"I think that the main
lesson to be learned
from the Holocaust is
'never again to anybody'
not 'never again to the
Jews.'"
Boycotting
Israel ... from
within
Israelis explain why they
joined the Boycott
Divestment Sanctions
movement.
Mya Guarnieri
Aljazeera
26 Mar 2011
...'Israel's mask of
democracy'
Leehee Rothschild, 26,
is one of the scores of
Israelis who have
answered the 2005
Palestinian call for
BDS. Recently her Tel
Aviv apartment was
raided. While the
police did this under
the pretense of
searching for drugs,
she was taken to the
station for a brief
interrogation that
focused entirely on
politics.
"The person who came
to release me [from
interrogation] was an
intelligence officer who
said that he is in charge
of monitoring political
activity in the Tel Aviv
area," Rothschild says. It
was this officer who had
requested the search
warrant.
Since Operation Cast
Lead, Israeli activists
have reported increasing
pressure from the police
as well as General
Security Services -
known by their Hebrew
acronym, Shabak.
The latter's mandate
includes, among other
things, the goal of
maintaining Israel as a
Jewish state, making
those who advocate for
democracy a target.
House raids, such as the
one Rothschild was
subjected to, are not
uncommon, nor are
phone calls from the
Shabak.
"Obviously [the pressure]
is nothing compared to
what Palestinians are
going through,"
Rothschild says. "But I
think we're touching a
nerve."
When asked about the
proposed Boycott Law,
Rothschild comments: "If
the bill goes through, it
will peel off, a little more,
Israel's mask of
democracy."
Tough love
As for her involvement in
BDS, Rothschild remarks
that she was not aware
of the movement until it
became a serious topic
of discussion within
Israel's radical left, which
she was already active
in. And even after she
heard about it, she did
not jump onboard right
away.
"I had reservations about
[BDS]," Rothschild
recalls. "I thought about it
for a very long time and I
debated it with myself
and my friends.
"The main reservation I
had was that the
economic [aspects]
would first harm the weak
people in the society -
the poor people - the
people who have the
least effect on what's
going on. But I think that
the occupation is
harming these people
much more than the
divestments can."
Rothschild points out that
state funds that are
poured into "security and
defence and oppressing
the Palestinian people"
could be better used in
Israel to help those in the
low socioeconomic strata.
"Another reservation I
have had is that it might
make the Israeli public
more extremist, more
fundamentalist,"
Rothschild adds. "But I
have to say that the road
it has to go to be more
extreme is very short right
now."
As an Israeli, Rothschild
considers joining the
BDS movement to be an
act of caring. It is tough
love for the country she
was born and raised in.
"I hope that, for some
people, it will be a slap in
their face and they will
wake up and see what's
going on," Rothschild
says, adding that the
oppressor is oppressed,
as well.
"The Israeli people are
also oppressed by the
occupation - they are
living inside a society
that is militant; that is
violent; that is racist."
'Renouncing my
privileges'
Ronnie Barkan, 34,
explains that he took
his first step towards
the boycott 15 years
ago, when he refused
to complete his
mandatory military
service.
"There's a lot of social
pressure [in Israel],"
Barkan says. "We're
raised to be soldiers from
kindergarten. We're
taught that it's our duty
[to serve in the army]
and you're a parasite or
traitor if you don't want to
serve."
"What is even worse is
that people are raised to
be deeply racist," he
adds. "Everything is
targeted at supporting
[Jewish] privilege as the
masters of the land.
Supporting BDS means
renouncing my privileges
in this land and insisting
on equality for all."
Barkan likens his joining
of the boycott movement
to the "whites who
denounced their
apartheid privileges and
joined the black struggle
in South Africa".
When I cringe at the
"a-word," apartheid,
Barkan counters: "Israel
clearly falls under the
legal definition of the
'crime of apartheid' as
defined in the Rome
Statute."
'Never again to anybody'
Some oppose BDS
because it includes
recognition of the
Palestinian right of
return. These critics say
that the demographic
shift would impinge on
Jewish
self-determination. But
Barkan argues that "the
underlying foundation [of
the movement] is
universally recognised
human rights and
international law".
He emphasises that BDS
respects human rights
for both Palestinians and
Jews and includes
proponents of a
bi-national, democratic
state as well as those
who believe a two-state
solution is the best
answer to the conflict.
He also stresses that
BDS is not anti-Semitic.
Nor is it anti-Israeli.
"The boycott campaign is
not targeting Israelis; it is
targeting the criminal
policies of Israel and the
institutions that are
complicit, not
individuals," he says.
"So let's say an Israeli
academic or musician
goes abroad and he is
turned away from a
conference or a venue
just because he's Israeli
... " I begin to ask.
"No, no, this doesn't fall
under the [boycott
guidelines]," Barkan says.
"Because that's not a
boycott. It's racism," I say.
"Exactly," Barkan
responds, adding that the
Palestinian call for BDS is
"a very responsible call"
that "makes a
differentiation between
institutions and individuals
and it is clearly a boycott
of criminal institutions and
their representatives".
"Whenever there is a
grey area," he adds, "we
take the gentler
approach."
Still, Barkan has faced
criticism for his role in the
boycott movement.
"My grandmother who
went to Auschwitz tells
me, 'You can think
whatever you want but
don't speak up about
your politics because it's
not nice,' I tell her, 'You
know who didn't speak
up 70 years ago.'"
Barkan adds: "I think
that the main lesson to
be learned from the
Holocaust is 'never
again to anybody' not
'never again to the
Jews.'"
lesson to be learned
from the Holocaust is
'never again to anybody'
not 'never again to the
Jews.'"
Boycotting
Israel ... from
within
Israelis explain why they
joined the Boycott
Divestment Sanctions
movement.
Mya Guarnieri
Aljazeera
26 Mar 2011
...'Israel's mask of
democracy'
Leehee Rothschild, 26,
is one of the scores of
Israelis who have
answered the 2005
Palestinian call for
BDS. Recently her Tel
Aviv apartment was
raided. While the
police did this under
the pretense of
searching for drugs,
she was taken to the
station for a brief
interrogation that
focused entirely on
politics.
"The person who came
to release me [from
interrogation] was an
intelligence officer who
said that he is in charge
of monitoring political
activity in the Tel Aviv
area," Rothschild says. It
was this officer who had
requested the search
warrant.
Since Operation Cast
Lead, Israeli activists
have reported increasing
pressure from the police
as well as General
Security Services -
known by their Hebrew
acronym, Shabak.
The latter's mandate
includes, among other
things, the goal of
maintaining Israel as a
Jewish state, making
those who advocate for
democracy a target.
House raids, such as the
one Rothschild was
subjected to, are not
uncommon, nor are
phone calls from the
Shabak.
"Obviously [the pressure]
is nothing compared to
what Palestinians are
going through,"
Rothschild says. "But I
think we're touching a
nerve."
When asked about the
proposed Boycott Law,
Rothschild comments: "If
the bill goes through, it
will peel off, a little more,
Israel's mask of
democracy."
Tough love
As for her involvement in
BDS, Rothschild remarks
that she was not aware
of the movement until it
became a serious topic
of discussion within
Israel's radical left, which
she was already active
in. And even after she
heard about it, she did
not jump onboard right
away.
"I had reservations about
[BDS]," Rothschild
recalls. "I thought about it
for a very long time and I
debated it with myself
and my friends.
"The main reservation I
had was that the
economic [aspects]
would first harm the weak
people in the society -
the poor people - the
people who have the
least effect on what's
going on. But I think that
the occupation is
harming these people
much more than the
divestments can."
Rothschild points out that
state funds that are
poured into "security and
defence and oppressing
the Palestinian people"
could be better used in
Israel to help those in the
low socioeconomic strata.
"Another reservation I
have had is that it might
make the Israeli public
more extremist, more
fundamentalist,"
Rothschild adds. "But I
have to say that the road
it has to go to be more
extreme is very short right
now."
As an Israeli, Rothschild
considers joining the
BDS movement to be an
act of caring. It is tough
love for the country she
was born and raised in.
"I hope that, for some
people, it will be a slap in
their face and they will
wake up and see what's
going on," Rothschild
says, adding that the
oppressor is oppressed,
as well.
"The Israeli people are
also oppressed by the
occupation - they are
living inside a society
that is militant; that is
violent; that is racist."
'Renouncing my
privileges'
Ronnie Barkan, 34,
explains that he took
his first step towards
the boycott 15 years
ago, when he refused
to complete his
mandatory military
service.
"There's a lot of social
pressure [in Israel],"
Barkan says. "We're
raised to be soldiers from
kindergarten. We're
taught that it's our duty
[to serve in the army]
and you're a parasite or
traitor if you don't want to
serve."
"What is even worse is
that people are raised to
be deeply racist," he
adds. "Everything is
targeted at supporting
[Jewish] privilege as the
masters of the land.
Supporting BDS means
renouncing my privileges
in this land and insisting
on equality for all."
Barkan likens his joining
of the boycott movement
to the "whites who
denounced their
apartheid privileges and
joined the black struggle
in South Africa".
When I cringe at the
"a-word," apartheid,
Barkan counters: "Israel
clearly falls under the
legal definition of the
'crime of apartheid' as
defined in the Rome
Statute."
'Never again to anybody'
Some oppose BDS
because it includes
recognition of the
Palestinian right of
return. These critics say
that the demographic
shift would impinge on
Jewish
self-determination. But
Barkan argues that "the
underlying foundation [of
the movement] is
universally recognised
human rights and
international law".
He emphasises that BDS
respects human rights
for both Palestinians and
Jews and includes
proponents of a
bi-national, democratic
state as well as those
who believe a two-state
solution is the best
answer to the conflict.
He also stresses that
BDS is not anti-Semitic.
Nor is it anti-Israeli.
"The boycott campaign is
not targeting Israelis; it is
targeting the criminal
policies of Israel and the
institutions that are
complicit, not
individuals," he says.
"So let's say an Israeli
academic or musician
goes abroad and he is
turned away from a
conference or a venue
just because he's Israeli
... " I begin to ask.
"No, no, this doesn't fall
under the [boycott
guidelines]," Barkan says.
"Because that's not a
boycott. It's racism," I say.
"Exactly," Barkan
responds, adding that the
Palestinian call for BDS is
"a very responsible call"
that "makes a
differentiation between
institutions and individuals
and it is clearly a boycott
of criminal institutions and
their representatives".
"Whenever there is a
grey area," he adds, "we
take the gentler
approach."
Still, Barkan has faced
criticism for his role in the
boycott movement.
"My grandmother who
went to Auschwitz tells
me, 'You can think
whatever you want but
don't speak up about
your politics because it's
not nice,' I tell her, 'You
know who didn't speak
up 70 years ago.'"
Barkan adds: "I think
that the main lesson to
be learned from the
Holocaust is 'never
again to anybody' not
'never again to the
Jews.'"
San Diego
Education Report
Education Report
Why This Website
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz v. Maura
Larkins defamation
SDCOE
CVESD
Castle Park
Elementary School
Law Enforcement
CTA
CVE
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz
Silence is Golden
Schools and Violence
Office Admin Hearings
Larkins OAH Hearing
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz v. Maura
Larkins defamation
SDCOE
CVESD
Castle Park
Elementary School
Law Enforcement
CTA
CVE
Stutz Artiano Shinoff
& Holtz
Silence is Golden
Schools and Violence
Office Admin Hearings
Larkins OAH Hearing
Never Again
What exactly constitutes Anti-Semitism?
Arabs and Jews are Semites.
But in the case of Palestinians, who are descended from Jews who lived in Judea in
Biblical times, it's hard to correctly identify them. It seems that neither term, Arab or
Jew, can be correctly applied to them. One can't help but question how they came
to lose their Jewish label and gain their Arab label. Was it simply by becoming
Muslims that they made the switch from one category to the other? So what exactly
is the definition of an Arab? Or a Jew? Apparently, Arab refers to Semites who are
not Jews. It seems that Arab and Jew simply refer to religious divisions within a
single Semitic people.
But what if a modern Jew converts to Islam? Does he stop being a Jew and start
being an Arab? Of course, Ashkenazi Jews have acquired a hefty amount of
non-Semitic genes during their 2,000 years in Europe. But geneticists can not find
differences between Jews who remained in the Middle East, whatever their current
religion, and their Arab neighbors. For these people, the difference between Arab
and Jew seems to be purely a matter of religion.
Arabs and Jews are Semites.
But in the case of Palestinians, who are descended from Jews who lived in Judea in
Biblical times, it's hard to correctly identify them. It seems that neither term, Arab or
Jew, can be correctly applied to them. One can't help but question how they came
to lose their Jewish label and gain their Arab label. Was it simply by becoming
Muslims that they made the switch from one category to the other? So what exactly
is the definition of an Arab? Or a Jew? Apparently, Arab refers to Semites who are
not Jews. It seems that Arab and Jew simply refer to religious divisions within a
single Semitic people.
But what if a modern Jew converts to Islam? Does he stop being a Jew and start
being an Arab? Of course, Ashkenazi Jews have acquired a hefty amount of
non-Semitic genes during their 2,000 years in Europe. But geneticists can not find
differences between Jews who remained in the Middle East, whatever their current
religion, and their Arab neighbors. For these people, the difference between Arab
and Jew seems to be purely a matter of religion.
Arab v. Arab
In Tunisia, act of one fruit vendor unleashes wave of
revolution through Arab world
By Marc Fisher
Washington Post
March 26, 2011
SIDI BOUZID, TUNISIA — On the evening before Mohammed Bouazizi lit a fire that
would burn across the Arab world, the young fruit vendor told his mother that the
oranges, dates and apples he had to sell were the best he’d ever seen. “With this
fruit,” he said, “I can buy some gifts for you. Tomorrow will be a good day.”
For years, Bouazizi had told his mother stories of corruption at the fruit market,
where vendors gathered under a cluster of ficus trees on the main street of this
scruffy town, not far from Tunisia’s Mediterranean beaches. Arrogant police officers
treated the market as their personal picnic grounds, taking bagfuls of fruit without so
much as a nod toward payment. The cops took visible pleasure in subjecting the
vendors to one indignity after another — fining them, confiscating their scales, even
ordering them to carry their stolen fruit to the cops’ cars.
Before dawn on Friday, Dec. 17, as Bouazizi pulled his cart along the narrow, rutted
stone road toward the market, two police officers blocked his path and tried to take
his fruit. Bouazizi’s uncle rushed to help his 26-year-old nephew, persuading the
officers to let the rugged-looking young man complete his one-mile trek.
The uncle visited the chief of police and asked him for help. The chief called in a
policewoman who had stopped Bouazizi, Fedya Hamdi, and told her to let the boy
work.
Hamdi, outraged by the appeal to her boss, returned to the market. She took a
basket of Bouazizi’s apples and put it in her car. Then she started loading a second
basket. This time, according to Alladin Badri, who worked the next cart over, Bouazizi
tried to block the officer.
“She pushed Mohammed and hit him with her baton,” Badri said.
Hamdi reached for Bouazizi’s scale, and again he tried to stop her.
Hamdi and two other officers pushed Bouazizi to the ground and grabbed the scale.
Then she slapped Bouazizi in the face in front of about 50 witnesses.
Bouazizi wept with shame.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he cried, according to vendors and customers who
were there. “I’m a simple person, and I just want to work.”
Revolutions are explosions of frustration and rage that build over time, sometimes
over decades. Although their political roots are deep, it is often a single spark that
ignites them — an assassination, perhaps, or one selfless act of defiance.
In Tunisia, an unusually cosmopolitan Arab country with a high rate of college
attendance, residents watched for 23 years as Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship
became a grating daily insult. From Tunis — the whitewashed, low-rise capital with a
tropical, colonial feel — to the endless stretches of olive and date trees in the
sparsely populated countryside, the complaints were uniform: It had gotten so you
couldn’t get a job without some connection to Ben Ali’s family or party. The secret
police kept close tabs on ordinary Tunisians. And the uniformed police took to
demanding graft with brazen abandon...
In Tunisia, act of one fruit vendor unleashes wave of
revolution through Arab world
By Marc Fisher
Washington Post
March 26, 2011
SIDI BOUZID, TUNISIA — On the evening before Mohammed Bouazizi lit a fire that
would burn across the Arab world, the young fruit vendor told his mother that the
oranges, dates and apples he had to sell were the best he’d ever seen. “With this
fruit,” he said, “I can buy some gifts for you. Tomorrow will be a good day.”
For years, Bouazizi had told his mother stories of corruption at the fruit market,
where vendors gathered under a cluster of ficus trees on the main street of this
scruffy town, not far from Tunisia’s Mediterranean beaches. Arrogant police officers
treated the market as their personal picnic grounds, taking bagfuls of fruit without so
much as a nod toward payment. The cops took visible pleasure in subjecting the
vendors to one indignity after another — fining them, confiscating their scales, even
ordering them to carry their stolen fruit to the cops’ cars.
Before dawn on Friday, Dec. 17, as Bouazizi pulled his cart along the narrow, rutted
stone road toward the market, two police officers blocked his path and tried to take
his fruit. Bouazizi’s uncle rushed to help his 26-year-old nephew, persuading the
officers to let the rugged-looking young man complete his one-mile trek.
The uncle visited the chief of police and asked him for help. The chief called in a
policewoman who had stopped Bouazizi, Fedya Hamdi, and told her to let the boy
work.
Hamdi, outraged by the appeal to her boss, returned to the market. She took a
basket of Bouazizi’s apples and put it in her car. Then she started loading a second
basket. This time, according to Alladin Badri, who worked the next cart over, Bouazizi
tried to block the officer.
“She pushed Mohammed and hit him with her baton,” Badri said.
Hamdi reached for Bouazizi’s scale, and again he tried to stop her.
Hamdi and two other officers pushed Bouazizi to the ground and grabbed the scale.
Then she slapped Bouazizi in the face in front of about 50 witnesses.
Bouazizi wept with shame.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he cried, according to vendors and customers who
were there. “I’m a simple person, and I just want to work.”
Revolutions are explosions of frustration and rage that build over time, sometimes
over decades. Although their political roots are deep, it is often a single spark that
ignites them — an assassination, perhaps, or one selfless act of defiance.
In Tunisia, an unusually cosmopolitan Arab country with a high rate of college
attendance, residents watched for 23 years as Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali’s dictatorship
became a grating daily insult. From Tunis — the whitewashed, low-rise capital with a
tropical, colonial feel — to the endless stretches of olive and date trees in the
sparsely populated countryside, the complaints were uniform: It had gotten so you
couldn’t get a job without some connection to Ben Ali’s family or party. The secret
police kept close tabs on ordinary Tunisians. And the uniformed police took to
demanding graft with brazen abandon...