers/00000189-43c7-d9a2-a5af-5bf7264a0000?lts=1689070999707

7. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-07/ty-article/.premium/left-wing-activist-held-in-custody-for-wearing-hat-depicting-palestinian-killed-by-army/00000189-2f07-da0e-a59b-af77e3620000

28. juni 2023
https://apnews.com/article/palestinians-israel-jerusalem-eviction-threat-old-city-23e96e2424cc5487a6814a368f006270

22. juni 2023
https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/21577.html

mandag 10. juli 2023

Apartheid i Israel 2013 versus 2023 - Og om kampen for demokrati

Fagartikkel fra 2013 om:

Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

European Journal of International Law, Volume 24, Issue 3, August 2013, Pages 867–913, https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/cht045
Published:
25. September 2013

Sitat fra siste del av konklusjonen:
"With the dual system of law that currently prevails in the occupied Palestinian territory best understood as the derivative of an ongoing settler colonial process, logic dictates that Israel will inevitably reach the tipping point at which it is forced to confront its own racial realities vis-à-vis the Palestinians. While the shape that such a transformation ultimately takes will depend primarily on social attitudes and political craft, international law may retain a role through the light that it shines on the normative issues to be resolved in this context."
...........................

Artikkelen er 10 år gammel.
Den viser at konklusjonen den gang var riktig mht utvikling av apartheid.

Dagens politiske situasjon i Israel viser et sterkt engasjement der store deler av samfunnet er i stand til å stå opp tydelig for demokratiet.
Men enn så lenge bare for israelere.

Dette engasjementet er et sterkt signal ...  og positivt ... at demokrati er viktig.
Da er der en basis for et politisk lederskap i Israel til å løfte blikket, og bokstavelig: Se over muren.

EDIT 13. juli 2023
Artikkel i Haaretz (se Ny Info) med intervju av israelsk okkupasjonsmotstander har samme konklusjon:

"Protest’s Lesson for Anti-occupation Left: Mobilize Israelis, Not International Community"
"Over the past six months there’s been a great deal of soul-searching within what’s left of the Israeli anti-occupation left over their role, if any, in the protest movement against the judicial overhaul.

Det er håp i Israel når så store masser kan stå opp for demokrati.
Da kan også Israels okkupasjon bli en sak som vekker folket.

Skudeneshavn   10. juli 2023 / 13. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

På Twitter:
14. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1679770155079852032

Ny Info:
13. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-07-13/ty-article-opinion/.premium/protests-lesson-for-anti-occupation-left-mobilize-israelis-not-international-community/00000189-509c-de0f-afbb-7cbcf5600000

Kilde:
25. september 2013
https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/24/3/867/481600?login=false

fredag 7. juli 2023

Om organisasjoner mot antisemittisme og om IHRA

 Artikkel i "Forward" fra 2021:

"Dark money, questionable partners behind new group fighting antisemitism"

Det er snakk om CAM ( Combat Anti-Semitism Movement):
"(The group was founded in 2019 and has not yet had to file the 990 tax form on which nonprofits must publicly disclose their officers and major expenses.)


Det var CAM som nå i juli 2023 rapporteres er i inngrep med FN om hva som er antisemittisme:
https://twitter.com/MartinKonecny/status/1677364331472723969

Da er det spesielt at CAM angriper FN-sjef Guterres for antisemittisme:
https://twitter.com/MartinKonecny/status/1677364331472723969/photo/1

Det er IHRA-definisjonen som brukes av CAM for å angripe FN.

 

Skudeneshavn   7. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

 

Kilde:

22. april 2021
https://forward.com/news/467981/dark-money-questionable-partners-behind-new-group-fighting-antisemitism/

tirsdag 4. juli 2023

- Israel's Army Chief Is Complicit in Jewish Terror

Ytring i israelsk avis  Haaretz den 4. juli 2023:

"Israel's Army Chief Is Complicit in Jewish Terror"
(Hele artikkelen nederst under Kilde)

Det gis en rekke eksempler på hvordan IDF beskytter og noen ganger deltar i den vold som kriminelle "settlere" står for .
 
Når man gir militøær beskytterlse til  kriminelle som utøver pogromer mot uskyldige palestinere ... hva er det da IDF operativt står for?
På tide å henge den rette bjella på katten?


Skudeneshavn  4. juli 2023

Jan Marton Jensen

På Twitter:
5. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1676509028648624128

6. juli 2023
https://twitter.com/janmarton/status/1676860657398849537

Kilde:
4. juli 2023
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-07-04/ty-article-opinion/.premium/israels-army-chief-is-complicit-in-jewish-terror/00000189-1d25-dcb5-a5df-5d754cdc0000?lts=1688466304111

 

HELE artikkelen her:

Opinion |

Israel's Army Chief Is Complicit in Jewish Terror

“An officer who sees an Israeli planning to throw a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian home and stands idly by cannot be an officer,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi said at a graduation ceremony for an officers’ course at the Bahad 1 base last Wednesday. It’s no accident that he addressed these words to new officers, for when it comes to veteran officers, it seems promoting this message is already a lost cause.

Honestly, I’m fed up. I’m fed up with the constant demand that we be impressed by senior officers’ willingness to acknowledge terrorism as terrorism and pogroms as pogroms, at a time when the terrorism and the pogroms are hitting new heights on their watch. I’m fed up with watching senior officers like Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, who commands the Judea and Samaria Division, explain that “the army won’t stand idly by when lawbreakers enter villages, torch property and endanger lives,” even as they are careful to dress these “ultranationalist crimes” in a shopworn verbal flak jacket – “which even the settlement leaders and the settlers condemn.”

Bluth devoted all of 14 Hebrew words to the current tsunami of pogroms. I counted. He devoted 60 words to the curses aimed at the Binyamin Brigade’s commander when he visited the family of a Jew killed in a terror attack near a settlement. That’s his order of priorities. And incidentally, “youths” who “don’t represent all settlers” were responsible for this behavior, too.

The army has long since ceased “standing idly by.” Its complicity is a legacy Halevi received in full from his predecessor, Aviv Kochavi. The army Halevi commands today serves as an armed security force for the lawbreakers, so that they can return home safely at the end of their pogrom.

In reality, the distinction between the army and the lawbreakers often no longer exists. On the ground, a hybrid organism of soldiers and pogromists has already evolved.

“In briefings ... they said that if Qusra torches Esh Kadosh’s orchards, Esh Kadosh’s response will be to torch right back. And in this situation, it was quite clear that if the settlers are heading toward Qusra, then we have to go with them so they won’t be stabbed or killed,” a reserve staff sergeant who served in the army last year told Breaking the Silence.

And last week, in a video that the Yesh Din organization filmed, we saw a man with military gear – a flak jacket, a helmet and an army rifle – vandalizing a Palestinian car in Qaryut.

If an officer who stands idly by can’t be an officer, what about a chief of staff? After all, the chief of staff is the one who knowingly allowed the settlers to relocate a yeshiva within the outpost of Homesh without a legal permit. And not only did he facilitate it, but he also ordered the infantry company that guarded the yeshiva – which was illegal before the move, too – to escort it and guard it in its new location.

So how is he any different than the staff sergeant whose testimony I quoted earlier? He isn’t at all.

The settlers’ representatives in politics and the media, who have once again found themselves called to rally around the flag, explained last week that the so-called “hilltop youth” are “defending themselves” when they set out to burn the property of families who never did anything to them. But this terror isn’t meant for self-defense.

Rather, it’s a political tool, and the settler leadership defends it because its goals overlap with those of the settlement enterprise as a whole. It’s “the battle for Area C” – the part of the West Bank assigned to full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords – by other means.

The settlement outposts that Halevi refuses to evacuate are commonly called “illegal construction,” as if the whole thing were just some boring real estate issue. But in reality, the illegal outposts are a source of violence and theft, and the army is an integral part of them. 

Protecting such outposts means employing “special security zones” that encroach on Palestinian lands. It means turning privately owned Palestinian land into closed military areas. It means movement restrictions and checkpoints. It means Palestinian herders being expelled from their lands by settlers backed by the army.

The pogromist hilltop youth aren’t seeking deterrence but ethnic cleansing – fewer Palestinians on more land. That’s what happened, for instance, in Ein Samia, where some 200 Palestinians left their homes due to daily settler terror with backing from on high. But what matters is that officers are forbidden to stand idly by.

Words are cheap. Halevi, like his predecessor, will be judged by his actions. Here is a simple test: Since 2004, the army has been providing armed escorts to the children of Al-Tawani so they can get to school without those “sweet kids” from the Havat Maon outpost beating them up. Maybe after 19 years, the army will finally do the right thing and, instead of escorting the children, simply arrest the lawbreakers. Blessed are the believers.

Avner Gvaryahu is executive director of Breaking the Silence.