2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-1 OT HER VOI CES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST CLIPBOARD
Compiled by Janet McMahon
sense of impermanence. It takes pride in contradiction, an unbridgeable one. Israel’s New in this country’s rule of law and All that is over. The next government Supreme Court, but it has two separate will be a continuation of the previous Wretched sets of laws based on nationality; it’s one, but stronger, more ultra-national - Republic Jewish and democratic, but with a built- ist and racist, less legitimate and demo - BY GIDEON LEVY VOL. 22 ISSUE 3—MAY 2019 n Tuesday, the Second Repub - lic of Israel was born. It will be TABLE OF CONTENTS different from its predecessor. O Israel’s New Wretched Republic, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib The First Republic chalked up impres - Gideon Levy, Haaretz OV-1 Show Muslim Women Don’t sive achievements, accompanied by Binyamin Netanyahu’s Need Saving , Sahar Aziz, lies and deceptions. The Second Re - www.aljazeera.com OV-10 public will dispense with any pretense. Re-Election Underlines Israel’s Do Members of Congress Take The new Israel will no longer use dis - Apartheid Reality, Saree Makdisi, Los Angeles Times OV-2 Too Many Private Trips to guises. When the ninth Israeli prime Israel With AIPAC?, With Netanyahu Victory, It’s minister puts together his fifth govern - Grant F. Smith, Time We Admit: Israel Has ment, Israel will look different. With www.antiwar.com OV-12 Become a Dictatorship, victory at hand and growing confi - Bradley Burston, Haaretz OV-3 Republicans, Democrats Snipe dence, Binyamin Netanyahu will be Over “Anti-Semitism” at AIPAC Netanyahu Courts Trouble to able to declare the advent of the Sec - Conference, Kelly Kennedy, ond Republic, formed in his image. Retain Political Power, The Arab Weekly OV-13 Paul R. Pillar, Render unto Caesar the things that are http://nationalinterest.org OV-4 Why Designating the Iranian Caesar’s. No one will be able to claim Revolutionary Guards again that this man hasn’t left his mark Why I’m Glad Netanyahu Terrorists Would Paint a Big Won, Dr. James J. Zogby, on the country and region. Red Target on U.S. Troops in www.www.aaiusa.org OV-5 The Second Republic will no longer Iraq, Juan Cole, hide anything taking place in its back - Great March of Return Is www.juancole.com OV-14 yard or try to pretty itself up. It will Palestinians’ Cry for Justice, The Path to War With Iran Is Ramzy Baroud, look exactly like it is. The First Republic Paved With Sanctions, www.ramzybaroud.net OV-6 was characterized by a mixture of real - Joseph Cirincione and Mary Kaszynski, ity and deception: the only democracy How the Left Also Dehumanizes Palestinians in Gaza, http://lobelog.com OV-15 in the Middle East, but, at first, one Susan Abulhawa, with a military government in Arab Waiting for the Second Algerian www.aljazeera.com OV-7 Revolution, Eric S. Margolis, areas, then one with a military dictator - http://ericmargolis.com OV-16 ship in the occupied territories. It’s Time to Hold the Israeli Football Association to It says it’s the darling of the free Algeria, Sudan on the Road to Account, Mahmoud Sarsak, Arab Statehood, Sovereignty world, but it’s also the last colonial www.aljazeera.com OV-9 And Citizenship, Rami G. Khouri, regime in the world. It says it’s an es - Airbnb Officially Reverses Agence Global OV-17 teemed member of the family of na - Decision to Pull out of Israeli Two Rays of Hope in Post- tions, but it breaks almost every inter - Settlements, Jonathan Ofir, Election Turkey, Yavuz Baydar, national law, and it doesn’t annex occu - http://mondoweiss.net OV-10 The Arab Weekly OV-18 pied land so that it can create a false
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cratic. And, it must be admitted, it will and judge. Let liberal Israelis see and voters want, clearly, is precisely what be a better reflection of reality. judge, deciding if it’s possible to con - is on offer: more dispossession of On Tuesday, voters said a resounding tinue living complacently and in denial. Palestinians, more home demolitions, yes to this Israel. The choice wasn’t as Let them see in Europe and in Ramat more indiscriminate bombing cam - hard as it may have seemed: a choice be - Hasharon, in the Democratic Party and paigns, more shooting of protesters, tween a government of generals, which in Ramat Aviv, as it all continues. more settlements, more restrictions would have continued the masquerade Maybe the annexation of Area C in on Gaza and on Palestinian life in to the applause of the world and en - the West Bank without giving citizen - general, and deeper and deeper in - lightened Israelis, or another Netanyahu ship to its Arab residents, the legisla - equality between Jews and non-Jews government shaping Israel in its image, tion of more nation-state laws, the clos - in Israel and in the territories over without pretense or apologies. ing of nonprofit groups and the censor - which it rules. Things will look different. The fire ship of cultural institutions will achieve The bloc led by Benny Gantz hardly that began flickering during the previ - what all the years of denial haven’t. offered much of a difference. Gantz’s ous government will spread. The Maybe this will finally awaken the op - own electoral campaign prominently courts, the media, human rights groups position that so few have desired over featured a series of videos called “Only and the Arab community will quickly so many years. the Strong Survive,” which gloated over feel it firsthand. Some op-eds in this Somehow, Haaretz carried no obitu - how many Palestinians the former paper will no longer be approved for ary after the election. But the day be - army chief of staff had killed and how publication, by law. It will be forbid - fore, a sweet illusion died. Maybe it’s proud he was to have bombed parts of den, for example, to criticize Israeli sol - for the best. Gaza “back to the Stone Age.” One diers. Anyone against? video limply offered, “It’s not It will be forbidden to support a boy - This column was first published in Haaretz, shameful to be striving for peace.” In cott of Israel. Ben-Gurion Airport will April 11, 2019. Copyright © Haaretz Daily the end, Gantz’s tough-guy claims be even more closed to critics of the Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. Reprinted were clearly not enough to convince Is - regime. Nonprofit groups will be out - with permission. raeli voters to depart from a wily lawed. Arabs will be excluded even politician they knew for a fact—because more than they are now, on the road to he’s been doing it for so long—would realizing the vision of a Jewish state Binyamin continue to subjugate the Palestinians. with Jewish-only legislators. The repre - The takeaway from Israel’s election sentation of Arabs in the Knesset might Netanyahu’s is simple: The two-state solution is already mirror their representation at Re-Election dead. the Israel Electric Corporation. And of The voters reaffirmed the de facto or de course, there’s the annexation waiting Underlines Israel’s jure realities Palestinians have long faced. around the corner. Last year, Israel legally enshrined a Jew - That’s how it is when you face Likud; Apartheid Reality ish nation-state law that formalized the the only choice is to lose your path. superior status of Jews over non-Jews, of - That’s how it is when the election is BY SAREE MAKDISI ficially relegating Arabic—the language only about Netanyahu, for or against. spoken by the 20 percent of the state’s That’s how it is when the two major he results of Israel’s elections re - citizens who are Palestinian—to a sec - parties compete in their racist state - veal a stark reality: Not only will ondary status, elided Palestinians’ ongo - ments against Arabs. TBinyamin Netanyahu almost ing presence in and claim to their an - If there’s one place Benny Gantz has inevitably form a coalition govern - cestral land, directed the government to go immediately, it’s to a town near ment even further to the right than to “encourage and promote” Jewish set - his home, Kafr Qasem, to bow his head the one he already heads, but the tlement and thereby further segregation, and beg the forgiveness of this coun - country’s Jewish electorate has given and declared that the right to self-deter - try’s Arab citizens, whose representa - its resounding endorsement to the mination in the state is reserved for Jews tives he has insulted. Gantz lost his policies for which he stands. alone. Netanyahu himself announced chance to win in part because he dis - Netanyahu ran a manifestly racist on Instagram in March that Israel is “the tanced himself from this community electoral campaign, reaching out to nation state not of all its citizens but and humiliated them as if they were embrace politicians who openly es - only of the Jewish people.” lepers, just as Netanyahu did. The re - pouse the desire to expel Palestinians International law has a word to de - venge of the Arab voters is the punish - from the state and promising to scribe a state that discriminates along ment we all got. annex parts of the West Bank, dealing racial lines like this: apartheid. Maybe it’s not punishment. Maybe probably a final blow to the mori - Two sets of numbers indicate how in - the truth is preferable. Let the world see bund two-state solution. What Israeli stitutionalized this apartheid is. First,
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although Israel exerts control over ter - Saree Makdisi is a professor of English at means of ensuring a “kosher” election ritory (including the occupied West UCLA. This op-ed was first published in the process. This breathes new life into news Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza) inhab - Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2019. Copyright reports, further deterring Arab voters. ited by around 13 million people, only © 2019. Reprinted with permission. But why stop there? In polling stations 5.8 million—80 percent of them Jews, in Rishon Letzion, widely seen as a according to Israel’s Central Election stronghold for Benny Gantz’s Kahol Committee—are eligible voters. With Netanyahu Lavan party, far and away Netanyahu’s When you add to these shameful chief rival, voters planning on voting for figures the millions of registered Pales - Victory, It’s Time Gantz were shocked to find that all of tinian refugees living outside Israel We Admit: Israel the ballot slips bearing the Kahol Lavan and the occupied territories, in en - symbol were missing from the polling forced exile solely because Israel re - Has Become a booths and unavailable to voters. fuses to allow them to return home, In other areas, Kahol Lavan ballot the reality becomes even more stark: Dictatorship slips in the polling booths had been Israel’s elections, far from being legiti - written on in writing small enough to mately democratic, are in fact a mani - BY BRADLEY BURSTON be undetected by unsuspecting voters, festation of minority rule. Millions of but clear enough to be grounds for dis - disenfranchised Palestinians have no f Binyamin Netanyahu manages to qualifying the slips. say over the structures and patterns of bribe his way to a ramshackle, im - But it was the election itself that pro - their everyday lives. They are subject Imunity-from-prosecution coalition vided the surest proof that Israel under to whatever Jewish Israeli voters think after his borderline showing in Tues - his leadership has transitioned to dicta - they deserve, which is essentially fur - day’s election, we will all know one torship—the emergence of the equa - ther dehumanization. thing for sure: Israel has become a dic - tion under which Netanyahu hopes to But if the Palestinians had the right tatorship. trade annexation of West Bank settle - to vote, what would they vote for? You need look no further than his ments in exchange for immunity from They may not have elections, but Election Day obscenities of voter fraud prosecution. opinion polls consistently show that and voter suppression. The list is endless, from exploiting when asked which Palestinian leader First to come to light was the opera - the return of a fallen soldier’s remains they trust the most, the overwhelming tion in which Netanyahu’s Likud for political advantage to hosting the winner (48 percent in the most recent planted 1,200 hidden cameras in Brazilian president—who stated, after a poll conducted by the reputable polling stations in Arab areas of Israel. visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holo - Jerusalem Media and Communications Only in Arab areas. caust Memorial, that Nazism was a left - Centre) is “none of the above.” And A Netanyahu classic. A totalitarian ist movement. when asked which party they support, stroke of genius: In the main, the campaign was the answer is consistently neither Win Number 1: Soon after the polls marked by a monopolization and ma - Fatah, which controls the Palestinian open, the cameras are easily discovered, nipulation of media. Under the pres - Authority (28 percent), nor Hamas (10 leading to national news bulletins, and sure of Netanyahu’s charges of bias and percent), but “don’t trust anyone” (41 focusing attention on the Likud’s role, with the past knowledge that the prime percent). A solid majority prefer nego - thus burnishing Netanyahu’s standing minister could bring further harm to tiations to armed struggle and an in - among Arab-hating extreme right voters. careers and media outlets, the media creasing number want a single state, Win Number 2: The revelations of pushed back only meekly against a cas - shared with Jews. (Only 0.4 percent the hidden cameras deter Israeli Arabs cade of lies directed at Gantz. want an Islamic state to replace Jewish from coming to the polling stations, Not only were the full resources of state of Israel.) further depressing an already low voter Sheldon Adelson pressed to the max— The takeaway from Israel’s election is turnout and placing Arab parties in the pre-election Friday edition of the simple: The two-state solution is dead. danger of elimination from the Knesset. billionaire’s Israel Hayom newspaper What remains is a single racist state Win Number 3: Analysts note that a featured no fewer than 25 adoring pho - whose beneficiaries are satisfied with low Arab turnout could mathemati - tographs of the prime minister—but their government and whose victims cally help far-right parties clear the vote Netanyahu was everywhere, all the are deeply unhappy and desperate for minimum, entering the Knesset and time, radio and television, wall to wall. something new: a transition from an thus helping form a new Netanyahu At every turn, Netanyahu trans - apartheid state to a genuinely democ - government. gressed the rulings and regulations of ratic one in which Palestinians are Win Number 4: Netanyahu pub - the government elections oversight treated as equal citizens with Israeli licly—and with a straight face—defends board and received not so much as a Jews, not disenfranchised brutes. the use of the hidden cameras as a single slap on the wrist.
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As the campaign regressed into the Court and other basic institutions of the party leaders, Netanyahu said, “If realm of the scarcely believable, Ne - governance. you don’t unite, you won’t pass the tanyahu defended unilateral decisions After a pause, Netanyahu’s answer electoral threshold, the right-wing bloc regarding what is arguably Israel’s most was this: will lose and Gantz will form a left-wing important single strategic weapon, its “I—uh—think that the danger is far government with the support of the submarine fleet—decisions which cir - greater danger if Gantz and Lapid will Arab parties.” The following day, Otzma cumvented and often contradicted his be in charge—and it’s Gantz and Lapid. Yehudit reached agreement with one of most senior defense officials. Lapid is supposed to be prime minister. the other two parties, Jewish Home, on It became clearer and clearer as the Maybe they’ll drop him at the last a joint list of candidates. campaign ground on that anyone who minute, as a trick. But Lapid is the one Meir Kahane repeatedly demon - opposed him and his Likud, anyone running things. Lapid will be prime strated his penchant for violent ex - who questioned his policies, had minister here. Will Lapid stand up to tremism when he still resided in the earned the worst four-letter expletive in Iran? Will Lapid sit beside Putin? Or op - United States. In 1971, he received a the Hebrew language: “Smol,” Left, and posite Trump? It’s a joke,” Netanyahu five-year suspended sentence for a thus sub-Israeli, enemies of the people said, seeming, for a moment, to chan - bomb-making plot. He later was sen - and of the state. nel his friend Donald Trump. tenced to a year in prison for violating The subtext was clear: Netanyahu “But democracy?” he said at last. “It’s the terms of his probation by smug - himself had become the state. safe.” gling arms from Israel and trying to in - On and on, the tools of the dictator stigate a bombing of the Iraqi Embassy. became Netanyahu’s weapons of This article was first published in Haaretz, After relocating to Israel, Kahane choice: In particular the diametric lie, April 10, 2019. Copyright © Haaretz Daily founded Kach, a party that competed that is, accusing the opposition of what Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. Reprinted unsuccessfully in several elections be - the Likud did as a matter of course—for with permission. fore finally winning a single Knesset example, falsely accusing his oppo - seat in 1984. Kahane and his followers nents of branding him a traitor. meanwhile continued their violent ac - Polls showed that large numbers of Netanyahu Courts tivities, and Kahane was arrested mul - Israelis believed the Likud campaign’s tiple times. After an Egyptian-born lies and bogus accusations, among Trouble to Retain gunman assassinated Kahane in New them the charge that Gantz’s wife was Political Power York in 1990, Kach split, with the off - a radical leftist, that Gantz—who had shoot group calling itself Kahane Chai served as Netanyahu’s army chief of (Kahane Lives). Both parties have been BY PAUL R. PILLAR staff—had attended a memorial cere - outlawed in Israel since the mid-1990s mony for a Hamas terrorist, that Gantz he direct, and still extreme, de - on the grounds that they are racist, and was a sex offender, deviant, a mental scendant of a U.S.-listed for - Kahane Chai is the group that still can patient and a traitor, ready and willing Teign terrorist organization is in be found on the State Department’s list to help Israeli Arab politicians extermi - position to become part of the next of foreign terrorist organizations. nate Israel. ruling coalition of Israel, and it has The Kahane-associated parties were Perhaps most telling, though, was been put in that position at the urg - extreme even for Israeli politics 25 the prime minister’s performance on ing of Prime Minister Binyamin Ne - years ago, but the continued rightward his most congenial of home turfs: The tanyahu. The organization is Otzma drift of those politics has permitted a slavishly pro-Netanyahu television talk Yehudit, which translates as Jewish rebirth of the Kahanists. Otzma Yehu - show anchored by Sharon Gal and Ran Power or Jewish Strength. It is the dit exemplifies the sort of reincarnation Rahav. current political vehicle for unrecon - of outlawed parties under a different Question: How many terms would structed followers of the late Meir Ka - name that has occurred elsewhere, you like? hane, the radical Brooklyn-born rabbi such as with Islamist parties in Turkey. “As many as I want, and as many as and ultra-nationalist. Otzma Yehudit embodies Kahane’s I can serve,” Netanyahu replied, Netanyahu, facing a challenge for the ideas and professes a fondness for his adding, half in jest, half not: “If I can, prime minister’s job in coming elec - methods. The party calls for the annex - another 20 times. Twenty-five times.” tions from former army chief Benny ation of the West Bank, undiluted Is - Only once did Netanyahu seem Gantz, has urged two other far-right raeli rule over all the land between the stumped. It was when Rahav asked him parties to form a joint list with Otzma Mediterranean and the Jordan River, what he replied to critics who said that Yehudit for elections in April, lest none and the expulsion of “enemies of Israel” Israel’s democracy was in danger, first of the three parties reaches the 3.25 per - to Arab countries. When the party’s cur - and foremost because of attacks by Ne - cent of the vote required to win seats in rent leader, Michael Ben-Ari, was in - tanyahu and his allies on the Supreme the Knesset. In his appeal this week to vited to disavow Kahane’s racist ideol -
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ogy, he scoffed at the idea of doing nationalinterest.org>, Feb. 26, 2019. Copy - Trump/Netanyahu marriage most cer - so and said that Kahane was his rabbi right © 2019 Center for the National Interest. tainly had a role to play in the embrace and his teacher. Ben-Ari has argued for All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. of Gantz by many liberals. the removal of most Arabs from Israel. Because American liberals have em - During the Israeli military attacks on braced the mantra of a “two-state solu - the Gaza Strip in 2012, he said, “There Why I’m Glad tion” and see Netanyahu’s aggressive are no innocents in Gaza, don’t let any settlement construction and his pledge diplomats who want to look good in Netanyahu Won to “annex” the settlements as obstacles the world endanger your lives—mow BY DR. JAMES J. ZOGBY to that goal, they also fretted that a Ne - them down!” Another party leader tanyahu victory might spell the end of and former aide to Kahane, Baruch ’m glad Binyamin Netanyahu won their idea of two states—one “Jewish Marzel, has organized parties to cele - re-election. Since I realize that say - and democratic” and one for the Pales - brate Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 Iing this won’t sit well with many tinians. At the same time, American killed 29 Palestinians praying at He - folks, let me explain: Jews had an additional frustration with bron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. As the election developed, it became Netanyahu as a result of his accommo - Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel clear that Benny Gantz, the leader of dation of the illiberal policies of Israel’s Dan Shapiro has warned that any Ka - the opposition “Blue and White” coali - ultra-Orthodox religious community hanists who get elected to the Knesset tion, for a number of reasons, had on issues of marriage, conversion and might not be able to visit the United come to be seen as the darling of the women’s rights. States because their precursor organiza - liberal set—especially here in the U.S. It was in this context that Gantz be - tion is on the U.S. list of terrorist orga - Some, for example, were justifiably came the “great hope.” I, however, nizations. Anyone who boosts the po - upset by Netanyahu’s gross corruption never believed that he was. litical fortunes of the Kahanists might or unnerved by his authoritarian ac - In the first place, on the issue that also violate the Anti-Terrorism and Ef - tions designed to intimidate the press, mattered most to the future of peace— fective Death Penalty Act by providing silence non-governmental organiza - the treatment of Palestinians in the oc - material support to a terrorist organi - tions, and strip the courts of their cupied territories—there was little that zation. power. Others were optimistic that separated Netanyahu from Gantz. In Netanyahu’s effort to boost right- should Gantz win, Israel’s image would fact, Gantz’ opening campaign adver - wing parties over the electoral thresh - improve in the U.S. and there would be tisement featured Gaza in rubble old and thereby help form a majority the possibility of a “reset” in the U.S.- (Gantz had been in charge of the most in the Knesset is, of course, all about Israel relationship. One publication de - brutal and devastating of the Gaza the prime minister trying to hang on scribed a Gantz victory as creating “a wars), boasting that he had reduced to power. But the effort also says some - fresh slate and an opportunity to re-en - parts of Gaza “back to the Stone Age.” thing about the current political spec - ergize support for Israel.” And right before the election, an Amer - trum in Israel. What might have been Driving this support for Gantz was ican Jewish publication reported on a isolated and dismissed as a fringe 25 the concern of liberal Democrats who Gantz speech laying out his “seven pil - years ago no longer is. There certainly have been troubled by recent polls lars” for peace with the Palestinians: are critical voices in Israel disparaging showing a significant erosion of support “he said his priority was to ensure a the idea of Netanyahu getting into bed for Israel among core Democratic con - Zionist ‘end state’—Jewish and Demo - with Otzma Yehudit, but the prime stituents—especially millennial and mi - cratic—and not a binational state, minister is a smart politician. He evi - nority voters—including American Jew - while keeping the Jordan Valley, a dently has calculated that whatever he ish millennials. This growing alienation united Jerusalem, and modifying the loses from such criticism is more than from Israel has in part been due to both 1967 lines...I don’t want to rule the offset by the prospect of a few extra Netanyahu’s repressive policies and his Palestinians.” In addition to these Knesset seats that could become part of close relationship with Donald Trump. goals, he added keeping the settle - a governing coalition that will be at There could be no doubt that Trump ments and maintaining security con - least as far to the extreme right as his had been excessive in his support for his trol west of the Jordan River. current coalition is. Israeli partner: canceling the Iran Deal; In other words, Gantz might have moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem; been a “fresh face,” but, on the central Paul R. Pillar, non-resident senior fellow at the the “gift” of the Golan Heights; cutting issue of dealing with Palestinians and Center for Security Studies of Georgetown Uni - all U.S. aid to the Palestinians; and re - the occupied territories, he was no dif - versity and an associate fellow of the Geneva maining silent in the face of settlement ferent than the prime minister he was Center for Security Policy, retired in 2005 from expansion and Netanyahu’s declared in - seeking to replace. a 28-year career in the U.S. intelligence com - tent to apply Israeli sovereignty to West In addition to the positions he es - munity. This blog was first posted on OV-5 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-6 look at the composition of the govern - It was interesting to watch how a few have been less inclined to challenge ing coalition Gantz would have assem - leading liberal pundits and Democratic him. With Netanyahu back, the debate bled had he emerged victorious. While elected officials reacted during and after will be energized. It might be late in the the press routinely referred to Gantz as this election. When it appeared that game, but better late than never. the “center-left” candidate, in reality, Gantz might win, they felt that it was only a small fraction of his potential safe to denounce Netanyahu and even Dr. James J. Zogby is president of the Arab partners could be seen as “left.” In fact, call him a racist; now with Netanyahu American Institute. This article was first posted most of his eventual partners were emerging as the victor, they have on OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-6 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-7 Many in the media, however, still do speaks volumes about the overall un - for a different, more deserving people. not understand what the Great March derestimation of the role of the Pales - From the Zionist perspective, the “exis - of Return really means for Palestinians. tinian people in their struggle for free - tence” of the natives is meant to be A cynically titled report in The Wash - dom, justice and national liberation. temporary. “We must expel Arabs and ington Post attempted to offer an an - The story of Palestine is the story of take their place,” wrote Israel’s found - swer. The article, “Gazans have paid in the Palestinian people, for they are the ing father, David Ben-Gurion. blood for a year of protests. Now many victims of oppression and the main Assigning the roles of being dislo - wonder what it was for,” selectively channel of resistance, starting with the cated, disinherited and nomadic to the quoted wounded Palestinians who, Nakba —the creation of Israel on the Palestinian people, without considera - supposedly, feel that their sacrifices ruins of Palestinian towns and villages tion for the ethical and political impli - were in vain. Aside from providing the in 1948. Had Palestinians not resisted, cations of such a perception, has erro - Israeli military with a platform to their story would have concluded then, neously presented Palestinians as a blame Hamas for the year-long march, and they would have disappeared. docile and submissive collective. the long report ended with these two Those who admonish Palestinian re - Hence, it is imperative that we de - quotes: The March of Return “achieved sistance or, like the Post, fail to under - velop a clearer understanding of the nothing,” according to one injured stand the underlying value of popular layered meanings behind the Great Palestinian. And “the only thing I can movement and sacrifices, have little un - March of Return. Hundreds of thou - find is that it made people pay atten - derstanding of the psychological rami - sands of Palestinians in Gaza did not tion,” said another. fications of resistance—the sense of col - risk life and limb over the last year sim - If The Washington Post paid attention, lective empowerment and hope that ply because they required urgent med - it would have realized that the mood spreads among the people. In his intro - icine and food supplies. They did so be - among Palestinians is neither cynical duction to Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched cause they understand their centrality nor despairing. The Post should have of the Earth, Jean-Paul Sartre describes in their struggle. Their protests are a wondered: If the march had resistance, as was passionately vindi - collective statement, a cry for justice, “achieved nothing,” then why are cated by Fanon, as a process through an ultimate reclamation of their narra - Gazans still protesting, and why has which “a man is recreating himself.” tive as a people—still standing, still the popular and inclusive nature of the For 70 years, Palestinians have em - powerful and still hopeful after 70 years march not been compromised? barked on that journey of recreation of of Nakba, 50 years of military occupa - Sabreen Al-Najjar, the mother of the self. They have resisted, and their tion and 12 years of unrelenting siege. young Palestinian medic Razan, who resistance in all of its forms has molded was fatally shot by the Israeli army a sense of collective unity, despite the Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor while trying to help wounded protest - numerous divisions that were erected of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The ers, wrote in the Independent last week: among the people. The Great March of Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (available from “The right of return is more than a po - Return is the latest manifestation of the Middle East Books and More). This article was litical position, more than a principle: ongoing Palestinian resistance. first posted on OV-7 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-8 ing Palestinian humanity. If it’s com - ism. Maybe it was the hope of securing preternaturally strong and valiant op - ing from the right, the narrative is of money for his family following his mar - pressed people. terrorists, rockets and Hamas, a legiti - tyrdom or injury. Maybe he thought his mate Palestinian resistance fully ce - death would give his people an inch to - GAZA IS A DEATH CAMP mented as the Boogieman in the West - ward liberty. Maybe it was the only But the truth must be said, and the ern imagination. thing left for him to do. We cannot truth is abysmally ugly and bleak. There From the left, the stories are the stuff know what is in the hearts of those who is nothing for the world to romanticize of legends, portraying unfathomable put their bodies between bullets and de - in Gaza. Nothing to idealize. Gaza is a Palestinian heroism, courage and spair. But we can be sure that their mo - death camp. Death and suppression “sumud,” an Arabic word romanticized tivations are painfully human. There is technology is “the Jewish Nation’s” sin - in English to convey epic Palestinian nothing godlike to see or fetishize. gle greatest export and Gaza is the steadfastness. human laboratory where Israeli arms At both ends of the spectrum, de - REDUCTIVE ANALYSES manufacturers fine-tune their wares on fenseless Palestinians are larger than life, There is no doubting the courage re - the bodies, psyches and spirits of Pales - unlike other humans, either superhu - quired to stand up to hateful, murder - tinians. It is a wretched existence that manly posing a threat to highly armed ous Israelis, but narratives that imbue spares none of the two million prison - soldiers several football fields away, or Palestinians with mythical bravery are ers in that concentration camp. displaying supernatural courage and harmful. They propose an otherworldly Israel has turned Gaza, once a great fearlessness before near-certain death. ability to withstand what no human city at the intersection of trade across The latter narrative, which manages to should be forced to withstand, and three continents, into a black hole of sentimentalize unspeakable misery, is so they obscure the very human and very dreams. Gaza is hope’s coffin, an incin - enticing that even Palestinians have dark reality of life in Gaza, which has erator of human potential and extin - taken up this framing. led to rates of suicide never before seen guisher of promise. People can barely in Palestinian society. breathe in Gaza. They cannot work, NOTHING TO LOSE Individuals in Gaza have different cannot leave, cannot study, cannot Just days ago, I watched a video of a reasons for joining the Great March of build, cannot heal. By all accounts, the young man who was shot in the legs. He Return, but the prevailing analyses are tiny Strip is unlivable, literally unfit to limps along, falls and gets up, only to be reductive, often coupling epic Palestin - sustain life. Nearly 100 percent of the shot again. The scene repeats over five or ian bravery with nonviolent resistance, water is undrinkable. Youth unemploy - six bullets before the man cannot get up because Western imaginary cannot ment is so high that it makes more again and others come to evacuate him. abide armed resistance, no matter how sense to measure employment, which The headline and comments extolled enduring or merciless the violence in - stands at a pathetic 30 percent. Approx - the “brave young man” who continued flicted on them. The kind of heroism imately 80 percent of the population to stand up to his oppressor despite that is connected with guns is the ex - lives below the poverty line. Most resi - being hit multiple times in his legs. clusive purview of Western soldiers. The dents get just a few hours of electricity As a Palestinian mother, I saw some - only moral resistance available for the every day. The sewage system has col - thing else in that man, young enough oppressed in the Western psyche is ex - lapsed. The healthcare system has been to be my son. Maybe he was utterly di - clusively nonviolent. This means that stretched to its breaking point and hos - vested of hope and robbed of the will the case for Palestinian liberty and dig - pitals are closing for lack of vital supplies to live a life encased in the barbaric, nity collapses the minute we fly an in - and fuel, which Israel often prevents malicious, and creative savagery of Is - cendiary kite or fire a rocket toward a Palestinians from buying or even receiv - rael’s siege on Gaza. A young man who state that has been eviscerating Palestin - ing from donors. This ineffable misery is has probably known little more than ian society and Palestinian bodies for intentional. Israel designed and made it. fear, despair, want, and impotence to decades. We see the same phenomenon And the world allows it to persist. do anything. Maybe a young man with around reactions in the United States nothing to lose, someone already bled when Black Americans rise up and do DISCOURSE OF “SUMUD” of his rightful life, attempting a single not perfectly conform to “peaceful” and When our lives, resistance and struggle moment of dignity in defiance, know - “nonviolent” protest, despite the cen - are framed in mythical terms, not only ing, and maybe hoping, it would be his turies of denigration and marginaliza - does it obscure our humanity, but it di - last. And maybe this is what the soldier tion they have endured. minishes the depravity of Israel’s control saw, and chose instead to add the It does not help that even some over millions of Palestinian lives. The trauma of amputated limbs to a tor - Palestinians reinforce this notion by discourse of sumud set us up for failure tured man feebly raising a small rock dismissing Hamas or downplaying any at every turn. On one hand, it supposes with no will or energy to even throw it. form of armed resistance as outliers in that Palestinians can endure anything. Maybe his motivation was national - an otherwise ideal and tidy protest of a On the other hand, it suffuses the unut - OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-8 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-9 tered assumption that Palestinians de - The Israeli authorities accused me of crimes against the Palestinian people. serve to be free because we are good, being a “terrorist”—a claim which re - The Israeli Football Association (IFA) brave, nonviolent and steadfast. mained completely unsubstantiated includes football clubs based in illegal Is - But the truth is that we are nothing and unproven right up to the day I was raeli settlements, training and playing more, or less, than human. We are col - released—three years later. During the matches on stolen Palestinian land. Is - lectively neither monsters nor heroes, final stages of my wrongful imprison - raeli settlements are illegal land grabs and even the worst of us are entitled to ment, I spent three months on hunger that form an integral part of Israel’s oc - live free of foreign occupation. It must strike. cupation infrastructure pushing indige - be said again and again that our struggle Throughout my ordeal, I received nous Palestinian families off of their against our tormentors is legitimate in many messages of support from athletes land, robbing Palestinians of natural re - every form, whether nonviolent or vio - across the world who called for my im - sources and denying them their right of lent. It must be said again and again that mediate release. When you are stripped movement. Israeli settlements in the oc - however we fight, our resistance is al - of your rights, unlawfully imprisoned cupied Palestinian territories are consid - ways self-defense. It must be said again and banned from seeing your family ered war crimes under international law. and again that our right to life and dig - and friends, global solidarity like the In this sense, the IFA is clearly in nity is not predicated on measures of our kind that I received during those dark breach of FIFA rules, which prohibit a collective goodness, bravery or steadfast - days is incredibly important. But the member association holding competi - ness. Ultimately, the left must stop fabu - need for solidarity with Palestinian foot - tions on the territory of another with - lizing Palestinians and instead look ball players, and the Palestinian people out permission. A comprehensive re - squarely into the gruesomeness of the as a whole, did not end when I walked port by Human Rights Watch said that despair and anguish of Gaza, which I out of Israeli prison. In fact, that solidar - by allowing the IFA to hold matches on suspect most of us cannot even imagine. ity is needed now more than ever. stolen Palestinian land, FIFA is en - I was not the first and will not be the abling business activity that supports Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian writer and last Palestinian football player who has the illegal settlements more broadly the author of the international bestselling been the subject of Israeli repression. and, in doing so, is in violation of its novel Mornings in Jenin (available from Mid - Just over a year ago on March 30, 2018, own human rights commitments. dle East Books and More). She is also the the career of promising young Palestin - Over the past few years there have founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, an NGO ian football player Muhammad Khalil been growing calls for FIFA to take ac - for children. This article was first posted on Obeid was destroyed in a flash when tion and suspend IFA’s membership OV-9 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-10 deal with the IFA, and we must continue pull out of these settlements in the oc - low through. It caved into political and, to lobby the German company until it cupied West Bank? let us not forget, economic pressure, and decides to fully abide by its stated com - Airbnb has made maddening rhetor - decided that it was not worth the trou - mitment to human rights. ical somersaults in order to both have ble. Throughout the process since the As someone who has experienced its settlement cake and eat it too. First initial declaration, it has been demon - first-hand the devastating impact Is - it announced its decision to pull out, strating weakness and cowardice, mani - rael’s regime has on access to sport, I pre-empting a Human Rights Watch re - fested in weak and contradictory state - urge all organizations who work with port on this dirty business (the report ments, until it now officially declared Puma to call for an end to its sponsor - also cited Booking.com, which pleaded that it will not realize its intention. ship of the IFA and, if it does not an - the 5th). Then Airbnb seemed to re - And it did this on the day where it swer these calls, to cease all partnerships verse its decision following meetings would be least noticed, as everyone is with Puma until it does. I also urge all with Israeli government officials, call - looking at the Israeli elections. Airbnb, those who believe in freedom, justice ing the issue “complex and emo - with all its earlier declared good inten - and equality for all to join the growing tional,” offering contradictory state - tions, will remain knowingly complicit global campaign to get Puma to stand ments that were neither here nor there. in war crimes, and this process leaves it on the right side of the history by end - Meanwhile, in January, an Amnesty as a symbol of surrender to Israeli crim - ing its complicity in human rights vio - International report about this business inality. lations against the Palestinians. pattern came out, emphasizing the bro - If Airbnb was not a major target for Though Israel robbed me of my ca - kers’ complicity in war crimes, also popular boycott, this chain of events reer and my freedom, they will not rob bringing into focus other companies now places it front and center as such. me, or any other Palestinian, of our de - such as TripAdvisor and Expedia. No charity actions will whitewash this termination to attain the rights and After the announced decision to pull crime. freedoms that we are owed. out in November, Israeli lawyers filed a (Hat/tip to Nasser Butt) class action suit against Airbnb. And Mahmoud Sarsak is a Palestinian soccer yesterday [April 9], Airbnb caved in to Jonathan Ofir is an Israeli musician, conductor player who has played for the Palestinian na - these pressures: “Airbnb will not move and blogger/writer based in Denmark. This tional team. This article was first posted on forward with implementing the re - article was first posted on OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-10 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-11 Not only are Omar and Tlaib shatter - infecting our political system. Like any other lobbying firm in ing the image of the powerless Muslim Another case in point is Ilhan Omar’s Washington, AIPAC seeks to influence woman in distress, but they are break - reference to the American Israel Public politicians on the Hill and in the White ing taboos that have long suppressed Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a tweet. House pursuant to its motto “America’s all women in the United States. Along with Tlaib, Omar is a supporter Pro-Israel Lobby.” To its credit, AIPAC is Tlaib curses like a sailor while in the of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanc - one of the most successful lobbying same breath declaring her intent to im - tions campaign, which emulates the groups alongside the National Rifle As - peach a notoriously misogynistic U.S. South African anti-apartheid move - sociation, Koch Industries, and the U.S. president. Omar unabashedly ques - ment in the use of nonviolent divest - Chamber of Commerce. tions powerful white male elites like El - ment as a political tactic to oppose the AIPAC boasts significant political liot Abrams at Foreign Relations Com - Israeli government’s violation of Pales - influence arising from its over $3.5 mittee hearings. And both women are tinian civil and human rights. million annual investment in lobby - unafraid to defend the human rights of When Omar responded “AIPAC” to a ing. Indeed, AIPAC astutely leveraged Palestinians, the most vilified people in question on Twitter about whom she the controversy over Omar’s tweet to U.S. media, contrary to the advice of “thinks is paying American politicians ask its supporters to donate, declaring: their senior colleagues. to be pro-Israel,” her tweet triggered a “We are determined to continue our As a result, our predominantly white common anti-Muslim trope—the anti- bipartisan efforts in support of the patriarchal political elite are having a Semite. Alongside the oppressed Mus - shared values that unite America and meltdown. lim woman, Islamophobia perpetuates Israel.” Refusing to be instrumentalized by a stereotype that Muslims are inher - The aspersions cast on Ilhan Omar’s superficial notions of diversity that ex - ently violent and anti-Semitic. character bring into sharp relief the oticize and infantilize minority women, These Islamophobic stereotypes con - ways in which allegations of anti- Tlaib and Omar vocally challenge the tribute to the erasure and delegitimiza - Semitism are frequently used to si - power structure. tion of Palestinian experiences from lence Muslims with dissident views, A case in point is Tlaib’s reference to mainstream discussions in the U.S. and when these are coupled with President Donald Trump as a m********* about the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. misogyny, Muslim women become at a bar after her confirmation. Her They lead to the vilification of Arab and easy targets. words triggered tens of media stories de - Muslim American academics on black - Tropes of the “bad girl” are weapon - spite more pressing issues like a govern - lists reminiscent of the McCarthyist era. ized to police women’s speech and be - ment shutdown. The disproportionate Islamophobia also fed the attacks on havior. Men exploit arbitrary civility attention evinced the depth of our soci - both Omar and Tlaib during their cam - codes to chastise women and minori - ety’s infantilization of Muslim women. paigns and after the elections. At a ties who do not accommodate existing Male politicians curse and they are just campaign event in August 2018, for ex - power structures. Any expression of engaging in “locker room talk.” But ample, the two Muslim women were anger, indignation or rebuke of the sta - when women curse, they are dishonor - subjected to a diatribe by a conserva - tus quo is quickly reprimanded—hence able—a tripe framing used to silence tive activist, calling the activists “jihadi” the calls on Omar to resign, while women around the world. and accusing them of supporting “ter - dozens of white male Republican Indeed, President Trump repri - rorists.” politicians peddle Islamophobia on a manded Tlaib by calling her comments And when, after her election, Omar regular basis. disgraceful and lamenting, “she dishon - sought to remove the prohibition on To be sure, Ilhan Omar and Rashida ored herself, and I think she dishonored headwear on the House floor, conserv - Tlaib will continue to be caught in the her family using language like that…I ative pastor E.W. Jackson said: “The crosshairs of Islamophobia and Ameri - thought it was highly disrespectful to floor of Congress is now going to look can misogyny. But like the millions of the United States of America.” like an Islamic republic. We are a Judeo- other confident, ambitious, smart Mus - These patronizing words came from Christian country. We are a nation lim women in the U.S., they are up to the same man who was caught on tape rooted and grounded in Christianity the task. stating he grabbed women by their gen - and that’s that…Don’t try to change And for those who cannot accept itals and forcibly kissed them and who our country into some sort of Islamic Omar and Tlaib’s presence on Capitol has called women fat, bimbos, and republic or try to base our country on Hill, Omar has some advice: “You’re rated them on the size of their breasts. Sharia law.” gonna have to just deal.” That Trump was still elected presi - While the anti-Semitic trope of a Jew - dent notwithstanding such lewd be - ish conspiracy to take over the world is Sahar Aziz is professor of law and Chancel - havior, not to mention his use of pro - real, both past and present, to analo - lor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers Law fanity on a regular basis, is further gize it to criticism of AIPAC is a red her - School. This article was first posted on proof of misogynistic double standards ring. OV-11 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-12 views expressed in this article are the author’s icy, which works to portray policies fa - gressional records of official trips reveal own and do not necessarily reflect Al vored by the Israeli government as that in 2018 members made approxi - Jazeera’s editorial stance. Copyright © 2019 being in the American interest. mately 250 trips, most lasting only a Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with AIPAC differs from many other few days, with two countries visited permission. groups funding private trips because of per trip. Committee on Agriculture its foundational foreign ties. AIPAC member trips focused on important lobbying began in earnest in the 1950s buyer countries such as Canada and Do Members of by a former employee of the Israeli South Korea. House Armed Services Ministry of Foreign Affairs—Isaiah Committee travel centered on Japan, Congress Take Kenen—who received ongoing pay - South Korea and the Middle East. Too Many Private ments from Israel to set up public rela - Members of the House Financial Ser - tions and lobbying in the U.S. Kenen vices Committee visited mostly Euro - Trips to Israel was paid by the Israeli government to pean nations. receive congressional delegations in Is - Members reported only 13 official With AIPAC? rael after major aid packages were trips to Israel and none to Palestinian passed into law. Late in 1962, the um - territories in 2018. This should con - BY GRANT F. SMITH brella organization in which AIPAC cern Americans. It means their repre - served as the lobby division was or - sentatives in Congress almost never ne of every three members of dered by the Justice Department to reg - have an opportunity to make un - Congress boarding a jetliner ister as an Israeli foreign agent. Six guided, adversarial, official assess - Oon a privately funded all-ex - weeks later AIPAC incorporated and ments in Israel, much less Palestinian pense-paid trip overseas has Israel as filed for tax-exempt status as a religious territories. However, members can no their final destination. Only one out charity. These historic facts never ap - longer justify the minuscule number of a hundred ever visits Palestinian ter - pear in mainstream reports about of trips to Palestinian territory as a ritories as a final destination. AIPAC. constituent mandate. When asked, Analysis of Gift Travel Filings made A typical AIEF itinerary consists of 41.2 percent of American adults re - to the U.S. House of Representatives numerous briefings by Israeli govern - cently polled said members making Office of the Clerk over the past half- ment officials, trips to historical sites, visits to Israel should also visit “terri - decade reveals Israel is far and away and lavish restaurant visits and hotel tories where Palestinians expelled dur - their top foreign destination. House of stays. Absent from the itineraries are ing Israel’s creation live.” Representatives members made nearly any briefings on Israel’s nuclear Though not as statistically relevant as 1,400 trips to Israel, while total subsi - weapons triad or meaningful visits to the overall poll results, demographic dized visits to foreign countries other Palestinian refugees. This leaves mem - filtering reveals younger and older than Israel were 2,500. bers of Congress with a highly dis - adults are generally more supportive of The vast majority of Israel trips are torted view of one of the world’s Palestinian territory visits. In the 18-24 funded by the American Israel Educa - longest-running and most contentious category, 45.7 percent favored such vis - tion Foundation, which raises tax-ex - issues, and inflated views of Israel’s mil - its, while in the 25-34 age group 46 per - empt contributions from pro-Israel itary vulnerability. Disproportionate cent were supportive of Congress mem - donors and Jewish federations. They numbers of trips to Israel are one major bers visiting Palestine. 55-64 year-olds typically last eight days and cost reason Congress has given the country and the 65+ category also had higher $10,000. AIEF is a corporation created over $250 billion since 1948, more favorability to the idea. in 1988 by the domestically registered than was given Europe to rebuild under If private groups provided fact-find - lobbying group AIPAC, the American Is - the Marshall Plan. ing trips to Palestinian territories at a rael Public Affairs Committee. In 2009 Members reported privately spon - rate commensurate with quantifiable 66 percent of AIEF’s board was com - sored visits to the Palestinian territories public interest, members would have prised of AIPAC directors. Since AIEF is in only two of the past five years. In taken 567 such visits between 2014- merely a lobbying funding conduit 2015, 30 members of Congress traveled 2018. Whether meaningful numbers with no employees, whenever members under sponsorship of the American would be courageous enough to go on of Congress travel to Israel they are ac - Global Institute; Palestinian Initiative such trips—officially or privately companied instead by staffers from for the Promotion of Global Dialogue funded—is an open question. AIPAC. In 2017 AIEF reported raising and Democracy. In 2016 10 members Freshman Democratic Rep. Rashida $60 million in revenue and expending traveled under the same sponsor. Tlaib floated the idea of an official del - $57 million. Another sole-purpose en - Members of the House of Represen - egation visit to the West Bank, telling tity set up by AIPAC in 1984 is the tatives also visit foreign countries on the Intercept, “They don’t show the side Washington Institute for Near East Pol - official, taxpayer-funded trips. Con - that I know is real, which is what’s hap - OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-12 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-13 pening to my grandmother and what’s demands Israel meet its “obligations Trump’s feelings might have changed happening to my family there.” under international law.” after reports that a lengthy special But such trips would likely shatter U.S. Vice President Mike Pence earlier counsel investigation said it found no decades of Israel lobby myth-making claimed that Democrats had been “co- evidence of collusion between Russia and assiduous opinion molding among opted by people who promote anti-Se - and the Trump campaign during the U.S. elected officials. This was the fear mitic rhetoric but U.S. Senator Charles 2016 election. of Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin, Schumer, a Democrat from New York Investigators said there was “insuffi - who argued such an official visit to the and the longest-serving Jewish member cient evidence” to conclude there was West Bank could “undo years of good - of Congress, hit back as the AIPAC ses - collusion. U.S. Attorney General will built by the foreign policy and Is - sion ended. William Barr wrote in a summary of raeli-American communities.” “Let me tell you, if you only care the investigation that “while this re - about anti-Semitism coming from your port does not conclude that the presi - Grant F. Smith is executive director of the In - political opponents, you are not fully dent committed a crime, it also does stitute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy committed to fighting anti-Semitism,” not exonerate him” on accusations of (IRmep). This article was first posted on he said. obstruction of justice. OV-13 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-14 “AIPAC is clearly a partisan lobbying as the capital of Israel and said the Jor - actions, it should accuse the Iranian group that has undermined diplo matic dan Valley would always remain Israel’s government of war crimes. States com - efforts,” said Iram Ali, cam paign di - “eastern security border.” mit war crimes. There are international rector for MoveOn’s political action “Let Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda and laws and institutions for dealing with committee, in a post on the group’s [the Islamic State] ISIS know: We’ve war crimes. website. “It’s no secret that AIPAC has met before on the battlefield,” he said. But the practical side of the issue is worked to hinder diplomatic efforts “You know the result.” that Iraqi Shi’i militias close to the IRGC like the Iran deal, is undermining Pales - He praised Netanyahu for returning are essentially the hosts and protectors tinian self-determination and inviting to Israel to tend the country after the of the some 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. figures actively involved in human rocket attack and said he would also re - Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rights violations to its stage.” turn to Israel. called Saturday for the Iraqi govern - Israeli Blue and White alliance candi - ment to expel U.S. troops from Iraq as date Gen. Benjamin Gantz also spoke Kelly Kennedy is an Arab Weekly correspon - soon as possible, lest they become en - of party differences at AIPAC. dent in Washington. This article was first pub - trenched. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel “Let me tell you, my friends, the di - lished by The Arab Weekly, March 26, 2019. Abdul Mahdi is on a state visit to Iran. visive dialogue is tearing us and tearing Copyright ©2019 The Arab Weekly. Distrib - Iran is proposing dozens of joint pro - our nation apart,” he said. “It may uted by Agence Global. jects, despite the U.S. increasingly se - serve, I doubt it, but it may serve polit - vere sanctions on Iran. ical purposes. But it is shredding the When ISIL took over 60 percent of fabric that holds us together.” Why Designating Iraqi territory in 2014, Grand Ayatollah He called for unity within the coun - Ali Sistani called for Iraqis to mobilize try as it heads into elections April 9. The Iranian Revo - against the terrorist organization. Many “In Bergen-Belsen, no one asked who lutionary Guards Shi’i took this call to mean they should is Reform, who is Conservative, who is form militias, since the formal Iraqi Orthodox or who is secular,” he said, re - Terrorists Would army had collapsed. ferring to a Nazi concentration camp in The Shi’i-led Iraqi government Germany. “Before going into battle, I Paint a Big Red reached out to the IRGC for help with never checked to see who had kippah training and logistics, and the IRGC under their helmets. As a proud owner Target on U.S. appears to have sent a small number of the red beret worn by the liberator of of troops into Iraq. the Kotel, I can tell you with confidence Troops in Iraq The IRGC planned out and helped ex - that the Western Wall is long enough to ecute the first major campaign against BY JUAN COLE accommodate everyone, everyone.” ISIL, at Tikrit. The U.S. initially declined Gantz attacked Netanyahu for allow - to join in because it was an Iranian-led ing an anti-Arab extremist into the he Trump administration is con - campaign, but in the end when the right-wing alliance: “There will be no sidering designating the Iranian Iraqi forces got bogged down, the U.S. radicals, from either side of the political TRevolutionary Guards Corps as offered air support. IRGC offered strate - map,” he said. “There will be no Ka - a terrorist organization. This is an old gic advice, but a lot of the heavy lifting hanists running our country.” Joe Lieberman idea from 2007, and it is was done by Shi’i militiamen who He praised the 1978 Middle East a very bad idea. It keeps being done formed a strong bond to the IRGC. peace talks and said he hoped for rhetorically (2007, 2017), and then an - The formal Iraqi military is still small peace. nounced again out of amnesia. It is il - and weak, and the Shi’i militias are in - “I truly know that the children of logical, but it is also practically speaking creasingly powerful, having formed Tehran and the children of Jerusalem a potential disaster if it were actually civilian political parties, and having are born free of hate,” he said. “I know thoroughly implemented. done well in elections. the Iranian people are waiting for a The notion is illogical because the So security is provided to U.S. troops, new dawn, one I hope we all see in our Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps essentially by the friends of the IRGC. lifetime.” (IRGC) is a state actor, not a non-state The Trump administration is painting He said his government would “ex - actor. Terrorists are civilians who com - a big red X on the backs of those troops. tend our hand in peace and we will mit violence against other civilians to strive for peace with any honest and achieve some political goal. Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of In - willing Arab leader.” The IRGC is sort of like the U.S. Na - formed Comment and the Richard P. Mitchell Gantz praised Trump for recognizing tional Guard. It isn’t the formal army, Professor of History at the University of Michi - Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan but it is an adjunct to it. gan. He is author of, among many other books, Heights and for recognizing Jerusalem If the U.S. has a problem with IRGC Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-14 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-15 Clash of Empires. This article was first posted “End your pursuit of nuclear weapons. lations. The United States reinstated all on OV-15 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-16 been exaggerating the connection be - of Iran and al-Qaeda. Period, full stop.” information, package it, and amplify it tween Iran and al-Qaeda to claim legal across a willing echo chamber—exactly justification for military action against INVOKING THE AUMF as the Bush administration did in the Iran under the 2001 AUMF. In 2017, the Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) zeroed in to the lead up to the Iraq war. CIA released additional records from the subtext of Pompeo’s repetitive al-Qaeda- The real question is whether America bin Laden files, ostensibly “to enhance Iran connections. If the administration will fall for it again. public understanding of al-Qaeda.” determines a valid link between al- Wrote former CIA analyst Ned Price: Qaeda and the Iranian government, it Joseph Cirincione is the president and Mary But this release by Pompeo wasn’t about may be able to declare war on Iran by Kaszynski is the deputy policy director of the transparency. Pompeo is playing politics using the 2001 AUMF, bypassing Con - Ploughshares Fund. This article was first with intelligence, using these files in a ploy gress entirely. So, Senator Paul pressed posted on OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-16 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-17 Torture and murder were rampant. years old, poured into the streets to de - EIRUT—The nationwide street I led student demonstrations in Eu - mand democracy and free votes. Even demonstrations that have now rope calling for free Algeria. As a result, army chief Ahmed Salah could not Btoppled two long-serving and I received my first death threats from withstand these demands for a new aging dictators in Algeria and Sudan La Main Rouge, a supposedly indepen - Arab spring. The last one in 1991 are particularly poignant, because they dent organization that murdered sup - turned into a disaster as reactionary occur in two pedigree countries in the porters of Algerian independence. forces in the Arab world and their U.S., modern Arab struggles for freedom Later, it was revealed to be a false flag French and British backers reimposed and dignity. branch of French foreign intelligence. autocratic rule on the long-suffering Much instant commentary around After independence, the victorious Arab world. the world will speak of the arrival of FLN (National Liberation Front) leader - But Algeria might spark a new wave Arab Spring 2.0, following the 2010-11 ship set about killing one another. The of revolution, notably in war-torn popular rebellions that achieved mixed revolution devoured its own. So much Libya, Tunisia and medieval Morocco. results in half a dozen Arab countries; for youthful idealism and hope. Egypt, a virtual U.S.-Saudi colonial dic - it will also note the armed forces’ con - Post-war Algeria was run by the FLN tatorship, would be threatened by a de - tinued hold on power, or at least on hierarchy and military until gas and oil mocratic Algeria. The Saharan region transitional political mechanisms, hint - prices dropped in 1991 and the regime would seek real independence from ing that Arab societies are doomed to did not know what to do. It was decided foreign rule. be ruled by military officers. to actually allow a free vote in local elec - As of now, we wait to see what will Such short-sighted and incomplete tions, one of the first in the Arab world. happen in Algiers. It would be good to views of what is actually going on The moderate Islamic Salvation Front see Algeria’s military step back and give across most of the Arab region should (FIS in French) won a landslide. The dic - up its unproductive role in politics. Al - be juxtaposed against the Algerian and tators, king and soldiers who ran the geria urgently needs to develop its civil - Sudanese people’s reaffirmation of Arab Arab world under U.S., British and ian economy away from oil and gas. citizens’ longstanding desire for a life of French tutelage were horrified. The FIS When they run out, Algeria will be political dignity and socio-economic was banned, its leaders jailed, and mar - forced to rely on agriculture and fishing. equity—and their willingness to risk tial law imposed over Algeria. Most important, Algeria’s army must their lives to achieve those rights. A national uprising erupted against ensure a peaceful transition to civilian Algeria has long been appreciated military rule. The army fought back government and fair elections. This across the Arab region for its epic strug - with extreme cruelty, using torture, be - would be the real second Algerian rev - gle for independence from French colo - headings and executions that far ex - olution for which so many have died. nialism over nearly two centuries, and ceeded the cruelties inflicted by former As we used to chant long ago, “long its support for Arab nationalist and pro - colonial ruler France. live free Algeria.” gressive movements since the 1960s. Its Over 200,000 Algerians died in this decades of military rule reflected simi - butchery. Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, interna - lar trends in most Arab lands, while the Most FIS leaders were killed or mur - tionally syndicated columnist and the author brief democratic breakthrough of the dered. But some escaped to Morocco, of American Raj: Liberation or Domination? 1992 elections that were won by local Libya and the Sahara to create a new Resolving the Conflict Between the West and Islamists was quickly and viciously militant fighting group, GIA, which the Muslim World (available from AET’s Mid - quashed by the armed forces who were still operates today in the Sahara, no - dle East Books and More). This article was first supported by Western governments. tably Mali, Cameroon, Chad and Togo. posted on OV-17 MAY 2019 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OTHER VOICES 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-18 human dignity that has defined Arab television crews went home. They only much money they spend. societies since their late 19th century occasionally laid low when death and Statehood, sovereignty and citizen - stirrings for freedom from European or imprisonment were no longer useful ship emerge only from the persistent Ottoman rule. options to achieve their goals. But they toil of honest citizens who respect each Algeria and Sudan today should re - always revived after brief interludes of other, love their country, and dare to mind us of how deep, wide and contin - rest, planning, re-grouping and re- battle homegrown or foreign tyrants to uous has been the struggle for human strategizing, when they sought the live in freedom and dignity. Arabs have rights and political decency across the most effective and non-destructive way done this for many, many decades, and Arab world, not how erratic or episodic to remove their hollow regimes of old Algeria and Sudan are the latest exam - it is. The historical reality is that every men with guns who routinely go to ples of this ongoing legacy. conceivable configuration of Arab citi - London, Paris, Washington, Moscow zens has struggled day and night, week and other faraway capitals to secure Rami G. Khouri is senior public policy fellow after week, year after year, from century praise and more guns. and professor of journalism at the American to century, to achieve the rights they I feel this viscerally because for the University of Beirut, and a non-resident senior expect as human beings, first, and as past 50 years, I have personally experi - fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Middle citizens of their states, second. They enced, reported on, analyzed and mar - East Initiative. He can be followed on Twitter face prison, torture and death. They are veled at this legacy of modern Arab @ramikhouri. This article was first distributed ridiculed and humiliated, marginalized struggle for decency, democracy and April 11, 2019. Copyright © 2019 Rami G. and exiled, beaten, bought and disap - dignity, and not just once every seven Khouri. Distributed by Agence Global. peared—but they persist because they years when it rears its head and waves Reprinted with permission. know their own humanity is both in - to the television crews who drop in vincible and universal. from New York, London and Paris for a So they march, write, speak out, chal - few days to marvel at the suddenly Two Rays of Hope lenge, organize, mobilize, vote, go to restive natives dressed in flowing robes court, and try every available means to who peacefully but relentlessly de - In Post-Election break through the authoritarian chains mand to live free, or not at all. Turkey that bind them to empty political sys - The meaning of Algeria and Sudan tems, drowning in gutted economies, in this long, uninterrupted legacy of BY YAVUZ BAYDAR on the surface of ravaged natural envi - human struggle that has toppled dicta - ronments, supported by cruel and un - torial rulers recently is in three main he state of local elections in caring Arab and foreign governments. causes: citizens who no longer fear Turkey can be summed up by Everybody beyond a handful of their military regimes but challenge Tthe remarks of the observer del - wealthy families and their guards in the them peacefully in the streets; egation of the Council of Europe: power elites struggles in one way or an - economies that have been turned into “These elections are a chance for the other—sometimes silently, only in their wastelands by the regimes can no full reinstatement of the principle of hearts—in this legacy of Arab demands longer feed, employ or house the pop - direct democratic mandate in Turkey.” to achieve one’s humanity and rights: ulation, two-thirds of whom have be - The repetitious vote count has, as ex - individuals, political and professional come poor, vulnerable and desperate; pected by realistic observers of the groups, women’s and student groups, and, the massive security systems the country, caused turbulence and severe lawyers, street artists, media figures, regimes created to protect themselves anxiety. singers and dancers, local religious and in the end refused to shoot and kill Uncertainty is the reason undue cultural leaders, businessmen and their own brothers and sisters. furor may lead to a misreading of what women, high school and university stu - Most honest people in the Arab re - the results mean. Assertions such as dents, local fruit and vegetable sellers, gion understood in their bones that “Turkish democracy is the winner in global high-tech magnates, mass move - the 2010-11 uprisings were a milestone these momentous local elections” may ments anchored in religion, ethnicity or on a very long and hard road to the prove to be jumping the gun. ideology, garbage collectors and school three goals that teased—but ultimately In an analysis for the Guardian, Sinan teachers. These and hundreds of other eluded—Arab people a century ago, Ulgen, director of the Turkish think tank categories of citizens have always chal - when the modern Arab state system EDAM, falls into this trap by conclud - lenged their own disdainful authorities, was formed: statehood, sovereignty ing: “Despite being saddled with big foreign occupiers and invaders, and a and citizenship. Those three prizes, we problems, Turkish democracy demon - global capitalist elite that works closely learned finally, would not come from strated its resilience and vibrancy and with ruling governments. the generosity of colonial rulers or bru - hinted at a future beyond populist and These activist Arab men and women tal indigenous autocrats, no matter divisive politics.” never stopped, even when the foreign how many troops they have or how The problem with such argumenta - OTHER VOICES A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS MAY 2019 OV-18 2019OVMay_r1.qxp_2019 May Other Voices Supplement 4/25/19 11:14 AM Page OV-19 tion stems from the terminology. markable skill for survival, Erdogan may ing that the mainstream opposition There was not much Turkish “democ - throw enthusiastic analysts another bloc has helped to slightly open the racy” to speak of before the elections, curveball. How? The answer is simple: gate to “democracy.” There is a little and the uncertainty, which hints at a The Turkish president has the “system,” more light coming into the darkness “hijack” of the Greater Istanbul Mu - which has nothing to do with “Turkish caused by cruelty in the country. nicipality by the alliance under the democracy” as suggested. On the con - Let me finish by underlining two key leadership of Turkish President Recep trary, it was designed and implemented factors, which offer strong opportuni - Tayyip Erdogan, casts dark shadows to serve his ambition for absolute power ties for any future challenge to Erdo - over the term. by the referendum on April 16, 2017. gan’s power. If anything, one could speak of “con - Erdogan won it with 51 percent of the One is the Kurdish vote. Without the tinued resistance of the opposition vote then and, despite much deeper tactical Kurdish voting, we would not voter bases” to a system in which fair - challenges on economy and foreign pol - see any loss at all for Erdogan’s alliance ness and transparency of the ballot-box icy, he may claim that the pro-Erdogan in Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Mersin and process are non-existent. bloc is shaken but still solid. Since there the tourism hub of Antalya. Kurds have One can certainly not speak of are no elections scheduled until 2023, become the game-setters for the out - “democracy” in an environment where he will not be in a hurry to exercise come of the elections, which means a the third largest party, the pro-Kurdish powers over the local administrations change in the asymmetry of power bal - Peoples’ Democratic Party, is severely given to him. His real challenge will be ances on the local level. bruised by arrests, threats and harass - within his party: He may choose to go The second has to do with a rising ment and with its leaders kept in prison. with full force to reassert his authority. star: Ekrem Imamoglu. Having emerged Neither can one have trust in ac - At the moment, we may sweep aside from “bottom up,” which is unusual in countability of a voting process in undue exuberance and suffice with say - the vertically run Turkish politics, which the rule of law has collapsed: Imamoglu proves to be a tough nut to There is no credible autonomy of state crack under the disguise of a soft-man - institutions, including the Supreme nered man. Electoral Council, which manifests His performance as a contester for Is - convulsions under extreme political tanbul as the candidate of the opposi - pressure by the executive. tion bloc reminds us strongly of the It is, therefore, important to curb the late Turkish President Turgut Ozal, who enthusiasm and not mislead world in the mid-1980s took Turkey out of opinion. It is true that opposition vot - military rule by embracing a large spec - ers in Turkey showed that the elections trum of political ideologies. on March 31 were a crucial threshold If he remains persistent and resilient before Turkey fell prey to consolidated to the political intrigues his party— authoritarian rule. the CHP [Republican People’s Party]— The 84 percent turnout was a healthy is known for, Imamoglu is possibly sign of a collective insight that the bal - the best outcome of Turkey’s local lot box was the only leverage to pull elec tions, symbolizing a chance the brakes for Erdogan and his like- Subscribe for change in Turkey, albeit in slow minded supporters, nested in state ap - motion. paratus and business. Imamoglu may save the country, It is also true that the mainstream to which for years posed as the outcast opposition bloc, consisting of secularist from the ship of democracy. Republican People’s Party (CHP) and nationalist Iyi Party, gained control of Other Voices Yavuz Baydar is a senior Turkish columnist municipalities that signify embrace of and news analyst. A founding member of the the two-thirds of the GDP. Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) in However, it is also true that Erdogan Phone: Istanbul, he has been reporting on Turkey and and his nationalist ally, Devlet Bahceli, monitoring media issues since 1980. A Euro - won nearly 52 percent of the nation - pean Press Prize Laureate in 2014, he is also wide vote on mayoral races and in city 1-888- the winner of Germany’s ”Journalistenpreis” councils. in 2018. This article was first published by The ground on which Erdogan stands The Arab Weekly, April 10, 2019. Copyright is not shattered but slightly shaken. 881-5861 © 2019 The Arab Weekly. Distributed by Having displayed time and again a re - Agence Global. Reprinted with permission. 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