3 September 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Protests held in major cities across Israel represent biggest rallies in country's history; protest leader says 'we have chosen to see instead of walking blindly toward the abyss.'
By Oz Rosenberg, Ilan Lior and Gili Cohen
Over 450,000 protesters attended rallies across the country last night calling for social justice in what was the largest demonstration in Israeli history.
The main protest took place in Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina, where some 300,000 people gathered after marching from Habima Square about two kilometers away. Protest leader Yonatan Levy said the atmosphere was like "a second Independence Day."
Protest leaders Daphni Leef and National Student Union Chairman Itzik Shmuli both addressed the Tel Aviv crowd. "Mr. Prime Minister, the new Israelis have a dream and it is simple: to weave the story of our lives into Israel. We expect you to let us live in this country. The new Israelis will not give up. They demand change and will not stop until real solutions come," Shmuli said.
"My generation always felt as though we were alone in this world, but now we feel the solidarity," said Leef. "They tried to dismiss us as stupid children, and as extreme leftists," but last night's countrywide protest proved otherwise, she said.
Dr. Shiri Tannenbaum, a medical resident leading the young doctors' protest against the recent collective wage agreement signed between the government and the Israel Medical Association, also spoke at the Tel Aviv rally.
In Jerusalem, an unprecedented 50,000 people filled Paris Square and the surrounding streets, almost twice the number that attended previous protests this summer.
Actress and comedienne Orna Banai told the crowd in the capital: "I am not amused that there are hungry children here; that we have a soldier rotting in captivity for five years; that Israel is one of the poorest examples there are of human rights."
The chairman of the Hebrew University Student Union, Itai Gotler, said: "We changed this summer. The voice of the mother, the teacher, the student, have been heard...The fire of protest was lit in Tel Aviv, but the tent city in Jerusalem shows that the protest belongs to all of us."
Gotler said the Jerusalem tent city was closing down, but pledged to continue the struggle.
Yehuda Alush, 52, from Be'er Sheva, among a group of protesters from the Negev who marched to the capital, said: "This protest must not stop or we'll lose." In Haifa, the protest drew 40,000 people, many of whom waved red flags.
The Haifa protest focused on the issue of discrimination against Arabs. Shahin Nasser, representative of the Wadi Nisnas protest tent in Haifa said: "Today we are changing the rules of the game. No more coexistence based on hummus and fava beans. What is happening here is true coexistence, when Arabs and Jews march together shoulder to shoulder calling for social justice and peace. We've had it. Bibi, go home. Steinitz, go and don't come back, Atias, good-bye and good riddance," he said, referring to the prime minister, the finance minister and the housing minister, respectively.
The chairman of the University of Haifa's student union, Yossi Shalom, told the crowd, gathered at the foot of the Bahai Gardens in the city's German Colony, "There is no more beautiful sight than social solidarity. As a student, this is the most important lesson I have learned in recent months." At the protest in Afula the numbers reached 12,000; in Rosh Pina, 7,000 and in Kiryat Shemona, 7,000.
Meanwhile, in the south, a total of more than 1,000 people took part in rallies in Mitzpe Ramon and Arad. Ya'akov Laksi, an organizer of the protest in Arad, told the crowd: "Social justice means Arad will no longer be called an outlying town. We need to bring people work."
Laksi said organizers had expected only 100 protesters.
"We want the government to increase funding, not take from someone else," Eyal Adler, an organizer of the protest in Mitzpe Ramon said.
A protester who gave her name as Ruthie, said: "We are far from the eye of the media, but we deserve no less funding and a change in the funding map of Israel."
Concerns over possible rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip led the Home Front Command to issue a directive prohibiting demonstrations in Be'er Sheva, Ashdod and Ashkelon.
Eli Ashkenazi and Yanir Yagna contributed to this report.
More on this topic
• What’s next for Israel after the ‘March of the Million’
• Netanyahu: Israel government has duty 'to correct social disparities'
• Ahead of the March of the Million, Israel’s social protest leaders are put to the test
• In Israel, the future can come down to just one night
Mostrando postagens com marcador Beersheva. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Beersheva. Mostrar todas as postagens
segunda-feira, 5 de setembro de 2011
quinta-feira, 1 de setembro de 2011
IN FINAL PUSH, J14 TO HOLD ‘MILLION-PERSON’ MARCH
31 August 2011, + 972 http://972mag.com (Israel)
Mairav Zonszein*
Protest organizers are running against the ticking September clock to get the turnout this Saturday night to be the largest the country has seen – however difficult questions remain about the future of social justice reforms
With September quickly upon us and reports coming out that the army is training settlers in the West Bank for “Operation Summer Seeds” (the name given to the army’s plan to respond to potential “mass disorder” during Palestinian demonstrations in September), the tent protest movement, almost two months old, is making one final push for a large demonstration this Saturday night before the country’s media becomes entirely consumed by the September events.
What is being called the “million-person march” is expected to take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beer Sheva, and is being heavily marketed on Facebook and through other social media. The J14 organizers have set up a “situation room” in an apartment next to the tent encampment on Rothschild Boulevard to encourage people to get involved. It is manned 24-hours a day by volunteers and although leaders continue to claim that the show of large numbers is not what matters, they are pushing every person to bring 5 friends to the protest on Saturday night.
There have also been promotional videos going around online, one especially dramatic one which asks viewers to imagine a scenario in which the protest movement dies out (Hebrew). In the video, there are hypothetical headlines in major newspapers portraying a sort of social justice armageddon, starting with the forceful evacuation of all tents on September 4th, moving on to the privatization of healthcare and annulment of minimum wage, and ending with the social gaps in Israel surpassing those in the US next summer 2012.
Even if the turnout this Saturday exceeds the largest of the tent protests that saw 300,000 people in the streets across the country, critical questions remain:
1) What will happen to the tent cities themselves?
2) Will the leaders of this movement form a national entity that will continue to function and will a political party come out of it?
3)Most importantly, (if and) how will the protests translate into policy changes?
None of these answers are clear, although there have been reports the tent cities will be taken down following Saturday’s march and efforts at establishing a nation-wide leadership have so far been mired in disputes regarding leadership and the decision-making process, and the question of disproportionate power held by original tent organizers. As for reforms, the Trajtenberg Committee appointed by the prime minister, which many tent protestors have disqualified as partisan, has been taking suggestions from the public and promises to produce recommendations before the holidays (end of September).
I actually overheard a J14 activist today telling someone that the first phase of the protest – taking tents into the street to wake up the public and get media attention – was very successful but is now over. Now is the time to do the hard work of sitting on your computer and in meetings in order to make sure that the protests translate into changes in policy.
*Mairav Zonszein is an Israeli-American journalist, translator, editor and academic. Her research focuses on contemporary Jewish identity politics, which she has been grappling with since attending private Jewish schools as a child in New York City.
Mairav’s work has appeared in Haaretz, Ynet, The Forward, The Nation and Dissent, among others.
Mairav has been living in Israel for over a decade and is active with Ta'ayush, a direct-action Arab-Jewish group whose activism focuses on the impoverished Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills.
Mairav Zonszein*
Protest organizers are running against the ticking September clock to get the turnout this Saturday night to be the largest the country has seen – however difficult questions remain about the future of social justice reforms
With September quickly upon us and reports coming out that the army is training settlers in the West Bank for “Operation Summer Seeds” (the name given to the army’s plan to respond to potential “mass disorder” during Palestinian demonstrations in September), the tent protest movement, almost two months old, is making one final push for a large demonstration this Saturday night before the country’s media becomes entirely consumed by the September events.
What is being called the “million-person march” is expected to take place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Beer Sheva, and is being heavily marketed on Facebook and through other social media. The J14 organizers have set up a “situation room” in an apartment next to the tent encampment on Rothschild Boulevard to encourage people to get involved. It is manned 24-hours a day by volunteers and although leaders continue to claim that the show of large numbers is not what matters, they are pushing every person to bring 5 friends to the protest on Saturday night.
There have also been promotional videos going around online, one especially dramatic one which asks viewers to imagine a scenario in which the protest movement dies out (Hebrew). In the video, there are hypothetical headlines in major newspapers portraying a sort of social justice armageddon, starting with the forceful evacuation of all tents on September 4th, moving on to the privatization of healthcare and annulment of minimum wage, and ending with the social gaps in Israel surpassing those in the US next summer 2012.
Even if the turnout this Saturday exceeds the largest of the tent protests that saw 300,000 people in the streets across the country, critical questions remain:
1) What will happen to the tent cities themselves?
2) Will the leaders of this movement form a national entity that will continue to function and will a political party come out of it?
3)Most importantly, (if and) how will the protests translate into policy changes?
None of these answers are clear, although there have been reports the tent cities will be taken down following Saturday’s march and efforts at establishing a nation-wide leadership have so far been mired in disputes regarding leadership and the decision-making process, and the question of disproportionate power held by original tent organizers. As for reforms, the Trajtenberg Committee appointed by the prime minister, which many tent protestors have disqualified as partisan, has been taking suggestions from the public and promises to produce recommendations before the holidays (end of September).
I actually overheard a J14 activist today telling someone that the first phase of the protest – taking tents into the street to wake up the public and get media attention – was very successful but is now over. Now is the time to do the hard work of sitting on your computer and in meetings in order to make sure that the protests translate into changes in policy.
*Mairav Zonszein is an Israeli-American journalist, translator, editor and academic. Her research focuses on contemporary Jewish identity politics, which she has been grappling with since attending private Jewish schools as a child in New York City.
Mairav’s work has appeared in Haaretz, Ynet, The Forward, The Nation and Dissent, among others.
Mairav has been living in Israel for over a decade and is active with Ta'ayush, a direct-action Arab-Jewish group whose activism focuses on the impoverished Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills.
segunda-feira, 22 de agosto de 2011
THE RETURN OF THE GENERALS
20 august 2011, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Uri Avnery*
SINCE THE beginning of the conflict, the extremists of both sides have always played into each other’s hands. The cooperation between them was always much more effective than the ties between the corresponding peace activists.
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” asked the prophet Amos (3:3). Well, seems they can.
This was proved again this week.
AT THE beginning of the week, Binyamin Netanyahu was desperately looking for a way out of an escalating internal crisis. The social protest movement was gathering momentum and posing a growing danger to his government.
The struggle was going on, but the protest had already made a huge difference. The whole content of the public discourse had changed beyond recognition.
Social ideas were taking over, pushing aside the hackneyed talk about “security”. TV talk show panels, previously full of used generals, were now packed with social workers and professors of economics. One of the consequences was that women were also much more prominent.
And then it happened. A small extremist Islamist group in the Gaza Strip sent a detachment into the Egyptian Sinai desert, from where it easily crossed the undefended Israeli border and created havoc. Several fighters (or terrorists, depends who is talking) succeeded in killing eight Israeli soldiers and civilians, before some of them were killed. Another four of their comrades were killed on the Egyptian side of the border. The aim seems to have been to capture another Israeli soldier, to strengthen the case for a prisoner exchange on their terms.
In a jiffy, the economics professors vanished from the TV screens, and their place was taken by the old gang of exes – ex-generals, ex-secret-service chiefs, ex-policemen, all male, of course, accompanied by their entourage of obsequious military correspondents and far-right politicians.
With a sigh of relief, Netanyahu returned to his usual stance. Here he was, surrounded by generals, the he-man, the resolute fighter, the Defender of Israel.
IT WAS, for him and his government, an incredible stroke of luck.
It can be compared to what happened in 1982. Ariel Sharon, then Minister of Defense, had decided to attack the Palestinians and Syrians in Lebanon, He flew to Washington to obtain the necessary American agreement. Alexander Haig told him that the US could not agree, unless there was a “credible provocation”.
A few days later, the most extreme Palestinian group, led by Abu Nidal, Yasser Arafat’s mortal enemy, made an attempt on the life of the Israeli ambassador in London, paralyzing him irreversibly. That was certainly a “credible provocation”. Lebanon War I was on its way.
This week’s attack was also an answer to a prayer. Seems that God loves Netanyahu and the military establishment. The incident not only wiped the protest off the screen, it also put an end to any serious chance of taking billions off the huge military budget in order to strengthen the social services. On the contrary, the event proved that we need a sophisticated electronic fence along the 150 miles of our desert border with Sinai. More, not less, billions for the military.
BEFORE THIS miracle occurred, it looked as if the protest movement was unstoppable.
Whatever Netanyahu did was too little, too late, and just wrong.
In the first days, Netanyahu treated the whole thing as a childish prank, unworthy of the attention of responsible adults. When he realized that this movement was serious, he mumbled some vague proposals for lowering the price of apartments, but by then the protest had already moved far beyond the original demand for “affordable housing”. The slogan was now “The People Want Social Justice”
After the huge 250,000-strong demonstration in Tel Aviv, the protest leaders were facing a dilemma: how to proceed? Yet another mass protest in Tel Aviv might mean falling attendance. The solution was sheer genius: not another big demonstration in Tel Aviv, but smaller demonstrations all over the country. This disarmed the reproach that the protesters are spoiled Tel Aviv brats, “sushi eaters and water-pipe smokers” as one minister put it. It also brought the protest to the masses of disadvantaged Oriental Jewish inhabitants of the “periphery”, from Afula in the North to Beer Sheva in the South, most of them the traditional voters of Likud. It became a love-fest of fraternization.
So what does a run-of-the-mill politician do in such a situation? Well, of course, he appoints a committee. So Netanyahu told a respectable professor with a good reputation to set up a committee which would, in cooperation with nine ministers, no less, come up with a set of solutions. He even told him that he was ready to completely change his own convictions.
(He did already change one of his convictions when he announced in 2009 that he now advocates the Two-State Solution. But after that momentous about-face, absolutely nothing changed on the ground.)
The youngsters in the tents joked that “Bibi” could not change his opinions, because he has none. But that is a mistake – he does indeed have very definite opinions on both the national and the social levels: “the whole of Eretz Israel” on the one, and Reagan-Thatcher economic orthodoxy on the other.
The young tent leaders countered the appointment of the establishment committee with an unexpected move: they appointed a 60-strong advisory council of their own, composed of some of the most prominent university professors, including an Arab female professor and a moderate rabbi, and headed by a former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel.
The government committee has already made it clear that it will not deal with middle class problems but concentrate on those of the lowest socio-economic groups. Netanyahu has added that he will not automatically adopt their (future) recommendations, but weight them against the economic possibilities. In other words, he does not trust his own nominees to understand the economic facts of life.
AT THAT point, Netanyahu and his aides pinned their hopes on two dates: September and November 2011.
In November, the rainy season usually sets in. No drop of rain before that. But when it starts to rain cats and dogs, it was hoped in Netanyahu’s office, the spoiled Tel Aviv kids will run for shelter. End of the Rothschild tent city.
Well, I remember spending some miserable weeks in the winter of the 1948 war in worse tents, in the midst of a sea of mud and water. I don’t think that the rain will make the tent-dwellers give up their struggle, even if Netanyahu’s religious partners send the most fervent Jewish prayers for rain to the high heavens.
But before that, in September, just a few weeks away, the Palestinians – it was hoped - would start a crisis that will divert attention. This week they already submitted to the UN General Assembly a request to recognize the State of Palestine. The Assembly will most probably accede. Avigdor Lieberman has already enthusiastically assured us that the Palestinians are planning a “bloodbath” at that time. Young Israelis will have to exchange their tents in Tel Aviv for the tents in the West Bank army camps.
It’s a nice dream (for the Liebermans), but Palestinians had so far showed no inclination to violence.
All that changed this week.
FROM NOW on, Netanyahu and his colleagues can direct events as they wish.
They have already “liquidated” the chiefs of the group which carried out the attack, called “the Popular Resistance Committees”. This happened while the fire-fight along the border was still going on. The army had been forewarned and was ready. The fact that the attackers succeeded nevertheless in crossing the border and shooting at vehicles was ascribed to an operational failure.
What now? The group in Gaza will fire rockets in retaliation. Netanyahu can – if he so wishes – kill more Palestinian leaders, military and civilian. This can easily set off a vicious circle of retaliation and counter-retaliation, leading to a full-scale Molten Lead-style war. Thousands of rockets on Israel, thousands of bombs on the Gaza Strip. One ex-military fool already argued that the entire Gaza Strip will have to be re-occupied.
In other words, Netanyahu has his hand on the tap of violence, and he can raise or lower the flames at will.
His desire to put an end to the social protest movement may well play a role in his decisions.
THIS BRINGS us back to the big question of the protest movement: can one bring about real change, as distinct from forcing some grudging concessions from the government, without becoming a political force?
Can this movement succeed as long as there is a government which has the power to start - or deepen - a “security crisis” at any time?
And the related question: can one talk about social justice without talking about peace?
A few days ago, while strolling among the tents on Rothschild Boulevard, I was asked by an internal radio station to give an interview and address the tent-dwellers. I said: “You don’t want to talk about peace, because you want to avoid being branded as ‘leftists”. I respect that. But social justice and peace are two sides of the same coin, they cannot be separated. Not only because they are based on the same moral principles, but also because in practice they depend on each other.”
When I said that, I could not have imagined how clearly this would be demonstrated only two days later.
REAL CHANGE means replacing this government with a new and very different political set up.
Here and there people in the tents are already talking about a new party. But elections are two years away, and for the time being there is no sign of a real crack in the right-wing coalition that might bring the elections closer. Will the protest be able to keep up its momentum for two whole years?
Israeli governments have yielded in the past to mass demonstrations and public uprisings. The formidable Golda Meir resigned in the face of mass demonstrations blaming her for the omissions that led to the fiasco at the start of the Yom Kippur War. The government coalitions of both Netanyahu and Ehud Barak in the 1990s broke under the pressure of an indignant public opinion.
Can this happen now? In view of the military flare-up this week, it does not look likely. But stranger things have happened between heaven and earth, especially in Israel, the land of limited impossibilities.
Uri Avnery*
SINCE THE beginning of the conflict, the extremists of both sides have always played into each other’s hands. The cooperation between them was always much more effective than the ties between the corresponding peace activists.
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” asked the prophet Amos (3:3). Well, seems they can.
This was proved again this week.
AT THE beginning of the week, Binyamin Netanyahu was desperately looking for a way out of an escalating internal crisis. The social protest movement was gathering momentum and posing a growing danger to his government.
The struggle was going on, but the protest had already made a huge difference. The whole content of the public discourse had changed beyond recognition.
Social ideas were taking over, pushing aside the hackneyed talk about “security”. TV talk show panels, previously full of used generals, were now packed with social workers and professors of economics. One of the consequences was that women were also much more prominent.
And then it happened. A small extremist Islamist group in the Gaza Strip sent a detachment into the Egyptian Sinai desert, from where it easily crossed the undefended Israeli border and created havoc. Several fighters (or terrorists, depends who is talking) succeeded in killing eight Israeli soldiers and civilians, before some of them were killed. Another four of their comrades were killed on the Egyptian side of the border. The aim seems to have been to capture another Israeli soldier, to strengthen the case for a prisoner exchange on their terms.
In a jiffy, the economics professors vanished from the TV screens, and their place was taken by the old gang of exes – ex-generals, ex-secret-service chiefs, ex-policemen, all male, of course, accompanied by their entourage of obsequious military correspondents and far-right politicians.
With a sigh of relief, Netanyahu returned to his usual stance. Here he was, surrounded by generals, the he-man, the resolute fighter, the Defender of Israel.
IT WAS, for him and his government, an incredible stroke of luck.
It can be compared to what happened in 1982. Ariel Sharon, then Minister of Defense, had decided to attack the Palestinians and Syrians in Lebanon, He flew to Washington to obtain the necessary American agreement. Alexander Haig told him that the US could not agree, unless there was a “credible provocation”.
A few days later, the most extreme Palestinian group, led by Abu Nidal, Yasser Arafat’s mortal enemy, made an attempt on the life of the Israeli ambassador in London, paralyzing him irreversibly. That was certainly a “credible provocation”. Lebanon War I was on its way.
This week’s attack was also an answer to a prayer. Seems that God loves Netanyahu and the military establishment. The incident not only wiped the protest off the screen, it also put an end to any serious chance of taking billions off the huge military budget in order to strengthen the social services. On the contrary, the event proved that we need a sophisticated electronic fence along the 150 miles of our desert border with Sinai. More, not less, billions for the military.
BEFORE THIS miracle occurred, it looked as if the protest movement was unstoppable.
Whatever Netanyahu did was too little, too late, and just wrong.
In the first days, Netanyahu treated the whole thing as a childish prank, unworthy of the attention of responsible adults. When he realized that this movement was serious, he mumbled some vague proposals for lowering the price of apartments, but by then the protest had already moved far beyond the original demand for “affordable housing”. The slogan was now “The People Want Social Justice”
After the huge 250,000-strong demonstration in Tel Aviv, the protest leaders were facing a dilemma: how to proceed? Yet another mass protest in Tel Aviv might mean falling attendance. The solution was sheer genius: not another big demonstration in Tel Aviv, but smaller demonstrations all over the country. This disarmed the reproach that the protesters are spoiled Tel Aviv brats, “sushi eaters and water-pipe smokers” as one minister put it. It also brought the protest to the masses of disadvantaged Oriental Jewish inhabitants of the “periphery”, from Afula in the North to Beer Sheva in the South, most of them the traditional voters of Likud. It became a love-fest of fraternization.
So what does a run-of-the-mill politician do in such a situation? Well, of course, he appoints a committee. So Netanyahu told a respectable professor with a good reputation to set up a committee which would, in cooperation with nine ministers, no less, come up with a set of solutions. He even told him that he was ready to completely change his own convictions.
(He did already change one of his convictions when he announced in 2009 that he now advocates the Two-State Solution. But after that momentous about-face, absolutely nothing changed on the ground.)
The youngsters in the tents joked that “Bibi” could not change his opinions, because he has none. But that is a mistake – he does indeed have very definite opinions on both the national and the social levels: “the whole of Eretz Israel” on the one, and Reagan-Thatcher economic orthodoxy on the other.
The young tent leaders countered the appointment of the establishment committee with an unexpected move: they appointed a 60-strong advisory council of their own, composed of some of the most prominent university professors, including an Arab female professor and a moderate rabbi, and headed by a former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel.
The government committee has already made it clear that it will not deal with middle class problems but concentrate on those of the lowest socio-economic groups. Netanyahu has added that he will not automatically adopt their (future) recommendations, but weight them against the economic possibilities. In other words, he does not trust his own nominees to understand the economic facts of life.
AT THAT point, Netanyahu and his aides pinned their hopes on two dates: September and November 2011.
In November, the rainy season usually sets in. No drop of rain before that. But when it starts to rain cats and dogs, it was hoped in Netanyahu’s office, the spoiled Tel Aviv kids will run for shelter. End of the Rothschild tent city.
Well, I remember spending some miserable weeks in the winter of the 1948 war in worse tents, in the midst of a sea of mud and water. I don’t think that the rain will make the tent-dwellers give up their struggle, even if Netanyahu’s religious partners send the most fervent Jewish prayers for rain to the high heavens.
But before that, in September, just a few weeks away, the Palestinians – it was hoped - would start a crisis that will divert attention. This week they already submitted to the UN General Assembly a request to recognize the State of Palestine. The Assembly will most probably accede. Avigdor Lieberman has already enthusiastically assured us that the Palestinians are planning a “bloodbath” at that time. Young Israelis will have to exchange their tents in Tel Aviv for the tents in the West Bank army camps.
It’s a nice dream (for the Liebermans), but Palestinians had so far showed no inclination to violence.
All that changed this week.
FROM NOW on, Netanyahu and his colleagues can direct events as they wish.
They have already “liquidated” the chiefs of the group which carried out the attack, called “the Popular Resistance Committees”. This happened while the fire-fight along the border was still going on. The army had been forewarned and was ready. The fact that the attackers succeeded nevertheless in crossing the border and shooting at vehicles was ascribed to an operational failure.
What now? The group in Gaza will fire rockets in retaliation. Netanyahu can – if he so wishes – kill more Palestinian leaders, military and civilian. This can easily set off a vicious circle of retaliation and counter-retaliation, leading to a full-scale Molten Lead-style war. Thousands of rockets on Israel, thousands of bombs on the Gaza Strip. One ex-military fool already argued that the entire Gaza Strip will have to be re-occupied.
In other words, Netanyahu has his hand on the tap of violence, and he can raise or lower the flames at will.
His desire to put an end to the social protest movement may well play a role in his decisions.
THIS BRINGS us back to the big question of the protest movement: can one bring about real change, as distinct from forcing some grudging concessions from the government, without becoming a political force?
Can this movement succeed as long as there is a government which has the power to start - or deepen - a “security crisis” at any time?
And the related question: can one talk about social justice without talking about peace?
A few days ago, while strolling among the tents on Rothschild Boulevard, I was asked by an internal radio station to give an interview and address the tent-dwellers. I said: “You don’t want to talk about peace, because you want to avoid being branded as ‘leftists”. I respect that. But social justice and peace are two sides of the same coin, they cannot be separated. Not only because they are based on the same moral principles, but also because in practice they depend on each other.”
When I said that, I could not have imagined how clearly this would be demonstrated only two days later.
REAL CHANGE means replacing this government with a new and very different political set up.
Here and there people in the tents are already talking about a new party. But elections are two years away, and for the time being there is no sign of a real crack in the right-wing coalition that might bring the elections closer. Will the protest be able to keep up its momentum for two whole years?
Israeli governments have yielded in the past to mass demonstrations and public uprisings. The formidable Golda Meir resigned in the face of mass demonstrations blaming her for the omissions that led to the fiasco at the start of the Yom Kippur War. The government coalitions of both Netanyahu and Ehud Barak in the 1990s broke under the pressure of an indignant public opinion.
Can this happen now? In view of the military flare-up this week, it does not look likely. But stranger things have happened between heaven and earth, especially in Israel, the land of limited impossibilities.
sexta-feira, 19 de agosto de 2011
¿El movimiento J14 podrá salirse de su narrativa y abrirse a una transformación del espacio palestino (e israeli)?
Rompiendo Muros pone a disposición de sus lectores la traducción de un texto del activista, periodista y político Haggai Matar y su visión desde dentro del movimiento J14. Una visión que sin dejar de ser realista, como no puede ser de otra manera en un experimentado y conocido activista contra la ocupación, el apartheid sionista y contra el muro en los territorios ocupados, sin embargo vive y observa unas dinámicas que dejan las puertas abiertas a una positiva evolución dentro del movimiento y a la posibilidad de un cambio histórico, por lo menos en parte de la sociedad israelí.
17 agosto 2011/Rompiendo Muros http://rompiendo-muros.blogspot.com (España)
Haggai Matar*
Traducción: Fernando Casares
¿El J14 podrá realizar un giro sobre la causa progresista dentro de Israel?
La lucha social revolucionaria que tiene lugar en Israel hoy en día se acerca a una coyuntura crítica: o se desmorona bajo la bota de "necesidades de seguridad" y segregación racial, o se libera de todos los dogmas anteriores y reinicia nuestro sistema político.
Tal vez sea el momento oportuno para decir esas palabras en voz alta: amigos, compañeros, compañeras - en la izquierda hemos estado luchando por una causa perdida. Desde hace tiempo hemos estado luchando contra la ocupación, el apartheid, el racismo sionista y de todos los gustos, con muy poco que mostrar.
En las últimas décadas, el Estado de Israel en los territorios palestinos ocupados se ha convertido cada vez más sofisticado, más brutal, más profundo y arraigado. La discriminación a gran escala contra los ciudadanos palestinos de Israel sigue siendo la política oficial del Estado, dando lugar en los últimos años a una ola de legislación anti democrática y racista. Y, por supuesto, ni a un solo refugiado palestino se le permitió volver a Israel o recibir una compensación por más de 63 años de exilio.
No es fácil admitir el fracaso después de 12 años de trabajo con compañeros palestinos, israelíes e internacionalistas para la liberación de Palestina. Hemos manifestado, marchado, protestado, y construimos puentes de solidaridad y esperanza, además de ser golpeados, baleados y arrestados.
Mis amigos me suelen ver como una persona optimista: a pesar de todo lo que ha sucedido, y a pesar de la complicidad de la mayor parte de los judíos israelíes sobre la ocupación, nunca me di por vencido por la esperanza de cambio, y pondré mi tiempo y energía en proyectos educativos, conferencias, folletos y escritos, y hablando con la gente en las calles. He hablado con los soldados enviados para dispersar nuestras manifestaciones conjuntas sin armas contra el Muro del Apartheid, tratando de hacerles entender nuestra lucha también. Todavía creo en esta estrategia, junto con la presión exterior, tales como las Resoluciones de la ONU y las campañas de BDS.
Sin embargo, entiendo perfectamente a mis amigos palestinos e israelíes que han renunciado al público judío israelí. Dentro de Israel, casi nadie parece estar preocupado por la supresión del régimen militar en los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados (TPO). La material y psicológica combinación de privilegios, ventajas económicas, sentimientos racistas de superioridad y el temor existencial profundamente arraigado de un "segundo Holocausto" - alimentado a través de las escuelas, los medios de comunicación y los políticos - parece haber forjado una barrera inquebrantable sobre la protección de los dogmas colectivos nacionales. Sumemos a esto el evidente cheque en blanco de ayuda concedida por los EE.UU. y la UE, y uno está obligado a hundirse en algún tipo de depresión pesimista: nada parecía generar ningún tipo de cambio. Hasta ahora.
La edad de los sueños
Todavía es demasiado pronto para predecir exactamente a dónde se dirige el movimiento de protesta "J14". Pero por primera vez en décadas, tal vez, estamos siendo testigos de que lo imposible puede volverse posible. Lo que parecía ser una mera fantasía hace medio año, mientras veíamos a la gente en Egipto luchando por sus sueños en las calles, se ha convertido en una realidad viva.
Por ejemplo, el primer día después de que la acampada en Rothschild fue instalada, me encontré con un joven amigo de Tel Aviv sin experiencia en el activismo político, que decidió protestar por su alto alquiler. En una discusión acerca de la lucha, él era muy firme sobre la necesidad de evitar cualquier tema que no estaba directamente relacionado con el problema de la vivienda. Una semana más tarde, me encontré con él otra vez, dando una conferencia con pasión a sus amigos acerca de por qué esto debe ser una lucha por cambiar todo el sistema económico, no sólo los alquileres. Me enteré de que entre nuestras dos reuniones ha participado en varios talleres sobre economía, que tuvo lugar en el campamento, y vio las películas críticas sobre la privatización. Esto le ha radicalizado de tal manera que nunca antes fue posible en el discurso militarista de seguridad impulsado por la cultura política que gobernó Israel desde antes de 1948.
Al día siguiente fuimos testigos de la primera manifestación masiva en las calles de Tel Aviv y fue aquí donde sentí por primera vez que el "pueblo" con el lema "el pueblo exige justicia social" podría referirse en realidad a todo el pueblo de Israel y ciudadanos, no sólo a judíos. Este simple concepto republicano, con su potencial radical sobre la inclusión de judíos y palestinos en la corriente principal del movimiento contra el mismo capitalismo neo-liberal, no tardaría en demostrar su valía. La manifestación de la semana siguiente, probablemente la mayor manifestación en la historia de Israel, presentó un altavoz palestino en el escenario, un ciudadano israelí (Dimi Reider escribió sobre esto aquí).
Tan sólo siete días después, más de diez campamentos palestinos fueron establecidos dentro de las fronteras de Israel. Los ciudadanos palestinos se han unido a la "asamblea de campamentos" - la dirección nacional de la lucha. Sus demandas de reconocimiento de los pueblos "no reconocidos" y de los permisos de construcción en sus propias tierras se están integrando en la agenda de la lucha oficial. La protesta de la noche del pasado sábado, que se centró en la periferia en lugar de Tel Aviv, no vio a los ciudadanos palestinos como socios principales, si no abiertamente iniciadores. Esto fue cierto no sólo en el frente bi-nacional en Jaffa y Haifa, sino también en Beer Sheva y Afula, donde las poblaciones son casi totalmente judías. En las etapas intermedias de todas estas manifestaciones, los altavoces repetían la noción de asociación entre judíos y árabes. Raja Za'atry, miembro del Comité Superior Árabe de Seguimiento en Israel, dio la bienvenida a los manifestantes a la "Red de Haifa", y dijo que "el hambre y la humillación, al igual que el capital, no tienen patria ni lenguaje ... Esta lucha es de todos!" Entonces en la mañana del lunes, un comité oficial de académicos formó el liderazgo de la lucha, como oposición a la formada por el gobierno. En la conferencia de prensa al presentar el comité, uno de los cuatro oradores, una mujer palestina, ha destacado cómo el gobierno deja al margen a los ciudadanos árabes y cómo una demanda de justicia social debe incluir el fin de la discriminación racial.
El iraquí judío autor y director de la Asociación Israelí para los Derechos Civiles, Sami Michael, promovió la misma idea en árabe y en hebreo, cuando habló en la manifestación de Haifa.
En la semana que viene, los manifestantes estarán cada vez más programados para realizar las visitas de solidaridad a los campamentos árabes organizados, se formarán nuevos vínculos y adquirirán nuevos conocimientos.
Los sueños no tienen fronteras
Sin embargo, la pregunta sigue siendo: ¿De qué sirve una lucha por la justicia social, que guarda silencio sobre el crimen más grande de todos - la ocupación, y el robo de tierras palestinas dentro de Israel? Este es un punto legítimo y fundamental. A la larga, si esta lucha no puede convocar a la democracia, la igualdad y la justicia para todos - definitivamente habrá fracasado.
Sin embargo, creo que esta acusación se produjo muy rápidamente, por aquellos que han dejado de lado el potencial de la sociedad israelí para un cambio. La izquierda radical ya no es un extraño, sino que forma una parte importante de la corriente principal. Activistas de izquierda están en todas partes: en solidaridad con los sindicatos de trabajadores que se van uniendo, en los barrios pobres que luchan por la vivienda pública, y reúne a las comunidades palestinas y judías que comparten esta necesidad, en el campamento principal de Rothschild y en la "asamblea de las acampadas". Todo está cambiando, y tenemos un papel que jugar también.
El camino para hacer frente a la ocupación aún es largo. El mismo discurso republicano, que abarca a los ciudadanos palestinos podría alienar a los palestinos en los Territorios Ocupados. Algunos dicen que podría poner en peligro la demanda de derechos colectivos, en lugar de sólo los derechos individuales, ya que la lucha debe "borrar" las identidades particulares a fin de promover el llamado "pueblo unido". Se podría caer en manos de los "patriotas", que desearían conseguir la sociedad judía para una nueva guerra de opresión contra los palestinos, cuando llegue septiembre. Podría romper el movimiento.
Y tal vez no. Es posible que cientos de miles de personas dejen legítimamente a un lado los intereses militaristas y empiecen a luchar por un nuevo tipo de seguridad, la seguridad social. Esta radicalización aún podría dificultar la retórica del "deber patriótico". A pesar de la proximidad de la declaración de la condición de Estado Palestino en Septiembre, los rumores de un desalojo planificado de las tiendas de campaña hacen que todo el mundo esté hablando de una lucha contra las autoridades para mantenerlos.
Mientras tanto, la ocupación como un tema a tratar ya ha comenzado a hacer su camino en la lucha. En la Carpa 1948 en Tel Aviv, los palestinos y los judíos están hablando con los transeúntes acerca de la ocupación, y la distribución de panfletos que implica la necesidad de rechazar un posible llamado a servicio de reserva de emergencia en septiembre. El viernes, la manifestación semanal en Nabi Saleh presentó una carpa cubierta con lemas como "asentamientos = injusticia" y "no se puede tener justicia social bajo el apartheid". El día anterior, el cine central al aire libre de Rothschild pasó su primera película contra la ocupación, relativa al sistema de los tribunales militares en los territorios ocupados ("La Ley en estas Partes") "No podemos dejar de sentir que la justicia social es algo que no puede detenerse en la Línea Verde ", dijeron los organizadores. En Beer Sheva, el portavoz de los beduinos Hannan Al-Sana habló de las identidades colectivas y culturas para ser respetado y el popular cantante Ahinoam Nini dijo que no va a confiar en la actual administración, si nos lleva a la guerra. En Haifa, Za'atary advirtió que es un interés de la capital iniciar una guerra para silenciar la protesta, pero insistió en una lucha conjunta por la "justicia, paz, igualdad, y un futuro mejor y justo para ambos pueblos".
Todo esto no quiere decir que vamos a ver una ola de nuevos campamentos en Cisjordania y Gaza, pidiendo enviar representantes a la "asamblea de las acampadas", y una cohesión simple de la lucha del pueblo palestino en la lucha social. No, en absoluto. La segregación y la opresión militar usada contra los activistas políticos en los Territorios Ocupados está probablemente demasiado arraigada para permitir tal cosa, y ambas partes probablemente sospecharían los unos de los otros si se pusiese adelante esta iniciativa. Pero sí significa que las cosas están cambiando. Lo que significa es que nosotros, los palestinos y los judíos por igual, los socios en la lucha por la libertad, la paz, la democracia y la igualdad, por primera vez podemos soñar con tener un efecto duradero en la política convencional - y tratar de hacer realidad ese sueño.
*Activista israelí, periodista y político, centrándose principalmente en la lucha contra la ocupación. Actualmente está trabajando en Zman Tel Aviv , el suplemento local de Maariv periódico, y en el sitio web independiente hebreo MySay.
17 agosto 2011/Rompiendo Muros http://rompiendo-muros.blogspot.com (España)
Haggai Matar*
Traducción: Fernando Casares
¿El J14 podrá realizar un giro sobre la causa progresista dentro de Israel?
La lucha social revolucionaria que tiene lugar en Israel hoy en día se acerca a una coyuntura crítica: o se desmorona bajo la bota de "necesidades de seguridad" y segregación racial, o se libera de todos los dogmas anteriores y reinicia nuestro sistema político.
Tal vez sea el momento oportuno para decir esas palabras en voz alta: amigos, compañeros, compañeras - en la izquierda hemos estado luchando por una causa perdida. Desde hace tiempo hemos estado luchando contra la ocupación, el apartheid, el racismo sionista y de todos los gustos, con muy poco que mostrar.
En las últimas décadas, el Estado de Israel en los territorios palestinos ocupados se ha convertido cada vez más sofisticado, más brutal, más profundo y arraigado. La discriminación a gran escala contra los ciudadanos palestinos de Israel sigue siendo la política oficial del Estado, dando lugar en los últimos años a una ola de legislación anti democrática y racista. Y, por supuesto, ni a un solo refugiado palestino se le permitió volver a Israel o recibir una compensación por más de 63 años de exilio.
No es fácil admitir el fracaso después de 12 años de trabajo con compañeros palestinos, israelíes e internacionalistas para la liberación de Palestina. Hemos manifestado, marchado, protestado, y construimos puentes de solidaridad y esperanza, además de ser golpeados, baleados y arrestados.
Mis amigos me suelen ver como una persona optimista: a pesar de todo lo que ha sucedido, y a pesar de la complicidad de la mayor parte de los judíos israelíes sobre la ocupación, nunca me di por vencido por la esperanza de cambio, y pondré mi tiempo y energía en proyectos educativos, conferencias, folletos y escritos, y hablando con la gente en las calles. He hablado con los soldados enviados para dispersar nuestras manifestaciones conjuntas sin armas contra el Muro del Apartheid, tratando de hacerles entender nuestra lucha también. Todavía creo en esta estrategia, junto con la presión exterior, tales como las Resoluciones de la ONU y las campañas de BDS.
Sin embargo, entiendo perfectamente a mis amigos palestinos e israelíes que han renunciado al público judío israelí. Dentro de Israel, casi nadie parece estar preocupado por la supresión del régimen militar en los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados (TPO). La material y psicológica combinación de privilegios, ventajas económicas, sentimientos racistas de superioridad y el temor existencial profundamente arraigado de un "segundo Holocausto" - alimentado a través de las escuelas, los medios de comunicación y los políticos - parece haber forjado una barrera inquebrantable sobre la protección de los dogmas colectivos nacionales. Sumemos a esto el evidente cheque en blanco de ayuda concedida por los EE.UU. y la UE, y uno está obligado a hundirse en algún tipo de depresión pesimista: nada parecía generar ningún tipo de cambio. Hasta ahora.
La edad de los sueños
Todavía es demasiado pronto para predecir exactamente a dónde se dirige el movimiento de protesta "J14". Pero por primera vez en décadas, tal vez, estamos siendo testigos de que lo imposible puede volverse posible. Lo que parecía ser una mera fantasía hace medio año, mientras veíamos a la gente en Egipto luchando por sus sueños en las calles, se ha convertido en una realidad viva.
Por ejemplo, el primer día después de que la acampada en Rothschild fue instalada, me encontré con un joven amigo de Tel Aviv sin experiencia en el activismo político, que decidió protestar por su alto alquiler. En una discusión acerca de la lucha, él era muy firme sobre la necesidad de evitar cualquier tema que no estaba directamente relacionado con el problema de la vivienda. Una semana más tarde, me encontré con él otra vez, dando una conferencia con pasión a sus amigos acerca de por qué esto debe ser una lucha por cambiar todo el sistema económico, no sólo los alquileres. Me enteré de que entre nuestras dos reuniones ha participado en varios talleres sobre economía, que tuvo lugar en el campamento, y vio las películas críticas sobre la privatización. Esto le ha radicalizado de tal manera que nunca antes fue posible en el discurso militarista de seguridad impulsado por la cultura política que gobernó Israel desde antes de 1948.
Al día siguiente fuimos testigos de la primera manifestación masiva en las calles de Tel Aviv y fue aquí donde sentí por primera vez que el "pueblo" con el lema "el pueblo exige justicia social" podría referirse en realidad a todo el pueblo de Israel y ciudadanos, no sólo a judíos. Este simple concepto republicano, con su potencial radical sobre la inclusión de judíos y palestinos en la corriente principal del movimiento contra el mismo capitalismo neo-liberal, no tardaría en demostrar su valía. La manifestación de la semana siguiente, probablemente la mayor manifestación en la historia de Israel, presentó un altavoz palestino en el escenario, un ciudadano israelí (Dimi Reider escribió sobre esto aquí).
Tan sólo siete días después, más de diez campamentos palestinos fueron establecidos dentro de las fronteras de Israel. Los ciudadanos palestinos se han unido a la "asamblea de campamentos" - la dirección nacional de la lucha. Sus demandas de reconocimiento de los pueblos "no reconocidos" y de los permisos de construcción en sus propias tierras se están integrando en la agenda de la lucha oficial. La protesta de la noche del pasado sábado, que se centró en la periferia en lugar de Tel Aviv, no vio a los ciudadanos palestinos como socios principales, si no abiertamente iniciadores. Esto fue cierto no sólo en el frente bi-nacional en Jaffa y Haifa, sino también en Beer Sheva y Afula, donde las poblaciones son casi totalmente judías. En las etapas intermedias de todas estas manifestaciones, los altavoces repetían la noción de asociación entre judíos y árabes. Raja Za'atry, miembro del Comité Superior Árabe de Seguimiento en Israel, dio la bienvenida a los manifestantes a la "Red de Haifa", y dijo que "el hambre y la humillación, al igual que el capital, no tienen patria ni lenguaje ... Esta lucha es de todos!" Entonces en la mañana del lunes, un comité oficial de académicos formó el liderazgo de la lucha, como oposición a la formada por el gobierno. En la conferencia de prensa al presentar el comité, uno de los cuatro oradores, una mujer palestina, ha destacado cómo el gobierno deja al margen a los ciudadanos árabes y cómo una demanda de justicia social debe incluir el fin de la discriminación racial.
El iraquí judío autor y director de la Asociación Israelí para los Derechos Civiles, Sami Michael, promovió la misma idea en árabe y en hebreo, cuando habló en la manifestación de Haifa.
En la semana que viene, los manifestantes estarán cada vez más programados para realizar las visitas de solidaridad a los campamentos árabes organizados, se formarán nuevos vínculos y adquirirán nuevos conocimientos.
Los sueños no tienen fronteras
Sin embargo, la pregunta sigue siendo: ¿De qué sirve una lucha por la justicia social, que guarda silencio sobre el crimen más grande de todos - la ocupación, y el robo de tierras palestinas dentro de Israel? Este es un punto legítimo y fundamental. A la larga, si esta lucha no puede convocar a la democracia, la igualdad y la justicia para todos - definitivamente habrá fracasado.
Sin embargo, creo que esta acusación se produjo muy rápidamente, por aquellos que han dejado de lado el potencial de la sociedad israelí para un cambio. La izquierda radical ya no es un extraño, sino que forma una parte importante de la corriente principal. Activistas de izquierda están en todas partes: en solidaridad con los sindicatos de trabajadores que se van uniendo, en los barrios pobres que luchan por la vivienda pública, y reúne a las comunidades palestinas y judías que comparten esta necesidad, en el campamento principal de Rothschild y en la "asamblea de las acampadas". Todo está cambiando, y tenemos un papel que jugar también.
El camino para hacer frente a la ocupación aún es largo. El mismo discurso republicano, que abarca a los ciudadanos palestinos podría alienar a los palestinos en los Territorios Ocupados. Algunos dicen que podría poner en peligro la demanda de derechos colectivos, en lugar de sólo los derechos individuales, ya que la lucha debe "borrar" las identidades particulares a fin de promover el llamado "pueblo unido". Se podría caer en manos de los "patriotas", que desearían conseguir la sociedad judía para una nueva guerra de opresión contra los palestinos, cuando llegue septiembre. Podría romper el movimiento.
Y tal vez no. Es posible que cientos de miles de personas dejen legítimamente a un lado los intereses militaristas y empiecen a luchar por un nuevo tipo de seguridad, la seguridad social. Esta radicalización aún podría dificultar la retórica del "deber patriótico". A pesar de la proximidad de la declaración de la condición de Estado Palestino en Septiembre, los rumores de un desalojo planificado de las tiendas de campaña hacen que todo el mundo esté hablando de una lucha contra las autoridades para mantenerlos.
Mientras tanto, la ocupación como un tema a tratar ya ha comenzado a hacer su camino en la lucha. En la Carpa 1948 en Tel Aviv, los palestinos y los judíos están hablando con los transeúntes acerca de la ocupación, y la distribución de panfletos que implica la necesidad de rechazar un posible llamado a servicio de reserva de emergencia en septiembre. El viernes, la manifestación semanal en Nabi Saleh presentó una carpa cubierta con lemas como "asentamientos = injusticia" y "no se puede tener justicia social bajo el apartheid". El día anterior, el cine central al aire libre de Rothschild pasó su primera película contra la ocupación, relativa al sistema de los tribunales militares en los territorios ocupados ("La Ley en estas Partes") "No podemos dejar de sentir que la justicia social es algo que no puede detenerse en la Línea Verde ", dijeron los organizadores. En Beer Sheva, el portavoz de los beduinos Hannan Al-Sana habló de las identidades colectivas y culturas para ser respetado y el popular cantante Ahinoam Nini dijo que no va a confiar en la actual administración, si nos lleva a la guerra. En Haifa, Za'atary advirtió que es un interés de la capital iniciar una guerra para silenciar la protesta, pero insistió en una lucha conjunta por la "justicia, paz, igualdad, y un futuro mejor y justo para ambos pueblos".
Todo esto no quiere decir que vamos a ver una ola de nuevos campamentos en Cisjordania y Gaza, pidiendo enviar representantes a la "asamblea de las acampadas", y una cohesión simple de la lucha del pueblo palestino en la lucha social. No, en absoluto. La segregación y la opresión militar usada contra los activistas políticos en los Territorios Ocupados está probablemente demasiado arraigada para permitir tal cosa, y ambas partes probablemente sospecharían los unos de los otros si se pusiese adelante esta iniciativa. Pero sí significa que las cosas están cambiando. Lo que significa es que nosotros, los palestinos y los judíos por igual, los socios en la lucha por la libertad, la paz, la democracia y la igualdad, por primera vez podemos soñar con tener un efecto duradero en la política convencional - y tratar de hacer realidad ese sueño.
*Activista israelí, periodista y político, centrándose principalmente en la lucha contra la ocupación. Actualmente está trabajando en Zman Tel Aviv , el suplemento local de Maariv periódico, y en el sitio web independiente hebreo MySay.
segunda-feira, 15 de agosto de 2011
Over 80,000 protest in Israel's periphery
14 August 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
More than 80,000 people on Saturday evening attended protests against the cost of living and soaring housing prices in the southern city of Beersheba, northern cities of Haifa and Afula and many other cities across the country. The rallies' participants included the leaders of the Tel Aviv protest city, youth movement members, leading members of Hadash, social activists, worker committees' representatives and famous artists.
The huge rally in Haifa (Photo: Al Ittihad)
The largest was in Haifa, more than 30,000 Jews and Arabs marched from the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood to the German Colony, chanting: "We want social justice" and "The government is responsible for the crisis." Hundreds of red flags were carried by activists all over the country. Some 12,000 protestors gathered in Beersheba and 15,000 in Afula.
Thousands of people staged smaller rallies in Rosh Pina, Beit Shean, Nazareth, Nahariya, Netanya, Hod Hasharon, Ramat Hasharon, Natanya, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Modiin, Beit Shemesh, Ashkelon, Dimona and Eilat. Thousands of Arabs joined the social protest for the first time since it began with rallies in the cities of Sakhnin, Tayibe and Umm al-Fahem. The National Student Union sent some 50 buses carrying students from academic institutions in central Israel to the different rallies in the southern and northern cities.
More than 80,000 people on Saturday evening attended protests against the cost of living and soaring housing prices in the southern city of Beersheba, northern cities of Haifa and Afula and many other cities across the country. The rallies' participants included the leaders of the Tel Aviv protest city, youth movement members, leading members of Hadash, social activists, worker committees' representatives and famous artists.
The largest was in Haifa, more than 30,000 Jews and Arabs marched from the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood to the German Colony, chanting: "We want social justice" and "The government is responsible for the crisis." Hundreds of red flags were carried by activists all over the country. Some 12,000 protestors gathered in Beersheba and 15,000 in Afula.
Thousands of people staged smaller rallies in Rosh Pina, Beit Shean, Nazareth, Nahariya, Netanya, Hod Hasharon, Ramat Hasharon, Natanya, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Modiin, Beit Shemesh, Ashkelon, Dimona and Eilat. Thousands of Arabs joined the social protest for the first time since it began with rallies in the cities of Sakhnin, Tayibe and Umm al-Fahem. The National Student Union sent some 50 buses carrying students from academic institutions in central Israel to the different rallies in the southern and northern cities.
sexta-feira, 12 de agosto de 2011
More Israelis join forces in protest events taking place in cities around country
12 August 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
Nearly a month into the social issues protests that have swept the country, movement organizers have decided to cancel the weekly mass rallies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and hold in their place a series of mass rallies in the periphery. The message, organizers said, is that the movement isn’t only in the big cities in the center of the country, and the government must see it has become a nationwide struggle.
As of Thursday night, the cities that are planning to hold rallies include Haifa Afula, Beit She’an, Beersheba, Modi’in, Ramat Hasharon, Netanya, Eilat, Hod Hasharon, Dimona and Petah Tikva.
Strollers march, yesterday at Kikar HaMedina, Tel Aviv (Photo: Activestills)
Yesterday (Thursday) hundreds of young parents were joined by housing protesters and doctors in a nationwide march for better living. Some 600 parents, students and even lifeguards demanding better employment terms marched in the northern town of Kiryat Motzkin. In Tel Aviv, tent dwellers protesting against the high costs of housing marched from the Ichilov Medical Center towards Kikar HaMedina, the city's most upscale shopping district. They were joined by medical interns demanding reforms to the healthcare system and by young parents - accompanied by their children - demonstrating against the high prices of raising children. Some carried signs with the slogan "We don't have sushi in kindergarten" and chanted "Let's show Bibi who is pushing the stroller." Meanwhile, roughly 100 parents marched with strollers from the corner of Allenby and Begin streets towards the tent city set up in Levinsky Park. Some 200 artists broke into the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in protest against the facility's managing board, which they claim consists only of businessmen, and not representatives of the art field. According to the activists, they gathered outside the facility but decided to break in when no official came out to talk to them. The museum's security personnel locked the doors, barricading some of the artists inside.
Similar stroller marches took place in Bat Yam and Rehovot, where 200 people turned up. Another such march is expected to take place in Eilat, near the Red Sea. Approximately 200 people gathered in Jerusalem's Independence Park for a "protest festival," which included performances, lectures, activities for kids and discussion groups. In a similar event that took place in Beersheba, activists explained to the public the demands they intend to present to the government.
Also, yesterday night, 1,000 residents of the Jordan Valley protested at Zemah Junction, north of the Sea of Galilee, against the high costs of living. The protesters marched towards the junction from three directions.
Organizers of the demonstration said that residents of the valley have been part of the national protest movement for nearly a month, but claimed "the voice of the periphery isn't always heard."
Earlier Thursday, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz arrived at the Rothschild Boulevard tent city for the second time this week. Accompanied by a professional staff from his ministry, he intended to present the tent dwellers with his new plan to reform the country's public transportation system.
He was then forced to leave the premises, after tensions flared as displeased protesters shouted: "We demand answers", "Bibi, go home" and "The people will not give up."
Nearly a month into the social issues protests that have swept the country, movement organizers have decided to cancel the weekly mass rallies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and hold in their place a series of mass rallies in the periphery. The message, organizers said, is that the movement isn’t only in the big cities in the center of the country, and the government must see it has become a nationwide struggle.
As of Thursday night, the cities that are planning to hold rallies include Haifa Afula, Beit She’an, Beersheba, Modi’in, Ramat Hasharon, Netanya, Eilat, Hod Hasharon, Dimona and Petah Tikva.
Strollers march, yesterday at Kikar HaMedina, Tel Aviv (Photo: Activestills)
Yesterday (Thursday) hundreds of young parents were joined by housing protesters and doctors in a nationwide march for better living. Some 600 parents, students and even lifeguards demanding better employment terms marched in the northern town of Kiryat Motzkin. In Tel Aviv, tent dwellers protesting against the high costs of housing marched from the Ichilov Medical Center towards Kikar HaMedina, the city's most upscale shopping district. They were joined by medical interns demanding reforms to the healthcare system and by young parents - accompanied by their children - demonstrating against the high prices of raising children. Some carried signs with the slogan "We don't have sushi in kindergarten" and chanted "Let's show Bibi who is pushing the stroller." Meanwhile, roughly 100 parents marched with strollers from the corner of Allenby and Begin streets towards the tent city set up in Levinsky Park. Some 200 artists broke into the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in protest against the facility's managing board, which they claim consists only of businessmen, and not representatives of the art field. According to the activists, they gathered outside the facility but decided to break in when no official came out to talk to them. The museum's security personnel locked the doors, barricading some of the artists inside.
Similar stroller marches took place in Bat Yam and Rehovot, where 200 people turned up. Another such march is expected to take place in Eilat, near the Red Sea. Approximately 200 people gathered in Jerusalem's Independence Park for a "protest festival," which included performances, lectures, activities for kids and discussion groups. In a similar event that took place in Beersheba, activists explained to the public the demands they intend to present to the government.
Also, yesterday night, 1,000 residents of the Jordan Valley protested at Zemah Junction, north of the Sea of Galilee, against the high costs of living. The protesters marched towards the junction from three directions.
Organizers of the demonstration said that residents of the valley have been part of the national protest movement for nearly a month, but claimed "the voice of the periphery isn't always heard."
Earlier Thursday, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz arrived at the Rothschild Boulevard tent city for the second time this week. Accompanied by a professional staff from his ministry, he intended to present the tent dwellers with his new plan to reform the country's public transportation system.
He was then forced to leave the premises, after tensions flared as displeased protesters shouted: "We demand answers", "Bibi, go home" and "The people will not give up."
domingo, 7 de agosto de 2011
Activists' demands to Israeli government: lower taxes, free education and end to privatization
3 August 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
After setting up joint protest headquarters on Tuesday, representatives of the 40 tent encampments scattered across Israel, students and youth groups released an agreement they had reached and guidelines for negotiating with the government. Also: protests continue across the country with activists blocking roads.
The demands include lowering indirect taxes, canceling the national housing committees bill, free education starting at the age of three months and increasing the Housing Ministry's assistance budget to mortgages and rent.
The activists also demand steps be taken in the health care system, such as more positions for medical staff, more beds, medical equipment that upholds the standards for OECD countries, an end to the privatization of welfare institutions and mental health centers and a commitment to a gradual cancellation of contractual work in the public center.
Following is a list of partial demands included in the "Guidelines for a new social-economical order" document:
• Reducing indirect taxes
• Investing tax collection surpluses in citizens via state budget
• Canceling the national housing committees bill
• Increasing the Construction and Housing Ministry's budget on mortgages and rent, and increasing government aid
• Applying the Free Compulsory Education law to kids from age of three months
• Adding job posts, beds, medical equipment and infrastructures nationwide to match the OECD standard
• Halting privatization of welfare and mental health institutes
• Gradual cancellation of contractual work in the public sector
The National Union of Israeli Students stressed that the list constitutes an agenda for the negotiations, therefore there is no mention of numbers and costs. However, during the meeting in Tel Aviv the organizers said that a final document is being drafted, one that will include clauses and numbers.
Meanwhile, approximately 150 people gathered on Tuesday evening at Bilu Junction near Rehovot to protest the high costs of raising a family in Israel, occasionally blocking the junctions. In Hod Hasharon about a hundred fathers, mothers and children took part in a "stroller march." Around 200 demonstrators marched yesterday night in Tel Aviv's southern neighborhoods as a token of support with the housing crisis protest. Among them: representatives from Israel's many basketball and soccer teams. The demonstrators held signs with slogans calling for social justice and against the government.
Hundreds demonstrated outside of the Knesset on Tuesday evening against the discussion Wednesday of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new housing law, which they claim does not have enough provisions for public housing and ensuring that the new housing will be affordable instead of luxury housing. Chanting "The people wants social justice!" hundreds from the Jerusalem tent city in Gan Hasus (Horse Park) marched to the Wohl Rose Park, where they were joined by buses of protesters from as far away as Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanese border.
Today (Wednesday) morning, hundreds of affordable housing protest activists rallied outside the Knesset Wednesday ahead of a planned vote on Prime Minister national housing committees' bill. The affordable housing movement has vowed to escalate its protest measures should the bill, which they have slammed as manipulative mature into a law. Protesters block all of the entrances to the Knesset building in an attempt to stop the Parliament from voting on the bill, saying they will siege the Knesset if they have to.
The Histadrut (Federattion of Labor in Israel) on Tuesday announced that it will convene tomorrow a mass assembly in Tel-Aviv to support people protesting against the high cost of living in the country. Dozens of unions and twenty thousands of people are expected to gather in front of the Histadrut building in Arlozoroff Street where a rally expressing solidarity with the protesters will be held. Histradrut Chairman Ofer Eini on Sunday met with organizers of the protests in efforts to further consolidate their demands.
In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Secretary General Eini, acknowledged that the union does not lead this social struggle, but stated outright that if the purpose of protesters is to overthrow the Netanyahu government, "the Histradut would not participate". Hadash fraction in the Histadrut demand for general strike in solidarity with the working-class and popular protest an against the neo-liberal government.
At the same time of the Histadrut assembly, they will be three large demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva by junior staff lecturers in the universities and school teachers, for public education and against privatization.
After setting up joint protest headquarters on Tuesday, representatives of the 40 tent encampments scattered across Israel, students and youth groups released an agreement they had reached and guidelines for negotiating with the government. Also: protests continue across the country with activists blocking roads.
The demands include lowering indirect taxes, canceling the national housing committees bill, free education starting at the age of three months and increasing the Housing Ministry's assistance budget to mortgages and rent.
The activists also demand steps be taken in the health care system, such as more positions for medical staff, more beds, medical equipment that upholds the standards for OECD countries, an end to the privatization of welfare institutions and mental health centers and a commitment to a gradual cancellation of contractual work in the public center.
Following is a list of partial demands included in the "Guidelines for a new social-economical order" document:
• Reducing indirect taxes
• Investing tax collection surpluses in citizens via state budget
• Canceling the national housing committees bill
• Increasing the Construction and Housing Ministry's budget on mortgages and rent, and increasing government aid
• Applying the Free Compulsory Education law to kids from age of three months
• Adding job posts, beds, medical equipment and infrastructures nationwide to match the OECD standard
• Halting privatization of welfare and mental health institutes
• Gradual cancellation of contractual work in the public sector
The National Union of Israeli Students stressed that the list constitutes an agenda for the negotiations, therefore there is no mention of numbers and costs. However, during the meeting in Tel Aviv the organizers said that a final document is being drafted, one that will include clauses and numbers.
Meanwhile, approximately 150 people gathered on Tuesday evening at Bilu Junction near Rehovot to protest the high costs of raising a family in Israel, occasionally blocking the junctions. In Hod Hasharon about a hundred fathers, mothers and children took part in a "stroller march." Around 200 demonstrators marched yesterday night in Tel Aviv's southern neighborhoods as a token of support with the housing crisis protest. Among them: representatives from Israel's many basketball and soccer teams. The demonstrators held signs with slogans calling for social justice and against the government.
Hundreds demonstrated outside of the Knesset on Tuesday evening against the discussion Wednesday of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new housing law, which they claim does not have enough provisions for public housing and ensuring that the new housing will be affordable instead of luxury housing. Chanting "The people wants social justice!" hundreds from the Jerusalem tent city in Gan Hasus (Horse Park) marched to the Wohl Rose Park, where they were joined by buses of protesters from as far away as Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanese border.
Today (Wednesday) morning, hundreds of affordable housing protest activists rallied outside the Knesset Wednesday ahead of a planned vote on Prime Minister national housing committees' bill. The affordable housing movement has vowed to escalate its protest measures should the bill, which they have slammed as manipulative mature into a law. Protesters block all of the entrances to the Knesset building in an attempt to stop the Parliament from voting on the bill, saying they will siege the Knesset if they have to.
The Histadrut (Federattion of Labor in Israel) on Tuesday announced that it will convene tomorrow a mass assembly in Tel-Aviv to support people protesting against the high cost of living in the country. Dozens of unions and twenty thousands of people are expected to gather in front of the Histadrut building in Arlozoroff Street where a rally expressing solidarity with the protesters will be held. Histradrut Chairman Ofer Eini on Sunday met with organizers of the protests in efforts to further consolidate their demands.
In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Secretary General Eini, acknowledged that the union does not lead this social struggle, but stated outright that if the purpose of protesters is to overthrow the Netanyahu government, "the Histradut would not participate". Hadash fraction in the Histadrut demand for general strike in solidarity with the working-class and popular protest an against the neo-liberal government.
At the same time of the Histadrut assembly, they will be three large demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva by junior staff lecturers in the universities and school teachers, for public education and against privatization.
quarta-feira, 3 de agosto de 2011
Israelis respond to new housing law: Protests and more protests
3 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Leaders of protest movement criticize passage of controversial housing law; demonstrations planned for Thursday and Saturday.
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen and Haaretz
Leaders of the housing protest movement that has been gaining momentum across Israel in recent weeks criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Wednesday following the passage of a controversial housing bill that will set up national committees to approve new housing projects.
Protesters are planning large demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
The chairman of the National Students Union, Itzik Shmuli, said that the government's approval of the hosuing law "defied the public and choked the chance for trust and dialogue".
The Dror Yisrael movement said, "As we gathered to formulate our positions for dialogue with the government, we received a resounding slap from Netanyahu and his government. It seems that the prime minister's statement on establishing a team for dialogue with us was merely a facade or an attempt to dismantle opposition with sweet talk."
The Kadima party said in response to the passage of the law that, "The most bloated government in the history of Israel has proven that it is also the most opaque in the history of Israel. Government ministers speak of the close attention they are paying to the public protest but spit on them from the Knesset."
Protesters on Wednesday blocked roads in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona. New protest tents were established in Tiberias and Taibeh.
More on this topic
Knesset approves controversial housing bill over protest leaders' objections
Leaders of protest movement criticize passage of controversial housing law; demonstrations planned for Thursday and Saturday.
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen and Haaretz
Leaders of the housing protest movement that has been gaining momentum across Israel in recent weeks criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Wednesday following the passage of a controversial housing bill that will set up national committees to approve new housing projects.
Protesters are planning large demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
The chairman of the National Students Union, Itzik Shmuli, said that the government's approval of the hosuing law "defied the public and choked the chance for trust and dialogue".
The Dror Yisrael movement said, "As we gathered to formulate our positions for dialogue with the government, we received a resounding slap from Netanyahu and his government. It seems that the prime minister's statement on establishing a team for dialogue with us was merely a facade or an attempt to dismantle opposition with sweet talk."
The Kadima party said in response to the passage of the law that, "The most bloated government in the history of Israel has proven that it is also the most opaque in the history of Israel. Government ministers speak of the close attention they are paying to the public protest but spit on them from the Knesset."
Protesters on Wednesday blocked roads in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona. New protest tents were established in Tiberias and Taibeh.
Knesset approves controversial housing bill over protest leaders' objections
segunda-feira, 1 de agosto de 2011
Jewish, Arab workers and youth protest against social conditions in Israel
By Patrick O’Connor
1 August 2011, World Socialist Web Site http://www.wsws.org (Australia)
An estimated 150,000 mostly young people in Israel, both Jewish and Arab, protested Saturday over spiralling living costs and the economic and social policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The demonstrations—held in eleven cities, with the largest in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa—mark a significant development in the “tent city” movement against high housing costs launched by students nearly three weeks ago. With a total population of about 7 million, 150,000 people represents a large percentage of the country.
While still in its early stages, a movement within the Israeli working class is being driven by worsening social inequality, economic hardship, and enormous anger with the Netanyahu government and the existing political setup in the country.
Yediot Aharonot columnist Nahum Barnea described the protests as unprecedented. “Whether the crowds numbered 100,000 or 200,000, never have such numbers descended into the streets over social issues,” he wrote. “Who would have believed that 150,000 Israelis would take the trouble to go out into the street in the name of social change… the alienation and cynicism that typified the public in the past number of years has now been replaced by involvement and protest.”
The largest protest was in Tel Aviv, where up to 100,000 people marched through the city centre. According to media reports, another 10,000 rallied in Jerusalem outside the prime minister’s residence and 8,000 marched in Haifa. A smaller demonstration in central Nazareth involved both Jews and Arabs, the first such joint rally since the housing protests began.
Slogans included: “The people demand social justice”, “We want justice, not charity”, and “When the government is against the people, the people are against the government”. Protestors also made banners pointing to the influence of the recent uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries. One read: “This is the Israeli spring”, and another, “Mubarak, Assad, Netanyahu!”
One young person was asked by the RT news network whether the protests had been inspired by events in Arab countries. He replied, “There is a lot of influence of what happened in Tahrir Square… There’s a lot of influence of course. That’s when people understand that they have the power, that they can organise by themselves, they don’t need any more the government to tell them what to do, they can start telling the government what they want.”
These developments presage a major shift within the Zionist state. Amid a worsening global economic breakdown, the social crisis in Israel is laying bare the objective potential for unifying Jewish workers with their Arab brothers and sisters both within Israel and throughout the Middle East. Opening up is a new path of political and social struggle, in opposition to the Zionist ruling elite, the Arab bourgeoisie and their imperialist backers—on the basis of common class interest, not nationality, race or religious identity.
Wider layers of the Israeli population are being drawn into the protest movement. Prominent musicians and writers have joined the demonstrations. Yesterday about 1,000 parents and their young children participated in a “strollers’ march” in Jerusalem and Haifa to protest against excessive day care centre costs and inadequate parental leave provisions.
A strike of public hospital medical professionals is in its fifth month. On Sunday, hundreds of doctors, medical residents and hospital interns protested near the Knesset (parliament) demanding adequate funding for the public health system.
Today, local authority workers are set to strike in support of the antigovernment protests, shutting down public offices and leaving rubbish uncollected.
The Netanyahu government has been plunged into crisis. A comment published by Ynet News columnist Attila Somfalvi noted: “Some 150,000 people who left their homes yesterday directed their fury at the man who they view as the culprit behind the State’s privatisation and burial of concern for the regular folk. These are not a bunch of ‘spoiled brats’ who can be dismissed with a disparaging hand gesture or by rolling one’s eyes; these are working people; angry people facing collapse... This protest is making its way to the top of the government, shakes up Likud, rocks the leather chairs in the Knesset and makes the prime minister and finance minister sweat and seek an escape route from the fury pouring into the street.”
The Shas party, which represents ultra-orthodox Jews and has 11 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, has warned it may withdraw from Netanyahu’s coalition government, potentially triggering new elections.
The prime minister has rushed to try to defuse the protest movement. Immediately after Saturday’s demonstrations Netanyahu called a cabinet meeting and announced that a “special team” of ministers and experts would listen to the protest leaders and submit a plan to “alleviate Israelis’ economic burden”. He declared: “We are all aware of the genuine hardship of the cost of living in Israel… we must deal with the genuine distress, seriously and responsibly. This, without a doubt, compels us to change our list of priorities.”
This hollow rhetoric has been accompanied by various sops in response to the protestors’ demands. Last Tuesday, Netanyahu promised to build 50,000 units of housing within 18 months. The government yesterday announced that the excise tax on petrol is to be lowered for one month, during August, and that some elderly people will have their home heating grant doubled. The prime minister has also suggested that he hopes to cut taxes and water charges.
At the same time, Netanyahu has made clear that there will be no serious concessions to the social demands of the protesting workers and youth. “We must avoid irresponsible, hasty and populist steps that are liable to cause the country to deteriorate into the situation of certain European countries, which are on the verge of bankruptcy and large-scale unemployment,” he declared.
Finance minister and senior Likud member Yuval Steinitz raised the spectre of state bankruptcy even more sharply. “We see the talk about the debt crisis in Europe,” he said. “We are even hearing talk of a possible default in the United States. My supreme duty is to ensure we do not reach this situation in the State of Israel... we will not turn the rich and the business people and the investors and the industrialists into the enemies of the people, because they are part of a healthy economy.”
The financial markets are clearly bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Netanyahu government, urging a continuation of pro-business policies irrespective of mass opposition. The value of Israeli government bonds declined after the weekend’s rallies. “Growing protests over rising prices increase pressure on the government to act,” Tel Aviv bond trader Ehud Itzhakov told Bloomberg. “There is concern in the market the government may need to raise more debt, which is creating uncertainty about the deficit.”
The Israeli Treasury Department is reportedly outraged over the government’s limited spending announcements in response to the protests. The director general of Israel’s finance ministry, Haim Shani, resigned yesterday. He cited “differences of opinion in fundamental issues” with the finance minister, adding that “events of the past few days have exacerbated the problems.”
It remains to be seen how the Netanyahu government responds to the crisis in the next days and weeks, but there is a real danger that a provocation will be launched against the Palestinian people or neighbouring Arab states as a diversion. Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar reportedly advised his Likud faction colleagues last week that every election in Israel that has “revolved around a socio-economic issue, Likud lost”, whereas when the main issues were “security related, Likud won.”
The author also recommends:
The Israeli protests and the unity of Arab and Jewish workers [30 July 2011]
1 August 2011, World Socialist Web Site http://www.wsws.org (Australia)
An estimated 150,000 mostly young people in Israel, both Jewish and Arab, protested Saturday over spiralling living costs and the economic and social policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The demonstrations—held in eleven cities, with the largest in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa—mark a significant development in the “tent city” movement against high housing costs launched by students nearly three weeks ago. With a total population of about 7 million, 150,000 people represents a large percentage of the country.
While still in its early stages, a movement within the Israeli working class is being driven by worsening social inequality, economic hardship, and enormous anger with the Netanyahu government and the existing political setup in the country.
Yediot Aharonot columnist Nahum Barnea described the protests as unprecedented. “Whether the crowds numbered 100,000 or 200,000, never have such numbers descended into the streets over social issues,” he wrote. “Who would have believed that 150,000 Israelis would take the trouble to go out into the street in the name of social change… the alienation and cynicism that typified the public in the past number of years has now been replaced by involvement and protest.”
The largest protest was in Tel Aviv, where up to 100,000 people marched through the city centre. According to media reports, another 10,000 rallied in Jerusalem outside the prime minister’s residence and 8,000 marched in Haifa. A smaller demonstration in central Nazareth involved both Jews and Arabs, the first such joint rally since the housing protests began.
Slogans included: “The people demand social justice”, “We want justice, not charity”, and “When the government is against the people, the people are against the government”. Protestors also made banners pointing to the influence of the recent uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries. One read: “This is the Israeli spring”, and another, “Mubarak, Assad, Netanyahu!”
One young person was asked by the RT news network whether the protests had been inspired by events in Arab countries. He replied, “There is a lot of influence of what happened in Tahrir Square… There’s a lot of influence of course. That’s when people understand that they have the power, that they can organise by themselves, they don’t need any more the government to tell them what to do, they can start telling the government what they want.”
These developments presage a major shift within the Zionist state. Amid a worsening global economic breakdown, the social crisis in Israel is laying bare the objective potential for unifying Jewish workers with their Arab brothers and sisters both within Israel and throughout the Middle East. Opening up is a new path of political and social struggle, in opposition to the Zionist ruling elite, the Arab bourgeoisie and their imperialist backers—on the basis of common class interest, not nationality, race or religious identity.
Wider layers of the Israeli population are being drawn into the protest movement. Prominent musicians and writers have joined the demonstrations. Yesterday about 1,000 parents and their young children participated in a “strollers’ march” in Jerusalem and Haifa to protest against excessive day care centre costs and inadequate parental leave provisions.
A strike of public hospital medical professionals is in its fifth month. On Sunday, hundreds of doctors, medical residents and hospital interns protested near the Knesset (parliament) demanding adequate funding for the public health system.
Today, local authority workers are set to strike in support of the antigovernment protests, shutting down public offices and leaving rubbish uncollected.
The Netanyahu government has been plunged into crisis. A comment published by Ynet News columnist Attila Somfalvi noted: “Some 150,000 people who left their homes yesterday directed their fury at the man who they view as the culprit behind the State’s privatisation and burial of concern for the regular folk. These are not a bunch of ‘spoiled brats’ who can be dismissed with a disparaging hand gesture or by rolling one’s eyes; these are working people; angry people facing collapse... This protest is making its way to the top of the government, shakes up Likud, rocks the leather chairs in the Knesset and makes the prime minister and finance minister sweat and seek an escape route from the fury pouring into the street.”
The Shas party, which represents ultra-orthodox Jews and has 11 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, has warned it may withdraw from Netanyahu’s coalition government, potentially triggering new elections.
The prime minister has rushed to try to defuse the protest movement. Immediately after Saturday’s demonstrations Netanyahu called a cabinet meeting and announced that a “special team” of ministers and experts would listen to the protest leaders and submit a plan to “alleviate Israelis’ economic burden”. He declared: “We are all aware of the genuine hardship of the cost of living in Israel… we must deal with the genuine distress, seriously and responsibly. This, without a doubt, compels us to change our list of priorities.”
This hollow rhetoric has been accompanied by various sops in response to the protestors’ demands. Last Tuesday, Netanyahu promised to build 50,000 units of housing within 18 months. The government yesterday announced that the excise tax on petrol is to be lowered for one month, during August, and that some elderly people will have their home heating grant doubled. The prime minister has also suggested that he hopes to cut taxes and water charges.
At the same time, Netanyahu has made clear that there will be no serious concessions to the social demands of the protesting workers and youth. “We must avoid irresponsible, hasty and populist steps that are liable to cause the country to deteriorate into the situation of certain European countries, which are on the verge of bankruptcy and large-scale unemployment,” he declared.
Finance minister and senior Likud member Yuval Steinitz raised the spectre of state bankruptcy even more sharply. “We see the talk about the debt crisis in Europe,” he said. “We are even hearing talk of a possible default in the United States. My supreme duty is to ensure we do not reach this situation in the State of Israel... we will not turn the rich and the business people and the investors and the industrialists into the enemies of the people, because they are part of a healthy economy.”
The financial markets are clearly bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Netanyahu government, urging a continuation of pro-business policies irrespective of mass opposition. The value of Israeli government bonds declined after the weekend’s rallies. “Growing protests over rising prices increase pressure on the government to act,” Tel Aviv bond trader Ehud Itzhakov told Bloomberg. “There is concern in the market the government may need to raise more debt, which is creating uncertainty about the deficit.”
The Israeli Treasury Department is reportedly outraged over the government’s limited spending announcements in response to the protests. The director general of Israel’s finance ministry, Haim Shani, resigned yesterday. He cited “differences of opinion in fundamental issues” with the finance minister, adding that “events of the past few days have exacerbated the problems.”
It remains to be seen how the Netanyahu government responds to the crisis in the next days and weeks, but there is a real danger that a provocation will be launched against the Palestinian people or neighbouring Arab states as a diversion. Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar reportedly advised his Likud faction colleagues last week that every election in Israel that has “revolved around a socio-economic issue, Likud lost”, whereas when the main issues were “security related, Likud won.”
The author also recommends:
The Israeli protests and the unity of Arab and Jewish workers [30 July 2011]
WATCH: Netanyahu comments on protests get music remix
1 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Noy Alooshe use comments by the prime minister claiming that there would be no protests in Israel and mixes them with footage of Israelis taking to the streets en masse over the spiraling cost of living
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become the latest target of Israeli musician Noy Alooshe and his satirical music videos.
In the clip released this week, Alooshe takes comments by the prime minister claiming that there would be no protests in Israel akin to those in the Arab World and mixes them with recent footage of Israelis taking to the streets en masse over the spiraling cost of living in the country.
This is not the first that Alooshe has remixed the prime minister's words. In May, the musician made a video based on Netanyahu's speech to Congress; other leaders to find themselves as stars of one of his videos include Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar Gadhafi.
Noy Alooshe use comments by the prime minister claiming that there would be no protests in Israel and mixes them with footage of Israelis taking to the streets en masse over the spiraling cost of living
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become the latest target of Israeli musician Noy Alooshe and his satirical music videos.
In the clip released this week, Alooshe takes comments by the prime minister claiming that there would be no protests in Israel akin to those in the Arab World and mixes them with recent footage of Israelis taking to the streets en masse over the spiraling cost of living in the country.
This is not the first that Alooshe has remixed the prime minister's words. In May, the musician made a video based on Netanyahu's speech to Congress; other leaders to find themselves as stars of one of his videos include Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar Gadhafi.
Most Israeli municipalities declare general strike in solidarity with housing protests
PM scrambles to quell nationwide protests as he faces a setback in the resignation of Finance Ministry Director General Haim Shani; Moshe Terry, former chairman of Israel Securities Authority, likely to take over treasury.
1 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Rotem Starkman
Gili Cohen contributed to this report
Most municipal authorities have declared a one-day strike scheduled for Monday, in sympathy with popular protests spreading throughout Israel.
Municipalities will not be giving services to government offices or holding public office hours today, streets will not be cleaned and garbage will not be collected.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu redoubled efforts to douse growing protests spreading throughout the country Sunday, even as he faced a setback in the resignation of Finance Ministry Director General Haim Shani.
Shani reportedly quit over the lack of organization in proffering solutions to the crisis, and over the work of Netanyahu and his direct superior, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Discussion began of a replacement for Shani, with Moshe Terry, the former chairman of the Israel Securities Authority, seen as likely to take over the treasury.
Netanyahu called an informal meeting of the committee on economic concentration yesterday to discuss solution for the protests, but no decisions were made.
Netanyahu urged its members to make recommendations by the end of the month, and showed the press a presentation of the issues on the agenda.
Terry is close to Delek Group head Yitzhak Tshuva and reportedly assisted him on a number of matters. Tshuva's conglomerate is one of the businesses being examined by the committee on economic concentration.
Netanyahu has also decided to establish a team of ministers and economists, whose makeup is still not final, to speak with the protesters. The panel is to invite various groups, hear them out and make recommendations.
The government also decided yesterday to reduce the tax on gas by 30 agorot per liter for a period of one month, thereby avoiding the price hike of the same amount planned for this morning dictated by the global price rise. The move will cost the government NIS 80 million.
At the end of the month, the cabinet will hear the recommendation of a committee formed to study gas prices and decide how to proceed. The government hopes that oil prices will drop by that time, which will make it unnecessary to continue the reduction in the gas tax.
The government also decided to double the home heating grant for senior citizens who are welfare recipients. However, the grant will be given only to seniors living in areas defined as cold by the National Insurance Institute.
Despite the moves, mutual recriminations have persisted between the Prime Minister's Office and the treasury. The treasury continues to oppose Netanyahu's steps from last week on housing, among them incentives to contractors to build in the center of the country based on the cheapest price to the end user and incentives to convert offices in apartment houses back into residences.
The treasury says such measures merely fan the flames of protest, while the Prime Minister's Office says the treasury has not studied the issue properly.
1 August 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Rotem Starkman
Gili Cohen contributed to this report
Most municipal authorities have declared a one-day strike scheduled for Monday, in sympathy with popular protests spreading throughout Israel.
Municipalities will not be giving services to government offices or holding public office hours today, streets will not be cleaned and garbage will not be collected.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu redoubled efforts to douse growing protests spreading throughout the country Sunday, even as he faced a setback in the resignation of Finance Ministry Director General Haim Shani.
Shani reportedly quit over the lack of organization in proffering solutions to the crisis, and over the work of Netanyahu and his direct superior, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Discussion began of a replacement for Shani, with Moshe Terry, the former chairman of the Israel Securities Authority, seen as likely to take over the treasury.
Netanyahu called an informal meeting of the committee on economic concentration yesterday to discuss solution for the protests, but no decisions were made.
Netanyahu urged its members to make recommendations by the end of the month, and showed the press a presentation of the issues on the agenda.
Terry is close to Delek Group head Yitzhak Tshuva and reportedly assisted him on a number of matters. Tshuva's conglomerate is one of the businesses being examined by the committee on economic concentration.
Netanyahu has also decided to establish a team of ministers and economists, whose makeup is still not final, to speak with the protesters. The panel is to invite various groups, hear them out and make recommendations.
The government also decided yesterday to reduce the tax on gas by 30 agorot per liter for a period of one month, thereby avoiding the price hike of the same amount planned for this morning dictated by the global price rise. The move will cost the government NIS 80 million.
At the end of the month, the cabinet will hear the recommendation of a committee formed to study gas prices and decide how to proceed. The government hopes that oil prices will drop by that time, which will make it unnecessary to continue the reduction in the gas tax.
The government also decided to double the home heating grant for senior citizens who are welfare recipients. However, the grant will be given only to seniors living in areas defined as cold by the National Insurance Institute.
Despite the moves, mutual recriminations have persisted between the Prime Minister's Office and the treasury. The treasury continues to oppose Netanyahu's steps from last week on housing, among them incentives to contractors to build in the center of the country based on the cheapest price to the end user and incentives to convert offices in apartment houses back into residences.
The treasury says such measures merely fan the flames of protest, while the Prime Minister's Office says the treasury has not studied the issue properly.
More than 150,000 take to streets across Israel against Netanyahu and for social justice
31 July 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
More than 150,000 people took to the streets yesterday (Saturday) night to protest the spiraling costs of living in Israel, against the Netanyahu government and for social justice. Marches and rallies took place in eleven cities across the country, with the largest ones taking place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Haifa. The protesters chanted "the people demand social justice", "Bibi (Benyamin Netanyahu) go home!" and "we want justice, not charity."
flags and Hadash banners in the Tel-Aviv demonstration (Photo: Activestills)
The biggest protest was in Tel Aviv, where 120,000 march from HaBima Square to the Tel Aviv Museum. Thousands of protesters carrying red flags and Hadash banners: "People before profits" and "The government against the people – The people against the government". "We are very happy to see the Israeli people go out into the streets," said Yonatan Levy, one of the organizers. "We were amazed to see throughout the day that the issues that were raised on the different stages and tent cities are not so removed from each other after all." Ahead of the social protests across the country, MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resign. "The Netanyahu government that is leading [with] policies that enrich the tycoons and damage the vast majority of citizens needs to go home today," Khenin said to journalists during the rally.
"A struggle that began in Tel Aviv has spread to Israeli cities from the North to the South," he added. "This struggle will not be stopped with candies and won't fold from [political] spin. The people demand social justice."
In Haifa, 10,000 people marched through the city. In Jerusalem, 15,000 protesters marched from Horse Park to the house of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In Be'er Sheva, 3,000 protesters marched carrying banners saying "Be'er Sheva is shouting times seven." "Sheva" is the Hebrew word for the number seven. In Ashdod, protesters marched from City Park. Around 150 people gathered at Ashdod's tent city on their way to the march. Students from Beit Barl marched from the tent city at Kfar Sava to central Ra'anana junction. In Nazareth, a common Arab-Jewish protest was held in the center of the city by Hadash and communists activists. In Kiryat Shmona, neat the Lebanese border, 1,000 protesters marched in the city's main road, towards the southern exit of the city. Many prominent Israeli musicians performed at the rallies, including Hemi Rodner, Dan Toren, Yehuda Poliker, Barry Sakharov Yishai Levi, Aviv Geffen, and others.
Hundreds of people continued their protest Saturday night in Tel Aviv, long after the protest rally ended. At noon demonstrators blocked the city's Kaplan and Ibn Gabirol streets, chanting "The people demand social justice." Around 1:30am, after failing to negotiate a peaceful end to the rally, which showed no signs of winding down, the Tel Aviv police began forcibly dispersing the protesters. The protesters began booing the officers and chanted "No, we won't go," and "Police state." Several protesters rioted and 12 were detained.
Thousands of doctors and residents protested today (Sunday) at the Rose Garden opposite the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding a solution to the crisis in the health care system. Israel Medical Association chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly a week, was first to speak. "For nine months we have been negotiating, and there is still no agreement," he said. "The treasury keeps saving money on the health care sector's expense. You doctors work hard, and although we have made progress in formulating the agreement, we still haven't agreed on the principal issues – standardization, the cost of the agreement, the division of payments and the earnings."
More than 150,000 people took to the streets yesterday (Saturday) night to protest the spiraling costs of living in Israel, against the Netanyahu government and for social justice. Marches and rallies took place in eleven cities across the country, with the largest ones taking place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Haifa. The protesters chanted "the people demand social justice", "Bibi (Benyamin Netanyahu) go home!" and "we want justice, not charity."
The biggest protest was in Tel Aviv, where 120,000 march from HaBima Square to the Tel Aviv Museum. Thousands of protesters carrying red flags and Hadash banners: "People before profits" and "The government against the people – The people against the government". "We are very happy to see the Israeli people go out into the streets," said Yonatan Levy, one of the organizers. "We were amazed to see throughout the day that the issues that were raised on the different stages and tent cities are not so removed from each other after all." Ahead of the social protests across the country, MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resign. "The Netanyahu government that is leading [with] policies that enrich the tycoons and damage the vast majority of citizens needs to go home today," Khenin said to journalists during the rally.
"A struggle that began in Tel Aviv has spread to Israeli cities from the North to the South," he added. "This struggle will not be stopped with candies and won't fold from [political] spin. The people demand social justice."
In Haifa, 10,000 people marched through the city. In Jerusalem, 15,000 protesters marched from Horse Park to the house of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In Be'er Sheva, 3,000 protesters marched carrying banners saying "Be'er Sheva is shouting times seven." "Sheva" is the Hebrew word for the number seven. In Ashdod, protesters marched from City Park. Around 150 people gathered at Ashdod's tent city on their way to the march. Students from Beit Barl marched from the tent city at Kfar Sava to central Ra'anana junction. In Nazareth, a common Arab-Jewish protest was held in the center of the city by Hadash and communists activists. In Kiryat Shmona, neat the Lebanese border, 1,000 protesters marched in the city's main road, towards the southern exit of the city. Many prominent Israeli musicians performed at the rallies, including Hemi Rodner, Dan Toren, Yehuda Poliker, Barry Sakharov Yishai Levi, Aviv Geffen, and others.
Hundreds of people continued their protest Saturday night in Tel Aviv, long after the protest rally ended. At noon demonstrators blocked the city's Kaplan and Ibn Gabirol streets, chanting "The people demand social justice." Around 1:30am, after failing to negotiate a peaceful end to the rally, which showed no signs of winding down, the Tel Aviv police began forcibly dispersing the protesters. The protesters began booing the officers and chanted "No, we won't go," and "Police state." Several protesters rioted and 12 were detained.
Thousands of doctors and residents protested today (Sunday) at the Rose Garden opposite the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding a solution to the crisis in the health care system. Israel Medical Association chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly a week, was first to speak. "For nine months we have been negotiating, and there is still no agreement," he said. "The treasury keeps saving money on the health care sector's expense. You doctors work hard, and although we have made progress in formulating the agreement, we still haven't agreed on the principal issues – standardization, the cost of the agreement, the division of payments and the earnings."
sábado, 30 de julho de 2011
More than 100,000 take to streets across Israel in largest housing protest yet
30 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
Demonstrations held in more than 10 cities across Israel in bid to lower spiraling costs of living; joint Jewish-Arab protest held for first time since demonstrations began 16 days ago.
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen, Jack Khoury, Nir Hasson, Yanir Yagna and Eli Ashkenazi
More than 100,000 people took to the streets Saturday to protest the spiraling costs of living in Israel. Marches and rallies took place in eleven cities across the country, with the largest ones taking place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Haifa. The protesters chanted "the people demand social justice" and "we want justice, not charity."
The biggest protest was in Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands march from HaBima Square to the Tel Aviv Museum. "We are very happy to see the Israeli people go out into the streets," said Yonatan Levy, one of the organizers. "We were amazed to see throughout the day that the issues that were raised on the different stages and tent cities are not so removed from each other after all."
In Haifa, 8,000 people marched through the city. In Jerusalem, 10,000 protesters marched from Horse Park to the house of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In Be'er Sheva, 3,000 protesters marched carrying banners saying "Be'er Sheva is shouting times seven." "Sheva" is the Hebrew word for the number seven.
In Ashdod, protesters marched from City Park. Around 150 people gathered at Ashdod's tent city on their way to the march. Students from Beit Barl marched from the tent city at Kfar Sava to central Ra'anana junction.
For the first time since the beginning of the protests 16 days ago, a protest involving both Jews and Arabs took place in central Nazareth. In Kiryat Shmona 1,000 protesters marched in the city's main road, towards the southern exit of the city.
Many prominent Israeli musicians performed at the rallies, including Hemi Rodner, Dan Toren, Yehuda Poliker, Barry Sakharov Yishai Levi, Aviv Geffen, and others.
More on this topic
Everyone is blaming Bibi
Knesset report warned of 'social time bomb' three years ago
Thousands turn out across Israel in latest round of mass protests
By Ilan Lior, Gili Cohen, Jack Khoury, Nir Hasson, Yanir Yagna and Eli Ashkenazi
More than 100,000 people took to the streets Saturday to protest the spiraling costs of living in Israel. Marches and rallies took place in eleven cities across the country, with the largest ones taking place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva and Haifa. The protesters chanted "the people demand social justice" and "we want justice, not charity."
The biggest protest was in Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands march from HaBima Square to the Tel Aviv Museum. "We are very happy to see the Israeli people go out into the streets," said Yonatan Levy, one of the organizers. "We were amazed to see throughout the day that the issues that were raised on the different stages and tent cities are not so removed from each other after all."
In Haifa, 8,000 people marched through the city. In Jerusalem, 10,000 protesters marched from Horse Park to the house of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In Be'er Sheva, 3,000 protesters marched carrying banners saying "Be'er Sheva is shouting times seven." "Sheva" is the Hebrew word for the number seven.
In Ashdod, protesters marched from City Park. Around 150 people gathered at Ashdod's tent city on their way to the march. Students from Beit Barl marched from the tent city at Kfar Sava to central Ra'anana junction.
For the first time since the beginning of the protests 16 days ago, a protest involving both Jews and Arabs took place in central Nazareth. In Kiryat Shmona 1,000 protesters marched in the city's main road, towards the southern exit of the city.
Many prominent Israeli musicians performed at the rallies, including Hemi Rodner, Dan Toren, Yehuda Poliker, Barry Sakharov Yishai Levi, Aviv Geffen, and others.
Everyone is blaming Bibi
Knesset report warned of 'social time bomb' three years ago
Thousands turn out across Israel in latest round of mass protests
Mass evening’s protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Nazareth, Modi'in and Kiryat Shmona
30 July 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il
"Strollers March", yesterday in Tel-Aviv (Photo: Activestills)
Tonite (Saturday) mass evening’s protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Modi'in, Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth and othe cities against the high cost of living and the Netanyahu government will be even larger than last week’s, activists said today.
Alon-Lee Green, 22, a union-organizer and one of the leading activists to take part in the Rothschild Boulevard housing protests that started in Tel Aviv two weeks ago, said Saturday’s protest “are going to be much bigger. We’re going to have protests in eleven different cities at the same time. This protest is really gathering all the different protesters: the teachers, the mothers, the doctors, the working class families, Jews and Arabs, all different types of people.” He added “The last one was just about housing, but this one will be much bigger because now it’s about everything, against the right wing government and against capitalism and neo-liberalism.”
The housing protest movement, which was launched two weeks ago on a Facebook page set up by 26-year-old Daphni Leef, has been criticized for "lacking a unified message or a clear set of demands". According to Green, that should change tonight. “At the protest we will state our demands, and it won’t just be about housing,” Green continued “we will present the type of society we want in Israel. The society we dream about in Israel and how we can make it happen – with social justice.”
Trainee clinical psychologists joined the tent camp on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv on Thursday to protest against what they say is the desperate situation facing the country's clinical psychologists. The psychologist trainees say the state is trying to destroy the public mental health service as part of its privatization drive. Patients must wait for months to see a therapist because the government agency does not employ enough psychologists, according to Lior Bitton, a trainee clinical psychologist who is one of the leaders of the protest. He said the problem was not a lack of psychologists within Israel, but rather a lack of positions in the mental health service.
Israeli well know writers: Meir Shalev, Yoram Kaniuk, Etgar Keret, Eshkol Nevo and poet Ronny Somek also visited the tent city in Rothschild Boulevard Thursday, offering their support in the struggle to lower living costs in Israel. The writers sat and talked with the protesters and read stories to the children who took part in the "stroller marches" that took place earlier in the day. "I think this is a unique event," Shalev said. "The Israeli government is neglecting and ignoring the backbone of its society. This is a government that obeys only those who exert power on it. So far it has been the Orthodox and the settlers, and now we are seeing that there is organizing on this side of the Green Line as well."
Shalev added that that protest should lead to early elections and the replacement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "He is scared of you," he told the protesters. "He is scared of you because he doesn't understand your language, and you are better than him at public relations."
The "strollers march"
Thousands of parents took part in a "strollers march" on Thursday, in protest of what they called "the high costs of raising a child in Israel." The main protest march was held in Tel Aviv, with similar rallies and marches held in a dozen other cities across Israel, such as Rehovot, Kfar Saba, Ashdod, Haifa and Beersheba, to name a few.
The parents are protesting the exaggerated fees charged by daycare centers and nursery schools, as well as the overall high prices of basic babies and children's products. The initiative began as a protest group on Facebook, which declared that "raising a child in Israel is so expensive, you need a second mortgage." Over 2,000 people RSVP'd to the subsequent protest invitation posted on the group's page.
The protest's organizers called on parents to tie a yellow balloon to their strollers and wear yellow shirts, as a sign of solidarity with the affordable housing protest. Protesters were holding signs reading "Bibi go home," "A grandmother isn’t a bank," "Bibi wake up, parents are worth more," "Our children demand social justice," "Kids – not only for the rich," and "Let's remind the government who carries the load."
Over 4,000 parents participated in the Tel Aviv march alone. Some 600 people marched in Raanana, 300 protested in Haifa and dozens rallied in Yehud, Nes Ziona and Rishon Lezion. The protesters announced that a second "strollers march" will be held in Jerusalem on next Sunday.
On Thursday Jerusalem's tent protest movement has united with the GLBT community Thursday, joining the Jerusalem gay pride parade. The reinforced march, with the participation of the Hadash activist's "Red-Pink Movement", began in the Independence Park and continued towards the Knesset, where activists have set up an tent camp over the past week in protest against the escalating housing prices. Following the parade, a rally was held at the nearby Wohl Rose Park. Various MKs and other public figures spoke at the event.
"We say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is not a sectorial struggle, so don't try to divide and conquer us," MK Dov Khenin spoke at the event and said "this is a pride parade against a government of shame, a homophobic government. A government that doesn't understand that all of the struggles are common struggles for one social justice."
Towards a general strike?
In addition to Saturday’s protests, many people have said they won’t go to work on Monday. On Facebook, more than 20,000 people had already RSVP’d participation in the strike by Thursday. In keeping with what is a constantly evolving movement – without a centralized leadership – it’s safe to assume that additional protest moves will be carried out on a rolling basis throughout next week.
Hundreds of people took part (Friday) in a Tel Aviv protest against the cost of living. The demonstrators, protesting recent price hikes and especially the price of petrol, blocked a road on the corner of King Saul and Ibn Gvirol streets. The protestors waved flags of Israel and held signs reading, "Land of milk and taxes" and "It's time to close the gaps". They chanted, "The people demand social justice".
Ze'ev Grawer, who initiated the petrol protest, told journalists at the start of the march: "The people must unite so that we can make it clear to the Israeli government that it must give us economic freedom, affordable petrol, affordable housing and an affordable life." He added that if the government failed to meet the protestors' demands, they would block roads all over the country next Monday.
Striking doctors arrived in Jerusalem, yesterday morning and established a protest tent camp outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The Israel Medical Association, led by Chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman, intends to attempt to present Netanyahu with a petition with tens of thousands of signatures calling to "save public medicine." Eidelman and a number of other doctors plan to remain at the tent camp until the strike is settled. Eidelman has been on a hunger strike since Monday.
Talks between the IMA and the Finance Ministry are still deadlocked, but the sides have agreed to return to the negotiating table and resume where they left off a week ago, when medical residents started their own protests. Meeting on Thursday at the Finance Ministry, representatives of the physicians and the treasury agreed to work in small groups before drafting a contract together. "But as long as the doctors have not been offered any money, there will be no breakthrough," said a figure involved in the negotiations. "The missing money has still not arrived," he added. The marchers are planning a demonstration in the Rose Garden next to the Knesset tomorrow, on Sunday.
Tonite (Saturday) mass evening’s protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Modi'in, Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth and othe cities against the high cost of living and the Netanyahu government will be even larger than last week’s, activists said today.
Alon-Lee Green, 22, a union-organizer and one of the leading activists to take part in the Rothschild Boulevard housing protests that started in Tel Aviv two weeks ago, said Saturday’s protest “are going to be much bigger. We’re going to have protests in eleven different cities at the same time. This protest is really gathering all the different protesters: the teachers, the mothers, the doctors, the working class families, Jews and Arabs, all different types of people.” He added “The last one was just about housing, but this one will be much bigger because now it’s about everything, against the right wing government and against capitalism and neo-liberalism.”
The housing protest movement, which was launched two weeks ago on a Facebook page set up by 26-year-old Daphni Leef, has been criticized for "lacking a unified message or a clear set of demands". According to Green, that should change tonight. “At the protest we will state our demands, and it won’t just be about housing,” Green continued “we will present the type of society we want in Israel. The society we dream about in Israel and how we can make it happen – with social justice.”
Trainee clinical psychologists joined the tent camp on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv on Thursday to protest against what they say is the desperate situation facing the country's clinical psychologists. The psychologist trainees say the state is trying to destroy the public mental health service as part of its privatization drive. Patients must wait for months to see a therapist because the government agency does not employ enough psychologists, according to Lior Bitton, a trainee clinical psychologist who is one of the leaders of the protest. He said the problem was not a lack of psychologists within Israel, but rather a lack of positions in the mental health service.
Israeli well know writers: Meir Shalev, Yoram Kaniuk, Etgar Keret, Eshkol Nevo and poet Ronny Somek also visited the tent city in Rothschild Boulevard Thursday, offering their support in the struggle to lower living costs in Israel. The writers sat and talked with the protesters and read stories to the children who took part in the "stroller marches" that took place earlier in the day. "I think this is a unique event," Shalev said. "The Israeli government is neglecting and ignoring the backbone of its society. This is a government that obeys only those who exert power on it. So far it has been the Orthodox and the settlers, and now we are seeing that there is organizing on this side of the Green Line as well."
Shalev added that that protest should lead to early elections and the replacement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "He is scared of you," he told the protesters. "He is scared of you because he doesn't understand your language, and you are better than him at public relations."
The "strollers march"
Thousands of parents took part in a "strollers march" on Thursday, in protest of what they called "the high costs of raising a child in Israel." The main protest march was held in Tel Aviv, with similar rallies and marches held in a dozen other cities across Israel, such as Rehovot, Kfar Saba, Ashdod, Haifa and Beersheba, to name a few.
The parents are protesting the exaggerated fees charged by daycare centers and nursery schools, as well as the overall high prices of basic babies and children's products. The initiative began as a protest group on Facebook, which declared that "raising a child in Israel is so expensive, you need a second mortgage." Over 2,000 people RSVP'd to the subsequent protest invitation posted on the group's page.
The protest's organizers called on parents to tie a yellow balloon to their strollers and wear yellow shirts, as a sign of solidarity with the affordable housing protest. Protesters were holding signs reading "Bibi go home," "A grandmother isn’t a bank," "Bibi wake up, parents are worth more," "Our children demand social justice," "Kids – not only for the rich," and "Let's remind the government who carries the load."
Over 4,000 parents participated in the Tel Aviv march alone. Some 600 people marched in Raanana, 300 protested in Haifa and dozens rallied in Yehud, Nes Ziona and Rishon Lezion. The protesters announced that a second "strollers march" will be held in Jerusalem on next Sunday.
On Thursday Jerusalem's tent protest movement has united with the GLBT community Thursday, joining the Jerusalem gay pride parade. The reinforced march, with the participation of the Hadash activist's "Red-Pink Movement", began in the Independence Park and continued towards the Knesset, where activists have set up an tent camp over the past week in protest against the escalating housing prices. Following the parade, a rally was held at the nearby Wohl Rose Park. Various MKs and other public figures spoke at the event.
"We say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is not a sectorial struggle, so don't try to divide and conquer us," MK Dov Khenin spoke at the event and said "this is a pride parade against a government of shame, a homophobic government. A government that doesn't understand that all of the struggles are common struggles for one social justice."
Towards a general strike?
In addition to Saturday’s protests, many people have said they won’t go to work on Monday. On Facebook, more than 20,000 people had already RSVP’d participation in the strike by Thursday. In keeping with what is a constantly evolving movement – without a centralized leadership – it’s safe to assume that additional protest moves will be carried out on a rolling basis throughout next week.
Hundreds of people took part (Friday) in a Tel Aviv protest against the cost of living. The demonstrators, protesting recent price hikes and especially the price of petrol, blocked a road on the corner of King Saul and Ibn Gvirol streets. The protestors waved flags of Israel and held signs reading, "Land of milk and taxes" and "It's time to close the gaps". They chanted, "The people demand social justice".
Ze'ev Grawer, who initiated the petrol protest, told journalists at the start of the march: "The people must unite so that we can make it clear to the Israeli government that it must give us economic freedom, affordable petrol, affordable housing and an affordable life." He added that if the government failed to meet the protestors' demands, they would block roads all over the country next Monday.
Striking doctors arrived in Jerusalem, yesterday morning and established a protest tent camp outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The Israel Medical Association, led by Chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman, intends to attempt to present Netanyahu with a petition with tens of thousands of signatures calling to "save public medicine." Eidelman and a number of other doctors plan to remain at the tent camp until the strike is settled. Eidelman has been on a hunger strike since Monday.
Talks between the IMA and the Finance Ministry are still deadlocked, but the sides have agreed to return to the negotiating table and resume where they left off a week ago, when medical residents started their own protests. Meeting on Thursday at the Finance Ministry, representatives of the physicians and the treasury agreed to work in small groups before drafting a contract together. "But as long as the doctors have not been offered any money, there will be no breakthrough," said a figure involved in the negotiations. "The missing money has still not arrived," he added. The marchers are planning a demonstration in the Rose Garden next to the Knesset tomorrow, on Sunday.
segunda-feira, 25 de julho de 2011
ISRAEL'S GOVERNMENT IS A GRAVE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
The power of the threat of the popular majority against the government are harbingers of the danger that the coming elections will be called off.
25 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Sefi Rachlevsky
Anyone who was present at the demonstration of the tens of thousands of people roaring "Bibi go home" on Saturday should understand the intensity of the threat against the present government. Anyone who heard Yehuda Alush shouting "We're tired of this" at the fat belly of the government knows that it is in fact the vulnerable belly of right-wing rule. The protest is speaking "Likudese." It was this language that helped spur the victory of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - with "The Likud has cut itself off from the people." Using those materials the tent protest is once again asserting: "The government has abandoned the people."
Anyone who saw the joy with which the Knesset celebrated the Boycott Law should understand what kind of governmental determination and aggressiveness we are facing. Without blinking an eye, it crushed one of the very foundation stones of democracy. The prolonged price in global terms - exemplified in last week's editorial in The New York Times, which expressed doubt as to the democratic nature of Israel - was known. But the gang of democracy-crushers have no god. Nor do they have any intention of removing their talons from the government.
Anyone who listened to Dafni Leef, the organizer of the test protest, describing the National Housing Committees Law - due to be enacted now - as a wicked and cynical law, should understand what kind of a government we are confronting. This legislation is reminiscent of a situation where an abusive husband tries to claim that the real problem is the police who disturb him. With utter cynicism, the removal of restrictions to loot land from the citizens is being presented as an act designed to help them. As in the case of the land itself, the Netanyahu gang is planning to speculate with democracy as well. Like the ghost neighborhoods in Jerusalem, in which the world's wealthy are the owners of empty apartments instead of Israelis occupying them - the country is liable to be stolen from those living in it.
The power of the threat of the popular majority that is taking shape against the government - in addition to the anti-democratic determination to maintain control of it - - are harbingers of the danger that the coming elections will be called off. The first part of the plan, which is the process of being implemented, is enacting the law to enable voting abroad. In a country that many have chosen to leave and in which Jews receive citizenship on the spot, this means a de facto cancellation of the elections.
The law has three right-wing "teeth" to bolster it: First, most former Israelis who chose to move to a place without hamsins, missiles and an alienated government support the right and its adventures from a safe distance. Second, under cover of the Law of Return, tens of thousands of religious Jews who visit Israel can receive citizenship for the purpose of long-distance voting, so as to help choose the government in a country where they don't live. Lastly, the Interior Ministry has the power to create hundreds of thousands of "Pollards": Just as the incarcerated Jonathan Pollard received long-distance citizenship by means of a temporary order, it will be possible to add to the voter registration lists hundreds of thousands of Haredim from Brooklyn, who haven't even bothered to visit here.
This is not some summer hallucination. It is for the purpose of this "looting law" that Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz's special governance committee was established, and is awaiting an anti-democratic legislative blitz when it becomes necessary.
That is "only" the beginning. The same number of people voted in the 1999 and the 2009 elections. Since Defense Minister Ehud Barak's targeted assassination of hope, there has been a sharp decline in the voting percentages of the non-right in Israel. One million people with the right to vote have joined the electorate since 1999, but they didn't actually cast ballots.
Based on past voting percentages, that means 800,000 voters - the vast majority of whom are supporters of the non-right. When they arise against the government to demand their country back, they will constitute a clear majority. And now they are rising up. The young people of the tent protest won't be satisfied with a protest and this time will come to the polls. Furthermore, Israeli Arabs are also capable of translating their anger over racism into a winning protest vote.
A chilling governmental idea is now facing the awakening majority. If the Supreme Court is deterred from acting, what may succeed is a plot to invalidate a party such as Balad. The objective of such a cynical move would be to spur Israel's Arab citizens to protest and not come to the polls. Thus the "ideal" situation would be created: By means of Jews and former Israelis who don't live here, the country would be stolen away from a clear majority of its citizens, who are tired of the right-wing government and want a welfare state that can live in peace.
Against the determination of those entrenching themselves in the government, Israeli citizens must join Leef and her friends in counter-determination - one that will stop the de facto cancellation of democratic elections. That will help rescue Israel at the polls.
25 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Sefi Rachlevsky
Anyone who was present at the demonstration of the tens of thousands of people roaring "Bibi go home" on Saturday should understand the intensity of the threat against the present government. Anyone who heard Yehuda Alush shouting "We're tired of this" at the fat belly of the government knows that it is in fact the vulnerable belly of right-wing rule. The protest is speaking "Likudese." It was this language that helped spur the victory of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - with "The Likud has cut itself off from the people." Using those materials the tent protest is once again asserting: "The government has abandoned the people."
Anyone who saw the joy with which the Knesset celebrated the Boycott Law should understand what kind of governmental determination and aggressiveness we are facing. Without blinking an eye, it crushed one of the very foundation stones of democracy. The prolonged price in global terms - exemplified in last week's editorial in The New York Times, which expressed doubt as to the democratic nature of Israel - was known. But the gang of democracy-crushers have no god. Nor do they have any intention of removing their talons from the government.
Anyone who listened to Dafni Leef, the organizer of the test protest, describing the National Housing Committees Law - due to be enacted now - as a wicked and cynical law, should understand what kind of a government we are confronting. This legislation is reminiscent of a situation where an abusive husband tries to claim that the real problem is the police who disturb him. With utter cynicism, the removal of restrictions to loot land from the citizens is being presented as an act designed to help them. As in the case of the land itself, the Netanyahu gang is planning to speculate with democracy as well. Like the ghost neighborhoods in Jerusalem, in which the world's wealthy are the owners of empty apartments instead of Israelis occupying them - the country is liable to be stolen from those living in it.
The power of the threat of the popular majority that is taking shape against the government - in addition to the anti-democratic determination to maintain control of it - - are harbingers of the danger that the coming elections will be called off. The first part of the plan, which is the process of being implemented, is enacting the law to enable voting abroad. In a country that many have chosen to leave and in which Jews receive citizenship on the spot, this means a de facto cancellation of the elections.
The law has three right-wing "teeth" to bolster it: First, most former Israelis who chose to move to a place without hamsins, missiles and an alienated government support the right and its adventures from a safe distance. Second, under cover of the Law of Return, tens of thousands of religious Jews who visit Israel can receive citizenship for the purpose of long-distance voting, so as to help choose the government in a country where they don't live. Lastly, the Interior Ministry has the power to create hundreds of thousands of "Pollards": Just as the incarcerated Jonathan Pollard received long-distance citizenship by means of a temporary order, it will be possible to add to the voter registration lists hundreds of thousands of Haredim from Brooklyn, who haven't even bothered to visit here.
This is not some summer hallucination. It is for the purpose of this "looting law" that Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz's special governance committee was established, and is awaiting an anti-democratic legislative blitz when it becomes necessary.
That is "only" the beginning. The same number of people voted in the 1999 and the 2009 elections. Since Defense Minister Ehud Barak's targeted assassination of hope, there has been a sharp decline in the voting percentages of the non-right in Israel. One million people with the right to vote have joined the electorate since 1999, but they didn't actually cast ballots.
Based on past voting percentages, that means 800,000 voters - the vast majority of whom are supporters of the non-right. When they arise against the government to demand their country back, they will constitute a clear majority. And now they are rising up. The young people of the tent protest won't be satisfied with a protest and this time will come to the polls. Furthermore, Israeli Arabs are also capable of translating their anger over racism into a winning protest vote.
A chilling governmental idea is now facing the awakening majority. If the Supreme Court is deterred from acting, what may succeed is a plot to invalidate a party such as Balad. The objective of such a cynical move would be to spur Israel's Arab citizens to protest and not come to the polls. Thus the "ideal" situation would be created: By means of Jews and former Israelis who don't live here, the country would be stolen away from a clear majority of its citizens, who are tired of the right-wing government and want a welfare state that can live in peace.
Against the determination of those entrenching themselves in the government, Israeli citizens must join Leef and her friends in counter-determination - one that will stop the de facto cancellation of democratic elections. That will help rescue Israel at the polls.
sexta-feira, 22 de julho de 2011
THE CHARGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES or - Baksheesh for the Doorkeeper
23 July 2011, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
A Riddle: Which fleet did not reach its destination but fulfilled its mission?
Well, it’s this year’s Gaza solidarity flotilla.
It could be said, of course, that last year’s “little fleet” – that’s what the word means in Spanish, much as “guerrilla” means “little war” – is also a reasonable candidate . It never reached Gaza, but the commander of the Israeli navy could well repeat the words of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose victory over the Romans was so costly that he is said to have exclaimed: “Another such victory, and I am lost!”
Flotilla 1 did not reach Gaza. But the naval commando attack on it, which cost the lives of nine Turkish activists, aroused such an outcry that our government saw itself compelled to loosen its land blockade of the Gaza Strip significantly.
The repercussions of this action have not yet died down. The very important relations between the Israeli and Turkish militaries are still ruptured, with Turkey demanding an apology and indemnities. The victims’ families are pursuing criminal and civil proceedings in several countries. An ongoing headache.
Flotilla 2 reached its end this week, when a huge naval action led to the capture of 1 (one!) little French yacht and the detention of its sailors, journalists and activists –all 16 (sixteen) of them. Even our tame broadcasters could not help themselves from sneering: “Why didn’t they send an aircraft carrier?”
The 14 boats that were prevented from sailing, and the one that did sail, not only kept our entire navy on alert for weeks, but also helped to keep the Gaza blockade in the news. And that, after all, was the whole point of the exercise.
WHAT HAPPENED to the 14 boats which did not sail?
Incredible as it sounds, the Greek navy and Coast Guard forcibly prevented them from leaving Greek ports. There existed no lawful grounds for this, nor was there any pretense of legality.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Greek navy was acting under orders from the Israeli Chief of Staff. A proud sea-faring nation with a nautical history of thousands of years (“nautical” even happens to be a Greek word) degraded itself to perform illegal actions to please Israel.
It also ignored acts of sabotage carried out by naval commandos – guess whose - against the boats in Greek harbors.
At the same time, the Turkish government, the defiant sponsor of the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which the Turkish activists were killed last year, prevented the same ship from sailing this year.
Also at the same time, groups of pro-Palestinian activists who tried to reach the West Bank by air were stopped on their way. Since there is no direct access to the West Bank by land, sea or air except through Israeli territory or Israeli checkpoints, they had to travel via Ben-Gurion International Airport, Israel’s gateway to the world. Most did not make it: under instructions from our government, all international airlines blocked these passengers at check-in, using “blacklists” provided by our government.
It seems that the long arm of our diligent security service reaches everywhere, and that its orders are obeyed by countries large and small.
A HUNDRED years ago, the secret police of the Russian Czar, the dreaded “Okhrana”, forged a document called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”.
(In those times, the secret police everywhere was still called Secret Police, before being dignified as “Security Services”.)
The document reported a secret meeting of rabbis in the old Jewish cemetery of Prague, to decide upon strategy to secure Jewish rule over the world. It was a crude falsification, which lifted entire passages verbatim from a novel written decades earlier.
In its pages, the real situation of the Jews was grotesquely distorted – they actually had no power at all. In fact, when Adolf Hitler – who used the Protocols for his propaganda – set in motion the Final Solution, almost nobody in the whole world lifted a finger to help the Jews. Even US Jews were afraid to raise their voices.
But if the authors of the falsification were to return to the scene of their crime today, they would rub their eyes in disbelief: this figment of their sick imagination looks like coming true. The Jewish State – as Zionists like to call us – can order around Greek naval authorities, get Turkey to climb down, instruct half a dozen European states to stop passengers at their airports.
How do we do it? There is a simple answer, consisting of three letters: USA.
ISRAEL HAS become a kind of Kafkaesque doorkeeper to the world’s sole remaining superpower.
Through its immense influence on the American political system, and especially on the Congress, Israel can levy a political tax on anyone who needs something from the US. Greece is bankrupt and desperately needs American and European help. Turkey is a partner of the US in NATO. No European country wants to quarrel with the US. Ergo: they all need to give us a little political baksheesh.
To cement this relationship, Glenn Beck, the obnoxious protégé of Rupert Murdoch, visited us and was enthusiastically received in the Knesset, where he told us “not to be afraid”, because he (and, by implication, Fox and all of America) was supporting us to the hilt.
IT IS because of this that a few lines, which appeared this week in the New York Times, caused near panic in Jerusalem.
The NYT is, perhaps, the most “pro-Israel” paper in the whole world, including Israel itself. Anti-Semites call it the Jew York Times. Many of its editorial writers are ardent Zionists. A news story critical of Israeli policies has almost no chance of appearing there. No mention of the Israeli peace movement. No mention of the dozens of demonstrations in Israel against Lebanon War II and the Cast Lead operation. Self-censorship is supreme.
But this week, the NYT published a blistering editorial criticizing Israel. The reason: the “Boycott Law”, passed by the right-wing Knesset majority, which forbids Israelis to call for a boycott of the settlements. The editorial practically repeats what I said in last week’s article: that the law is blatantly anti-democratic and violates basic human rights. The more so, since it comes on top of a whole series of anti-democratic laws that were enacted in the last few months. Israel is in danger of losing its title as the “Only Democracy in the Middle East”.
Suddenly, all the red lights in Jerusalem started to blink furiously. Help! We are going to lose our only political asset in the world, the pillar of our strength, the basis of our national security, the rock of our existence.
THE RESULT was immediate. On Wednesday, the right-wing clique that now controls the Knesset, under the leadership of Avigdor Lieberman, brought to final vote a resolution that would appoint two Committees of Inquiry into the financial resources of human-rights NGOs. Not all NGOs, only “leftist” ones. This was another item on the long list of McCarthyist measures, many of which have already been adopted and many more of which are waiting for their turn.
The day before, Binyamin Netanyahu appeared specially in the Knesset to assure his followers that he fully approved, and indeed had sponsored, the Boycott Law. But after the NYT editorial, when the Commission of Inquiry resolution came up, Netanyahu and almost all his cabinet ministers voted against it. The religious factions disappeared from the Knesset. The resolution was voted down by a 2 to 1 majority.
But one ominous fact emerged: Apart from Netanyahu and his captive ministers, all the Likud members present voted for the resolution. This included all the young leaders of the party – the coming generation of Likud bosses.
If the Likud remains in power – this group of ultra-rightists,[] will be the government of Israel within ten years. And to hell with the New York Times.
FORTUNATELY, THERE are signs that a new phenomenon is in the making.
It started innocently with a successful consumer strike on cottage cheese, in order to compel a cartel of fat cats to reduce prices. This has been followed by a mass action by young couples, mostly university students, against the impossibly high prices of apartments.
A group of protesters put up tents in the center of Tel Aviv and have now been living there for over a week. Soon after, such encampments sprang up all over the country, from Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border to Beer Sheva in the Negev.
It is much too early to tell whether this is a short-term protest or the beginning of an Israeli Tahrir Square phenomenon. But it clearly shows that the takeover of Israel by a neo-fascist grouping is not a foregone conclusion. The fight is on.
Perhaps - just perhaps! - even the New York Times could be starting to report on the reality of our country.
Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי
A Riddle: Which fleet did not reach its destination but fulfilled its mission?
Well, it’s this year’s Gaza solidarity flotilla.
It could be said, of course, that last year’s “little fleet” – that’s what the word means in Spanish, much as “guerrilla” means “little war” – is also a reasonable candidate . It never reached Gaza, but the commander of the Israeli navy could well repeat the words of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose victory over the Romans was so costly that he is said to have exclaimed: “Another such victory, and I am lost!”
Flotilla 1 did not reach Gaza. But the naval commando attack on it, which cost the lives of nine Turkish activists, aroused such an outcry that our government saw itself compelled to loosen its land blockade of the Gaza Strip significantly.
The repercussions of this action have not yet died down. The very important relations between the Israeli and Turkish militaries are still ruptured, with Turkey demanding an apology and indemnities. The victims’ families are pursuing criminal and civil proceedings in several countries. An ongoing headache.
Flotilla 2 reached its end this week, when a huge naval action led to the capture of 1 (one!) little French yacht and the detention of its sailors, journalists and activists –all 16 (sixteen) of them. Even our tame broadcasters could not help themselves from sneering: “Why didn’t they send an aircraft carrier?”
The 14 boats that were prevented from sailing, and the one that did sail, not only kept our entire navy on alert for weeks, but also helped to keep the Gaza blockade in the news. And that, after all, was the whole point of the exercise.
WHAT HAPPENED to the 14 boats which did not sail?
Incredible as it sounds, the Greek navy and Coast Guard forcibly prevented them from leaving Greek ports. There existed no lawful grounds for this, nor was there any pretense of legality.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the Greek navy was acting under orders from the Israeli Chief of Staff. A proud sea-faring nation with a nautical history of thousands of years (“nautical” even happens to be a Greek word) degraded itself to perform illegal actions to please Israel.
It also ignored acts of sabotage carried out by naval commandos – guess whose - against the boats in Greek harbors.
At the same time, the Turkish government, the defiant sponsor of the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which the Turkish activists were killed last year, prevented the same ship from sailing this year.
Also at the same time, groups of pro-Palestinian activists who tried to reach the West Bank by air were stopped on their way. Since there is no direct access to the West Bank by land, sea or air except through Israeli territory or Israeli checkpoints, they had to travel via Ben-Gurion International Airport, Israel’s gateway to the world. Most did not make it: under instructions from our government, all international airlines blocked these passengers at check-in, using “blacklists” provided by our government.
It seems that the long arm of our diligent security service reaches everywhere, and that its orders are obeyed by countries large and small.
A HUNDRED years ago, the secret police of the Russian Czar, the dreaded “Okhrana”, forged a document called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”.
(In those times, the secret police everywhere was still called Secret Police, before being dignified as “Security Services”.)
The document reported a secret meeting of rabbis in the old Jewish cemetery of Prague, to decide upon strategy to secure Jewish rule over the world. It was a crude falsification, which lifted entire passages verbatim from a novel written decades earlier.
In its pages, the real situation of the Jews was grotesquely distorted – they actually had no power at all. In fact, when Adolf Hitler – who used the Protocols for his propaganda – set in motion the Final Solution, almost nobody in the whole world lifted a finger to help the Jews. Even US Jews were afraid to raise their voices.
But if the authors of the falsification were to return to the scene of their crime today, they would rub their eyes in disbelief: this figment of their sick imagination looks like coming true. The Jewish State – as Zionists like to call us – can order around Greek naval authorities, get Turkey to climb down, instruct half a dozen European states to stop passengers at their airports.
How do we do it? There is a simple answer, consisting of three letters: USA.
ISRAEL HAS become a kind of Kafkaesque doorkeeper to the world’s sole remaining superpower.
Through its immense influence on the American political system, and especially on the Congress, Israel can levy a political tax on anyone who needs something from the US. Greece is bankrupt and desperately needs American and European help. Turkey is a partner of the US in NATO. No European country wants to quarrel with the US. Ergo: they all need to give us a little political baksheesh.
To cement this relationship, Glenn Beck, the obnoxious protégé of Rupert Murdoch, visited us and was enthusiastically received in the Knesset, where he told us “not to be afraid”, because he (and, by implication, Fox and all of America) was supporting us to the hilt.
IT IS because of this that a few lines, which appeared this week in the New York Times, caused near panic in Jerusalem.
The NYT is, perhaps, the most “pro-Israel” paper in the whole world, including Israel itself. Anti-Semites call it the Jew York Times. Many of its editorial writers are ardent Zionists. A news story critical of Israeli policies has almost no chance of appearing there. No mention of the Israeli peace movement. No mention of the dozens of demonstrations in Israel against Lebanon War II and the Cast Lead operation. Self-censorship is supreme.
But this week, the NYT published a blistering editorial criticizing Israel. The reason: the “Boycott Law”, passed by the right-wing Knesset majority, which forbids Israelis to call for a boycott of the settlements. The editorial practically repeats what I said in last week’s article: that the law is blatantly anti-democratic and violates basic human rights. The more so, since it comes on top of a whole series of anti-democratic laws that were enacted in the last few months. Israel is in danger of losing its title as the “Only Democracy in the Middle East”.
Suddenly, all the red lights in Jerusalem started to blink furiously. Help! We are going to lose our only political asset in the world, the pillar of our strength, the basis of our national security, the rock of our existence.
THE RESULT was immediate. On Wednesday, the right-wing clique that now controls the Knesset, under the leadership of Avigdor Lieberman, brought to final vote a resolution that would appoint two Committees of Inquiry into the financial resources of human-rights NGOs. Not all NGOs, only “leftist” ones. This was another item on the long list of McCarthyist measures, many of which have already been adopted and many more of which are waiting for their turn.
The day before, Binyamin Netanyahu appeared specially in the Knesset to assure his followers that he fully approved, and indeed had sponsored, the Boycott Law. But after the NYT editorial, when the Commission of Inquiry resolution came up, Netanyahu and almost all his cabinet ministers voted against it. The religious factions disappeared from the Knesset. The resolution was voted down by a 2 to 1 majority.
But one ominous fact emerged: Apart from Netanyahu and his captive ministers, all the Likud members present voted for the resolution. This included all the young leaders of the party – the coming generation of Likud bosses.
If the Likud remains in power – this group of ultra-rightists,[] will be the government of Israel within ten years. And to hell with the New York Times.
FORTUNATELY, THERE are signs that a new phenomenon is in the making.
It started innocently with a successful consumer strike on cottage cheese, in order to compel a cartel of fat cats to reduce prices. This has been followed by a mass action by young couples, mostly university students, against the impossibly high prices of apartments.
A group of protesters put up tents in the center of Tel Aviv and have now been living there for over a week. Soon after, such encampments sprang up all over the country, from Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border to Beer Sheva in the Negev.
It is much too early to tell whether this is a short-term protest or the beginning of an Israeli Tahrir Square phenomenon. But it clearly shows that the takeover of Israel by a neo-fascist grouping is not a foregone conclusion. The fight is on.
Perhaps - just perhaps! - even the New York Times could be starting to report on the reality of our country.
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