Is this really such a good idea? Every time you mention Israel on the ‘net, you bring out all kinds of trolls. Thank God for moderated comments.
So this morning, NPR ran a story about a new law gathering steam in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) that would strip Israeli citizenship, identity papers, health and unemployment benefits, and wide freedom of movement from the immediate family members of “anyone in Israel” who carries out a terrorist attack or is a member of a terrorist group. Right-wing parties in Israel have proposed several laws like it over the last several years, claiming these laws would act as a deterrent, but this is (in my memory at least) the first time mainstream politicians (PM Ehud Olmert, and the head of the Likud opposition party) have voiced support for the law, playing up fears of an Israeli Arab ‘fifth column.’
In summary, it’s B.A.U. for the Israeli state. Bullshit As Usual — Racism, collective punishment and revenge under the guise of a fair judicial response; beating Palestinians into submission as a substitute for long-term solutions. (This argument gets made over and over again in Left-y blogs, so I won’t bore you)
This is one of those times you say to yourself “we need Israel as an ally like we need a hole in our collective head”.
One interesting question (and I’m pretty sure I know the answer) is what might happen to a future Baruch Goldstein, the Hebron settler who murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded another 150 at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994? Every now and then, a right-wing settler will shoot a Palestinian or two in the West Bank, and committ other terrorist-like attacks. Would he or she be stripped of his citizenship, along with their family? This law would *theoretically* put them on par with Mr. Buldozer of Death, whose attack last week gave some more momentum to this law, even if these settlers’ attacks are almost never punished by the Army authorities who govern the West Bank.
Eric Westervelt (the NPR reporter) interviewed the father of the yeshiva gunman for some perspective from the family of an attacker, and came up with this nifty little quote: “What he did is still a shock to us…My son used to act like a very normal person.”
In that quote, there’s something that doesn’t get mentioned all that often in the American media. Armed resistance a la Hamas or the al-Aqsa Brigaides is not “normal” for the “person on the street,” despite the rhetoric of such armed groups. Passive or non-violent resistance could be (that’s a topic for another time), but this does not mean that every Palestinian is just itching to put a bullet in the brain of an Israeli at their first chance. When reacting to – or covering — stories of attacks like these, that’s something to keep in mind.
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