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| “Sometimes I wonder why Hitler only did half the job,” |
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| A sarcastic message I posted on Facebook |
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| The wet dream of Israeli racists |
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| Gal - the useful idiot who set up the Face Book 'death to Arabs' page |
It was the Nuremberg Laws
of 1935 which outlawed sexual relations between ‘Aryans’ and Jews in Nazi Germany. All racist regimes are particularly motivated
by the idea of women of the dominant racial/settler group having sex with men
of the untermenschen – the lower racial group.
This was true in Southern Africa where such relations were outlawed and
it was equally detested in India and other areas of the British Empire, even
when it wasn’t formally outlawed. Note
that for women of the untermenschen to have sexual relations with a man of the
dominant group isn’t such an offence, even when formally it is a crime. For example Hitler stipulated that a Jewish woman
shouldn’t be charged with rassenschande
(racial defilement/pollution).
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| Children, holding up pro-death penalty notices, are indoctrinated young into anti-Arab racism |
This is the context
for the latest campaign to institute the death penalty for ‘terrorists’,
sparked by the part of Israel’s fascist ex-Foreign Minister, Avigdor
Liebermann, who has called for the murder and beheading of Israeli Arabs. Of course it isn’t meant to apply to those
who murdered 2,200+ Palestinians in Gaza including over 500 children or Jewish terrorists. The death penalty would apply solely to
Arabs. In just the same way as ‘Jew’ and
‘Bandit’ were interchangeable when the Nazis invaded Russia, as a justification
for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews in Operation Barbarossa, so ‘Arab’
and ‘terrorist’ are synonymous.
Israel, as most people
know, has weaponised the holocaust and used it against the Palestinians, who
are deemed to be the ‘new Nazis.’ But it
goes deeper than that. Zionism has drawn
the lesson from the holocaust not that racism or genocide is wrong, but that
racism or genocide against Jews is wrong.
‘Never Again’ has been transformed into ‘Never Again to Jews’. Far from drawing an anti-racist lesson from
the holocaust, Israel has draw the opposite lesson. That the
Jews have to be strong and racists in order to prevent a recurrence of
anti-Jewish racism. And even worse, that
those who do draw anti-racist lessons, including Jewish anti-racists deserve to
have been murdered by Hitler because only that would have taught them that non-Jews
cannot be trusted
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| 'Hitler was right but got the wrong nation' |
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| The medal that the Nazis struck after the visit for 6 months of Baron von Mildenstein, Head of the Jewish Desk of the Gestapo, to Palestine at the invitation of the Zionist labour movement |
The reality is that
ideology for the Israelis has caught up with the practice. Israelis see themselves as oppressors, as
holding the whip hand over the Arab and the African (& even the African Jew). It is no surprise that Israelis therefore
identify with other people, the Nazis included, who were also oppressors of
other people. So what we have, as even
the perennial Israeli dove Amos Oz admits is a Hebrew Nazi movement within Israel. Such are the ironies of life.
Tony Greenstein
Rania Khalek Rights and
Accountability 15 July 2015
Photos
of Israeli children posted to Facebook holding signs calling for the death
penalty against “terrorists” (faces obscured by The Electronic Intifada).
A
Facebook campaign demanding the execution of “terrorists” went viral in Israel
last weekend, with Israelis posting photos of themselves, their children and
their pets holding signs demanding the death penalty.
The
campaign was launched by Sharon Gal, a former journalist and first-term
lawmaker from the far right Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Gal
recently sponsored legislation that would have made it easier for judges to sentence ”convicted
murderer[s] motivated by nationalism” to death both inside Israel and the
occupied West Bank.
Though
Israel already has a death penalty option on the books, a death sentence hasn’t
been carried out since the hanging of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.
The true purpose of the bill was not the death penalty, it was racist
incitement catering to the right-wing chauvinism surging through the Israeli
Jewish public after reaching its peak during last summer’s brutal assault on
Gaza.
Indeed,
the bill is the partial fulfillment of one of many fanatical campaign
promises by Yisrael
Beiteinu chair Avigdor Lieberman,
who rallied his right-wing base during election season by calling for the execution
of Palestinian prisoners and the beheading
of Palestinians disloyal to the state of Israel.
Bezalel
Smotrich, a freshman lawmaker from the ultra-nationalist Habeyit Hayehudi
(Jewish Home) party and a deputy speaker in the Knesset, attempted to outdo Gal
by offering
to personally carry out the executions during an appearance on Israel’s Knesset
Channel.
“Death to terrorists”
On
8 July, in the lead up to the death penalty bill vote that was ultimately shelved
by Netanyahu at the last minute, Gal initiated a Facebook
campaign calling on Israelis to pressure the government to support the bill
by sharing photos of themselves on social media holding signs that read ”I
too am in favor of the death penalty for terrorists.”
“Terrorist”
is a loose term in the Israeli lexicon that is interchangeable with “Arab” and
applies exclusively to Palestinians. In effect, “death to terrorists”
amounts to a thinly veiled version of the far more common Israeli slogan “death to Arabs.”
The
response to Gal’s Facebook post was overwhelming, garnering nearly 24,000 likes
and more than 1,500 replies, with all but a handful of people pledging
their support.
While
the unsettling incitement to violence from Israeli politicians is nothing new,
this latest campaign highlighted a disturbing trend. Israelis posted photos not
just of themselves but also small children agitating for executions. This comes
in the aftermath of the Jerusalem Day march in April, when The Electronic
Intifada documented
the participation of children in “death to the Arabs” marches, suggesting an
alarming pattern of ever younger children being steeped in Israel’s culture of
supremacist violence.
A
commenter named Efrat Trister responded to Gal’s Facebook post with a photo of
two little girls clutching the pro-death penalty message. Trister
added ”They may be small but they are also smart.”
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| “My 12-year-old niece also joins the campaign, representing the children,” wrote another commenter who shared a photo of a smiling girl posing with the sign. |
Gal
jubilantly responded, “More power to you and your niece. You have no idea how
much this affects the ministers, who will decide on Sunday whether or not to
give their support. We’ve got to continue this until Sunday — more and more
Israelis — the more photos the better, here and around the Internet.”
Shira
Pahima posted a photo of a happy little girl and a man, possibly her
father, holding the same sign, which reads, “Stop tying up the
soldiers’ hands, if someone sets out to kill you — kill him first, long live
the Jewish state of Israel, all respect to the IDF [Israeli army].”
Obviously
these children cannot be held responsible for the views they are advertising,
which is why The Electronic Intifada has chosen to pixelate their faces in all
these photos (the originals were post to Facebook without any such protection).
Many of the children are too small to even read the messages they are holding.
This does however reflect how the violent extremism coursing through
Israeli society travels from the top down, incited by government officials like
Sharon Gal and Bezalel Smotrich.
It
also speaks to the normalization of Jewish extremism within Israel, which has
become so casual and accepted that parents see no problem with posting photos
of their children championing execution.
Israelis
similarly staged photos of their pets holding pro-death penalty signs:
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| Selection of photos posted to Facebook by Israelis of their pets with messages demanding the death penalty for ”terrorists.” |
Israelis
are not ashamed to publicize their racism and bloodlust.
A
man by the name Oren Shtinberg was elated to see his photo featured on Israeli
television.
“I’m
honored to have had my photo appear today on Oded Ben Ami’s six o’clock news
show. I’m crossing my fingers that this law will pass and be implemented
without delay!!!” wrote Shtinberg in a Facebook post. Gal replied, “More power
to you, Oren. Every photo brings us closer to the goal. The ministers in the
committee will not be able to ignore 87 percent of support among the
nation of Israel on Sunday.”
A
commenter by the name of Lana Letichevski seemed to view the scourge of police
murders of US citizens as a source of inspiration, saying: ”This has got
to be put into place. It’s not possible that in the US cops can shoot
terrorists and here they can’t!!! Instead, they’re sent for a 5-star prison to
study for a degree!!”
Oz
Maoz added, “I’m also for the death penalty for terrorists and stone-throwers!!!”
Shlomi
Eliyahu remarked, “I hope it passes, they [Palestinians] should start to think
twice before they pick up a rock even if it’s to play hopscotch.”
Udishiri
Ohayon, who identified as a US military veteran, said, “I too, as a former
US soldier and a proud Israeli definitely death to terrorists, founders
and supporters of terror. Add in various stone throwers, suicide-committers,
and firebomb throwers. No excuse, no pity. I’m in!”
The
conflation of throwing of rocks at Israeli soldiers with terrorism is a common
view among Israelis. Some have even agitated for executing
stone throwers on sight, even if they are children.
A
commenter by the name Moshe Shecheter posted a photo of a gun with magazine
clips full of ammo surrounding the message, “Bibi, unchain our
hands.”
Israelis
often complain that occupying soldiers are unfairly
restrained when dealing with Palestinians, despite reality being the
complete opposite.
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| A commenter named Vered Ben Shitrit shared a photo of herself holding the pro-death penalty sign while wearing her military uniform. |
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| Nir Balinco shared an image of the US flag with the comment, “All of us also want a death penalty for terrorists!!!! Including their family!!!” |
While
there was little pushback against Gal’s incitement campaign, the few who
publicly opposed it were deluged with vitriolic threats. Social justice
and human rights blogger Yossi Gurvitz was one of them.
Appalled
by Gal’s Facebook campaign, Gurvitz replied
with a photo of himself holding a sign that reads:
I
also support the death penalty FOR SHARON GAL after a short but fair
trial.
(Based
on the precedent of JULIUS STREICHER at Nuremberg, who was executed
for racist incitement, which was found to be a crime against humanity.)
(Google
that, Gal. And try to think of better last words than his. You’re both
“journalists.”)
Gurvitz
was instantly deluged with an unprecedented volume of threats, some of which he
posted to Twitter.
“I
wish everyone here painful death, you are haters of Israel, sharmutas
[Arabic for whore] of Arabs, you are not Jews, you’re rabble,” cried one
angry commenter. ”People like you should be stoned in the city square, you
garbage can,” added
another. “Sometimes I wonder why Hitler only did half the job,” another remarked.
“I
wanted to remind people that incitement to racism may become, if people act on
it, a crime against humanity, and that people have been punished for it,”
Gurvitz told me over email. “I expected some hatred in return — I’m rather
used to it — but I was frankly surprised by the volume of it,” he continued. “I
received more death threats and rape threats in the last two days than I
received in the last two years.”
Racist incitement
Gurvitz
attributed the lack of opposition to the incitement campaign to a weak Israeli
left.
“There
was some push-back, aged leftists expressing their shock and dismay (which is a
specialty of the species), but hardly any coherent action against it. The signs
themselves are of course legal, but the Israeli left has little power in it to
actually oppose it,” he wrote.
Meanwhile,
the ritualistic incitement to violence by Israelis on social media,
encouraged by top government officials, has proven deadly for
Palestinians.
A
new report
by a group called the Coalition Against Racism finds that a sharp rise in
anti-Arab attacks since 2013 coincided with racist incitement by Israeli
elected officials and decision makers.
Netanyahu’s
incitement to revenge for the killing of three Israeli teens last year led to
the burning alive of Muhammad Abu Khudair by Jewish extremists who met at a
right-wing “death to the Arabs” rally the day before that may have been
organized online.
Emboldened
by an Israeli public and its leaders cheering for executions, trigger-happy
Israeli soldiers will more than likely crank up the violence. As for the
vigilantes, there’s no predicting who or where they will target next, but when
they do, they will not have acted alone.
With
translation from Hebrew by Dena Shunra.
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