- Dec 6, 2009
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Why is it Happening Now?
The repression of dissent and the clamp on freedom of speech is not without its price to the Israeli government. These measures give Israel a bad name and drive off some of its long-time supporters. International criticism is growing, and yet Israeli authorities persist in breaking down the few safeguards that remain in Israel for civil rights.
But that is not because the Israeli authorities are stupid; their actions are an expected, even predictable result of political developments concerning Israel's international standing. The international boycott movement grows and even Jewish communities around the world, and particularly in the U.S., are not as automatically supportive of Israel as they used to be. The patience of the international community is wearing thin, while Israel's belligerence is causing an escalation in violence and radicalism in the Middle East, thus ultimately jeopardising global economic interests in the region.
The government in Israel knows that it may not have a lot of time left. Sensing that the end may be at hand, it becomes increasingly desperate, willing to employ drastic measures to assert its control. Like any regime about to be toppled, it tries to give a final fight. Of course, it is impossible to predict whether the Israeli regime is indeed about to fall. If this repression and intimidation works, the Israeli government could prevail and continue committing crimes and injustices for many years to come.
It is not just the government that feels threatened. Israeli society is far from oblivious to the changes in world public opinion, and it generally reacts in one of three ways.
The first way, adopted by a majority of Israelis, is denial. Many Israelis become apathetic to political issues and dream of emigration (in a recent poll, 60% of young Israelis said that they would like to move to the U.S).
The second way is try and fight to keep the Zionist project alive, to cling to the supremacy of Jews through force of arms. Israelis who react in this way have made it their first priority to fight the "enemy from within" the left, the Palestinian citizens in Israel, any who would dare question Israel's right to put its own policies above international law and human rights. Thus, they form organizations such as NGO Monitor and Im Tirzu, organizations that dub criticism of Israel as "treason" or "anti-Semitism."
The Alternative Information Center - A Dark Time in Israel
The repression of dissent and the clamp on freedom of speech is not without its price to the Israeli government. These measures give Israel a bad name and drive off some of its long-time supporters. International criticism is growing, and yet Israeli authorities persist in breaking down the few safeguards that remain in Israel for civil rights.
But that is not because the Israeli authorities are stupid; their actions are an expected, even predictable result of political developments concerning Israel's international standing. The international boycott movement grows and even Jewish communities around the world, and particularly in the U.S., are not as automatically supportive of Israel as they used to be. The patience of the international community is wearing thin, while Israel's belligerence is causing an escalation in violence and radicalism in the Middle East, thus ultimately jeopardising global economic interests in the region.
The government in Israel knows that it may not have a lot of time left. Sensing that the end may be at hand, it becomes increasingly desperate, willing to employ drastic measures to assert its control. Like any regime about to be toppled, it tries to give a final fight. Of course, it is impossible to predict whether the Israeli regime is indeed about to fall. If this repression and intimidation works, the Israeli government could prevail and continue committing crimes and injustices for many years to come.
It is not just the government that feels threatened. Israeli society is far from oblivious to the changes in world public opinion, and it generally reacts in one of three ways.
The first way, adopted by a majority of Israelis, is denial. Many Israelis become apathetic to political issues and dream of emigration (in a recent poll, 60% of young Israelis said that they would like to move to the U.S).
The second way is try and fight to keep the Zionist project alive, to cling to the supremacy of Jews through force of arms. Israelis who react in this way have made it their first priority to fight the "enemy from within" the left, the Palestinian citizens in Israel, any who would dare question Israel's right to put its own policies above international law and human rights. Thus, they form organizations such as NGO Monitor and Im Tirzu, organizations that dub criticism of Israel as "treason" or "anti-Semitism."
The Alternative Information Center - A Dark Time in Israel
