Righteous Jewish Organizations in Israel Under Attack

Ray Hanania
Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:04:29 -0800
Opinion

The rights of Palestinian civilians are not the only thing under attack by the rise of extremism in Israel. Jewish organizations that champion human and civil rights, and the rule of law have come under attack, too.

The far right in Israel is seeking to destroy Jewish and Israeli organizations that challenge Israel's government and military abuses.

Israel's fanatics survive by silencing their critics with bullying. Defamation has always been one of the strongest weapons used by the Israeli right. They bully and defame anyone who criticizes Israel. Most of the time, they are defaming non-Jewish critics who are Arab or Muslim. But for many years, the targets were always Palestinians and Arabs.
Updated: Thu Dec 24, 2015

The rights of Palestinian civilians are not the only thing under attack by the rise of extremism in Israel. Jewish organizations that champion human and civil rights, and the rule of law have come under attack, too.

The far right in Israel is seeking to destroy Jewish and Israeli organizations that challenge Israel's government and military abuses.

Israel's fanatics survive by silencing their critics with bullying. Defamation has always been one of the strongest weapons used by the Israeli right. They bully and defame anyone who criticizes Israel. Most of the time, they are defaming non-Jewish critics who are Arab or Muslim. But for many years, the targets were always Palestinians and Arabs.

As Israel shifts to the far right, however, under the pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warmongering, the focus of the extremist Israeli hatred is turning inwards.

The targets of this new rightwing Israeli hatred include organizations that have exposed Israeli government and military lies and distortions and refuse to abandon core democratic principles such as human and civil rights, free speech and social equality.

Too often, Israeli officials, like former spokesman Mark Regev, Netanyahu himself, Ayelet Shaked, Naftali Bennett, and members of the extremist and violent Jewish Settler Movement in the occupied Palestinian territories, have lied to cover up their violations of non-Jewish civilian rights.

They use the "Big Lie" factor, but the Big Lie only works when the media that conveys it is complicit in the lie. And no one is more complicit in Israel's Big Lie propaganda than the mainstream Israeli and American news media.

Israeli groups targeted in this hate campaign include Breaking the Silence, a group of former military members of the Israel Defense Forces who have spoken out against military abuses and war crimes against Palestinian civilians.

To many Israelis, exposing and speaking about war crimes by the Israeli soldiers and the IDF is the worst kind of crime. But to these soldiers, principles, human rights and the rule of law, are the very things that are the foundation of democracy.

Their struggle is a righteous struggle, and they represent what Israel could be.

But they are not the only Israeli organizations that are slandered and defamed by the Israeli right because they speak out against civil rights abuses.

B'Tselem is an Israeli human rights organization that puts a spotlight on Israeli abuses of the rights of non-Jews in Israel and inside the occupied territories.

Yesh Din monitors the Israeli policies against non-Jews in the occupied territories and maintains accurate statistics and data that often expose the lies of the Netanyahu government.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel monitors the status of Palestinian dissidents who are kept in the Israeli Gulag prison system and, as the name explains, the torture of Palestinians.

Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, monitors and documents and publicizes abuses involving restrictions on Palestinians that violate Israeli law and international law. For example, one of their most recent battles is to ensure that Palestinian workers receive pensions they earned through decades of legal employment that is often denied to them by the Israeli government.

Machsom Watch exposes the abuses of non-Jews at the checkpoints and advocates for proper identification and then to violence and punishments by Israeli soldiers and border patrol members.

Some of the funds that help keep these organizations holding a light in the darkness comes from the New Israel Fund, which advocates for peace based on compromise, a two-state solution and mutual security and respect.

We need to do more to help and support these organizations. They represent what Israel may one day become, a true democracy. They are principled. They defend civil rights, human rights, freedom, peace, a desire to end violence of all forms, and the ethical treatment of all human beings.

Yet, despite all of the righteous objectives of these Israeli organizations, they are under siege by right-wing Israeli fanaticism. Is that why Netanyahu and his cohorts hate them?

Without these organizations, Israel would be a much darker place than it already is. One day, Israel will be a light in the region, partnered with a free Palestinian state, living in security, respect and most importantly, in humanity.

But only if you help.