4 septembre 2011, Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) http://www.france-palestine.org (France)
Anne Solesne Tavernier
Les importantes manifestations qui se poursuivent en Israël depuis le 6 août posent implicitement la question de l’occupation des territoires.
Derrière la mobilisation des Indignés israéliens pour protester contre la flambée des prix du logement et du coût de la vie en général, se trouve la question du poids des colonies dans l’économie israélienne.
Depuis près de quarante-quatre ans, l’occupation des territoires palestiniens pèse lourd sur le budget de l’État hébreu. Avec des conséquences directes sur le manque de logements abordables. Le gouvernement israélien donne la priorité aux habitants des colonies, conséquence d’une politique qui favorise l’occupation et la poursuite de la colonisation au détriment de la protection des intérêts de la population d’Israël elle-même. Aujourd’hui, un Israélien sur cinq vit sous le seuil de pauvreté. En cinq ans, les prix du logement ont augmenté de 63 %.
Alors que le gouvernement a récemment donné son feu vert à la construction de nouveaux logements dans les colonies de Cisjordanie, la construction d’habitations en Israël demeure très insuffisante.
Selon le mouvement La Paix maintenant, le gouvernement israélien utiliserait près de 15 % de son budget « construction publique » pour la poursuite de la colonisation en Cisjordanie, bien que cette dernière n’abrite que 4 % des citoyens israéliens.
Israël dépenserait deux fois plus pour un colon que pour n’importe quel autre Israélien. En outre, pour encourager toujours plus de Juifs à s’installer dans les colonies, l’État distribue des subventions pour la construction et l’achat de logements. Les colons bénéficient en masse de services quasi gratuits, de prêts à taux préférentiels, et des nombreux investissements gouvernementaux dans les secteurs de l’éducation ou de l’assurance-maladie… Secteurs pour lesquels les Indignés réclament justement plus de ressources publiques.
Selon La Paix maintenant, si l’on additionne le coût de la construction, de la protection et du maintien des colonies avec celui que représente chaque colon pour l’État israélien, on aboutirait à un total de près d’un milliard de dollars par an. Le coût annuel du maintien du contrôle sur les territoires palestiniens représenterait plus de 700 millions de dollars.
Au total, ce sont 17 milliards de dollars qui seraient passés dans la colonisation des territoires palestiniens depuis le début, en 1967, sans compter les dépenses liées aux ressources militaires déployées pour protéger les colonies.
Dans la proposition pour le budget 2011, le ministère de la Défense prévoit d’allouer la somme de 238,435 millions de shekels (environ 65,757 millions de dollars) à la coordination de différentes activités dans les Territoires occupés, et 790 millions (environ 217,871 millions de dollars) pour la poursuite de la construction et la maintenance du mur de séparation (chiffres La Paix maintenant).
La question du budget de la Défense est également soulevée par les manifestants. Il pèse environ 13 milliards de dollars, soit 7 % du PIB, et représente 20 % du budget de l’État ! Certes, le coût de la colonisation n’est pas directement abordé par les Indignés, par crainte de diviser leur mouvement. Celui-ci réunit Juifs et Arabes israéliens, et veut rester en dehors de la politique et des clivages gauche/droite, ou anti/pro-colonisation.
Ces manifestations permettent toutefois aux Arabes israéliens de faire entendre leurs revendications. Représentant 20 % de la population (1,2 million d’habitants), ils demeurent toujours à la périphérie de la société : 45 % d’entre eux se trouvent sous le seuil de la pauvreté, leur niveau d’éducation est très faible, leur taux de chômage extrêmement élevé.
Ce sont quelques tabous de la société israélienne qui sont peu à peu portés sur la place publique. Aujourd’hui implicitement. Et demain ?
1 septembre
Publié par Politis http://www.politis.fr/Le-prix-de-la...
Mostrando postagens com marcador shekel. Mostrar todas as postagens
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terça-feira, 6 de setembro de 2011
domingo, 7 de agosto de 2011
LOS COLONOS Y EL GASTO MILITAR, EN EL PUNTO DE MIRA DE LOS ACAMPADOS ISRAELÍES
4 Agosto 2011, Alternative Information Center (AIC) המרכז לאינפורמציה אלטרנטיבית
http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)
Francesc Cabré Sánchez
Lo que empezó como una protesta contra el precio de la vivienda, ya cuestiona el modelo económico del gobierno de Netanyahu y sus planes urbanísticos en los asentamientos. Los manifestantes olvidan, de momento, la ocupación de Palestina.
Las crecientes protestas sociales que se han extendido por todo Israel han descolocado al primer ministro hebreo, Benjamin Netanyahu. En un primer momento, el político derechista intentó parar el movimiento que surgió en Tel Aviv el 14 de julio –para denunciar el encarecimiento de la vida en Israel y, especialmente, del precio de la vivienda- con una serie de medidas que no han convencido a los acampados. Viendo que las protestas aumentaban, el también líder del Likud ha anunciado que una comisión del gobierno estudiará a fondo el problema para buscar soluciones, pero Bibi se ha negado a reunirse con los líderes del movimiento y ya ha entrado en la fase de las descalificaciones, asegurando que los acampados están siendo instrumentalizados por los partidos de la oposición y que sólo buscan hacerle caer.
La protesta ha ido ganando apoyos y progresivamente está empezando a cuestionar el modelo económico ultraliberal que rige en Israel y, esto es más novedoso, la enorme cantidad de recursos públicos que se dedican a Defensa. Netanyahu y compañía son unos firmes defensores del libre mercado, pero olvidan que sus políticas están provocando que la distancia entre ricos y pobres sea cada vez mayor y que Israel se esté convirtiendo en el país desarrollado con mayores diferencias sociales.
Ehud es un joven maestro de 27 años acampado en el bulevard Rotschild de Tel Aviv y confiesa que con su salario de unos 5.000 shekels mensuales no podría llegar a final de mes si no fuera por la ayuda de sus padres. "Tenemos que cambiar el sistema económico y dejar de querer parecernos a los Estados Unidos. Tendríamos que copiar el modelo del norte de Europa, pagando más impuestos si cabe pero recibiendo mejores servicios públicos", apunta Ehud, quien añade que no se cree al primer ministro "porque siempre miente" y sólo "se preocupa por los ricos y los colonos".
Críticas a los colonos
Cerca del maestro, también está acampado Yuri Bassons, un hombre divorciado de unos 40 años, que también apuesta por copiar el modelo escandinavo y huir del sistema actual, que beneficia a las grandes empresas y a los millonarios, pero que también destruye la clase media israelí. Yuri comenta que los planes urbanísticos de los últimos años sólo han servido para construir "edificios de lujo, que casi nadie puede comprar, o viviendas para colonos o ultraortodoxos". En este sentido, critica el poder que partidos religiosos, como el Shas, tienen en la coalición de gobierno que comanda Netanyahu.
A pesar de que de momento la ocupación de Palestina y sus costes para el erario público no se están cuestionando, los colonos sí que están en el punto de mira de los manifestantes. En este sentido, varios intelectuales progresistas han subrayado que mientras los habitantes de Tel Aviv u otras ciudades dentro de las fronteras reconocidas del estado de Israel no pueden comprar ni alquilar una vivienda a un precio asequible, en los asentamientos –que violan la ley internacional- en territorio palestino los colonos reciben casas altamente subvencionadas, a pesar de que su presencia allí también dispara los gastos militares hebreos.
Las peticiones para rebajar el gasto militar israelí ya han recibido duras críticas por parte de los máximos responsables del ejército, que han alertado que si se llevara a cabo se pondría en peligro la seguridad del estado. Con todo, parece claro que cada vez hay más ciudadanos que ya no aceptan los recortes sociales mientras el gasto militar crece año tras año y su calidad de vida empeora sin parar. A pesar de que las referencias a la Primavera Árabe son constantes en el campamento de Tel Aviv, pocos creen que Israel esté viviendo una revolución. En todo caso, como comenta Yuri Bassons se está produciendo una "llamada de auxilio" que, poco a poco, está provocando que más personas se cuestionen la política económica del gobierno, los gastos militares y los beneficios de los colonos. Y todo esto, molesta y mucho a Netanyahu.
http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)
Francesc Cabré Sánchez
Lo que empezó como una protesta contra el precio de la vivienda, ya cuestiona el modelo económico del gobierno de Netanyahu y sus planes urbanísticos en los asentamientos. Los manifestantes olvidan, de momento, la ocupación de Palestina.
Las crecientes protestas sociales que se han extendido por todo Israel han descolocado al primer ministro hebreo, Benjamin Netanyahu. En un primer momento, el político derechista intentó parar el movimiento que surgió en Tel Aviv el 14 de julio –para denunciar el encarecimiento de la vida en Israel y, especialmente, del precio de la vivienda- con una serie de medidas que no han convencido a los acampados. Viendo que las protestas aumentaban, el también líder del Likud ha anunciado que una comisión del gobierno estudiará a fondo el problema para buscar soluciones, pero Bibi se ha negado a reunirse con los líderes del movimiento y ya ha entrado en la fase de las descalificaciones, asegurando que los acampados están siendo instrumentalizados por los partidos de la oposición y que sólo buscan hacerle caer.
La protesta ha ido ganando apoyos y progresivamente está empezando a cuestionar el modelo económico ultraliberal que rige en Israel y, esto es más novedoso, la enorme cantidad de recursos públicos que se dedican a Defensa. Netanyahu y compañía son unos firmes defensores del libre mercado, pero olvidan que sus políticas están provocando que la distancia entre ricos y pobres sea cada vez mayor y que Israel se esté convirtiendo en el país desarrollado con mayores diferencias sociales.
Ehud es un joven maestro de 27 años acampado en el bulevard Rotschild de Tel Aviv y confiesa que con su salario de unos 5.000 shekels mensuales no podría llegar a final de mes si no fuera por la ayuda de sus padres. "Tenemos que cambiar el sistema económico y dejar de querer parecernos a los Estados Unidos. Tendríamos que copiar el modelo del norte de Europa, pagando más impuestos si cabe pero recibiendo mejores servicios públicos", apunta Ehud, quien añade que no se cree al primer ministro "porque siempre miente" y sólo "se preocupa por los ricos y los colonos".
Críticas a los colonos
Cerca del maestro, también está acampado Yuri Bassons, un hombre divorciado de unos 40 años, que también apuesta por copiar el modelo escandinavo y huir del sistema actual, que beneficia a las grandes empresas y a los millonarios, pero que también destruye la clase media israelí. Yuri comenta que los planes urbanísticos de los últimos años sólo han servido para construir "edificios de lujo, que casi nadie puede comprar, o viviendas para colonos o ultraortodoxos". En este sentido, critica el poder que partidos religiosos, como el Shas, tienen en la coalición de gobierno que comanda Netanyahu.
A pesar de que de momento la ocupación de Palestina y sus costes para el erario público no se están cuestionando, los colonos sí que están en el punto de mira de los manifestantes. En este sentido, varios intelectuales progresistas han subrayado que mientras los habitantes de Tel Aviv u otras ciudades dentro de las fronteras reconocidas del estado de Israel no pueden comprar ni alquilar una vivienda a un precio asequible, en los asentamientos –que violan la ley internacional- en territorio palestino los colonos reciben casas altamente subvencionadas, a pesar de que su presencia allí también dispara los gastos militares hebreos.
Las peticiones para rebajar el gasto militar israelí ya han recibido duras críticas por parte de los máximos responsables del ejército, que han alertado que si se llevara a cabo se pondría en peligro la seguridad del estado. Con todo, parece claro que cada vez hay más ciudadanos que ya no aceptan los recortes sociales mientras el gasto militar crece año tras año y su calidad de vida empeora sin parar. A pesar de que las referencias a la Primavera Árabe son constantes en el campamento de Tel Aviv, pocos creen que Israel esté viviendo una revolución. En todo caso, como comenta Yuri Bassons se está produciendo una "llamada de auxilio" que, poco a poco, está provocando que más personas se cuestionen la política económica del gobierno, los gastos militares y los beneficios de los colonos. Y todo esto, molesta y mucho a Netanyahu.
terça-feira, 19 de julho de 2011
ISRAEL ON ROAD TO ABANDONING RULE OF LAW
15 July 2011, Jews for Justice for Palestinians http://jfjfp.com (Britain)
Neve Gordon argues that the adoption by the Israeli parliament of a law criminalizing calls for the boycott of Israel or the illegal Jewish settlements, and the expected passage of laws targeting human rights organizations, are precursors to the real prize for Israel’s MPs: crippling the High Court of Justice by making it impossible for judges to cancel unconstitutional laws.
By Neve Gordon
Political change is slow. One doesn’t go to sleep in a democracy and wake up in a fascist regime. The citizens of Egypt and Tunisia can attest to the fact that the opposite is also true: dictatorship does not become democracy overnight.
Any political change of such magnitude is the result of a lot of hard work and is always incremental, indicating that there really is no single historical event that one can claim as the moment of conversion.
There are, however, significant events that serve as historical milestones.
The suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, who doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permits, will be remembered as the spark that ignited the Tunisian revolution, and perhaps even the regional social uprisings now called the Arab Awakening.
Similarly, the massive gatherings in Cairo’s Tahrir Square will probably be seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back, setting in motion a slow process of Egyptian democratization.
In Israel, it might very well be that the Boycott Bill, which the Knesset approved by a vote of 47 to 38, will also be remembered as a historic landmark.
Ironically, the bill itself is likely to be inconsequential. It stipulates that any person who initiates, promotes or publishes material that might serve as grounds for imposing a boycott on Israel or the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is committing an offence. If found “guilty” of such an offence, that person may be ordered to compensate parties economically affected by the boycott, including reparations of 30,000 Israeli shekels (8,700 US dollars) without an obligation on the part of the plaintiffs to prove damages.
The bill’s objective is to defend Israel’s settlement project and other policies that contravene international human rights law against non-violent mobilisation aimed at putting an end to these policies.
The Knesset’s legal advisor, Eyal Yinon, said that the bill “damages the core of Israel’s freedom of political expression” and that it would be difficult for him to defend the law in the High Court of Justice since it contradicts Israel’s basic law of “Human Dignity and Liberty”.Given Yinon’s statement, and the fact that Israeli rights organizations have already filed a petition to the High Court arguing that the bill is anti-democratic,there is a good chance that the Boycott Bill’s life will be extremely short.
And yet this law should still be considered as a turning point. Not because of what the bill does, but because of what it represents.
After hours of debate in the Israeli Knesset, the choice was clear. On one side was Israel’s settlement project and rights-abusive policies, and on the other side was freedom of speech, a basic pillar of democracy. The fact that the majority of Israel’s legislators decided to support the bill plainly demonstrates that they are willing to demolish Israeli democracy for the sake of holding onto the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The onslaught on democracy has been incremental. The Boycott Bill was merely a defining moment, preceded by the Nakba and Acceptance Committee laws, and will likely be followed by the passing of a batch of laws aimed at destroying Israeli human rights organizations. These laws will be voted upon in the coming months, and, given the composition of the Israeli Knesset, it is extremely likely that all of them will pass.
Israeli legislators realize, though, that in order to quash all internal resistance, the destruction of the rights groups will not be enough. Their ultimate target is the High Court of Justice, the only institution that still has the power and authority to defend democratic practices.
Their strategy, it appears, is to wait until the court annuls the new laws and then to use the public’s dismay with the court’s decisions to limit the court’s authority through legislation, thus making it impossible for judges to cancel unconstitutional laws. Once the High Court’s authority is severely curtailed, the road will be paved for right-wing Knesset members to do as they wish. The process leading to the demise of Israeli democracy may be slow, but the direction in which the country is going is perfectly clear.
A version of this article was originally published on Al Jazeera website. The version here is published by permission of Neve Gordon.
Neve Gordon argues that the adoption by the Israeli parliament of a law criminalizing calls for the boycott of Israel or the illegal Jewish settlements, and the expected passage of laws targeting human rights organizations, are precursors to the real prize for Israel’s MPs: crippling the High Court of Justice by making it impossible for judges to cancel unconstitutional laws.
By Neve Gordon
Political change is slow. One doesn’t go to sleep in a democracy and wake up in a fascist regime. The citizens of Egypt and Tunisia can attest to the fact that the opposite is also true: dictatorship does not become democracy overnight.
Any political change of such magnitude is the result of a lot of hard work and is always incremental, indicating that there really is no single historical event that one can claim as the moment of conversion.
There are, however, significant events that serve as historical milestones.
The suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, who doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permits, will be remembered as the spark that ignited the Tunisian revolution, and perhaps even the regional social uprisings now called the Arab Awakening.
Similarly, the massive gatherings in Cairo’s Tahrir Square will probably be seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back, setting in motion a slow process of Egyptian democratization.
In Israel, it might very well be that the Boycott Bill, which the Knesset approved by a vote of 47 to 38, will also be remembered as a historic landmark.
Ironically, the bill itself is likely to be inconsequential. It stipulates that any person who initiates, promotes or publishes material that might serve as grounds for imposing a boycott on Israel or the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is committing an offence. If found “guilty” of such an offence, that person may be ordered to compensate parties economically affected by the boycott, including reparations of 30,000 Israeli shekels (8,700 US dollars) without an obligation on the part of the plaintiffs to prove damages.
The bill’s objective is to defend Israel’s settlement project and other policies that contravene international human rights law against non-violent mobilisation aimed at putting an end to these policies.
The Knesset’s legal advisor, Eyal Yinon, said that the bill “damages the core of Israel’s freedom of political expression” and that it would be difficult for him to defend the law in the High Court of Justice since it contradicts Israel’s basic law of “Human Dignity and Liberty”.Given Yinon’s statement, and the fact that Israeli rights organizations have already filed a petition to the High Court arguing that the bill is anti-democratic,there is a good chance that the Boycott Bill’s life will be extremely short.
And yet this law should still be considered as a turning point. Not because of what the bill does, but because of what it represents.
After hours of debate in the Israeli Knesset, the choice was clear. On one side was Israel’s settlement project and rights-abusive policies, and on the other side was freedom of speech, a basic pillar of democracy. The fact that the majority of Israel’s legislators decided to support the bill plainly demonstrates that they are willing to demolish Israeli democracy for the sake of holding onto the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The onslaught on democracy has been incremental. The Boycott Bill was merely a defining moment, preceded by the Nakba and Acceptance Committee laws, and will likely be followed by the passing of a batch of laws aimed at destroying Israeli human rights organizations. These laws will be voted upon in the coming months, and, given the composition of the Israeli Knesset, it is extremely likely that all of them will pass.
Israeli legislators realize, though, that in order to quash all internal resistance, the destruction of the rights groups will not be enough. Their ultimate target is the High Court of Justice, the only institution that still has the power and authority to defend democratic practices.
Their strategy, it appears, is to wait until the court annuls the new laws and then to use the public’s dismay with the court’s decisions to limit the court’s authority through legislation, thus making it impossible for judges to cancel unconstitutional laws. Once the High Court’s authority is severely curtailed, the road will be paved for right-wing Knesset members to do as they wish. The process leading to the demise of Israeli democracy may be slow, but the direction in which the country is going is perfectly clear.
A version of this article was originally published on Al Jazeera website. The version here is published by permission of Neve Gordon.
quinta-feira, 7 de julho de 2011
ISRAEL’S MESSAGE: HATE THY PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
Where Israel is concerned, a democracy that cannot bring itself to allow non-violent protest has already turned on itself.
7 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Bradley Burston
This weekend in synagogues the world over, Jews will be reading the story of Balak. In Israel, this will also be Shabbat Mashat, the Sabbath of the Pro-Palestinian Flightilla.
As luck would have it, both stories are about occupation. And about hatred.
The Biblical narrative (Numbers 22:2 – 25:9) begins just after the Children of Israel, en route to the Promised Land from Egypt, have won sweeping military victories and occupied the towns and territories of kingdom after kingdom.
Moab, east of the Jordan River, opposite the West Bank town of Jericho, is next in the path of Moses and his people. Moab's king, Balak, outnumbered and terrified, sends for Bilaam, a highly recommended hired-gun diviner from the East. Per Balak’s order, Bilaam rides in, and tries over and over to curse the Israelites and cause them to be defeated.
In a peculiarly cinematic series of scenes, however, Bilaam is repeatedly blocked from doing so, by an angel armed with a drawn sword, by his own (now-talking) donkey, and by the Lord Himself. In the end, Bilaam's attempts at damning Balak's enemies turn to blessings, among them the Ma Tovu prayer, prominent in Jewish liturgy to this day, giving voice to wonder and reverence for synagogues and other places of worship.
Time and Jewish tradition have not been kind to Bilaam, who became a prototype of the non-Jew responsible for all of our problems - including those which, as a consequence of occupation, are to a great extent self-inflicted.
In the best tradition of the worst Israeli hasbara, American-Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Berel Wein, spins the hapless but poetic Bilaam as a terrorist, Balak as an arch-terrorist – and, for good measure, throws in human rights activists as accomplices to terror homicide:
"It is not the suicide bomber – Bilaam – that is the only guilty party in terrorist attacks. It is the Balaks who send them and support them, that are certainly equally as guilty.”
"The pious human rights organizations that promote only hatred and violence under the guise of doing good deeds are also responsible for the loss of the precious lives of innocents caused by those whom they so nurture and support."
What Rabbi Wein fails to mention is that the real threat to the Israelites in the story of Balak comes from the actions of the Israelites themselves. After Bilaam gives up and goes home, God is enraged by the Israelites' immorality and idol worship, and lets loose a plague which kills 24,000 of the Israelites. (Later rabbis frame Bilaam for the killings).
In Israel, meanwhile, officials have been working overtime doing no little framing of their own. As pro-Palestinian activists, reportedly ranging in age from nine to 89, prepared to fly into Ben-Gurion Airport to demonstrate against the embargo on Gaza and the occupation, curses took wing from the diviners of hasbara.
The Prime Minister's Office issued a press release calling the the arrival of the activists an attempt "to undermine Israel's right to exist." It was, they said, part of a broader effort to breach Israel's "borders and its sovereignty, by sea, land and air."
Lest there be any doubt as to the severity of the threat, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Ahronowitz "These hooligans who seek to break the law and disturb the peace will not be allowed into Israel."
The activists' aim, Ahronowitz told reporters, was nothing less than "attacking our legitimacy in our own land." He ruled out demonstrations by the activists as illegal.
For months now, Israeli officials have described the participants of the flotilla campaign as terrorists, more recently (although with a subsequent Bilaam-like reversal) telling foreign media that the activists were planning to use "chemical weaponry," stockpiling sulfur to dump on Israeli security forces and set them alight.
The parallels to Bilaam don't end there. On Thursday, one of the organizers of the pro-Palestinian protest told Ynet that without Israel's exhaustive, high-profile efforts to condemn and curse the activists' fly-in, the campaign would never have gotten off the ground.
"We should be thanking Netanyahu, because without him, this wouldn’t have worked," the organizer said. "If we would have paid thousands of shekels in PR, it would not have worked out so well."
For those of us who live in Israel, perhaps the most useful section of the week's Torah portion is a part that barely makes it into the text. At the very close, occupation has led Moses' people to worship idols (which we, the contemporary Children of Israel, have repurposed as settlements), as well as to corruption, and immoral behavior.
The message from the government, meanwhile, remains, Hate Thy Pro-Palestinian Activist. It's certainly true that many if not most of the activists hate Israel at least as much as Israel hates them. But, as King Balak learned to his dismay, hatred and fear, as practiced by nations, have a tendency to boomerang.
Where Israel is concerned, a democracy that cannot bring itself to allow non-violent protest has already turned on itself.
Stay tuned. Within a few hours, we should learn who plays Bilaam in this version, who plays Balak, and, most tellingly perhaps, who plays the ass.
7 july 2011, Haaretz הארץ (Israel)
By Bradley Burston
This weekend in synagogues the world over, Jews will be reading the story of Balak. In Israel, this will also be Shabbat Mashat, the Sabbath of the Pro-Palestinian Flightilla.
As luck would have it, both stories are about occupation. And about hatred.
The Biblical narrative (Numbers 22:2 – 25:9) begins just after the Children of Israel, en route to the Promised Land from Egypt, have won sweeping military victories and occupied the towns and territories of kingdom after kingdom.
Moab, east of the Jordan River, opposite the West Bank town of Jericho, is next in the path of Moses and his people. Moab's king, Balak, outnumbered and terrified, sends for Bilaam, a highly recommended hired-gun diviner from the East. Per Balak’s order, Bilaam rides in, and tries over and over to curse the Israelites and cause them to be defeated.
In a peculiarly cinematic series of scenes, however, Bilaam is repeatedly blocked from doing so, by an angel armed with a drawn sword, by his own (now-talking) donkey, and by the Lord Himself. In the end, Bilaam's attempts at damning Balak's enemies turn to blessings, among them the Ma Tovu prayer, prominent in Jewish liturgy to this day, giving voice to wonder and reverence for synagogues and other places of worship.
Time and Jewish tradition have not been kind to Bilaam, who became a prototype of the non-Jew responsible for all of our problems - including those which, as a consequence of occupation, are to a great extent self-inflicted.
In the best tradition of the worst Israeli hasbara, American-Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Berel Wein, spins the hapless but poetic Bilaam as a terrorist, Balak as an arch-terrorist – and, for good measure, throws in human rights activists as accomplices to terror homicide:
"It is not the suicide bomber – Bilaam – that is the only guilty party in terrorist attacks. It is the Balaks who send them and support them, that are certainly equally as guilty.”
"The pious human rights organizations that promote only hatred and violence under the guise of doing good deeds are also responsible for the loss of the precious lives of innocents caused by those whom they so nurture and support."
What Rabbi Wein fails to mention is that the real threat to the Israelites in the story of Balak comes from the actions of the Israelites themselves. After Bilaam gives up and goes home, God is enraged by the Israelites' immorality and idol worship, and lets loose a plague which kills 24,000 of the Israelites. (Later rabbis frame Bilaam for the killings).
In Israel, meanwhile, officials have been working overtime doing no little framing of their own. As pro-Palestinian activists, reportedly ranging in age from nine to 89, prepared to fly into Ben-Gurion Airport to demonstrate against the embargo on Gaza and the occupation, curses took wing from the diviners of hasbara.
The Prime Minister's Office issued a press release calling the the arrival of the activists an attempt "to undermine Israel's right to exist." It was, they said, part of a broader effort to breach Israel's "borders and its sovereignty, by sea, land and air."
Lest there be any doubt as to the severity of the threat, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Ahronowitz "These hooligans who seek to break the law and disturb the peace will not be allowed into Israel."
The activists' aim, Ahronowitz told reporters, was nothing less than "attacking our legitimacy in our own land." He ruled out demonstrations by the activists as illegal.
For months now, Israeli officials have described the participants of the flotilla campaign as terrorists, more recently (although with a subsequent Bilaam-like reversal) telling foreign media that the activists were planning to use "chemical weaponry," stockpiling sulfur to dump on Israeli security forces and set them alight.
The parallels to Bilaam don't end there. On Thursday, one of the organizers of the pro-Palestinian protest told Ynet that without Israel's exhaustive, high-profile efforts to condemn and curse the activists' fly-in, the campaign would never have gotten off the ground.
"We should be thanking Netanyahu, because without him, this wouldn’t have worked," the organizer said. "If we would have paid thousands of shekels in PR, it would not have worked out so well."
For those of us who live in Israel, perhaps the most useful section of the week's Torah portion is a part that barely makes it into the text. At the very close, occupation has led Moses' people to worship idols (which we, the contemporary Children of Israel, have repurposed as settlements), as well as to corruption, and immoral behavior.
The message from the government, meanwhile, remains, Hate Thy Pro-Palestinian Activist. It's certainly true that many if not most of the activists hate Israel at least as much as Israel hates them. But, as King Balak learned to his dismay, hatred and fear, as practiced by nations, have a tendency to boomerang.
Where Israel is concerned, a democracy that cannot bring itself to allow non-violent protest has already turned on itself.
Stay tuned. Within a few hours, we should learn who plays Bilaam in this version, who plays Balak, and, most tellingly perhaps, who plays the ass.
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