Artikel om Lieberman i DN

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Formalization of apartheid discourse: Banning voices of dissent in Israel

This is a few days late, but still highly relevant, namely that the Israeli cabinet has voted in favour of a draft law to ban al-Nakbah commemorations. Read the Maki statement (source) below:

Israeli cabinet wants to ban Naqba commemoration

The Israeli cabinet has voted yesterday (Sunday, May 24, 2009) in favour of a racist proposal to ban Naqba commemorations. Many Arab-Palestinians commemorate the proclamation of the state of Israel as Naqba, the Arabic word for disaster.

In the proposal, anyone participating in the commemoration of 15 May 1948 could face a three-year prison sentence. The proposal has been made by the racist coalition party Yisrael Beitenu. It still has to go through the Knesset.

The Communist Party of Israel and Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) have sharply criticised the proposal and call it an act of an apartheid regime. Hadash chairman, MK Mohammed Barakeh said the fact the cabinet "ratified the delusions and lack of historical and factual knowledge of a single MK shows the stinking sewers to which government discourse has sunk, as is very much to be expected." Barakeh said Arabs would continue to commemorate the Nakba, adding that the commemoration was not meant "to threaten the existence of Israel, but to correct a historic wrong to the Palestinian people." The proposed bill "is no less severe than the laws enacted by the Third Reich," added MK Afo Agbaria (Hadash). "The State of Israel has declared jihad on the Arab population. Israel is gradually becoming an apartheid state. I won't be surprised if in the future the Netanyahu-Lieberman government imposes additional restrictions on Arab citizens, including forbidding the use of the Arabic language."

The Civil Rights Association also attacked the draft law.
"For the past year we have witnessed a worrying deterioration in Israel of the right to expression and other democratic rights," association chairman and well know author Sammy Michael said in a statement. "Commemoration of the Naqba does not threaten Israel at all. It is a legitimate expression of the feelings of individuals and an entire people," he said.

Tel-Aviv, May 25, 2009

On the prospects of Israeli overseas voting

Haaretz online version carries an editorial "Don't let Israelis vote abroad". The editorial is written in reaction to a proposal raised by the incoming governing partners Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu.

Whilst the underlining motifs behind the proposal are sinister electoral calculations (the rightwing is hoping to score more votes if out-of-country-voting is established) and racism (hoping to diminish the Arab influence in Knesset), the Haaretz rebuttal also raises some questions. If the Zionist concept that Israel is the national home of all Jews around the world is to be upheld, wouldn't overseas voting be a logical consequence?

Different countries have different legislations of overseas voting, some have no such mechanism (Denmark) whilst others have rather elaborate overseas voting mechanisms (Italy, Ecuador). Generally speaking, states which put emphasis on diaspora relations tend to have more generous rules to allow non-resident citizens to vote. In the Italian electoral system, there are even four extraterritorial parliamentary constituencies; North America, South America, Europe and Africa-Asia-Australia. There are parties uniquely based in the Italian diaspora in South America, and Italian parliamentary elections are preceded by intense election campaigning amongst the Italian communities in countries like Argentina. Considering the Zionist discourse on the link between the Jewish diaspora and the State of Israel, the fact that Israel is one of the states that doesn't allow overseas voting is a bit odd. From a Zionist perspective, that is.

It's not really my task to decide on internal Israeli matters, and I suppose the proposal will pass through various stages of wrangling before becoming a reality. As per the diminish Arab influence, the problem shouldn't be overrated. In the racist order of Israeli politics, the Arab parties are a pariah in Knesset and are never included in governing coalitions anyway. I'm not a full-fledged expert on Israeli domestic politics, but are there any cases were proposals raised by Arab parties have been passed as legislature? As per the prospect of Avigdor Lieberman doing his campaign work in Minsk or Moscow rather than the streets of Tel Aviv, that would just contribute to illustrate the non-link of Lieberman and his party colleagues to the lands of the Middle East.

But the debate on overseas voting in Israel should also be noticed on the Palestinian side, especially as there are reforms in the PLO. The PLO is the para-statal organization representing the entire Palestinian people. But its institutions are dominant and its leadership is appointed by agreements of political factions, not general elections. The creation of the Palestinian National Authority after Oslo has led to the side-lining of the PLO and creating cleavages between the Palestinians living under occupation and those in exile. In order to have a leadership fully representative of the entire Palestinian people, there the Palestinian National Council ought to formed through elections, be it in Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza and the refugee camps across the Arab world. That would create a PLO that could negotiate with the enemy on more equal terms.

A Moldovan view on Lieberman

Whilst most of international leftwing media decried the advances of the Israeli rightwing forces, the reception of Avigdor Lieberman's ascent to power is described some-what differently by the Communist Party in Lieberman's native homeland Moldova. The perhaps suprisingly mellow commentary is presented below;

""Israel Our Home" Party, led by Avigdor Lieberman, a native of Moldova, ranked third in the Israeli elections and got 15 seats in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset).

For the first time in the history, this political formation exceeded the popularity of the former governing party "Avoda", led by the Israeli Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, and became the third political power in Israel.

The victory of the "Israel Our Home" Party is noticed without exceptions by all political experts. According to the forecasts, namely Lieberman will decide who is to be the head of the Israeli Government. Thus, according to all political analysts, Avigdor Lieberman became the most influential person in the country, because the length of coalition's viability also depends on him.

"Israel Our Home" Party was established in 1999 by Avigdor Lieberman, a politician born in Chişinău. Lieberman is 50 years old, he graduated from school no. 41 of Chişinău, after that he entered in 1975 the Faculty of Hidro-improvement and Land Register within the former Agricultural Institute of Chişinău. In 1978, Lieberman, together with his parents, repatriated to Israel. The leader of the Israel Our Home began his activity working as a carrier at the Ben Gurion Airport."

Source: Communist Party website

DN släpper masken

Dagens Nyheter har idag en artikel om regeringsförhandlingarna i Israel, signerad Nathan Shachar ('Svårt för Israel bilda regering', finns dock inte med i internetupplagan). Till artikeln finns en liten faktaruta om israeliska partier. 'Faktarutan' innehåller dock flera fel. Mandaträkningen stämmer inte överens med den som deklarerades av Knesset 12 februari, Förenade arabiska listan (Ra'am)-Ta'al och Yahadut Ha-Torah beskrivs som partier (i själva verket valallianser), Hadash beskrivs som 'Kommunistpartiet' (i själva verket en front ledd av Kommunistpartiet), Meretz beskrivs som 'fredsrörelsens' (trots att partiet backade upp massakern i Gaza).

Men det är de sista orden i rutan som får en att sätta i vrångstrupen. Nationella demokratiska alliansen (Balad) stämplas som ett 'ultranationalistiskt arabiskt parti'. Med vilken rätt kallar DN Balad för 'ultranationalistiskt'? Balad kämpar för ett sekulärt och demokratiskt Israel och en tvåstatslösning utifrån 1967 års gränser. På vilket sätt är det 'ultranationalism'?

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Annat sakfel i svensk dagpress, Sydsvenskan har en artikel från TT som säger att Yisrael Beitenu skulle ha starkt stöd bland bosättarna på Västbanken. Det stämmer inte, partiet fick 8% bland bosättarna (mindre än det israeliska genomsnittet).

Votes in settlements, kibbutzim and Bedouin villages

At Haaretz website you can read election results by city and sector. If you read Hebrew, Ynet has an interactive map of the results (with comparisons to 2003 and 2006). The Ynet map is a nightmare if you have a slow internet connection, though. Do note that the Ynet map includes both West Bank and Golan as parts of Israel, borders that are not internationally recognized. On the plus side, you can even see results at submunicipal levels at some places.

*Settlements: According to the Ynet map, 'Judea and Samaria' (i.e. West Bank settlers) have voted in the following fashion: Likud 25%, National Union 20%, United Torah Judaism 14%, Shas 11%, Kadima 8%, Jewish Home 8%, Yisrael Beiteinu 8%, Labour 2%, United Arab List-Ta'al 1%, Green Movement-Meimad 1%. Other parties got less than 1%.

*Kibbutzim: According to Haaretz, Kibbutzim votes have been divided along the following lines: Kadima 31%, Labour 31%, Meretz 18%, Likud 6%, Yisrael Beitenu 3%, Jewish Home 3%, Green Movement-Meimad 2%, National Union 2%, Ale Yarok (Green Left, pro-marijuana party) 1%, Green Party 1%, Shas 1%, Hadash 1%. Other parties received less than 1%.

*Bedouins: According to Haaretz, the Bedouin communities have predominately voted for the United Arab List-Ta'al (80%). Other parties in the Bedouin areas were National Democratic Assembly (Balad) 5%, Hadash 2%, Kadima 2%, Labour 2%, Shas 2%, Likud 1%, Green Party 1%, Yisrael Beitenu 1%, Meretz 1%. Other parties received less than 1%.

Israeli elections: the Bad, the Ugly and the Terrible

At this point 99.7% of the votes have been counted in the Israeli elections. Sometime later today, I'll try to write a longer post with more analysis. At this point (albeit slightly different Knesset seat counts appear on different websites) a few things can be said (based on figures from this morning in the Jerusalem Post):

*There is no clear winner between Kadima and Likud, Kadima appears to have gotten 28 seats, Likud 27. Kadima has thus been able to position itself slightly under its 2006 result. Both parties claim to have won, both parties will try to form a governing majority. Lots of wrangling negotiations to follow, probably even worse than the horse-trading that torpedoed Livni's first attempt to form a cabinet in 2008.

*Far-right Yisrael Beiteinu came third (15 seats), a historic shift in Israeli politics. Party supremo Avigdor Lieberman has declared that he's willing to negotitiate with both blocs, as long as they can promise extensive bloodshed in Gaza and zero negotiations with Hamas.

*Labour Zionism has suffered a humiliating defeat. The Israeli Labour Party, for decades the dominating force of Israeli politics is now reduced to fourth position (13 seats). The Meretz party only got three seats. In the 1949 elections, Labour had 46 seats and Mapam (the Marxist-Zionist precursor of Meretz) had 19. Now the non-Zionist left (Hadash) is larger than the Zionist 'Left' (Meretz), a historic occurance. The shift to the right in Israeli politics is now sealed, and the last illusions on the pioneering Israeli socialism (that some Western leftists have nurtured after spending a vacation in a kibbutz) ought to be shed.

*There was an expectation that Arabs would increasingly boycott the elections in protest of the Gaza massacre. It seems that the rise of Lieberman in the polls reversed that trend to some extent. According to Jerusalem Post, the United Arab List (Ra'am)-Ta'al got 5 seats, Hadash (a joint Arab-Jewish front, led by the Communist Party) 4 seats and the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) 2. Ra'am-Ta'al and Balad have, combined, the same number of seats as in 2006 whilst Hadash has increased with one seat.

*Other results: Sepharhim Orthodox party 'Shas' comes fifth with 11 seats (down from 12), the Pensioners Party 'Gil' falls out of the Knesset (had 7 seats last time), United Torah Judaism 4 seats (down from 6). The far-right parties Jewish Home and National Union got 3 and 4 seats respectively (they had contested the 2006 election unitedly, getting 9 seats). The advances of Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu has weakened other right-wing parties.

*The remaining votes (0.3%) to be counted are those of diplomats, soldiers, seamen, prisoners and hospitals. Final results will be declared only on February 18. I won't guess how these 0.3% will incluence the outcome, but probably Arab parties will not be represented very well amongst them.

News links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Blogs: Svensson, Bildt, Anna W, Röda Malmö

68 election misdemeanors reported so far

About an hour ago, Jerusalem Post reported that 68 complaints have been filed at the Central Election Commission. Meretz (a Zionist "Leftwing" party) has complained that false ballots were distributed with far-right Avigdor Lieberman's name on them (making a vote with the ballot null). Kadima has complained of tampering with their ballots in several locations, and regarding Kiryat Bialik it has accused Likud activists of bearing responsibility for the tampering.

In Jerusalem a brawl between Labour and Kadima supporters broke out, which the police had to break up. A Labour activist was detained. The National Union has accused United Torah Judaism of stealing their ballot papers in Bnei Brak.

More news on today's election: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Blogs: Jinge, Annarkia, Guero, KB

Daily Apartheid: Arab journalists barred from Lieberman's campaign meet

Haaretz reports that at a campaign meet on Sunday, Arab journalists working for the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation were refused entry to a campaign meet of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party. Officially they were refused entry on the grounds of lacking invitations, but at the scene Jewish and foreign journalists were allowed to enter without showing invitations. When questioned, Yisrael Beiteinu workers claimed that their action was due to the attitudes of Arabs towards party leader Lieberman.

More news on today's election: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Blogs: Anna W, UFH, Reza, Roya, Jinge, Bildt, TN, Judaistik

Liebermania: Glimpses of the Knesset election campaign

Haaretz has an article on the campaign of Yisrael Beiteinu (Avidor Lieberman's ultra-racist party, posed to become the third largest party in the upcoming Israeli election according to some polls) in Upper Nazareth. Some excerpts (my emphasis):

"The Yisrael Beiteinu youths gather for a final consultation as dozens of elderly party supporters slowly make their way into the white tent where the movement's conference is being held, behind the Plaza Hotel in Upper Nazareth.

The youths, ages 16-18, many of them good friends from school, had stood for a long time before the event began at the intersection near the hotel, waving Israeli flags and shouting "Death to the Arabs" and "No loyalty, no citizenship" at passing cars."

""This country has needed a dictatorship for a long time already. But I'm not talking about an extreme dictatorship. We need someone who can put things in order. Lieberman is the only one who speaks the truth." Adds Edan Ivanov, an 18 year old who describes himself as being "up on current events":

"We've had enough here with the 'leftist democracy' - and I put that term in quotes, don't get me wrong. People have put the dictator label on Lieberman because of the things he says. But the truth is that in Israel there can't be a full democracy when there are Arabs here who oppose it."

Some commentary on the rise of racism in Israeli high schools:

"The failure of the school system is evident not just in student's opinions, but sometimes in their actions, too. There have been a number of disturbing incidents: On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day last year, dozens of Jewish youths attacked two Arab youths after seeing a message on ICQ urging them "to put an end to all the Arabs walking around the Pisga [Pisgat Ze'ev]"; youths took part in the violence against Arabs in Acre last October; and just this week, Jewish youths from Tiberias went after a young Arab with clubs as he was walking on the city's boardwalk."

News links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

More about the hypocrisy on the issue of 'recognition of Israel'

In an earlier post, I pointed at the hypocrisy of Western politicians/media demaning that Hamas recognizes Israel whilst no such demands at levelled against Israeli political parties. Go to the Kadima website. In the lower left side, you'll see a map with links to info about local candidates. The map shows West Bank, Gaza and the Golan heights as parts of Israel.

On the website of Likud, you'll see a small map in the left part of the headline, including the occupied Gaza, West Bank and Golan heights as parts of Israel.

The small Green Party differs somewhat, leaving out Gaza, showing West Bank in a different shade than 1948 Israel but including the Golan heights.

Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu, on the rightward side of the Israeli political spectrum, advocates repression against Arab 'enemies', classic fascist discourse. The party also seeks limit the possibilities for Arabs to retain their Israeli citizenships.