tactical surface, lie the usual liberal such high importance on intricate, sensibilities and anxieties vis-á-vis the college-educated ethical distinctions use of violence; and also that, beneath between a person throwing rocks at the political rationale for utilizing our them and another person standing Jewish privilege, lies an all-too-common nearby, defending the first one’s right to personal fear of giving up one’s privilege, do so. In other words, a soldier’s desire period. Furthermore, regarding our role to avoid the legal troubles associated as a sort of “human shield,” I think this is with shooting a Jewish citizen plays a flat out wrong: it has been my much more significant role in his experience that most soldiers already reluctance to open fire on us than does assume Israeli anarchists throw stones at his impression that Israeli anarchists them alongside Palestinians, or, if not, “don’t deserve it.” I have no doubt that they at least support and facilitate combat soldiers think we deserve it, the stone-throwing, which is bad enough regardless of whether we actually join in their book. Israeli soldiers do not place stone-throwers or just protect them.

nonviolently to the violence inflicted on saw fit. After the first couple of years, them, we should admit, embrace, and however, certain key activists began Our anonymous interlocutor traces the The Kibbutzim (Jewish socialist wholeheartedly support Palestinian pressing for a formal resolution in favor prehistory and development of agricultural settlements) serve as a violence against the far greater violence of nonviolence, and this actually became contemporary Israeli anarchism, cautionary tale—should yet another such of Israeli Apartheid. the primary bone of contention in AAtW. touching on the origins of punk and the tale be needed—of anarchists becoming Furthermore, the prevalence of On the surface, the reasons for this animal rights movement in Israel and pawns in authoritarian projects through nonviolence rhetoric in reference to demand were purely practical, and they presenting a critical analysis of the tentative collaborations based on Palestinian resistance contrasts greatly make sense. The first reason is that trajectory of Anarchists Against the Wall. “temporarily” compromising our with the general acceptance among nonviolence enables us to offer a safer He concludes by reflecting on the confrontational and political rejection of radicals, even among the liberal left, of network for less militant activists, as well function of nonviolence rhetoric in the hierarchy. violence from Zapatista communities as mainstream members of the left, who conflict between Israel and Palestine. We Strange as it may sound today, many defending themselves against wish to attend demonstrations in West strongly recommend this interview to secular European Jews at the turn of the paramilitaries—or Naxalites in the Bank villages. This is an important anyone interested in the Israel/Palestine previous century saw a tacit bond forests of India resisting infrastructure function, since prior to the joint struggle conflict or, for that matter, in the between Zionism and anarchism. companies with landmines and many Israelis had not seen the reality of strategic challenges of formulating an Ghettoized and excluded from the automatic rifles—or MEND rebels in the the occupation and the Apartheid Wall anarchist opposition in adverse national ethos of their own countries, Niger Delta fighting Western up close with their own eyes. The conditions. they gravitated towards tendencies corporations by attacking oil wells and nonviolence tagline has contributed that—in their personal lives, if not in the pipelines, killing workers, security considerably to hundreds of Israelis eyes of history—offered opposing guards, and soldiers in the process. It witnessing the brutality of the Israeli magnetic polarities to push back with: makes no sense at all. As some army firsthand, something which AAtW Is there any continuity connecting anarchism, Marxism, and Zionism. Palestinians themselves have asked would have never achieved without Ironically, as documented by anarchist recently, I strongly urge everyone to being perceived as nonviolent. The the contemporary Israeli anarchist writers like Voline in Russia, large parts once and for all get treated for their second reason has to do with our ability movement to currents preceding of the Jewish ghettos perceived Zionism nonviolence obsession wherever as Jewish citizens to prevent soldiers the countercultural surge of the to be the craziest and most utopian of Palestinian resistance is concerned. from using certain types of lethal force, early ’90s? the three. for example live ammunition, by our Now, regarding AAtW’s own tactics, as presence in Palestinian demonstrations, So, in what could be seen as a precursor Jewish citizens and unequal partners in None whatsoever, unfortunately. Then given that soldiers have separate and to the pitfalls of modern identity politics, the joint struggle, nonviolence has again, it might not be that unfortunate. stricter rules of engagement for Jews the ties binding the old anarchists to always been our default setting. Since Throughout the hundred years than they do for Palestinians. Basically, their Jewish identity enabled their the very beginning we have been careful preceding, Israeli anarchists played a some within AAtW felt that if Israeli Umanità Nova, their vision of a new to play a strictly supportive role, never part in some successful endeavors, but participants were to engage actively in humanity, to be folded into and leading or taking initiatives—which is always at a costly price: the subjugation violence against soldiers, it would superseded by Zionism’s vision of a new usually what the vanguardist tendencies of the political to the social, which was gradually erode our ability to use our Jewry, the “Muscle Jew” of Israel, set to latent in political violence end up basically BuberSpeak for attempting to Jewish privilege as a deterrent, until replace the frightened ghetto one. On pushing one towards. Initially, we had build new worlds around the existing eventually we lost it altogether. the ground, one of the forms this decided not to adopt nonviolence as a one, rather than on its smoldering ashes. supersession took was the fast-paced collective guideline, leaving the question These are valid concerns, yet I cannot morph of egalitarian Kibbutzim open for each individual to answer as she help but feel that, not too far below the communities into strategic colonial you. They organized themselves into Palestinian resistance, even in its purest Palestinian society are concerned, for instruments at the hands of a nascent historical societies, cultural associations, tactical form. example, it is largely a question of cold state bent on driving indigenous philosophical discussion circles, and hard cash: 30% of the Palestinian GDP On the Israeli side, Anarchists Against the populations off the land. literary study groups, communicating comes from foreign aid. Naturally, the Wall and the International Solidarity chiefly in Yiddish, a choice oddly various foundations, charities, and In this light, it should come as no surprise Movement have been among the chief reminiscent of that other closed, black- governments funding the hundreds of that in 1994, the first vinyl release of the propagators of the myth of Palestinian clad Jewish milieu with its back turned Palestinian NGOs in the West Bank and first Israeli anarchist hardcore band was nonviolence, knowing full well that to on society—orthodox Hasidic Jews—and Gaza Strip are unanimous in their titled, simply, “Renounce Judaism.” Western audiences—practically our only in stark contrast to the earlier anarchists insistence on nonviolent politics, along audience—the term is understood in a With the establishment of a Jewish state, of the Kibbutzim, who spoke Hebrew. with its accompanying rhetoric. With contextually different and significantly the Labor Zionism anarchists discovered During the ’50s and ’60s, the Freedom Palestinian NGOs pushing this line, narrower way. This is accomplished not that the operation had succeeded and Seekers Association, Israel’s main activists in the West are all too happy to so much by outright lying as by omission, the patient had died; much like their anarchist group, produced a monthly toe it, and facts be damned. by silently taking advantage of contemporaries in the October bilingual publication called Problemen ambiguity, or by clinging to Among Israeli radicals, including AAtW, revolution, the Chinese May 4th alongside several books, and maintained technicalities, real or imagined but you’d be surprised how often everything Movement, and Madero’s Mexican a library of classic anarchist literature insignificant either way: for instance, the boils down to unresolved liberal uprising—and perhaps yesterday’s (again, mostly in Yiddish and Polish) as claim that the shebab slinging rocks are complexes, and a tendency to simplify Occupy movement—their sole reward well as a large hall in central Tel Aviv, not technically part of the protest things for politically correct crowds using was having been forgotten players in drawing hundreds of attendees to non- marches or demonstrations. This claim is banal syllogisms: a) good guys are not birthing the entity that deemed them threatening conferences where anarchy disingenuous. First, because the popular violent, b) Palestinians are the good guys irrelevant. was theorized to death alongside committees that organize the protests in in this conflict, c) ergo, the Palestinian Hassidic parables. The end of the Second World War and each village do, in fact, cooperate and popular struggle is nonviolent. To put it subsequent immigration of more Naturally, introverted and self-contained coordinate crowd movement with the differently, since Israeli soldiers inhale European Jews into the newly- cultural gatherings came at the expense stone-throwing youth—perhaps not in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, established Israeli state, with some of agitation, outreach, and organizing, advance, but in real time; perhaps not Palestinians are expected to do the anarchists amongst them, further which brings to mind certain punk rock always, but often enough. Second, opposite. galvanized the tension between the scenery we know only too well. In fact, because the supposed categorical Today, as hundreds, perhaps thousands political and the social, between there doesn’t seem to have been even so distinction between “stone-throwers” of videos from ten years of weekly identities freely chosen and identities much as an attempt to build a political and “protesters” exists only in theory, demonstrations are available online for born into, “anarchist” and “Jewish”—a anarchist movement. without a trace of it on the ground. And anyone to watch, it is truly a testament tension nowhere as critical, of course, as finally, because even if it did exist, both One anecdote from that era illustrates it to the power of cognitive dissonance within the borders of a Jewish archos. groups form equal parts of the broader perfectly: a Shin Bet agent (Israel’s that people can go on referring to this phenomenon we call the Palestinian Coming straight out of the Polish internal security service) came down to struggle as “nonviolent.” But politically popular struggle. ghettos, they proved unwilling or unable an anarchist meeting one day. “I heard speaking, the most worrying aspect of all to take the ghetto out of their émigré you have been discussing the possible There are other reasons why the myth of this is the delegitimization of Palestinian selves, and rather than flying the black ramifications of assassinating the prime Palestinian nonviolence is being violent resistance, inherent in the flag defiantly they simply circled the minister,” he said worryingly. disseminated ad nauseum, becoming perpetuation of the nonviolence myth. wagons; in their defense, though, truth by virtue of repetition. Where the Rather than fool ourselves that surviving the Holocaust might do that to more liberal or mainstream elements in Palestinians should be or are responding damage they inflict on the occupiers— tantamount to directly challenging the “Indeed we have,” came the reply, “but Lower East Side than in their new soldiers, bureaucrats, cops, machinery organization’s authority—especially from we were talking about the prime surroundings. operators, border police or settlers—is an outsider, as Mubarak Awad was. minister of Poland.” The agent left and Zionism and Judaism aside, another key essentially a form of self-defense. This is Indeed, the PLO leadership exiled in they were never bothered again. issue on which post-’90s anarchists true even according to the conservative Tunis at the time viewed nonviolence I should note that all was not so quiet on broke from the old guard was our standards of international law— rhetoric as a potential threat to its the Middle Eastern front at that time. blasphemous attitude towards the IDF, specifically, the 1960 UN Declaration on power, and was extremely hostile to it. The famous seamen’s strike, for the Israeli “Defense” Forces. American the Granting of Independence to Colonial During the Beit Sahour tax revolt, for example—the most radical and violent anarcho-syndicalist house painter Sam Countries and Peoples—not that we instance, the PLO denied logistical help strike in Israeli history, which for 40 days Dolgoff, who visited Israel in the early should give a damn about legalities. This to the participants, actively discouraged brought the country’s only commercial ’70s, captured the prevailing attitude of broader, fluid definition might make it other communities from joining in, and port to a standstill—took place in 1951. the old-timers (as well as his own, harder for the zealots of nonviolence to refused financial aid to those persecuted Incidentally, it was led by a young sailor apparently): maintain their rigid and moralistic for tax resistance—while offering it to whose grandson would become a key demarcations, but for the rest of us it’s the families of those killed or wounded “…Israeli comrades are forced, like the organizer in Israeli anarchism from the simply an affirmation of common sense. in violent clashes. other tendencies, to accept the fact that ’90s onwards. 1962 saw a series of For all their stupidity, US Libertarians Israel must be defended. […] In discussion Of course, violence was the dominant wildcat strikes in the wake of the have a clearer, self-explanatory term for with Israeli anarchists it was emphasized motif of Palestinian resistance for its devaluation of the Israeli pound. this: the Non-Aggression Principle. You that the unilateral dismantling of the obvious symbolic value as well: the Through all this, serious disturbances don’t start shit, but you reserve the right Israeli state would not at all be empowerment it offers a people who— against ethnic discrimination erupted, to respond. anarchistic. It would, on the contrary, much like Israeli Jews!—carry within led by Jews from Middle Eastern and only reinforce the immense power of the Lastly, if one steps back to examine their national identity a strong historical North African countries living in Arab states and actually expedite their nonviolence rhetoric in Palestine from a sense of being powerless, almost Ma’abarot, refugee absorption camps. In plans for the conquest of Israel. […] the wider socio-political perspective, it ontological victims. Come to think of it, 1949, during one such disturbance, angry necessity for defense of Israel—freely seems clear that a significant part of the this might be true for many anarchists, mobs smashed windows and ripped acknowledged by our comrades— reason it did not—indeed, could not— too. The PLO’s largest faction, Fatah, doors off their hinges at the temporary depends upon putting into effect the take root in the resistance movement included in its internal charter a telling Israeli Parliament building; in the indispensable military, economic, lies in that fact that the concept was affirmation that “armed struggle is a following year, a leader of similar legislative and social measures needed to introduced to Palestine in the ’80s. At strategy and not a tactic” (Article 19), protests by Yemenite Jews was the first keep Israel in a permanent state of war that time, the Palestinian Liberation and one of its first pamphlets was a citizen to be killed by an Israeli preparation. The Israeli anarchists […] Organization—whose charter specifically translation of Frantz Fanon’s Wretched policeman’s bullet. This, of course, know only too well that curtailing the listed armed struggle as the sole means of the Earth, which famously glorifies without even mentioning the various power of the state under such of liberation—reigned supreme as the violence as restoring self-respect, freeing forms of resistance Palestinian Arabs circumstances offers no real alternative.” unchallenged representative. It was a “the natives” from their inferiority were immersed in at the time. time before religious organizations complex, and even serving to “unite the Correspondingly, when an anarcho-punk None of the above, as far as I know, began speaking in nationalist people.” All of this somewhat blurred the collective stirred up controversy with a elicited any participation or material terminology and entered the political line between means and ends, rendering headline-grabbing anti-IDF issue of its support from Israel’s exilic anarchists, arena, before Hamas turned Islam into a it highly unlikely that nonviolence War of Words fanzine in 1996, they were who seem to have been more attuned to liberation theology. Proposing a means rhetoric could gain a strong foothold in reproached in no uncertain terms by the Yiddish labor struggles in New York’s of resistance outside the PLO was taboo, late Joseph Luden, editor of the aforementioned Problemen and author The 1990s generation of Israeli Palestinian Center for the Study of juxtapose nonviolence with, say, rock of the book ‘A Short History of the anarchists was in a position to bring Nonviolence in the ’80s. He was quite throwing or window breaking, but only Anarchist Idea’, who expressed a deep something unique to the table—and we honest about this being a practical rather with picking up the gun. In his open disappointment and insisted that the did. At first glance, you could diagnose it than Gandhian matter (although he is letter to Chris Hedges, David Graeber armed forces are “not the enemy.” To as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, still politically savvy enough to conflate mentions meeting an Egyptian activist us, this showed that the primordial perhaps, or revolution for the hell of it: a the two occasionally): who, speaking of last year’s popular Jewish fear of the Pogrom, of Romans or collective middle finger to the army with uprising, expressed a similar point of “For the Palestinians who are living in the Crusaders or Cossacks or Arabs awaiting no blueprints or analyses or structural view: “Of course we were non-violent. West Bank and Gaza during this period, their chance to gut us in our sleep, was adjustment plans to replace it. “Serious” No one ever used firearms, or anything the most effective strategy is one of non- strong enough to cloud the judgment of revolutionaries frowned upon this, of like that. We never did anything more violence. This does not […] constitute a even lifelong anarchists, much like other course. In hindsight, however, I think militant than throwing rocks!” rejection of the concept of armed cultural poisons we drink in with our singling out militarism showed good struggle. Simply put, the thesis is that If I may reach back once more to the mother’s milk and never fully get out of instincts, a fine-tuned sense of the during this particular historical period, American New Left for comparison, the our systems. changing nature of a key battleground— and with regard only to the 1.3 million ’60s antiwar organization SDS defined a battleground that was and remains Of course, with the Palestinian death toll Palestinians living under the Israeli itself as “not violent, but not extremely important in both symbolic reaching its current dizzying heights, occupation, non-violence is the most nonviolent,” which although a bit and practical terms attacks on the very existence of a effective method to obstruct the policy of tongue-twisting is much more accurate, military apparatus, not just its Furthermore, it showed that we knew ‘Judaization.’” not to mention honest. This definition is prevalence, have become a more enough to trust our immediate what Palestinians have in mind when His disciple, Nafez Assaily, who operates common feature of Israeli radicalism; but experiences, letting them guide our they speak of a nonviolent struggle, his own small nonviolence project in the the early ’90s were a different story. decisions. All of us were close to the age especially in the context of the ongoing city of Hebron today, makes this equally Practically all our fellow radicals—when at which the state’s attempt to enlist us demonstrations against the Apartheid clear. Referring to Yasser Arafat’s speech not preoccupied with issues such as the into Israel’s mandatory military service— Wall. at the UN—delivered while holding a gun then-popular and extremely safe and the scars we earned fighting that— in one hand and an olive branch in the “religious coercion” theme—were were still fresh. other—Assaily points out that “neither adamant in sharpening a distinction To be clear, I don’t want to come off as hand cancels the other.” between military duty inside the Green overly critical of the older generations of Line (the de facto Israeli borders), which It has been my experience that, in the Israeli anarchists. They were extremely they considered a moral obligation, and Palestinian political vocabulary, good at many things, just not particularly troops deployed outside of it, in “nonviolent” means “unarmed”—and at being anarchists, or rather at being occupied Palestinian territory, which even then, only if by arms you mean anarchic—at recognizing and prioritizing they thought we should strategically guns, not bottles filled with petrol and the projects that are exclusive to oppose and be jailed for. Even anti- motor oil. Nonviolence is used as a term Palestinians, like almost everybody anarchist thinking, that no one else can Zionist Trotskyist splinter groups and to describe broad popular resistance, except the domineering doctrinaires of offer. In a country where all political fringe offshoots, who were basically in actions everyone can participate in, as nonviolence in the West, do not consider factions—left, right and center—had the same toy boat as us, encouraged opposed to armed struggle, which is self-defense a form of violence; this began as radical subversives not long their members to join the military, albeit conducted by the few. broadens their definition of nonviolence ago, perhaps “anarchist” should have with the aim of relating better to the significantly. And since they happen to meant rebel rather than revolutionary. Note how, unlike liberals, the Palestinian average worker. live under military occupation, any nonviolence advocates I quoted do not practically all male. Neither category, largely undetected in Israel and the Nevertheless, I do have a tremendous Peace, ever elusive, was right around the however, has significant pacifist traits. West. Undetected, that is, until the respect for the old-school. corner, a mere treaty away. Radicals— popular struggle against the Apartheid including anarchists, with the exception Conscientious and pacifist moralisms Wall began taking shape and welcoming of a single individual, if I recall our aside, things get a little more Western as well as Israeli activists into its How did Israeli anarchism arrive meetings correctly—were completely co- complicated when it comes to fold. opted by the so-called Peace Process, nonviolence as a strategy. Again, I’ll start with or emerge from the counter- accepting it as the only game in town. with the Palestinian side. However, and I can’t stress enough how cultural surge of the early ’90s? crucial this is to understand, Palestinians’ There were two reasons for this. First, Like most other national liberation What characteristics does it retain definition of nonviolence—often framed Fatah opposition to the process had struggles, Palestinians have used a wide from that era? What advantages within the wider and uniquely collapsed and Palestinian society seemed range of nonviolent tactics against the and disadvantages do those confer? Palestinian concept of sumoud (steadfast to have embraced it wholly, leaving us encroaching Zionist movement—even perseverance)—bears only a fleeting hesitant to come off as “more Catholic prior to Israel’s statehood, while resemblance to the nonviolence Even after having been personally than the Pope.” Second, the right’s everyone was still under Ottoman and fetishized by the liberal “Peace Police” involved in both ’90s anarchism and the hysterical objection to it lulled us further British rule. For example, the 1930s saw types you encounter in the West. The Israeli counterculture of that time, I’m into thinking this was, on the whole, a local commerce grind to a halt for six two definitions are as removed from not sure whether modern Israeli positive process. Lesson learned: never whole months due to general strikes each other as the everyday realities the anarchism emerged out of the punk choose political paths based on which against the British mandatory two groups live and struggle in. explosion, as in other countries during troll is under what bridge. government. that decade, or whether both were First and foremost, Palestinian However, there was a silver lining in our The first Intifada encompassed some of products of the zeitgeist in equal nonviolence is completely devoid of clouded judgment. As Peace dropped a the most memorable examples of measure. I guess that should be left to “moral high ground” and “stooping to few spots on the list of burning issues to Palestinian nonviolence. For example, in the social historians—or maybe the their level” parlance, which for Western attend to, other issues naturally climbed the Palestinian Christian city of Beit physicists, since Newton’s third law anarchists should be a breath of fresh up, and unfamiliar concepts were sucked Sahour, a tax revolt against Israeli clearly states that all forces are air. Simply put, it is not as concerned into the resulting vacuum, suggesting occupation led to the entire city being interactions between different bodies. with spit-shining its own reflection as it is new ways to approach the old problems. placed under siege for 44 days, ending with achieving its goals. Also, it has been Speaking of physics—if nature indeed And since people are not one- with Israeli soldiers going in and decades since Palestinians have let abhors a vacuum, it must have been dimensional, with the changes in politics “confiscating” (looting) two million concerns of negative media coverage royally pissed off at us as the ’90s rolled came cultural changes as well: radical dollars in goods from businesses. But lead them by the nose. Past experience in. The first Palestinian Intifada had lost ecology and animal liberation, for even the second Intifada, an has shown quite clearly that sticking to momentum and direction after three example, previously unheard of, burst overwhelmingly more violent and nonviolent resistance did not gain them long years, essentially ending at the onto the scene shoulder-to-shoulder militarized uprising remembered for its the support of the so-called international Madrid Conference of 1991 (though with a new counterculture of noise, Qassam rockets and suicide bombings, community—even before War on Terror officially only at the 1993 Oslo Accords). ‘zines, street art, international contacts, still saw plenty of boycotts, pickets, hysteria. This period, right up to the assassination the do-it-yourself ethic, communal living vigils, hunger strikes, mass of Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin in late arrangements, infoshops, independent demonstrations, protests, and The famed “Arab Gandhi,” Mubarak 1995 and the right-wing electoral victory media, and cross-issue alliances and marches—many following the nearly Awad, a Christian Palestinian-American six months later, was marked by a strong activist practices. Anarchy, explicit or daily funeral processions—all examples and the main advocate of Palestinian sense of euphoria and optimism in the implicit but always complicit, was at the of nonviolent resistance which went nonviolent resistance, founded the ranks of the left: an uplifting feeling that heart of this. Punk is a good reference point, although Likewise, there were a handful of elaborate on the universal flaws of the diluted with—and ultimately this countercultural surge was wider and anarchists in the ’70s and ’80s— whole thing. In the case of Palestinian overshadowed by—tactical more aesthetically diverse. Contrary to something I glossed over in answering resistance and AAtW, however, there is a argumentation. More on that later. what many assume, punk’s influence was the pervious question—but they did not twist to the story: it is no longer simply a As for the Israeli side, the last three already roughing the edges of Israeli manage to push past their matter of nonviolence versus violence, decades, beginning with the 1982 alternative culture in the late ’70s, and characterization as isolated outliers. but of nonviolence rhetoric employed, Lebanon War, have seen hundreds of throughout the ’80s punks formed Indeed, this characterization was mainly by external forces, to muddy the people jailed for refusing to perform bands, played shows, and released demo generally self-imposed. In 1973, for waters and obfuscate the violent aspect military duty (standard sentence is 28 cassettes. However, the concept of a example, on the eve of the Yom Kippur of Palestinian popular resistance—not days), but to my knowledge, only one “scene” as social unit simply hadn’t War, a three-man commune calling itself only its legitimacy or scope or person has claimed bona fide pacifism as occurred to anyone. Punk remained The Black Front – Freaky Anarchist Group accomplishments, but its very existence, his motivation; somewhat unexpectedly, extrinsic to cultural identity and thus put out a humorous one-off publication its definition as such. it was the nephew of prime minister punks stayed atomized and fragmented, with heavy R. Crumb influences, Freaky, But I’m getting ahead of myself. Benjamin Netanyahu. Generally related primarily through this very while in the ’80s three Israeli-Palestinian speaking, conscientious objectors—or disconnection, which I’m guessing brothers set up NILAHEM, “Youth for Although this question presumably refers “Refusniks” as they’re known here— seemed part of how they thought punk Liberty and Struggle,” a small anarchist to nonviolence as a tactical approach, belong to two distinct categories. The should “feel.” group in the northern city of Haifa. One rather than its absolutist, theosophical more conventional ones, characterized of those brothers, our comrade Juliano variety—i.e., pacifism—let’s start with by the organizations Yesh Gvul and Mer-Khamis, was murdered by a masked the second meaning, just to clarify Courage to Refuse, are older reserve gunman in Jenin refugee camp last year. things. combat soldiers and officers who Not until the ’90s was there a conscious It will probably not be the shock of your advocate a selective refusal to serve in effort to broaden anarchist practice by life to learn that pacifists have played no the occupied territories, yet strongly advancing it further down the trajectory significant role in this region since about identify with and perpetuate militarist the time of the Essenes. On the and nationalist discourses; indeed, they . In a heartwarming case of quantum Palestinian side, Muslims who advocate believe it is precisely this ardent wishful thinking—or was it an attempt to pacifism come exclusively from a very patriotism that legitimizes their critical confuse the enemy?—the main anarchist specific Islamic context: the Sufi, or voice. Younger activists, characterized by group of the early 90’s lacked a formal mystical, tradition (yes, like Hakim Bey). the organizations New Profile and name and simply called itself “Anarchist However, Sufism was pushed to the Shministim (literally “twelve-graders”), Movement.” margins of Palestinian society long ago view any military position within the by Salafist/Wahhabi Islam, and during army as directly or indirectly So, like a real-life chiasmus, ’90s punk the 20th century its scope of influence perpetuating the occupation, and refuse borrowed from anarchists the here has been reduced to a few out of a more radical and comprehensive autonomous self-organization, the do-it- forgotten highland tombs and hilltop critique of dominant Zionist narratives, yourself scene, while ’90s anarchists shrines dotting the landscape. Some militarism. and male-chauvinism. New borrowed from punk the chromosome of Palestinian Christians, who make up Profile is explicitly feminist, in stark expansion, propagation driven by a about 3% of those living under contrast to both Yesh Gvul and Courage 1973 publication of the Black Front, cultural sense of urgency. Through the occupation, have also been known to to Refuse, the membership of which is Freaky Anarchist Group logic of “if you build it, they will come,” preach pacifism, but always heavily each cured the other of its respective national lines as the center of political fact, even prioritizing struggles in and of delusions of petitesse. And, of course, peace camp—but we moved in it like gravity? itself—serves only to remind us what both reinforced in each other the notion some sort of new and wild exotic animal. matters least in life: political that one needn’t give a fuck about rules. We were composed of post-leftists and I assume most anarchists don’t need the reductionism. Also, since the need to past-leftists, but we all agreed we didn’t answer spelled out for them. The question of what characteristics prioritize issues exists in inverse want anarchy reduced to the conjugation contemporary Israeli anarchism retains And still, somehow, the political proportion to the number of activists of a leftist verb. Some pigeonholed us as from the ’90s is interesting, but a more prioritizing embodied in AAtW remains and resources available, anarchists in yet another type of commies, while poignant question would be what essentially the same as the prioritizing countries with wider movements may others interpreted our unconventionality characteristics it has lost. In four words: propagated by the Israeli state, its not relate to these problems. to mean we had nothing relevant to the element of surprise. media, and their ilk. Very few Israeli offer those who, in the end, see their anarchists in the last decade have lives as conventional. But a lot of people, rejected these priorities in favor of especially younger ones, were intrigued economic, feminist, migrant, and open to new messages. The ’00s, environmental, gender, or nonhuman however, changed that. struggles, to name but a few divergent perspectives.

In the adrenaline rush to become an opposition, we should have taken greater care not to lose the characteristics that also make us a well- rounded alternative, as these two do not always correlate. In many ways, circumstances and a lack of analysis have caused AAtW to become an inverted or cracked-glass reflection of the state’s point of view, instead of reflecting something altogether different. This helps explain why it feels so natural for Cover of issue 4 of the paper The War of us to cooperate with even the most More photographs by Hamde Abu Words, published in 1996 by the Isra-hell racist, misogynist, homophobic, Rahma collective, covering punk, animal rights, and intolerant religious zealots the conscientious objection; the banner reads Palestinian resistance has to offer. The What role has the rhetoric of “No surrender to political terror.” philosopher was right in cautioning us nonviolence played in Anarchists about gazing into the abyss, and Against the Wall, and in the In the early ’90s, we tried our best to The back cover of issue 4 of the first Israeli punk fanzine, Necrophilia for Youth, emphasizing that everything Palestinian-Israeli conflict generally? avoid becoming “far left,” trapped at this published in 1994; the text reads “No unconditional is a pathology—solidarity or that edge of the political spectrum Government Can Offer You Liberty.” included. Nonviolence rhetoric works, or rather with nowhere to go but center; instead, we simply did not register on it. Our Around 2003, during the low tide of the I readily acknowledge that all this doesn’t work, the same the world over, natural habitat was the left, true—the second Intifada—one could say parallel discussion of prioritizing struggles—in so I’m guessing there’s no need to progressives, the bleeding hearts, the but underneath it—a popular struggle against the Israeli Separation Wall Besides Anarchists Against the Wall, rather averse to both formulas and when they are invisible. And this leads us exploded, a struggle which could be seen what other initiatives arose in that hierarchies—not to mention formulaic back to the example of Anarchists as a sort of different, third Intifada. It era? hierarchies!—we tend to favor Against the Wall. began—and still rages on—in a handful integrative, circumfluent political AAtW owes the strength of its tactical of small West Bank villages whose lands Describe, for example, the origins outlooks, in which a constant diction—its very existence, I would say— were being confiscated, either to and trajectory of the contemporary reaffirmation of common grounds to the unspoken notion that the construct the wall or to fatten up the animal rights movement in Israel. trumps that ill-famed need of Palestinian issue crystallizes the general ever-expanding Jewish settlements. revolutionaries to identify a key issue, a crisis in Israeli society, that this national Almost immediately, anarchists chief contradiction. And yet, our I think the most interesting part of the conflict is the prime seismic fault line. As recognized this as a situation where our deliberate vagueness notwithstanding, Israeli animal rights movement— far as I know and can remember, there position as Israeli citizens, coupled with we all prioritize struggles—its our self- certainly the most relevant to radicals— have been no concerted efforts on our our unique brand of confrontational awareness of this that varies. Like is its inception. Not to oversell it, but it part to step back and question the praxis, could make a significant hypocrisy, the only sure way to avoid this was one of the few genuine structural reasoning that anointed this notion as contribution, and thus Anarchists Against is to sit at home and do nothing. The anarchist conspiracies I know of in the self-evident truth. Through which eyes the Wall was born. important question, then, is not whether last 140 years, and a farsighted one at does this issue crystallize the general we prioritize struggles, but what criteria, This was a calculated gamble. In many that. Plus, it worked; perhaps too well. crisis? From what perspective is this if any, we employ in doing so. ways it did pay off, but the extreme issue the prime seismic fault line? Needless to say, when I speak of real Geography? History? Morality? Mass intensity of that particular struggle made anarchist conspiracies I do so treading psychology? And how do we We know that politicians, their media, it inevitable that all other facets of our lightly, given the proclivity of law conceptualize such prioritizing—by and the phantasm they call “the politics would be eclipsed by it, which is enforcement agencies to conjure up fake definition a process of stratification—to Mainstream” all adhere to this notion, precisely what happened. Soon, the term ones, whether in Bologna, Moscow, make it compatible with concrete, and work diligently to enforce it, anarchist became synonymous with one Cleveland, or the village of Tarnac, everyday anarchist politics? although their criteria is hardly ever thing and one thing only—Palestinian France. But this was a conspiracy of an discussed in factual terms. It couldn’t nationalism—through a polarizing entirely different kind. possibly be based on the number of dynamic we had known we wouldn’t fatalities, for example, when over a escape. The opportunity to engage the The concept of animal rights arrived late thousand Israelis die every year from state in a violent, bloody, and charged on the Israeli scene, towards the early pollution, and car accidents have claimed conflict—although not in an ideal setting ’90s, courtesy of anarchists. There had more lives throughout the country’s for anti-nationalists—came at the been an anti-vivisection society since ’83, existence than all of its wars combined; it expense of our effectiveness in but it was caught up in the scientific couldn’t possibly be the amount of practically all other arenas. We were angle and shied away from the broader suffering inflicted—inasmuch as that can forced, if you will, to make a choice implications of its own ethical concerns. “Return Serve,” a photograph by Hamde be meaningfully quantified—when Just to illustrate how late things bloomed between being an attractive prospect to Abu Rahma, from a 2013 art show almost 200,000 Israeli women are here: the first book in Hebrew on animal the Israeli public and a threatening one benefiting Anarchists Against the Wall. battered yearly. No. The question we experimentation came out in ’91, the to the Israeli state; we didn’t manage to should be asking instead is plain, and yet first law even to mention the subject was beat the odds by reconciling the two. It seems to me that the wrong way to do cuts deep: cui bono? Who benefits most passed in ’94, and a translation of Peter this is by inertia, by default, by letting from our accepting an armed, territorial Singer’s Animal Liberation was not the chips fall where they may. Like conflict along ethnic, religious and published until ’98. structures, priorities are most dangerous Gay”/“You Can Call Me An Anarchist” Government Is against the People, The As I mentioned, at the beginning of the realization that of all the various exchange. People Are against the Government,” ’90s, new perspectives took precedence injustices we could be organizing around anarchists reduced themselves to waving over Palestine-centered politics—a at that particular time and place, animal Generally speaking, it felt as if failure to anti-occupation placards from the tendency reversed, quite violently, come rights happened to be the most link everything explicitly and incessantly sidelines, conveying a message that the new millennium. As anarchists were conductive. to the Palestinian issue became a sin of nothing, not even genuine popular leaving no stone unturned in search for omission, as if all other struggles had Our first group was called, simply, protest, has any worth unless it carries new ways to amplify our impact on been drained of any intrinsic value they Anonymous, a strange, somewhat dark the West Bank and the Gaza Strip coiled society, some concluded that, rather might have had. In a way, this was a name for an animal rights organization, around it like constrictor snakes. In the than advancing anarchism as a package rehashed version of mistakes New unless you keep in mind it was a kind of 2012 Social Justice protests, it looked like deal, it would be more effective to Leftists made, in all their Marxist-Leninist anarchist front. Besides the aim of more of the same as far as anarchists introduce it through the prism of a single glory, when they relegated every radicalizing young animal-lovers who were concerned. issue. And so began constant discussions, struggle except Third World/Black might join in, it had another, more formal and informal, in sunbathed public liberation to secondary status. Unlike the practical aim: to recruit people for parks as well as poorly guarded high- ’60s radicals, though, we had no clandestine Animal Liberation Front school shelters at midnight, all focused pretense of following scientific analyses activities. Anonymous’ small on a single question: which issue could of society, so our harsh prioritizing was headquarters, filled to the brim with offer the firmest foot in the backdoor, informal, seldom articulated or even information about various radical through which to disseminate the widest acknowledged—a result of group struggles, nonhuman and human, was assortment of radical ideas? dynamics as well as of political also the nocturnal rendezvous point for definitions in which action really meant Brief tactical forays were made by some almost all ALF activity in Tel Aviv during reaction. When you are always reacting Attempts to identify this tendency—and, into the terrain of nuclear disarmament, that time; it was even conveniently rather than initiating, you naturally run a by inference, to recognize AAtW as a Israel’s taboo public secret, as well as located on Ben Yehuda street, the very higher risk of mirroring the state’s manifestation of sublimated political social ecology, with the group Green same street where most of the cities’ priorities rather than your heart’s desire. prioritizing—usually end up locked in Action, but ultimately we realized that a furriers had set up shop! According to new and unspoiled lump of clay was interrogators at the adjacent Dizengoff Our readiness to “link” struggles by emotional and personalized systems of needed. And none fit the bill like the police station, at least, Anonymous subjugating all to one is still quite representation, which at best reveal only hitherto unknown, seemingly safe activists were the ones who introduced prevalent. The Social Justice tents’ half a picture. It is true that those were concept of fighting for the rights of seals Israeli storeowners (and cops) to protests that gripped Israel in the very demanding times for us personally, or elephants—as fur shops and circuses superglued locks. summer of 2011—a local version of the and that the Palestinian popular struggle, were the first two major targets of local Occupy movement, largely inspired by then as now, involves highly charged animal rights campaigns. the Arab spring—saw anarchists situations that burn intensely enough to participating with the sole purpose of dim out most everything else if you let While this focal shift was conscious and them. But there is also a more abstract, imposing the Palestinian cause, willfully premeditated, it should not be seen as Anonymous for Animal Rights logo. blind to the myriad of other notional component at play. some manipulative ploy or cynical The opportunities the protests opened up for Man Who Was Thursday-type stuff. Anarchists often use theoretical Today, Anonymous for Animal Rights as us. As tens of thousands of ordinary Tactical considerations aside, we really frameworks that present everything as it is now known, has grown into Israel’s people marched through the heart of Tel were passionate and sincere about interwoven and equally important to equivalent of PETA, the biggest, most Aviv’s White City behind a wide, tall ending nonhuman suffering—other avoid putting their priorities on the table respected mainstream organization in banner that read “When the motives were merely an added bonus, a regarding struggles and issues. Being the field, complete with lobbyists and reform-oriented consumer campaigns. the animal rights movement was kick- few years, having fulfilled its historically crucial contributions—AAtW wrote us This was the end-process of a gradual started by anarchists, Anarchists Against ordained role—but AAtW carried on in back into the left/right binary code that influx of activists who were not in on the the Wall was in turn conceived by animal full swing. defines and confines Israel’s political original plan, people whose entire scope rights activists, two carrier waves in spectrum, the same spectrum we had Comrades visiting Israel are often truly began and ended with animal small congruent circles that would fit tried to escape a decade earlier. We surprised at how prevalent anti- rights. Once enough of them were in the neatly within the dialectical materialism have been “far left” ever since and, speciesist discourse is among local core group, the inevitable power of scientific socialists—if by “scientific” unsurprisingly, it has limited our room anarchists. In fact, even Israeli radicals of struggles and infighting ensued, we meant chaos theory. for maneuver in other arenas. To make the non-anarchist variety needed a few prompting anarchists to accept the fact matters worse, this binarization was One Struggle was a veganarchist group good years to adjust. When Ta’ayush (a that their work there was done—the swallowed whole and internalized, formed around 2002 by some of the radical Israeli organization) attempted to wooden puppet had become a real boy. slowing down our political metabolism, people who had left Anonymous in the organize the reconstruction of battery It was time to pursue other avenues. as we became more and more dismissive aforementioned split. Although its cages destroyed by Israeli soldiers in the of anything and everything that did not Of course, working above and professed aim was to engage in village of Hirbet Jbara, for example, this speak its name clearly in the language of underground at the same time is not a antispeciesist agitation from an met harsh opposition from anarchists; left/right, Zionism/Intifada dichotomy. sustainable strategy for radical antiauthoritarian perspective, it the same thing happened when Gush One Struggle was at times a fairly good organizers, to say the least. But as we succeeded chiefly in implanting Shalom organized a solidarity action with example of this, as was Black Laundry, an learned during those few years, if you antispeciesist perspectives into Gazan fishermen. The preceding anarchist LGBTQ group that began are small enough, know your coordinates antiauthoritarian agitation. paragraphs shed some light on the protesting Gay Pride events around the and read the political map accurately, historical context for this. In late 2003, as part of a joint effort with same time, under the slogan “There is no you might be able to pull it off. It’s also Palestinians, One Struggle activists took pride in the occupation.” not without its perks: somewhere in the part in an attempt to dismantle one of middle of that period, for example, I What were the dynamics between As AAtW gained momentum, the mere the separation barrier’s gates near the distributed homemade stickers calling act of participating in radical queer West bank village of Mas’ha, four miles those campaigns and Anarchists for Jewish settlers to be shot in the head, actions, for instance, without mentioning from the Green Line. As in previous One Against the Wall as the latter came signed with a circled A. The biggest the occupation, became tantamount to Struggle actions, the accompanying press to define Israeli anarchism? Israeli newspaper at that time made the “Pinkwashing”. When the 9th release was signed with a fictitious mistake of reporting that the symbol When discussing today’s Israeli international Queeruption gathering, name, randomly chosen at the last stood for Anonymous, the animal rights anarchists, one should keep in mind we held in Tel Aviv in 2006, coincided with minute: in this case, “Anarchists Against group, so naturally, we sued for are not talking about thousands or even Israel’s heaviest bombing of Lebanon in the Wall.” Israeli soldiers reacted harshly defamation of character and settled out hundreds of people, but dozens. 24 years—also known as the second during the action—which, by the way, of court for a hefty sum, which kept our Concepts like “movement,” Lebanon War—as well as with the annual was successful—firing live ammunition political activities afloat for a while “characteristics,” “dynamics,” or WorldPride events scheduled to take and severely injuring one activist; it was longer. Who says you can only wear one “tendencies” should therefore be scaled place in Jerusalem (but later cancelled), the first time ever that the Israeli army hat at a time, right? down to an almost intrapersonal size. In tensions rose violently to the surface at had opened fire o•n Jewish citizens. In all honesty, two roommates and a small an anti-homophobia-cum-anti-militarist One final thing to note regarding the heat of the ensuing media frenzy, the wireless router can become an anarchist protest in Jerusalem; you can read about trajectories is the elegant dance of name “Anarchists Against the Wall” tendency here, for better or for worse. it more in the Queeruption fanzine, cyclical synergy between anarchism and became indelibly etched into the public specifically the “You Can Call Me animal rights. I’m not sure how widely mind (sometimes as “Anarchists Against Regarding the question: first of all, as I’ve known this is outside of Israel, but just as Fences”). One Struggle disbanded after a already lamented—and in spite of its