by Richard Silverstein
The issue of Jewish terror and how the
Israeli state fights or doesn’t fight it is extremely complicated. If you view it from a liberal Zionist
perspective, as people like Shimon Peres and most American Jewish leaders do,
you only understand part of the problem and you believe–or hope–that Israeli
democracy will eventually right itself and enforce the rule of law. But when you understand this issue as a
symptom of the rise of the permanent far-right majority which has hijacked
Israel and destroyed its democracy, you realize that Jewish terror is not
something the State can or will oppose because it is an organic expression of
the ideology of those who dominate the nation.
No, I am not accusing Bibi Netanyahu of being a terrorist (though a
number of Israeli prime ministers were before they dressed themselves in suits
and became “statesmen”). I am accusing
him of being an accessory after the fact because the Jewish terrorists are the
ultimate expression of the wishes of the State.
All this by way of reporting to you about
an important article by Roni Shaked, Yediot’s Palestinian affairs
correspondent. Shaked’s bona fides are
impressive: in the 1970s he “ran” Palestinian agents for the Shabak. As such, he is a Shabak man at heart, though
he is now a journalist. That means that
he knows the system, knows how it works, know how it fails. What’s even more important: when it does fail
he understands why.
His article is an evisceration of the
Jewish terror unit of the Shabak. He
says the department has made itself a mockery by its inability or unwillingness
to address the Jewish terror underground in the West Bank. In addition to the agency itself, he blames
the prime minister for being satisfied with such a record of miserable failure.
Here is a summary of the article with my
own comments interspersed:
Now in a period of relative calm regarding
Palestinian terror is the time Yoram Cohen should be expected to redouble his
efforts to address the rampage of Jewish terror that has afflicted Israel: the
price tag attack, the 17 mosque burnings, desecration of Muslim graves,
destruction of property, racist graffiti scrawled on the walls of Muslim holy
sites, and even attacks on IDF bases in the Territories. Not to mention that vast increase in armed
attacks on Palestinians.
The latest of these was the brutal “lynch”
of three Palestinians by a scores of drunken Israeli ultra-nationalist youth
who prowled Jerusalem last weekend seeking victims. When they found their victims they pounded one
to within an inch of his life. He
remains in hospital in a coma. It isn’t
known whether he will suffer brain damage.
Yediot reported yesterday that Palestinian shop workers in Zion Square
called 911 and requested that police be called to stop the incipient mob. A policeman came and told witnesses that
there was little he could do. Eventually
he left. Shortly thereafter, the main
show began and the wilding took its most brutal form. Don’t be shocked. Remember what I wrote above. The job of Israeli police is not to prevent
Israeli violence against Palestinians or protect Palestinians. It’s job is to look the other way when that
happens and not to prosecute it seriously if that proves necessary. If the leaders, citizens and police, have
allowed their nation to become an authoritarian racist regime, this is the
natural result. Not an anomaly, as
liberals like Shimon Peres or some readers here would argue.
Some readers will argue in defense that the
State has arrested eight of the hoodlums.
It had little choice. There were
scores of witnesses who also stood by and did nothing. But the crime was far too public to
ignore. The key will be whether the
suspects are prosecuted, convicted and jailed.
The key will be how much punishment, if any, they will receive. You know what my bet is.
The State Department has just accepted the
inevitable and used the dreaded “T” word in its annual nation report on the
terror. What does this mean? Very
little–now. But in the future should
this pattern continue it would allow Israel itself, conceivably to be labelled
a terror state. I know, unlikely. But the problem with terror is that when it
is unaddressed it can subsume an entire country. Israel definitely is in danger of becoming
such a place. Many would even argue it
already has.
The political echelon including the
president and prime minister have denounced these heinous acts and demanded
that they be stopped. But somehow
they’re not. Mosques are burned. Suspects are detained and questioned. A few may even have their movement restricted
so they cannot congregate with their ultranationalist brethren in the
settlements. But none are charged, none
are tried and none certainly convicted.
There are crimes that somehow are never solved. Netanyahu boasts that he will use an iron hand
to uproot this poison from the land. But
in truth the settler terrorists are lords of this land.
91% of incidents of Israeli on Palestinian
violence which are investigated do not end with any indictment. Only 3% of crimes against Palestinians lead to
an indictment. The rest are closed due
to the failure of investigators to identify the suspects or evidence; or with
the excuse that the criminal is “unknown,” “insufficient evidence,” or the file
was “lost.” These statistics should
remove the sleep from the eyes of the Shin Bet, the police and justice system.
What excuse does the Jewish terror unit for
its failure? None. It is considered a prestigious post within
the Shin Bet. It has no budget constraints
and manpower has been doubled and trebled recently. Nor are their constraints of their
operations. Despite all this, this unit
fails to stop Jewish terror. It doesn’t
just fail over a limited period, its failures have extended over a long period.
The excuses offered are varied and
unpersuasive: they complain that suspects are schooled in resisting
interrogation and cannot be broken. That
when confronted by interrogators’ questions instead of answering, they begin
reciting verses from Psalms. Shaked
correctly dismisses these as irrelevant.
What the bosses need to see is results.
If they don’t see them either you fire those who are failing or, if you
don’t, accept the fact that your society does not want to end Jewish terror
because it is somehow intrinsic to the State and its prevailing ideology.
Shaked, who is, while a critic, loyal to
the organization and the State, believes that the Shin Bet must begin using new
and better tactics. The current methods
are like a pleasant tea party. Like
“talking to the stones and trees,” in Shaked’s words. Instead, it must treat these criminals as a
terror underground and to act against it with all the measures used to stop
Palestinian terror (by which Shaked implictly concedes torture and other forms
of abuse used to break suspects and elicit confessions). If the Shin Bet refuses, then Israel will
soon face a 3rd Intifada.
Unlike Shaked, I don’t think the worst
danger is a Palestinian insurrection. I
think the worst danger is the death of Israeli democracy. It is already on its death bed. Refusal to address Jewish terror is a symptom
of the disease.
On related matter: Haaretz reports (and
English) that a Lt. Col. and unit head with 25-years service in the Shin Bet
was forced to resign for demonstrating investigatory techniques (i.e. torture)
on the body of a 22 year-old IDF soldier who was his subordinate, against her
will. This isn’t the first sexual
scandal in the agency’s history. In
fact, I’ve reported here on a number of them involving very high level
officers.
The charges against him ended with his
banishment from the Shin Bet for a period of five years. In other words, this choice piece of humanity
can return to the service of his country and harrassment of its female personnel
once more after this little slap on the wrist.
In justifying its toothless punishment, the
court said it was impressed by a letter written by the accused’s commander
which credited his “devotion, loyalty and humanity and his many contributions
made over the years to the State of Israel.”
Apparently being a good torturer trumps being a sexual harrasser in the
eyes of Israel’s domestic spy agency.
---------------
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