JERUSALEM: Last Saturday night, tens of impassioned right-wing activists dressed as Hamas members gathered outside the home of former MK and New Israel Fund (NIF) Chairwoman Naomi Chazan and shouted that Chazan and the NIF were behind the Goldstone Report. These activists are part of the Im Tirtzu movement, a small group active mainly on university campuses, which claims to represent the Israeli centre. Recently founded, Im Tirtzu claims that the NIF, an organization which has for years assisted hundreds of non-governmental organizations to improve Israeli society and fight for human rights, women s rights and social justice, is anti-Semitic and aids Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Im Tirtzu’s campaign of persecution is part of a systematic and dangerous move aimed at silencing the voices and positions of Israeli people and organizations which oppose policies of the IDF and the Israeli government regarding the conflict with the Palestinians.
The national consensus, and fears of international criticism, are creating in Israel a dangerous atmosphere of shutting out voices, making it impossible to air questions and raise doubts about Israel’s activities in the territories.
In outright military confrontations, such as Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, the phenomenon becomes even more acute; the media and political establishment take over the public discourse in an even more blatant fashion, and any oppositional thought is immediately construed as attempted treason.
The consensus in Israel during the war in Gaza and in its aftermath, eagerly and without dispute, accepted the IDF Spokesman s statements regarding everything that happened during Operation Cast Lead. No mainstream media outlet really tried to investigate whether the IDF s rules of engagement had changed, or whether non-conventional weapons were in fact used against civilians during the conflict. There was no in-depth media report on who gave the order to use phosphorus munitions, nor the circumstances that lead to the deaths of many innocent people (according to the IDF Spokesman’s Unit data).
Indeed, there is nothing easier than to stand beside the IDF and its officers and hide behind the slogan “The most moral army in the world , with no real desire to investigate, examine and understand how Israel actually conducted its war against Hamas.
The difficult questions about policy, the limits in the use of force, battlefield ethics and the validity of our ways are replaced with unrestrained accusations against the groups and individuals who bravely oppose the establishment, posing fundamental question marks with regard to the government and the military.
Despite the impossible difficulty of taking on the entire establishment, there exists in Israel a small number of organizations that seek an investigation into the truth, and call for a probe into whether the government of Israel and the military brass continue to preserve the IDF as a humane and ethical army not only in times of peace, but also in times of war. These organizations are motivated first and foremost by concern for human life and the desire to maintain Israel as a humane, human, law-abiding nation, which knows how to deal with moral and ethical battlefield dilemmas.
Contrary to the campaign of lies and incitement being waged by Im Tirtzu and other right-wing elements, human rights organizations have never justified the actions of Hamas, have never agreed with the firing of missiles at Israel and have condemned all violent struggle against Israel. At the same time, the Israeli organizations have called on the government to investigate, in an independent and impartial manner, the fighting policy of the IDF, to determine whether actions were taken which have no place in a democratic nation which considers itself a member of the family of nations, taking into consideration the circumstances of fighting against a terrorist organization.
The brutal attempt to silence, combined with the campaign of incitement with hints of anti-Semitism against the New Israel Fund, is merely a part of the phenomenon of silencing and delegitimizing the Left in general in Israel. The public and media are focusing not on the validity of the path, laws of war and the morality of the occupation and settlements, but rather on the rights of people and groups within Israeli society to level criticism and ask questions without being perceived as the enemy.
Despite the campaign of incitement and hatred, Israeli democracy can take pride in the dozens of brave and uncompromising organizations which continue to raise question marks about the validity of the way, about the state’s modus operandi, and which are ready to pay a high price to turn Israeli society into a more moral one.
Yariv Oppenheimer is Peace Now’s Secretary General. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the Jerusalem Post.
