Originally published in Hebrew in Ha'aretz.
Since the Goldstone report, Israel's political leaders and public have been agitated over what they claim to be a worldwide effort to "delegitimize" the Jewish state. A recent study by an Israeli policy institute warning of a looming global threat to the country's legitimacy was discussed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet, whose members concluded that this threat, believed to be motivated by anti-Semitism, is a greater danger to the country's existence than the nuclear threat from Iran.
Most Israelis, particularly the present government, have been blithely indifferent to repeated international condemnations of Israel's systematic theft of Palestinian territory on which it has been settling its own Jewish population in blatant violation of international law. Yet their reaction to what they see as an attack on the "legitimacy" of the State of Israel, a concept foreign to international law, seems to bring them to the edge of hysteria.
In fact, Israel's legitimacy within its 1967 borders has never been challenged by the international community. It is its behavior on territory beyond its own borders to which the international community - including every U.S. administration - has objected. To construe the condemnation of violations of international law as anti-Semitism is absurd.
It was not an anti-Semite seeking to delegitimize the Jewish state, but Theodore Meron, an internationally respected jurist and the legal advisor to Israel's Foreign Ministry, who following the war of 1967 conveyed the following legal opinion to Israel's Foreign Minister Abba Eban: "[C]ivilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention," to which Israel is a signatory. That Convention's ban on population transfer is "categorical and not conditional upon the motives for the transfer or its objectives. [The Convention's] purpose is to prevent settlement in occupied territory of citizens of the occupying state."
Existing states do not lose their legitimacy because their governments engage in illegal behavior. There is a presumption in international law of state continuity even if the central government collapses and the state becomes a failed state, as has been the case with Somalia. For all of the international condemnations of the behavior of Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the governments of Iran and North Korea, no one ever questioned those countries' legitimacy.
There is therefore something bizarre in Israel's insistence that condemnations of its violations of international law are not intended to challenge the illegality of its settlements and continuing occupation but the legitimacy of its very existence. If Israel keeps it up, that insistence may well turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Perhaps Israel's right wing government believes that by accusing the international community of seeking to undermine its existence it will distract attention from an increasingly untenable claim that Israel is a model democracy that also enshrines Jewish values. Both claims have been undermined by its settlements policy and its determination to maintain the status quo, bringing into question the very foundation of America's "special relationship" with Israel.
When a state's denial of the individual and national rights of a large part of its population becomes permanent - a permanence that has been the goal of Israel's settlement project from its very outset (and that many believe has been achieved) - that state ceases to be a democracy. When the reason for that double disenfranchisement is that population's ethnic and religious identity, the state is practicing a form of apartheid or racism. The democratic dispensation that Israel provides for its mostly Jewish citizenry cannot hide its changing (or changed) character. A political arrangement that limits democracy to a privileged class and keeps others behind military checkpoints, barbed-wire fences and separation walls does not define democracy. It defines its absence.
The claim that Israel is the incarnation and defender of Jewish values is contradicted by its treatment of an Arab population that has now lived for over two generations under Israel's military subjugation - treatment that Moshe Arens, a former Likud Defense and Foreign Minister, has warned is turning that population into a permanent underclass of "carriers of water and hewers of wood." It is entirely at odds with Biblical admonitions and Prophetic exhortations warning against injustices committed by the privileged and the powerful against the stranger and the powerless.
Israel's problem is not the Palestinian or Arab refusal to recognize it as a Jewish state. It is, rather, the increasing difficulty of Jews familiar with Jewish values to recognize it as a Jewish state. Rather than demanding that Palestinians declaim on Israel's democratic and Jewish identity, or conjuring non-existent threats to Israel's existence, Netanyahu and his government would be better advised adjusting Israel's policies toward a people that has lived under its unforgiving military occupation in a way that honors their country's democratic and Jewish beginnings. That would contribute far more to its "legitimacy" and to its long-range security than its present undemocratic and very un-Jewish course.
Henry Siegman, director of the U.S./Middle East Project, is a visiting research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
You neglected to resond to my inquiry regarding the fact that Israeli special opperations were on hand to wittness and record the tall towers collapse. If anyone would like to comment or state an opinion, lets hear it. The links below will provide you with enough information to make a consideration or conduct further research. If you have any info from your own research please post so we can all look it over. For anyone that doen't know, "spook" is what is referred to as a spy or someone who operates within the shadows, with purpose and the intention of being undetected.
http://www.erichufschmid.net/TFC/Bollyn-dancing-Israelis.html
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fiveisraelis.html?q=fiveisraelis.html
Well, "Brewerstroupe" below (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Brewerstroupe/is-israels-legitimacy-und_b_682989_57637868.html) begs to differ.
S/he says: "There is no "legitimacy" to the Jewish State. [...] What most "single-staters" like many who blog here advocate [...] is an effort to find a solution that resembles justice.
All of the arguments supporting the Jewish State's continuance as an exclusively ethno/religious entity depend on Jewish exceptionalism."
It really doesn't take a lot of research to conclude that the vast majority of anti-Israel posters here support a view similar to Brewerstroupe's. You'll find a similar view held by a large majority of Palestinians & other Arabs. Please listen carefully: when the "moderate" Palestinian Authority speaks about a "two-state solution", they actually mean: one Palestinian state devoid of Jews; and another with a Palestinian majority through "the right of return". I.e., the "single-state solution" Brewerstroupe talks about, albeit with a certain detour.
If THAT's what you want, I have nothing more to say to you. If, like me, you believe that the Jewish people (like all other nations) has the right to national self-determination in at least part of its historical homeland, then perhaps you should revise your thesis and clearly distinguish between legitimate criticism and attempts to delegitimize & demonize Israel.
http://i.imgur.com/FIEMO.jpg
Israel is on its way out and will look nothing like it does today in the next 2,3,5 years.
But that's ok, continue your dreamworld, it won't last long.
I would fan you again if I could.
Circa 8 hours ago (see below), I challenged the haters crowd:
"who among you recognizes the legitimacy of the Jewish state, provided it goes back to the pre-1967 borders?"
I asked for straight answers, no "double talk".
Did you count how many "Palestinian supporters" were ready to recognize the Jewish state, provided it withdrew to the pre-1967 borders? 0 (zero), Mr. Siegman.
Now I ask you: what does this little experiment say about your theories? Maybe you should revise them, in view of the facts. Not doing it qualifies as intellectual fanaticism.
Fanned and Faved.
There is no "legitimacy" to the Jewish State. It was unilaterally declared the moment the plan for partition was dropped by the UN. These are matters of Historical record.
The State has, during the 60-some years of its existence, bolstered its position through creating "facts on the ground", most of which are in defiance of International Law.
What most "single -staters" like many who blog here advocate has nothing to do with hate, it is an effort to find a solution that resembles justice.
All of the arguments supporting the Jewish State's continuance as an exclusively ethno/religious entity depend on Jewish exceptionalism. I and many like me do not adhere to this belief and, far from "hating" we acknowledge that Jews are people just like us and should be given that respect. Likewise with Palestinians.
No interpretation of events in Palestine can escape the contradiction involved in using the suffering of Jews as justification for inflicting precisely that same suffering on others.
The Single State will not undo the wrongs done to either population, it is an acknowledgment of those "facts on the ground" and requires far greater sacrifice on the part of the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, I believe it is a solution that will work in the long term as opposed to alternatives that haven't.
Nothing new here. every generation have their own "excuse" for their antisemitic feelings, and this generation excuse is Israel (I know you are going to scream "I only criticize Israel" I am not an antisemite) but we just don't buy it.
The HP is the best proof for it. Israel is being blamed for 9/11 here, that's pretty sick. Israel is being blamed for Iraq and Afghanistan, that too is sick. I can go on and on but you get my gist.
The bad news for all the antisemite here is, that the Jews out lived all our powerful enemies for thousands of years, we will out live you too. After all you are small potatoes in comparison to our previous enemies.
islam.
Israel has depicted the problem as rooted in the Arab world’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
The majority of Arab states demonstrated their recognition of this right by supporting the Saudi peace initiative of 2002.
It is this peace initiative; read it, instead of hiding behind usless cynicism:
Text: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/league/peace02.htm
Background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Peace_Initiative
Analysis: http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=1126
To Palestinians, the true problem lies in Israel’s rejection of the Palestinian right to an independent state, and in the prevailing Israeli culture’s refusal to recognize that Palestinians were themselves victims of forced expulsion from their lands.
It is not the responsibility of the the Palestinians or any other Arab state or entity to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. They have recognized Israel's right to exist and that is sufficient.
Israeli officials also fail to remember that not a single Israeli prime minister has ever recognized Palestine's right to exist even while demanding that Palestinians recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.
Here are some items not in the news:
-The Bedouin village of Al-Arakib was razed for the fourth time. It, like all Bedouin villages, is an ‘unrecognized village’—with no services, no rights since the establishment of the State of Israel. This is normal.
-Settlers uprooted over 200 olive trees near the Qusra village in the Nablus district. This is not news.
-Settlers beat a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in Hebron. This is normal. The main street of this city of 163,000 Palestinians is blocked off and reserved for its 500 settlers. The sealed doors of the Palestinian residents along the street are daubed with Stars of David like so many swastikas. Settler children routinely pelt Palestinian children on their way to school with stones all under the gaze of their IDF protectors. (Check Youtube.). This is not news.
-The village of Al Farisiya in the Occupied West Bank Jordan Valley is to be razed. The Israelis have also cut off the water for farmers in the Bardala village. This violates the Fourth Geneva Convention. This is not news.
If you can’t see injustice here, you haven’t got a soul—just like the girl in the photos.
A note on Hebron: Jews lived continuously in Hebron for thousands of years. It is considered the second holiest city to Jews, and the traditional burial place of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. It was only in 1929, after the Hebron massacre where 67 Jews were murdered and 60 were injured, that the Jews left Hebron. 2 years later, 35 families returned into the ruins of the Jewish Quarter. On the eve of the 1936 Palestinian Arab national revolt, the British government moved the Jewish families out of the city for their safety. No Jews lived in Hebron from that point on until after the Six Day War in 1967. The Jewish community was re-established permanently in April 1979
Numerous offers by the State of Israel have been put on the table, only to be rejected by the corrupt Palestinian leadership at the expense of the Palestinians right to self determination. Clearly, it is more convenient for them to let the occupation continue.
Furthermore, suggesting that Jews are finding it more difficult to accept Israel as a Jewish State runs contrary to the facts. Over the past century, over 45.6 percent of world Jewry has settled in the Jewish State. The State of Israel today is the country with the largest Jewish population.
Immigration to Israel has drastically increased since the end of the second Intafadah, specifically amongst Jews from Western nations.
Ignoring the 'Israel wants peace', 'Israel is a democracy', 'the Palestinians want to kill everybody' standard line, let's just take the '[i]mmigration has drastically increased since the end of the second Intafadah (sic), specifically amongst Jews from Western nations’ line.
Total European immigration 2000-2004: 45,516; 2005: 10,736; 2006: 10,063; 2007: 9,872.
This is not an increase, and certainly not a dramatic one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah#Statistics
As shown in your own link , between 2000-2004, 1261 Canadian and American Jews made Aliyah. Thats an average of about 252 per year.
In 2005 alone, 1920 Jews from Canada and the US made Aliya, another 2019 in 2006, and the same figures remaining stable for 2007. For 2008, 3150 American and Canadian Jews made Aliyah, while almost 4000 Americans and Canadians made Aliyah in 2009. Coming to and end of the 3rd Quarter to the year, there is already a 22 percent rise in Aliyah from Canada and the USA for the year of 2010.
Now, engaging in basic math, lets play. 252 for any given year between 2000-2004, to heigh of close to somewhere between 4500-4800 in 2010.
Together with Aliyah from the Western World, thats a HUGE increase. Clearly math is not your strong point.
But when it comes to Israel, the origins and validity of Israel from 1948 on is debated on a near daily basis. I can't claim to speak for israelis, but I would guess that their concern is that if this idea of illegitimacy is accepted as a truism, then what actions does that effectively condone?
After all,, how can you complain about attacks on Israel from Hamas (or hezbollah, or Iran...) if Israel isn't a 'legitimate' state??
American support for Israel is waning, a poll presented to senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem last week revealed.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-support-for-israel-is-decreasing-new-poll-shows-1.308855
Your living in a dream world. Don't worry, it won't last.
In over 100 UNGA resolutions censuring Israel, among the 192 UN member states only the US, Australia and 3 south sea principalities dependent on the US typically support Israel.
On all 42 occasions when the US has vetoed UNSC resolutions against Israel, the US has been the ONLY vote for Israel among the five permanent and 10 rotating members from throughout the world.
In short, not only the Arab nations, not only the Muslim nations, but all the nations of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas excepting the US have consistently voted to censure or sanction Israel for its continuous and arrogant violations of human rights and international law.
A 2002 EU survey identified Israel as the #1 threat to world peace.
A 2007 survey of Jewish Americans published in the Jerusalem Post found about half of those surveyed under 35 had little or no identification with Israel and didn't believe in the idea of a Jewish state. Many stated that Israel was an embarrassment to them.
Many Jewish organizations view Zionism as the antithesis of Judaism, misinterpreting and misusing the Torah and behaving in contradiction to basic Jewish values of social justice that is contributing to anti-Semitism. There are several organizations representing these viewpoints, including a promising new organization, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (www.ijsn.org).