January 05, 2002
Israel’s gravest danger
Now wonder.........Israel’s gravest danger today is not the Palestinian Authority, or even Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but the one it faces from within. During the past year, peace activists have been “invited” to meetings with the secret service, where they are “warned” about their activities. The secret service routinely intercepts the e-mails of peace groups, and often obstructs solidarity meetings or protests in the West Bank by declaring whole regions “closed military zones.” For months, the Gaza Strip has been totally closed off to Israelis from the peace camp—including members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset—and only Jewish settlers, journalists and soldiers can now enter the region. The security forces’ ongoing attempts to frighten activists have surely affected the left, but their attack on civil liberties is only one manifestation of much broader social processes taking place within Israel.
Israeli intellectuals who criticize the government are often attacked, not only by the establishment inside Israel, but by its international proxies. Middle East Quarterly recently published an article titled “Israel’s Academic Extremists.” Written by “a watchdog team of researchers keeping an eye on Israel’s universities”—the actual author is not mentioned—the article goes after 20 Israeli professors (including this one) using lies and half-truths to defame and blacklist them.....
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University in Israel
- The Enemy Within: Israel’s gravest danger is not the Palestinians
Posted at January 05, 2002 04:26 AM | World
