The generals are the supremacists of the past. Ben Gvir is the supremacist of now

The meteoric rise of Kahanist MK Itamar Ben Gvir could serve as material for endless sociological studies on the intersection of religiosity, ethnicity, nationalism, and political persuasion in Israel.

That Ben Gvir went from a marginal political figure to one of the most popular — and dangerous — leaders in Israeli politics in the span of just a few years should force us to take a long, hard look at how we got here. But more importantly, we should be asking how Ben Gvirism, with its bloody promise of violence against Palestinians and leftist Israelis, beat out the erstwhile heroes of Israeli society: Israeli army generals, as represented by former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party.In a state that is militaristic to the core, where students are taught to worship the military from the day they are born, one could have expected Gantz’s party, which also includes former army head Gadi Eizenkot (and previously included another, Moshe Ya’alon), to be a resounding success. And yet, as of Thursday evening, with less than 5 percent of ballots left to count, the National Unity Party has won only 12 Knesset seats, as opposed to the Religious Zionist party — the union of far-right parties, including Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit slate — which will likely take home between 14-15 seats. The fact that Ben Gvir, who never served a day in the Israeli army, defeated two giants of the Israeli army, is indicative of larger shifts taking place in the country.

https://www.972mag.com/ben-gvir-jewish-supremacy-israeli-generals/

 

The real escalation is the destruction of Palestinian space

The frenetic elections that take place with Italian frequency stands in contrast to the stability of Israeli policy in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem). By that, I mean the policy that, ever since the occupation began in 1967, has been breaking up Palestinian territory into as many small enclaves as possible, each surrounded and disconnected from each other by as many Jewish-only settlement blocs as possible. These blocs are expanding and are increasingly being connected to Israel by a network of roads that is upgraded frequently.

The shredding of Palestinian space is the first and most important escalation, a permanent one written in advance into all government plans. Every Palestinian witnesses it and experiences it personally. Israeli Jews ignore it, out of elective ignorance, indifference and because they profit from it.

This is the mother of all escalations, avout which every diplomat from the European Union or the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem receives regular reports. But in the mouths of their bosses at these nations’ foreign ministries, it is translated into cliches such as “we support Israel’s right to defend itself.” Diplomatic cynicism is also escalating.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-10-03/ty-article-opinion/.premium/the-real-escalation-is-the-destruction-of-palestinian-space/00000183-991c-d6d7-ab8b-999e42a40000

 

When terrorizing is intentional

The website of the Home Front Command says that an earthquake or a missile attack can cause a panic attack, fainting or even a heart attack. That is, even without being injured physically, fear and terror can have clear physical manifestations.But in the eyes of the Israel Defense Forces, there is no connection between the death of Rayan Suleiman, 7, from cardiac arrest, and the eager, armed soldiers who raided his home in the village of Tequa. “[N]o evidence was found regarding Rayan’s fall or of the physical damage he suffered as a result of the IDF activity,” the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said by way of summarizing the IDF investigation. According to the army, only physical injury can be related to the death of Palestinians. And according to Israelis, there is no connection between the unlimited, proven ability of soldiers to do evil and the dread that a Palestinian child feels at the mere sight of them.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2022-10-10/ty-article-opinion/.premium/when-terrorizing-is-intentional/00000183-c37a-d8cc-afc7-fffe57f60000

 

The bloody truce between Israel and Hamas

“The safest place to hide from Israeli airstrikes is a Hamas military site,” Gazans joked during the most recent round of violence. It was so tragically accurate.

Israel went to incredible lengths to ensure its bombing of Gaza didn’t hurt a single Hamas leader, member or facility while it went on a rampage against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which in turn retaliated with barrages of projectiles fired into Israel.

Not compelling Hamas into joining the escalation, and thereby turning it into an unwanted war, was the Israeli government’s goal. This way, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz got to display a tough crackdown on terrorism in a limited and contained escalation, expediently scoring a few points for the upcoming elections without provoking any significant consequences.

https://forward.com/opinion/513677/the-bloody-truce-between-israel-and-hamas/

 

Between Jamal Khashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh

Jamal Kashoggi and Shireen Abu Akleh were well-known journalists who were killed in the line of duty. There are many differences between the horrific, premeditated murder of the Saudi journalist and the killing of the Palestinian one, the circumstances of which have not yet been fully established. But more than a month after Abu Akleh’s death it can be said with near certainty that her killers knew that she was a journalist and killed her for it, just like the people who killed her Saudi colleague.

For this reason, we mustn’t allow her death to sink into oblivion, as is now happening, without finding the people responsible for it. The crime was less shocking in its circumstances than the murder of Khashoggi, but it was a serious crime nevertheless. It must not remain one devoid of guilty and responsible parties.

There is no chance that the person who knew to aim his weapon at the only exposed spot on Abu Akleh’s neck, between her helmet and her protective vest, did not see the prominent letters on her chest, and that of her colleagues, identifying them as journalists. He meant to kill a journalist, even if the IDF spokesperson tries to argue otherwise. Like the IDF, Saudi Arabia denied for a long time that it had murdered Khashoggi, claiming that he had died in a “brawl.”

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/between-jamal-khashoggi-and-shireen-abu-akleh/

 

The Mizrahi feminists shaking up Israel’s human rights scene

Sapir Sluzker Amran was still working as a full-time lawyer when she first met Dalal Daoud. It was November 2018 and, like every year, Sluzker Amran had been looking for a meaningful way to mark the upcoming International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

At the time, Daoud, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was serving a 25-year sentence in Israel’s only all-women’s prison, Neve Tirtza, for killing her husband who had repeatedly abused her, raped her, and locked her in chains in their home. After learning of Daoud’s story and speaking to her over the phone, Sluzker Amran’s mind was made up: this year, she would raise some money for Daoud to spend in the prison commissary, as a way of showing her that there are women on the outside who care.

When she visited Daoud for the first time in person, though, Sluzker Amran realized commissary money was only the start of their relationship. She decided to launch a campaign for Daoud’s release, cutting down her working hours so that she could spend one day a week coordinating it.“A small group of women and a few organizations joined the campaign, and everything was planned together with Dalal,” Sluzker Amran tells +972 Magazine. The campaign combined on-the-ground protest with widespread social media activity and traditional media coverage, alongside lobbying in the Knesset — all of which endeavored to refocus the narrative on Dalal’s resilience and ability to survive in an impossible situation.

https://www.972mag.com/shovrot-kirot-mizrahi-feminist-activism/

 

Israel’s brutal storm troopers should have never been at Abu Akleh’s funeral

No Israeli should have slept well on Friday night. Our police are storm troopers. Palestinians have long known this, but Israelis now have to understand this as well: Israel’s police have shed all restraints.

The blue-uniformed policemen and the green-uniformed Border Policemen have become storm troopers in the deepest and most loaded sense of this term; there is no other way of describing them. In a country that has a police force like this, every citizen should be concerned, even very frightened. It’s long been an issue that is not just for Palestinians to worry about; they have become inured to it and bear scars from it; now Israelis should be filled with anxiety too.

Anyone behaving with such barbarity at the funeral of a popular heroine of this land will behave in the same manner under other circumstances as well. Two days ago at a Palestinian funeral, tomorrow at demonstrations or polling booths in Israel.

It’s true that what drives police storm troopers is imperiousness, racism and the sense that Arabs are not human beings. But this trot down a slippery slope cannot be stopped. When there are no boundaries or anyone putting a stop to it – and there are none – everything will be breached much faster than one imagines. Ethiopians, the ultra-Orthodox and peace activists have already tasted some of this; it will soon spread to clubs, concerts and the home of everyone.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-israel-s-police-are-storm-troopers-1.10799650

 

Shireen Abu Akleh raised my generation. Now, we’re breaking through the dam

Shireen Abu Akleh signed off her reporting of the Second Intifada with a melodic phrase that my generation grew up mimicking. Waking up to the news of her killing last week, I thought this sonic trigger was too specific to resonate with others. I quickly learned this was not the case.

The moment I realized she was gone, my ears started ringing with the melodious sound of her voice which is embedded in all of us; it is still present as I write this. Social media was immediately flooded with quotes of her iconic sign-off, memories of mimicking her tongue, and the power of her words: “I chose journalism to be close to the people. It might not be easy to change the reality but at least I could bring their voice to the world. I am Shireen Abu Akleh.”A messenger, our collective tongue and vocal cords, Shireen spoke with a cadence that is deeply embedded in our bodies. Immediately after she was killed last week, an entire generation relived the experience of listening to her speak, of hearing her words during one of the most traumatic moments — and seemingly never-ending and compounding experiences — in our history.

https://www.972mag.com/shireen-abu-akleh-voice/

 

L’impunité israélienne, jusqu’à quand ?

Elle a été tuée d’une balle au visage alors qu’elle exerçait son métier. Elle était palestinienne et reporter, s’est acharnée à porter la voix des siens au monde à une époque où le monde ne voulait rien voir. Et l’annonce de son décès mercredi matin a rappelé à la fois la menace qui pèse sur les journalistes dans la région, la persistance de la tragédie palestinienne et la centralité de celle-ci – du moins à l’échelle affective –, de l’Atlantique au golfe Arabique. Shirine Abou Akleh, 51 ans, a été assassinée alors qu’elle portait un casque et un gilet pare-balles flanqué du mot « Presse ». Elle a été assassinée alors qu’elle accomplissait sa mission – celle d’informer – dans le camp de réfugiés de Jénine, aujourd’hui soumis à des raids quotidiens de l’armée d’occupation dans le cadre d’une opération dite « antiterroriste ». Figure phare de la chaîne panarabe al-Jazeera, elle était connue de dizaines de millions de téléspectateurs. Mais travailler pour un grand média ne protège de rien. Shirine Abou Akleh a été tuée presque un an jour pour jour après que l’armée israélienne a bombardé la tour abritant les locaux d’al-Jazeera et d’Associated Press dans la bande de Gaza.

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1299304/limpunite-israelienne-jusqua-quand-.html

 

Israel’s false promise of security

It has been three days since a Palestinian gunman from Jenin refugee camp opened fire at a bar on Dizengoff Street in central Tel Aviv, murdering three and wounding several more. A number of those who were shot are still fighting for their lives. Watching the chaotic scenes that night — including the sight of thousands of police officers and soldiers scouring the streets for the killer, whom they tracked down and killed hours later— brought feelings of grief and despair, sadness and longing. The dead could have been my friends or family members at that bar. They could have been me.

Those feelings only worsened over the ensuing days. On Saturday, Israeli forces launched a massive incursion in and around Jenin in the northern West Bank, where they were confronted by Palestinian militants who continued exchanging gunfire with the army today. Last night, a mob of Palestinians vandalized and torched Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus before being dispersed by Palestinian security forces. This morning, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian mother of six in the West Bank town of Husan, claiming she approached them in a “suspicious manner.” The spiral continues to descend with every passing day.

https://www.972mag.com/dizengoff-israel-security-violence/