100,000 Protest in Tel Aviv against Immunity Bills for Netanyahu

May 27, 2019, The Israeli Communist Party http://www. maki.org.il המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית‎  الحزب الشيوعي الاسرائيلي‎ (Israel)

CPI

A hundred thousand Israelis protested on Saturday night, May 25, proposed legislation that would grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity from prosecution on a series of corruption charges. The protesters outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on called for protecting Israel’s democratic sphere against far-right government overreach.

The demonstrators rallied against legislation being pushed by Netanyahu’s incoming coalition to shield him from criminal prosecution as well as restricting the power of the Supreme Court.

Speakers at the protest included Kahol Lavan chairman MK Benny Gantz, Kahol Lavan co-chairman MK Yair Lapid, Kahol Lavan MK Moshe Ya’alon, Hadash Chairman Ayman Odeh, Labor chairman MK Avi Gabbay, Meretz’s chairwomen MK Tamar Zandberg, Kahol Lavan’s MK Ofer Shelah, retired Arab-Druze general Amal Assad and attorney Sagit Peretz Deri.

MK Odeh told the gathered masses that efforts to safeguard Israeli democracy amid brewing initiatives by the incoming coalition to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immunity from prosecution would only be possible when Jewish and Arab citizens work and struggle together. Addressing the crowd, Odeh said, “I am here today because I believe that Jewish-Arab partnership is the only way to achieve hope and change.” “Arab citizens alone cannot enact change, but without us it is impossible,” the Hadash MK continued. “I am here today because I believe that without equality there is no democracy.”

Odeh was a last-minute addition to the Saturday evening lineup of speakers after a phone call hours earlier with Gantz, whose party was the primary organizer of the rally.

On Friday, Haaretz reported that after Odeh accepted a formal invitation to address demonstrators last week, he was told that “the list of speakers was already closed and there was no room for additional ones.”

The organizers of the protest, which bills itself as a pro-democracy rally, included all Jewish opposition parties – Kahol Lavan, Labor and Meretz – but not Hadash and the Arab parties. The rally was the first time since the April 9 election that Israel’s opposition parties joined forces.

After significant criticism that no Arab was included in the rally, Gantz called Odeh several hours before it was to begin and asked him to address the demonstrators. “The struggle against Netanyahu’s attempts to destroy the democratic space is a joint struggle that all democratic forces share,” Odeh wrote in a post on his official Twitter handle.

 “We won’t have an alternative for a corrupt and destructive regime without broad cooperation by all citizens, Jews and Arabs. Only thus will we be able to replace the regime, only thus will we be able to pose an alternative to his destructive policy.”

Meretz chairwoman Zandberg tweeted that “there is no democracy without equality and the struggle for democracy cannot be for Jews only.” She added “all opposition members will be on stage tonight.” Labor’s MK Shelly Yacimovich tweeted that “a protest without Arabs is surrender to racism and to the incitement from the right.”

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ZIONIST HISTORY: A SHORT QUIZ

7 may 2012, Alternative Information Center http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)

Neve Gordon*

Take this test to find out how much you know about the gradual shift in Israeli political thought over the decades.

Not long after Israel celebrated its 64th Independence Day on April 26, a friend prepared a quiz of sorts. She read out loud political quotes to about ten guests who were having dinner at my house, and asked us to identify the politician who had uttered each statement.

Truth be told, none of my guests did very well on the quiz, but I thought that readers acquainted with Zionist history might do better and would be able to identify the source of each of the following statements. There is only one rule to this game: all search engines, including Google, are off limits.

• "Does a bad law become a good one just because Jews apply it? I say that this law is bad from its very foundation and does not become good because it is practiced by Jews ... We oppose administrative detention in principle. There is no place for such detention."

• "We do not accept the semi-official view ... wherein the state grants rights and is entitled to rescind them. We believe that there are human rights that precede the human form of life called a state."

• "We have learned that an elected parliamentary majority can be an instrument in the hands of a group of rulers and act as camouflage for their tyranny. Therefore, the nation must, if it chooses freedom, determine its rights also with regard to the House of Representatives in order that the majority thereof, that serves the regime more than it oversees it, should not negate these rights."

• "We would propose that the Knesset enact a law of its own free will, limiting its authority and stipulating that it will not tolerate any legislation that limits oral or written freedom of expression or association, or other basic civil and human rights to be enumerated before the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee."

• "The day will come when a government elected by our people will fulfill the first promise made to the people on the establishment of the state, namely: To elect a founding assembly whose chief function - in any country on earth - is to provide the people with a constitution and issue legislative guarantees of civil liberties and national liberty... For the nation will then be free - above all, free of fear, free of hunger, free of the fear of starvation. That day will come. I can sense that it is coming soon."

• "Some say that it is impossible for us to provide full equal rights to Arab citizens of the state because they do not fulfill full equal obligations. But this is a strange claim. True, we decided not to obligate Arab residents, as distinguished from the Druze, to perform military service. But we decided this of our own free will, and I believe that the moral reason for it is valid. Should war break out, we would not want one Arab citizen to face the harsh human test that our own people had experienced for generations."

Confused yet?

If you are having trouble identifying the author, you are not alone. After hearing the quotes, I, too, wondered why they were so difficult to decipher. But, following a few misguided guesses, I recognised the source of the difficulty. The quiz was counterintuitive, and not only because all of the statements were uttered by a single politician.

No doubt, time has done its work and what was once pronounced by the undisputed leader of the Israeli right, now sounds more like declarations coming out of the liberal and far left - such as Knesset Members from Meretz and Hadash. Even the head of the Labor Party, Sheli Yichimovich, does not oppose administrative detention, and does not dare to claim that "there are human rights that precede the human form of life called a state", probably for fear of losing potential voters.

My friend's quiz managed to expose just how far right Israeli politics, as well as the public discourse informing it, have shifted over the years; so much so that, within the current political climate, declarations once uttered by former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who passed away 20 years ago, can now only be reiterated by leftists.

I have no doubt that if Menachem Begin, commander of the infamous Irgun militia from 1943-1948, were alive today and would utter these very same statements in the Knesset, his own party members from the Likud - as well as the Israeli majority - would condemn him. Today, citizens who hold such positions are simply called "traitors".

This article first appeared in Al Jazeera

*Neve Gordon is the author of Israel's Occupation and can be reached through his website.

Israeli intellectuals back Palestinian state; Women to march in Qalandia

29 August 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il

A newly established cooperation between Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol and Arab-Palestinian poet in Israel Taha Muhammad Ali has led to a petition calling on intellectuals on both sides to support the foundation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

According to Sobol, the petition – distributed by email in recent days – has been signed by more than100 artists and academics, Jews and Arabs. It says that "the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 border, which will live in peace with Israel, is a crucial interest both for Israel and the Palestinians.

(June 4, 2011 demonstration in Tel-Aviv for a Palestinian state. Photo: Al Ittihad)

"All Arab countries and most of the world's countries support this solution for the conflict. According to the Arab Summit Conference in Beirut in 2002, all Arab countries and 60 Muslim countries would recognize the State of Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it if Israel were to recognize the '67 borders as the borders of just, comprehensive and sustainable peace with the future Palestinian state.

"These borders will gain the recognition of the UN and the countries of the world, as well as international guarantees." Sobol and Muhammad Ali warn in the petition that the ongoing political stalemate will create fertile land for extreme forces, who they say seek to drag the region's people into bloodshed and disastrous wars, which "create destruction, perpetuate backwardness and prevent any option of normalization of life and furthering social justice."

Talking about social justice, the two say that the recent popular protests movements in Arab countries and Israel express the aspirations for normalization of life that will exist in the region in times of peace, which will guarantee the fulfillment of the existential interests of the citizens of Israel and the Palestinian state and allow economic prosperity and social justice for all of the region's nations.

"For all these reasons, we the undersigned welcome the establishment of a Palestinian state within the '67 borders, including east Jerusalem, and call on its leadership and on the Israeli leadership to resume – immediately upon the foundation of the Palestinian state – the negotiations for ending the conflict based on UN resolutions and the international legitimization of a sustainable peace settlement between the two countries."

A women's march to be held in Qalandia checkpoint
Thousands of peace and left-wing women, from Israel and Palestine are expected to march through Qalandia checkpoint in east Jerusalem, Saturday, September 17 at 11 am. Among them Hadash, Communist Party of Israel and Tandi (Women's Democratic Movement in Israel) members, in support of an independent Palestinian state ahead of a declaration of statehood at the UN.

The demonstration will call for recognition of the Palestinian right to an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital. The demonstration will be held in the two sides of the Qalandia checkpoint, with the participation of the General Union of Palestinian Women activists. March organizers were expecting thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women to participate.

On June 4, some 25,000 people marched through the streets of Tel Aviv in a demonstration calling for the creation of a Palestinian state. Setting out from the city’s central Rabin Square, protesters affiliated with the Hadash, Meretz, Peace Now, the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement and the Geneva Initiative slowly made their way along an unusually long route to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where a rally was held. Speakers included MKs from the Hadash, Meretz, Labor and Kadima parties.

Accompanied by a small but loud amateur marching band composed of youths from the Communist Party, activists carrying Israeli, Palestinian and red flags marched past Dizengoff center, making their presence known with amplified chants of: “Israel and Palestine, two states for two peoples”; “Yes we ‘ken’” (the Hebrew word for “yes”); and “Bibi and Barak, peace isn’t a game,” referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by his nickname.

(in Hebrew and Arabic): http://2states.org.il/independent

THE PROTEST WAVE HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF ISRAEL'S POLITICAL MAP

The protesters don't speak in political terms, but they are highly political and they know what they're doing.

31 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)

By Avirama Golan

The detractors and supporters of the protest wave at least agree on one thing. The demonstrations are unfocused. What in the world do the protesters want other than a better life, what's the common denominator other than general dissatisfaction?
Leaving the prime minister's associates aside, most of the critics come from the pro-settlement right wing, and that's no coincidence.

These people portray the protests as coming from the very place the right loves to disparage as a threat: the heart of Tel Aviv with its secular residents who lack values.

The protests break all the rules dictated for so long by the settlers. They don't involve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation, and they're open to like-minded individuals, so the demonstrations have seen voters from Likud, Meretz and Hadash standing shoulder to shoulder; protesters with skullcaps and secular people, Jews and Arabs.

This poses a threat because just when the pro-settlement right thought its delegitimization campaign against the left's remnants had been totally successful, a new political movement has sprung up that is refusing to cooperate with this old dichotomy and is calling for unconventional alliances.

This change is also the proper response to anyone concerned about blurred messages. One might suggest that these concerned people listen to the insults from the right to understand how political the protests are. The major threat, which those same settlers and their associates understood from the beginning, is not necessarily that the rules have been broken, but rather what is hiding under the surface that is just beginning to resonate.

Seemingly faceless activists, graduates of youth movements such as Hamahanot Ha'olim and Hashomer Hatzair, veterans of urban kibbutzim, Koach Laovdim - The Democratic Workers' Organization, and a host of other social activist organizations are beginning to see the fruits of the seeds they sowed over the past 10 years, based on a focused worldview. In addition to work and study, these young people have made supreme efforts for a range of social issues including housing, labor rights and health issues.

Now they are at the heart of the protests, leading and making their influence felt. Their opponents understand who they are very well, so these opponents are scared, because the protesters' worldview sees the settlements and the occupation as a hindrance to democracy and the welfare state. The protesters don't speak in political terms, but they are highly political and they know what they're doing.

Tens of thousands marched in Tel Aviv in protest against the housing shortage: 'Bibi go home'

24 july 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched yesterday (Saturday night) in central Tel Aviv as part of a large-scale protest movement against the housing shortage and high rent prices in Israel. One of the protest organizer, Yigal Rambam, addressed the prime minister directly in his speech, saying: "Mr. Netanyahu, we shall have to part as friends, we're parting ways; you're fired!" Meanwhile, those in attendance were chanting "Bibi go home."

43 demonstrators were arrested by police after they blocked the intersection of Kaplan and Ibn Gvirol streets and Dizzengoff street in central Tel Aviv after the mass rally. Following the rally, thousands of activists blocked several streets. Mounted police clashed with the protesters and used smoke and gas grenades.

The beginning of the protest yesterday 9:00 p.m at Habima square (Photo: Activestills)
The protest was an extension of the "tent cities" which have sprouted up across the country as part of an organized effort led by a cross-section of Israeli society - including the working class, young people, students, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly. The demonstrators marched from the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard toward the Tel Aviv Museum, where they heard speeches from various protest leaders calling on the government find a sustainable solution to the housing crisis.

Protestors carrying hundreds of Hadash signs like "People before profits", "Netanyahu go home" and Israeli and red flags began to gather at Habima Square Saturday evening, where hundreds of tents had been set up in protest in the past week. The head of the protest, Dapni Leef, led the march alongside elderly Israelis and Holocaust survivors expressing their support for the protesters.

During the march, demonstrators yelled slogans such as "proper housing, legitimate prices", "the power is with the citizen", and "this generation demands housing". Most of the marchers called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation. Several Knesset members, including the chairman of Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Muhammad Barakeh , MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), former MK Tamar Gozansky (Hadash), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Nino Abesadze (Kadima), and Rachel Adato (Kadima), Hadash secretary Ayman Odeh as members of the Communist Party of Israel Central Committee could be found among the demonstrators.
"I'm proud of the vast number of participants, especially the young people who give me great hope for real change," MK Barakeh said. He added that he hoped that the demonstration marked "the beginning of a process to replace the current government with a government that is socially sensitive and has a perception of true peace." MK Khenin added: "It's the largest social demonstration in years, people from around country march from Habima Square to Tel Aviv Museum, chanting 'we want social justice, not charity' and 'Bibi go home'"

Meanwhile, doctors and medical interns were also protesting in the city after a 110-day strike that has not yet led to a breakthrough in negotiations with the government. A large group of dairy farmers also joined the housing protestors with signs slamming dairy product prices and government inaction on the issue.

Tel Aviv 'tent city' demonstrations continue to draw hundreds

Protests against high rent prices spread to other Israel cities as National Student Union announces launch of demonstrations throughout country.

16 July 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)

By Ilan Lior and Lior Dattel

Protests against high rent prices spread to other Israel cities as National Student Union announces launch of demonstrations inadditional cities in upcoming week.

“Tentcity” protests continued in Tel Aviv Saturday, drawing hundreds to participate in a nationwide effort to combat high rent prices and an ongoing housing shortage.

The protests and have spread to other Israeli cities,such as Be’er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona and the National Student Union announced Saturday they would be launching protests in other cities throughout the country during the upcoming week.

The protest began on Thursday when hundreds of Tel Aviv residents set up rows of tents on the northern end of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard. The makeshift "city" has attracted young adults,families, random passers-by, and politicians, who have all come to support the protesters' efforts.

The organizers of the Tel Aviv protests have called on government authorities to work toward lowering rent prices, however they have not offered any concrete solutions to the housing shortage.

On Saturday, several politicians arrived at the Rothschild Boulevard demonstration to show solidarity with the protesters, however some were not welcome at the temporary city.

Both Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir were heckled and left before they could finish their speeches, while Likud MK Miri Regev was kicked off the premises for being part of the government coalition.

Several notable left-wing MKs, including Isaac Herzog (Labor), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), and Dov Khenin (Hadash) were welcomed with open arms by the protesters.

Herzog, who previously served as Minister of Welfare and Social Services, spoke to the crowd, expressing his disappointment with a government that is too busy “passing laws limiting freedom of speech” instead of taking care of its youth.

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Tel Aviv and Jerusalem residents to camp out in protest of high rent

Israël se dote d’un arsenal de lois ultranationalistes

15 Juillet 2011, Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) http://www.france-palestine.org

L’Orient le jour

« La Knesset souffre d’une fièvre qui relève de la maladie mentale », estime un ex-responsable israélien.

Israël se dote d’un arsenal croissant de lois ultranationalistes, sous la pression des éléments les plus durs de la coalition de droite au pouvoir qui visent désormais la Cour suprême. Pêle-mêle, la Knesset (Parlement) a adopté en près d’un an et demi une série de lois permettant de retirer la nationalité aux citoyens reconnus coupables de terrorisme ou d’espionnage, infligeant des amendes aux organismes commémorant la Nakba palestinienne et, dernièrement, pénalisant les appels au boycottage des colonies.

La loi dite Azmi Bishara, du nom d’un ex-député arabe, soupçonné d’espionnage en faveur du Hezbollah et en fuite depuis 2007, a privé ce dernier de ses droits à la retraite parlementaire. Dans la même veine, les villages coopératifs sont désormais légalement habilités à rejeter les candidatures de ceux qui veulent s’y installer, s’ils sont jugés « incompatibles » – une mesure qui vise essentiellement la communauté de 1,4 million d’Arabes israéliens. Et mercredi, le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu a revendiqué au Parlement la responsabilité « personnelle » d’une loi qui sanctionne l’appel au boycottage des colonies juives dans les territoires occupés depuis 1967, au risque de porter atteinte à la liberté d’expression comme l’a déploré mercredi l’Union européenne.

« Netanyahu veut se draper d’un soi-disant patriotisme pour se présenter comme le défenseur d’Israël, face à ceux qu’il présente comme des collaborateurs de l’intérieur” », a dénoncé hier à la radio publique Tzipi Livni, chef du parti centriste Kadima, en faisant allusion aux opposants de gauche. La coalition gouvernementale repose sur des partis de droite nationaliste et d’extrême droite, son aile modérée se réduisant aux cinq élus (sur 120) restés fidèles au ministre de la Défense, Ehud Barak, après sa récente scission du Parti travailliste.

« Netanyahu veut donner à ses compatriotes le sentiment qu’Israël est assiégé afin de susciter la peur et justifier la nécessité de se défendre contre les tentatives de “délégitimation d’Israël” », explique Rafi Smith, directeur d’un des principaux instituts de sondage israéliens du même nom. Selon Yaron Ezrahi, professeur de sciences politiques à l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, « Netanyahu cède délibérément à la surenchère du courant radical au sein de sa propre formation, le Likoud, et de ses alliés d’extrême droite » tels que le parti Israël Beiteinou du chef de la diplomatie Avigdor Lieberman.

Proches des colons, les durs de la majorité veulent à présent modifier les règles de nomination des juges de la Cour suprême, garante de l’État de droit, qu’ils présentent volontiers comme un « repaire de gauchistes ». M. Netanyahu a assuré qu’il s’opposerait à cette tentative. En revanche, conscient des dérives constantes de l’opinion vers la droite, il a donné son feu vert à de nouvelles initiatives nationalistes. Le ministre de l’Éducation, Gideon Saar, un de ses proches, a ainsi ordonné qu’à compter de septembre, les petits des jardins d’enfants soient obligés de commencer la semaine en chantant l’hymne national, face au drapeau frappé de l’étoile de David. Auparavant, M. Saar avait préconisé de « renforcer l’identité juive » des lycéens en organisant à leur intention des visites au caveau des Patriarches à Hébron (Cisjordanie), lieu saint vénéré par le judaïsme et l’islam et foyer de tensions avec les Palestiniens.

Un projet de loi proposant la création de commissions d’enquête parlementaires sur le financement d’organisations israéliennes de défense des droits de l’homme doit revenir prochainement devant les députés. « La Knesset souffre d’une fièvre nationaliste qui relève de la maladie mentale », constate, amer, dans le quotidien Haaretz, Yossi Sarid, ex-ministre de l’Éducation et ancien chef du parti de gauche Meretz.

25,000 people march in Tel Aviv in support of Palestinian state based on 1967 borders

4 June 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il

Around 25,000 people took part in a march in central Tel Aviv on Saturday evening supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
The march end with a rally at the Tel Aviv Museum. MKs Dov Khenin (Hadash), Daniel Ben-Simon (Labor), Nino Abesadze (Kadima), Zahava Galon (Meretz), the Mayor of Nazareth Ramez Jeraisy, the editor in chief of Al Ittihad daily communist newspaper and well know feminist activist Aida Touma-Sliman and playwright Yehoshua Sobol give speeches.

From left to right: Hadash MKs Khenin, Barakeh, Agbaria, the Mayor of Nazareth Jeraisy, MK Sweid and Hadash Secretary Ayman Odeh during the march in Tel-Aviv (photo: Ofer Amram / YNET)

Numerous political parties and peace groups - including Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Labor, Meretz, the Derech faction of Kadima, Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah and Gush Shalom - participated in the march. Among the marchers several parliament members: MKs Khenin (Hadash), Galon (Meretz), Muhammad Barake (Hadash), Afu Agbaria (Hadash), Hanna Sweid (Hadash), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Ahmad Tibi (the Arab Movement for Renewal); formers MKs Issam Makhoul (Hadash), Tamar Gozansky (Hadash), Haim Oron (Meretz) and the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Israel, Muhammad Nafa'h.

Marchers held signs reading "Palestinian state - An Israeli interest", "Bibi, recognize the Palestinians" and "Yes, we KEN [which means 'yes' in Hebrew]". The demonstrators carrying Palestinian, Israelis and red flags, reading "Yes to peace" and "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."

Several dozen rightist activists, wrapped in Israeli flags, held a counter-rally at the starting point of the march in Rabin Square. During the march, two leftist activists were arrested because police arbitrary.

A veteran Communist Party member, Prof. Yenina Altman, 80, came to attend the march all the way from Haifa. "It’s important to me to voice the desire to see the Palestinians independent," she told. "I came from Poland after my entire family perished, I was in a ghetto and a concentration camp. I would like to have my country show tolerance and respect for the Palestinians and give them the right for an independent state just as we desired."

A member of the Communist Party of Israel Central Committee, Rawda Murcus from the Galilee town of Kafr Yasif said, "We hope that such acts of protest will grow stronger and cause a change which will see an independent Palestinian state along 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as capital."

Several streets in the area of the demonstration in Tel-Aviv were closed to traffic, causing a paralysis of circulation in the center of the city for hours.

Numerous political parties and peace groups - including Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Labor, Meretz, the Derech faction of Kadima, Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Solidarity Sheikh Jarrah and Gush Shalom - participated in the march. Among the marchers several parliament members: MKs Khenin (Hadash), Galon (Meretz), Muhammad Barake (Hadash), Afu Agbaria (Hadash), Hanna Sweid (Hadash), Ilan Gilon (Meretz), Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), Ahmad Tibi (the Arab Movement for Renewal); formers MKs Issam Makhoul (Hadash), Tamar Gozansky (Hadash), Haim Oron (Meretz) and the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Israel, Muhammad Nafa'h.

Marchers held signs reading "Palestinian state - An Israeli interest", "Bibi, recognize the Palestinians" and "Yes, we KEN [which means 'yes' in Hebrew]". The demonstrators carrying Palestinian, Israelis and red flags, reading "Yes to peace" and "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."

Several dozen rightist activists, wrapped in Israeli flags, held a counter-rally at the starting point of the march in Rabin Square. During the march, two leftist activists were arrested because police arbitrary.

A veteran Communist Party member, Prof. Yenina Altman, 80, came to attend the march all the way from Haifa. "It’s important to me to voice the desire to see the Palestinians independent," she told. "I came from Poland after my entire family perished, I was in a ghetto and a concentration camp. I would like to have my country show tolerance and respect for the Palestinians and give them the right for an independent state just as we desired."

A member of the Communist Party of Israel Central Committee, Rawda Murcus from the Galilee town of Kafr Yasif said, "We hope that such acts of protest will grow stronger and cause a change which will see an independent Palestinian state along 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as capital."

Several streets in the area of the demonstration in Tel-Aviv were closed to traffic, causing a paralysis of circulation in the center of the city for hours.

MKs slam 'racist' Upper Nazareth mayor

Upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gapso tells local Arabic-language weekly if he had been present during October 2000 clashes between Israeli Arabs and police, more Arabs would have been killed.

6 june 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)

By Jack Khoury

MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz ) yesterday asked the attorney general to weigh in on whether Upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gapso should be allowed to remain in office in light of remarks he made to a local Arabic-language weekly. Gapso told the paper that if he had been present during the October 2000 clashes between Israeli Arabs and police, more Arabs would have been killed.

He also said his city would never become a mixed Arab-Jewish city, although 16 percent of its residents were Arab, and that a mosque would never go up in his city.
"The picture emerges of a mayor in Israel leading racist policies in broad daylight, who does not hesitate to intentionally harm the most basic rights of citizens dependent on him for education and religious services," Gal-On wrote to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

She reminded Weinstein that in 2008, his predecessor, Menachem Mazuz, had disqualified the mayor of Ramle, Yoel Lavi, as a candidate for head of the Israel Lands Administration for making racist remarks against Ramle's Arab population.

Arab lawmakers also called for Gapso's dismissal, with MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al ) commenting that Gapso's statements "proved why we are unwilling to accept the definition [of Israel] as a Jewish state."

MK Afou Agbaria (Hadash ), who heads the Knesset anti-racism caucus, said racism was spreading from cabinet ministers to mayors.

Mohammad Darawshe, co-executive director of the coexistence organization the Abraham Fund, said: "To speak in military terms about Arab citizens is the antithesis of neighborliness and mutual respect."

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Court rules water a basic human right

The state of Israel anchors modern slavery in its laws

17 May 2011, Kav LaOved קו לעובד (Worker's Hotline) http://www.kavlaoved.org.il (Israel)

by: Yuval Goren

Human rights NGOs strongly oppose the passage of a law in the Israeli Parliament stating that the Minister of Interior can restrict the transition of migrant caregivers between employers and even restrict their work to a specific geographical region.

The law that was approved yesterday in a majority of 26 supporters against 6 opponents has received the title: “the binding law”, as enforcing this law is expected to bind migrant caregivers to a single employer even if the worker requires a change of employer for any reason whatsoever.

The NGOs mentioned yesterday that the failed High Court of Justice scrutiny in an appeal that was submitted regarding a similar policy five years ago. The Court stated that this harsh law badly hurt migrant caregivers as well as their elderly and disabled employers

“Work immigrants will become slaves with no rights”

Attorney Oded Feler from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said yesterday that “almost 150 years after the US abolished slavery, the state of Israel is going to embrace it in its laws. A law that binds migrant workers to their employers and makes it difficult for them to change employers will turn migrant workers into slaves with no rights. The result will be abuse and exploitation of migrant workers and the creation of a legal system that is nothing but an open invitation to cruel exploitation”.

According to Prof. Zvi Bentwich, CEO of Physicians for Human Rights: “This amendment to the law opens a door that can lead tens of thousands of migrant workers into slavery. The state of Israel thus officially joins the grim club of states that anchor modern slavery in their laws and treat migrant workers as if they were mere instruments, with no needs or freedom.”

According to the Knesset member Zehava Galon (Meretz): “This amendment is dangerous for us as a society. It facilitates modern slavery. Approving this bill means approving binding migrant workers and abusing women who come here to make a living through hard work. This law denies those women their right to choose”

Attorney Hanny Ben Israel from Kav LaOved said that “this law will prevent caregivers from escaping conditions of abusive employment. It binds migrant workers to their employers, abuses their economical distress, and expands the violation of their rights. The law violates the most basic rights of migrant workers who are more exposed to violence and sexual abuse from their employers due to the power gap”.

According to Attorney Reut Michaeli, the CEO of Hotline for Migrant Workers: “Just this week we have received a complaint from a Filipina migrant worker who found that her employer put a hidden camera in her bedroom watching her 24 hours a day. Due to the new law this worker and many in her condition will have a hard time leaving their employers, and will have to surrender to their lowest whims”. (Translated by: Tal Croitoru)