Jewish Terrorists
By Uri Avnery
August 17, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" -
SOME OF my best friends demand that I write an article condemning
unconditionally the "administrative detention" of Jewish terrorists.
Three suspected terrorists
have already been arrested under this procedure.
They are members of a group following the
teachings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (the leader is actually his
grandson). Kahane was an American Rabbi who came to this country and
founded a group branded by the Supreme Court as racist and
anti-democratic. It was outlawed. He was later assassinated by an
Arab in the US. An underground group of his followers is now active
in Israel.
This is one of the groups which belong to a
clandestine movement, generally called "Price Tag" or "Hilltop
Youth", that has conducted various acts of terrorism, setting fire
to Christian churches and Muslim mosques, attacking Arab farmers and
destroying their olive trees. None of the perpetrators has ever been
apprehended, either by the army, which acts as a police force in the
occupied territories, nor by the police in Israel proper. Many army
officers are themselves residents of settlements in the occupied
West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
The Israeli public has paid little attention to
these outrages, but lately things have happened that shocked even
complacent Israelis. One was the firebombing of an Arab dwelling in
the small village of Douma in the West Bank. Under cover of
darkness, a fire bomb was thrown into the home of a poor Arab
family. An 18 month-old baby was burned to death, his father, mother
and brother were seriously injured. The father later died in
hospital.
Such acts of firebombing are quite usual, though
until now the Arab families succeeded in saving themselves.
Another outrage was committed in Jerusalem -
against Jews. An ultra-orthodox Jew attacked the annual gay pride
march in the center of the city. He succeeded in stabbing several
marchers, one of whom – a 16 year-old girl – later died of her
wounds. The perpetrator had done exactly the same 10 years ago. He
served a long prison term, was released a few weeks ago and did it
again. He is an ultra-orthodox Jew, but seemingly has no connection
with the Kahanist gang.
This was too much. For years, no one was ever
indicted for acts of Jewish terrorism. Many believe that the acts
were committed in collusion with the occupation army and the Shin
Bet, the interior security service. Now, however, there is a public
outcry, and the authorities have come to the conclusion that they
must do something.
Hence, the administrative detention orders.
ADMINISTRATIVE ARRESTS are a legacy of the British
colonial regime that ruled Palestine until May 1948. The Israeli
state took it over, changing only some minor aspects.
This form of arrest allows a military commander to
put a person in prison without trial. The warrant is in force for
six months, but can be renewed without limit. Every few months the
prisoner must be brought before a regular judge, but judges
interfere only on rare occasions. Mentally, Israeli judges stand at
attention when a military officer testifies.
The prisoners have no right to see the evidence
against them and confront their accusers, nor are they allowed to be
represented by attorney. The official reason is that they cannot be
put on trial without "burning" informants and other sources of
valuable information that are vital to effectively combat terrorism
and save lives.
THIS INSTRUMENT is used all the time against Arab
suspects. At this moment, many hundreds of Arab administrative
prisoners fill the prisons, some of them have been in custody for
many years. Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, hundreds
of thousands of Arabs have been incarcerated under this act. For
young Palestinians, this is almost a badge of honor.
Hardly any Jew has ever been held in
administrative detention. For many years now, this means has not
been used against Jews at all. The three Kahanists who were sent to
prison this week are the first for a very long time.
Military and civilian officials explain this kind
of detention as an essential and irreplaceable means to combat
Jewish terrorism. All the Kahanists and other fascist perpetrators
are trained to be silent under interrogation. Since they are sure
that they will not be tortured, they have no reason to talk. They
laugh in the faces of their interrogators.
Arab prisoners, of course, enjoy no such
privilege. They know that if they don't talk, they may be tortured.
Under Israeli law, torture is forbidden, but the court allows
something called "moderate physical pressure", which achieves quick
results.
Yet even so, many Arabs languish under unlimited
administrative detention, because there is not enough legally
admissible evidence to indict them in court, without endangering
"sources".
At present, the three Jews held in administrative
detention are held in three different prisons, with more to join
them soon, the Shin Bet promises.
MANY YEARS ago, when I was the editor-in-chief of
the Haolam Hazeh news magazine, we published for a time an
Arab-language edition. One day, one of my Arab employees – let's
call him Ahmed - was put in administrative detention.
When I started to raise hell, I got a surprise
call from the Shin Bet. The relations between this organization and
me were strained from the first day of the state. This may be an
understatement, since their chief once officially defined me as the
"No. 1 enemy of the regime".
To my utmost surprise, a high-ranking Shin Bet
officer invited me for a talk. "I am going to trust you with top
secret information," he said, "because I want you to understand our
problems."
He then told me that his people had caught a
messenger who was sent to Israel by one of the major terrorist
organizations to contact local collaborators. One of these was our
Ahmed.
"What do you want us to do? We cannot put him on
trial, because we have no proof that he is member of the
organization. But leaving him free could result in deadly terrorist
acts. Administrative detention is the only safe option."
I did not believe that Ahmed was a terrorist. I
was still thinking what to do, when I was saved from the dilemma.
The Shin Bet agreed to release Ahmed, on condition the he leave the
country. He went to the US and obtained a Green Card (perhaps with
the help of Shin Bet). At one of my lectures there I saw him sitting
in the front row. We embraced.
I AM telling this story for the first time in
order to illustrate the dilemma. Letting these Jewish fascists roam
freely could cost more Arab and Jewish lives, and perhaps a
catastrophe, for example if they set fire to the holy Muslim
shrines. There seems to be no solid evidence against them. If there
are Shin Bet informers in this group, their testimony at a trial
would "burn" them.
The Shin Bet and the police are accused by many of
us of utter incompetence when confronted with Jewish terrorists,
while being extremely efficient when confronted with Arab ones.
Worse, we suspect the Shin Bet of being infiltrated by the settlers
and of collaborating with them. Depriving the Shin Bet of the means
of administrative detention may weaken them even more, or at least
provide them with a pretext for total failure.
In my late childhood I witnessed the breakdown of
the democratic "Weimar Republic" in Germany. The Nazi hoodlums were
roaming the streets, beating up people who looked Jewish, exchanging
fire with Communists. The government was ineffective. Police and
army were infiltrated by Adolf Hitler's party. Judges punished the
communists severely, but often let the Nazi "patriots" off the hook.
Years later, when Germany lay in ashes, the Weimar
Republic (so called, because its constitution was written in Weimar)
was accused of cowardice, because it did not dare to use the
instruments it had at its disposal – including non-democratic
emergency powers - to fight the Nazis in time. Does the Israeli
Republic want to risk the same fate?
It is a real dilemma. It demands real answers. Not
the easy answers derived from the liberal handbook. Responsible
answers. Answers which are relevant to the real world.
I believe that the Kahanists and the other fascist
groups in today's Israel are far more dangerous than most people
believe. This is not a handful of wild weeds as we are led to
believe. This is a national cancer that can spread quickly in our
national body.
I have seen it before.
IT IS a difficult dilemma. For me, in any case.
Do we approve of administrative detention,
detention without trial and democratic safeguards, perhaps saving
thereby the lives of Arabs and Jews, perhaps preventing worse
disasters?
Or do we uphold strict democratic principles,
release all people held in administrative detention, Arabs and Jews
alike, knowing that some of them will go on a killing spree?
After much soul-searching, I vote for the second
option. Both for moral and pragmatic reasons.
Morally, I do not believe that one can fight the
plague with cholera. Administrative detention is a fascist
instrument, even when applied to fascists.
Practically, because it will not help. The
detainees will be replaced by others, perhaps even worse ones.
There is also the danger that the arrest of a few
will serve as an excuse for doing nothing against the many.
To fight this plague, we need better doctors. The
Shin Bet, police and army must be cleansed of fascist sympathizers,
officers loyal to the Israeli Republic must take their place. Jews
and Arabs must receive the same treatment.
As the Bible commanded: "Let your camp be clean!"
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of
the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager,
Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981.