The apartheid label and libel
Ihad a lecturer at The Hebrew University who liked to tell his journalism class that one of the perks of the job is that journalists get to read newspapers at work rather than reading them as commuters on their way to the office. With some news stories, it’s not such a pleasure. This week, I momentarily thought I might be in the wrong profession. The move from being a newspaper columnist or journalist to being a Knesset member is quite common, but I have never felt tempted to make that switch. However, on Tuesday I was reminded of one of the perks of being an MK: The combination of free speech and parliamentary immunity means you can get away with saying almost anything.
As someone who works and plays with words, I appreciate the power of language. What happened in a peculiar Knesset parley this week was more about playing mind games.
Under the title “After 54 years: Between occupation and apartheid,” MKs sat in the House at the taxpayers’ expense and tried to present the case that they suffer from South African-style oppression.
Just who is exploiting whom? It takes a special kind of nerve to sit as a serving MK in the parliament and pretend you are a victim of apartheid. It also requires a special ability to avoid history and reality in favor of a “narrative.”
Under the apartheid system, for those who need reminding, the white minority completely subjugated and segregated the black majority, who had no vote and no say at all in the corridors of power.
The participants in this week’s convention came from both the opposition and the coalition, a reflection of the strange bedfellows that can be found in the Knesset. With MKs like these who needs enemies? Among the organizers of the event were Meretz MK Mossi Raz, a former secretary-general of Peace Now, and Joint List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman. I pride myself in having a way with words. There was nothing for which these MKs should be proud. I can’t
even reprint in full some of the words that were thrown around.
“You’re a group of terrorists,” Religious Zionist Party MK Itamar Ben-Gvir shouted at Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif, both from the Joint List. Ben-Gvir, of course, hadn’t been invited but he gatecrashed the cross-party event.
“You’re a piece of s*** fascist,” Cassif screamed back.
Ben-Gvir, by the way, was far from the only person interested in attending the event but not on the guest list. Arab-Israeli Yoseph Haddad, CEO of the Vouch for Each Other NGO, found himself out in the cold. He could definitely make the case that he was being discriminated against. Haddad, who encourages Arab-Israelis to serve in the IDF or do civilian national service and to participate in Israeli society, resorted to tweeting: “I am an Israeli Arab with different opinions and they don’t want
me inside. They are the ones who are really apartheid. If Aida Touma-Sliman says that Israel is apartheid, how is she allowed to hold this meeting in the walls of Israeli democracy?”
MK Ahmad Tibi, whose CV includes work as a gynecologist at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, being a former adviser to Yasser Arafat and serving as a former deputy Knesset Speaker – not bad for someone born in an “apartheid” state – told rookie Yamina MK Amichai Chikli he should “be humble” in the face of his seniors. Apparently Tibi doesn’t know the meaning of being humble anymore than he understands what apartheid means, although apartheid is a word he bandies around a lot.
Among the speakers was “Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch” Omar Shakir, who participated via Zoom having been denied entry to the country for his anti-Israeli, BDS activities.
He also didn’t mince words and came up with the perennial favorite “crimes against humanity.”
Before the event, MKs from Yesh Atid, New Hope, Yamina, Yisrael Beytenu and Blue and White wrote to Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy voicing their “disgust” and saying that “while freedom of expression lies at the soul of this House, we cannot remain silent when the Knesset is cynically exploited as a platform to undermine the very existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and to slander the state in the outside world.”
The parley was part of a trend – an attempt to brand Israel as an illegitimate, pariah state.
Using the words “apartheid” and “occupation” is one way of doing it. Another is condemning Israel for its response when it comes under massive rocket fire from Gaza, as it did last month.
Rather than promoting peace,
the delegitimization and boycott efforts have the opposite effect. The Palestinians are encouraged to use more violence and media-mobilizing tactics hoping to put ever more pressure on Israel.
Not everyone is falling for the ruse, however. Last week, Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, Europe’s largest digital publishing house, told the company’s 16,000 employees that anyone “who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after antisemitic demonstrations, should look for a new job.”
Also last week, as The Jerusalem Post’s Lahav Harkov noted, the European Union finally released its report on Palestinian Authority textbooks which includes dozens of examples of encouragement of violence and demonization of Israel and of Jews. Under the guise of “resistance” – another catchword – children
are being brainwashed about the glory of martyrdom. Following the report’s publication, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said the EU should review its funding to education in the Palestinian Authority.
Harkov also reported that the UK will join the US, Canada and Australia in boycotting the UN event in September marking the 20th anniversary of the World Conference on Racism in Durban, which turned into an anti-Israel festival, rife with antisemitic themes.
Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar had his own version of doublespeak this week after a meeting with UN officials. Sinwar accused Israel of “blackmail” as it had refused to meet the terms of the terrorist organization. “We informed the UN that we won’t accept this,” Sinwar said. “It seems the occupation did not understand our message.
We will practice popular resistance.”
The sort of resistance that is popular in Gaza does not go down well in Israel, where citizens dodged some 4,000 rockets during the 11 days of hostilities last month and balloons attached to incendiary and explosive devices continue to wreak ecoterrorism on southern communities.
People are “free” to speak their minds in the Palestinian Authority territories, too, but given the latest spate of arrests by PA head Mahmoud Abbas, it takes a great deal more courage than demonstrated by critics of Israel’s policies.
A current hot topic in the PA area is the Israel vaccine deal. Just a few months ago, Israel was being urged to give its Pfizer vaccinations to Palestinians under PA control rather than the Israeli citizens whose taxes had paid for the inoculations. This week, the PA decided to shoot itself in the foot rather than collectively jab itself in the arm.
Within hours of agreeing to a deal under which the Palestinians would receive more than a million vaccinations from Israel, before they expire, the PA powers-that-be backtracked and refused to accept the lifesaving assistance.
Under the deal, the Palestinians would have received vaccinations for immediate use and Israel would have waited until September or October to receive the doses from Pfizer scheduled to go to the PA.
Talk about parting shots. Apart from anything else, it seems that after all the brainwashing about the apartheid occupation, Palestinians could not force themselves to accept aid from the “enemy.”
Israeli Arabs, like all other citizens, of course, are eligible for the vaccinations that are distributed via the health fund system.
It’s a free country, despite what BDS activists would have you believe: Israelis of all types openly speak their minds. Given our neighbors, it’s not something we should take for granted. Or abuse.
The Knesset should be the place for home truths, but the House is not an appropriate venue for apartheid lies. Criticism is legitimate, delegitimization is not.