Normally, I don't think I will make a habit out of this, but after my recent rant on fascism in Israel after reading the news, I just felt I needed to share these two articles from the Ha-Aretz newspaper here in Israel:
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Last update - 22:30 24/05/2009
Israel moves closer to banning mourning of its independence
By Haaretz Service
Public commemoration of Israel's independence as a day of mourning could become a crime subject to prison penalty, should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved a preliminary proposal which would make it illegal to hold events or ceremonies marking Israel's Independence Day as a "nakba," or catastrophe.
Rather than holding barbecues and parades on Independence Day, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians usually take the day to commemorate the dispersal of Palestinians during the 1948 War of Independence.
Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel's Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948. Nakba Day is often observed by the Arab population in Israel with marches through destroyed villages.
According to the bill, those found in violation could face up to three years in prison.
The ministerial approval is only a preliminary step and has no legal bearing yet. Before the proposal could become a law, it must first undergo Knesset approval and cabinet consideration.
The proposal was brought forth by MK Alex Miller, of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.
"This is the first measure geared at stopping the organized incitement spread by the Islamic Movement and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee within Israel's Arab population," Miller said following the vote. "Every democratic country has the right to defend itself, and that's exactly what the Israeli government has chosen to do today."
The panel's approval caused an uproar among Arab parties and those factions geared toward Arab-Jewish cooperation.
"Government validation of one historically uneducated MK's delusions only goes to demonstrate the putrid sewers into which the governmental has, very expectedly, descended," said Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh of Miller's proposal.
"Commemoration of the Nakba, which will continue regardless of this bill, does not represent a threat to Israel's existence. It is a way to mend past injuries inflicted upon the Palestinian people."
"It isn't Israel which faces an existential threat over commemoration of the Nakba. The Nakba is the ultimate threat of the Palestinian people," added Barakeh.
"This bill belongs, as do others, in the trash. Laws cannot rewrite a history in which crimes against peoples were committed, including the Palestinian Nakba," he said.
Israel moves closer to banning mourning of its independence
By Haaretz Service
Public commemoration of Israel's independence as a day of mourning could become a crime subject to prison penalty, should a bill approved on Sunday by a ministerial panel be brought to the Knesset and cabinet for vote.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved a preliminary proposal which would make it illegal to hold events or ceremonies marking Israel's Independence Day as a "nakba," or catastrophe.
Rather than holding barbecues and parades on Independence Day, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians usually take the day to commemorate the dispersal of Palestinians during the 1948 War of Independence.
Palestinian refugees around the world and Israel's Arab citizens mark the Nakba on May 15, the day after the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948. Nakba Day is often observed by the Arab population in Israel with marches through destroyed villages.
According to the bill, those found in violation could face up to three years in prison.
The ministerial approval is only a preliminary step and has no legal bearing yet. Before the proposal could become a law, it must first undergo Knesset approval and cabinet consideration.
The proposal was brought forth by MK Alex Miller, of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.
"This is the first measure geared at stopping the organized incitement spread by the Islamic Movement and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee within Israel's Arab population," Miller said following the vote. "Every democratic country has the right to defend itself, and that's exactly what the Israeli government has chosen to do today."
The panel's approval caused an uproar among Arab parties and those factions geared toward Arab-Jewish cooperation.
"Government validation of one historically uneducated MK's delusions only goes to demonstrate the putrid sewers into which the governmental has, very expectedly, descended," said Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh of Miller's proposal.
"Commemoration of the Nakba, which will continue regardless of this bill, does not represent a threat to Israel's existence. It is a way to mend past injuries inflicted upon the Palestinian people."
"It isn't Israel which faces an existential threat over commemoration of the Nakba. The Nakba is the ultimate threat of the Palestinian people," added Barakeh.
"This bill belongs, as do others, in the trash. Laws cannot rewrite a history in which crimes against peoples were committed, including the Palestinian Nakba," he said.
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Last update - 21:58 27/05/2009
Knesset okays initial bill to outlaw denial of 'Jewish state'
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset plenum gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill that would make it a crime to publicly deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, punishable by a sentence of up to a year in prison.
The measure was the latest of several introduced in the past week by right-wing lawmakers and denounced by critics as an assault on free speech, particularly for Israeli Arab citizens, most of whom are of Palestinian origin.
It would outlaw the publication of any "call to negate Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state, where the content of such publication would have a reasonable possibility of causing an act of hatred, disdain or disloyalty" to Israel.
Forty-seven MKs voted in favor of the bill and 34 voted against, with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) abstaining from the vote.
MK Zevulun Orlev, a lawmaker with the right-wing Bayit Hayehudi party who initiated the bill, said the bill permitted a maximum one year prison term for any offenders.
The measure would have to pass three additional votes in parliament and a committee review before becoming law.
Orlev linked the bill to the case of former MK Azmi Bishara, who resigned from the Knesset and fled Israel in 2007 to avoid charges of assisting the enemy. Bishara was under fire then for a series of trips he had made to Syria and Lebanon, where he issued praise for Hezbollah.
Orlev said Bishara's case shows that what begins with words "very quickly leads to actions."
MK Haim Oron (Meretz) attacked the proposal, saying "this insane government, what exactly are you doing? Creating a thought police? Have you run off the rails?"
Oron said that even though he disagrees with those who do not support Israel's identity as a Jewish, democratic state, there is no reason to make it a criminal issue.
Civil rights activists have cautioned that this and other legislation threatens to curb the rights of Arab citizens.
Its approval on a preliminary reading showed how Israeli support for laws seen as targetting Israeli Arabs has grown since a right-wing government was sworn in after a February election.
Most Israeli Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, are descended from Palestinians who remained in the country after hundreds of thousands either fled or were driven away in fighting over Israel's founding in 1948.
Many are related to Palestinians in conflict with Israel living in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
Naomi Chazan, president of the liberal New Israel Fund, denounced a bill approved by Israel's cabinet on Sunday to outlaw public displays of mourning over Israel's birth, which Palestinians call "nakba", an Arabic word for catastrophe.
Chazan called that bill an "attempt to trample on the feelings of pain of Israeli Arabs" that could hurt efforts to forge better coexistence between Jews and Palestinians.
Another bill introduced by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu Party this week would require Israeli citizens to take a loyalty oath to the Jewish state before they could be issued a national identity card.
The cabinet was scheduled to debate the loyalty oath measure at a session next week.
Last update - 21:58 27/05/2009
Knesset okays initial bill to outlaw denial of 'Jewish state'
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset plenum gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill that would make it a crime to publicly deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, punishable by a sentence of up to a year in prison.
The measure was the latest of several introduced in the past week by right-wing lawmakers and denounced by critics as an assault on free speech, particularly for Israeli Arab citizens, most of whom are of Palestinian origin.
It would outlaw the publication of any "call to negate Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state, where the content of such publication would have a reasonable possibility of causing an act of hatred, disdain or disloyalty" to Israel.
Forty-seven MKs voted in favor of the bill and 34 voted against, with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) abstaining from the vote.
MK Zevulun Orlev, a lawmaker with the right-wing Bayit Hayehudi party who initiated the bill, said the bill permitted a maximum one year prison term for any offenders.
The measure would have to pass three additional votes in parliament and a committee review before becoming law.
Orlev linked the bill to the case of former MK Azmi Bishara, who resigned from the Knesset and fled Israel in 2007 to avoid charges of assisting the enemy. Bishara was under fire then for a series of trips he had made to Syria and Lebanon, where he issued praise for Hezbollah.
Orlev said Bishara's case shows that what begins with words "very quickly leads to actions."
MK Haim Oron (Meretz) attacked the proposal, saying "this insane government, what exactly are you doing? Creating a thought police? Have you run off the rails?"
Oron said that even though he disagrees with those who do not support Israel's identity as a Jewish, democratic state, there is no reason to make it a criminal issue.
Civil rights activists have cautioned that this and other legislation threatens to curb the rights of Arab citizens.
Its approval on a preliminary reading showed how Israeli support for laws seen as targetting Israeli Arabs has grown since a right-wing government was sworn in after a February election.
Most Israeli Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, are descended from Palestinians who remained in the country after hundreds of thousands either fled or were driven away in fighting over Israel's founding in 1948.
Many are related to Palestinians in conflict with Israel living in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
Naomi Chazan, president of the liberal New Israel Fund, denounced a bill approved by Israel's cabinet on Sunday to outlaw public displays of mourning over Israel's birth, which Palestinians call "nakba", an Arabic word for catastrophe.
Chazan called that bill an "attempt to trample on the feelings of pain of Israeli Arabs" that could hurt efforts to forge better coexistence between Jews and Palestinians.
Another bill introduced by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu Party this week would require Israeli citizens to take a loyalty oath to the Jewish state before they could be issued a national identity card.
The cabinet was scheduled to debate the loyalty oath measure at a session next week.
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Calling Israel a "democracy" is a complete sham; any country which fails to look out for the interests of a huge portion of its population (Palestinians) and attempts to shut out dissent to the state agenda is fascism: "a governmental system ... forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism [check!], regimenting all industry, commerce, etc. [check!], and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism [CHECK!]" (dictionary.com).
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