The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

In praise of Israel

Critics should admit their double standard.

By Sholto Byrnes Published 03 January 2011 11:21

Critics should admit their double standard.

It is often said, when Israel is criticised, that it is judged by a different standard from its neighbours. That we hear relatively little in general about the lack of free speech in, say, Egypt or Syria, nor about the thousands of political prisoners in the region (except when it comes to Iran), but that Israel's every move is scrutinised, its motives doubted, and every firing of a shot by one of its armed forces deemed an aggressive act.

This is undoubtedly true – although the "Zionist entity", as presenters used to call it on Saudi television when my family lived in the Gulf in the Eighties, often appears to want as bad a press as it could possibly have. Why else, if you have to build a "security wall" at all, would you build most of it on Palestinian land – an outrageous grab for extra territory that divides and disrupts communities, and which naturally reduces Israel's standing in the eyes of the world?

But are we more vocal about misdeeds such as the above than we were about the quotidian repression and torture practised by Saddam Hussein, for instance, or the status of the Shia minority in Saudi Arabia? Yes, we were and we are. For, however much we may squirm away from saying so bluntly, we in Britain have long regarded Israel as much more like "us" than "them". A country composed to a great extent of people of recent European origin. Consistently, unshakeably, western-orientated (so much so, that it even joined Britain and France in the ill-fated Suez venture). And, above all, a democracy in a sea of dictatorships and absolute monarchies.

If one thinks back to the Sixties and Seventies, there was even more reason for us to feel kinship with Israel. While Europe, whether Social or Christian Democrat, embraced corporatism, dirigisme and various shades of étatisme, Israel elected Labor government after Labor government. This was the Israel that figures such as Daniel Barenboim still recall – one that was secular, socialist, cultured, humane and, I remember from my childhood in the Seventies, greatly admired.

But it is that feeling of similarity, in my view, not an unstoppable tide of resurgent anti-Semitism, that is the main reason why Israel has been portrayed so negatively for so long. The excesses of "others" we judge differently, often more leniently. Those of a friend and relative we view harshly indeed. With Israel, it is as though a continental democracy were to have been complicit in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila in 1982, to have crushed to death in 2003 the American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was trying to stop a Palestinian home being demolished, to have put into a fatal coma the British photographer Tom Hurndall, shot in the head the same year while he helped Palestinian children cross the street in Rafah, and a voluminous catalogue of other incidents and fatalities in between and since.

All of which makes recent news from Israel at once grave and quite outstandingly impressive. The conviction last week of the country's eighth president, Moshe Katsav, of rape, is described in today's Jerusalem Post as "staining the reputation of Israel and its citizens". But once one passes the initial reaction – of horror that so high and venerated an official could commit such a crime – I would say quite the opposite. As David Harris writes on the Huffington Post: "How many other countries in the Middle East – or beyond – would have tried and convicted an ex-president? This was the case, just last week, with Moshe Katsav, sending the message that no one is above the law – in a process, it should be noted, presided over by an Israeli Arab justice."

It is an astonishing case: terrible for those involved, yes, but one that conveys belief in a quite exceptional level of accountability. Could you imagine such a charge ever being allowed near the courts in America or France? Wouldn't there be some behind-the-scenes fix to spare the establishment's blushes?

Let us not enter an argument about orientalism or relativism here. We do hold Israel to a different standard, and we ought to admit it. So when Israel meets and exceeds that standard, we owe our applause. However dreadful the circumstances of this case, it is an example to the world when a country can state so clearly that no one, not even the highest, is protected from being brought low by justice. Would that there be many more, and many happier, occasions when Israel can fill us once again with such admiration.

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Tags: Israel

More from Sholto Byrnes

46 comments

Sat, 2012-04-14 15:46 — DouglassBishop

Tue, 2011-01-04 13:37 — Zedy (not verified)

The reaction to this article is hilarious. The article is praising Israel in a very strange way, drawing criticism for praising Israel at all (as though Israel is all bad and should never be praised). Yet the article blames Israel for things that Israel isn't responsible for. The Lebanon massacres, Rachel Corries's death - an accident.
But I suppose it is amazing that someone who doesn't see the truth about those incidents can at least acknowledge that Israel should be praised for the Katsav case.

Mon, 2011-01-10 08:37 — marcella (not verified)

@Buckskins

For arabs that can't fight. Hezbullah did a pretty good job against the mighty IDF in 2006 with all its hight tech weopanary supplied by the US tax payer.

@Dennis
Have you heard of Hasbara? As your comment is an example of it. Ie explaining Israel's bloody excesses while they continue their colonization policies in the occupied territores.

Fri, 2011-01-07 20:04 — Tim (not verified)

@Lox
Read the text, fellah. "Could you imagine such a charge ever being allowed near the courts in America or France? Wouldn't there be some behind-the-scenes fix to spare the establishment's blushes?" That question is ludicrously ill-informed and undermines the rest of the article.

Tue, 2011-05-17 06:51 — felix (not verified)

Allah Is a Zionist

The Quranic argument for Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel.

Over the past 15 years, the political conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs has been reframed as a religious war in which leaders from Yasser Arafat to Hassan Nasrallah to Osama bin Laden have appealed to the authority of the Quran to support their goal of eliminating the State of Israel. The authority of the Quran has also been cited in support of a revisionist history that seeks to deny the historical connection of the Jewish people to the city of Jerusalem and to its holiest sites, including the Temple Mount. Ignorant of what the Quran actually says about Jerusalem, Western reporters have recently tended to ignore archeological and historical evidence and give equal weight to the supposedly competing religious narratives of Jews and Muslims: Jews are said to believe that there was a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, while the Quran states that the historical and religious claims of the Jews are false.

The transformation of a political conflict over land into a religious war is one of the most dangerous and frightening goals of radical Islamist politicians—but it has nothing to do with the Quran.

Here the Italian Muslim communal leader and Quranic scholar Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi examines what the Quran says about the connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Far from negating the historical claims of a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Quran actually confirms Jewish accounts of the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and supports the Biblical claim that the land of Israel was given to the Jews by God.

1. Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem

In August 2002, the Yasser Arafat-appointed “mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Land,” Ikrima Sabri, told the Western media that “there is not even the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history.” By saying this, he confirmed what Arafat had already said to the London-based Arabic paper al-Hayat and reportedly repeated to Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak at Camp David: “Archaeologists have not found a single stone proving that the Temple of Solomon was there because historically the Temple was not in Palestine.”

In making such statements, Sabri and Arafat not only blatantly denied history, archeology, and the teachings of the Bible, but they also denied the words of the Quran. From the time of the Revelation of the Noble Quran until recently, all Muslims unanimously accepted that the Haram as-Sharif, or Holy Esplanade, on which the Dome of the Rock today stands is the same place where Solomon’s and Zorobabel’s Temples once stood. As a matter of fact, Haram as-Sharif, the Sacred Area of Temple Mount, includes a place called Solomon’s Standpoint, or Maqam Sulayman—according to the Muslim tradition, Solomon used to sit there and supplicate while Hiram’s masons were engaged in building the Temple. From that same place the Muslim tradition says that Solomon prayed to dedicate the House once it was completed and to intercede for those who will approach it for worshipping.

Accepting that Solomon’s Temple was in Jerusalem is compulsory for every Muslim believer, because that is what the Quran and the Islamic oral tradition, called the Sunnah, teach.

In the Quran, Surah Bani Isra’il (the Chapter of the Children of Israel), verses 1-7, we find a description of Solomon’s Temple and of how it was destroyed twice by the enemies of the Jewish people:

Glory to Him Who caused His servant [Muhammad] to travel by night from Masjid al-Haram [in Mecca] to Masjid al-Aqsa [in Jerusalem] whose precincts We did bless, in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth everything. We gave Moses the Book [Torah], and made it a Guide to the Children of Israel, commanding: ‘Take not other than Me as Disposer of your affairs.’ O ye that are the offspring of those whom We carried [in the Ark] with Noah, verily he was a devotee most grateful. And We warned the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and twice be elated with mighty arrogance. When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our creatures [Babylonians], given to terrible warfare: they entered the very inmost parts of your homes, and thus the first warning was fulfilled. Then We did grant you the return as against them; We gave you increase in resources and sons and made you abundant in human power. If ye did well, ye did well for yourselves; if ye did evil, [ye did it] against yourselves. So when the second of the warnings came to pass, [We permitted your enemies] to disfigure your faces, and to enter your Temple as they entered it once before, and to bring to destruction all that fell into their power.

Imam Abu Abdullah al-Qurtubi, who lived from 1214 to 1273 and was one of the most authoritative medieval Quranic annotators, in his Al-Jami’ li Ahkam il-Qur’an, or Encyclopedia of Quranic Rules, explains the context (asbab) of the verses by mentioning among other sources the authentic Prophetic tradition (hadith). He wrote:

Hudhayfah Ibn al-Yaman asked the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him:

‘I travelled more than once to Jerusalem, but saw no Temple standing there. What is the reason?’

The Prophet Muhammad replied:

‘Verily Solomon son of David raised Bayt al-Maqdis [i.e., Beth ha-Mikdash, the First Temple] with gold and silver, with rubies and emeralds, and Allah caused human beings and spirits to work under his command, until the raising of the House was completed. Afterwards a Babylonian King destroyed Bayt al-Maqdis and brought its treasures to the land of Babylonia, until a King of Persia defeated him and ransomed the Children of Israel. They rebuilt Bayt al-Maqdis for the second time [the Second Temple], until it was destroyed for the second time by an army led by a Roman Emperor.’

One can easily verify that Jewish and Muslim traditional sources are confirming each other: The Temple was built by Solomon and destroyed by a Babylonian king. A Persian king later defeated the Babylonians and ransomed the Jews, permitting them to return to the Land of Israel. The Temple was rebuilt but afterward was destroyed by the Romans. This Temple stood in the area referred to as Beth haMikdash in Hebrew and Bayt al-Maqdis in Arabic. Those political and pseudo-religious Palestinian leaders who claim that “there was never a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem” are surely aware that, in order to support their political claims, they are compelled to lie, hide sources, and contradict the letter of the Quran and the Islamic tradition.

An earlier Quranic exegete and jurist, Imam Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari, who lived from 838 to 923, writes in his Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, or History of Prophets and Kings, that the same sacred area was the place where Jacob had his vision of the Heavenly Ladder:

When Jacob awoke he felt blissful from what he had seen in his trustful dream and vowed, for God’s sake that, if he returned to his family safely, he would build there a Temple for the Almighty. He also vowed to perpetual charity one tenth of his property for the sake of God. He poured oil on the Stone so as to recognize it and called the place Bayt El, which means ‘the House of God.’ It became the location of Jerusalem later.

In Jerusalem on a huge Rock, Solomon son of David built a beautiful Temple to expand the worship of God. Today on the base of that Temple stands the Dome of the Rock.

Historical negation of Jewish and Islamic sources concerning Jerusalem is recent and does not predate the PLO and its political propaganda. In 1932, during the British Mandate period, the Supreme Muslim Council of Jerusalem published a Brief Guide to Haram as-Sharif for Muslim pilgrims, written in English. “This site is one of the oldest in the world,” it says. “Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.”

Not only were Arafat’s minions and heirs in Jerusalem attempting to rewrite the history of Arabs and Jews in the region as told by others; they were also attempting to rewrite the history of Arabs and Jews in the region as told by Islamic Arab sources, too.

2. Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel

The Biblical notion that God granted the land of Canaan to the Children of Israel is confirmed by the Quran. In the Surah of Jonah, verse 93, we read:

We settled the Children of Israel in a beautiful dwelling-place, and provided for them sustenance of the best.

In Surah al-Ahraf (of the Barrier), verse 137, we read:

We made a people considered weak inheritors of the Land in both Eastern and Western side [of the Jordan river] whereon we sent down Our blessings. The fair promise of thy Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because they had patience and constancy, and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected.

Surah al Maidah (the Table), verse 21, is the only passage in which the Holy Land is mentioned by that title (al-Ard al-Muqaddas). It refers to the words Moses spoke to the descendants of Isaac:

Remember Moses said To his people: ‘O my People, call in remembrance the favor of God unto you, when He produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave You what He had not given To any other among the peoples. O my people! Enter The Holy Land which God hath written for you, and turn not back ignominiously [to this heritage of yours], for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.

In a commentary of Imam Abu al-Qasim Mahmud al-Zamakshari, who lived from 1074 to 1144, titled al-Kashaf, or The Revealer, we read the following explanation:

As for the borders of ‘the Holy Land,’ some scholars says its northern border is the Mount [Hermon] and its surroundings, and for others in also includes a part of the Land of Sham [the Golan]. Others say it extends from the territory of the Philistines [Gaza] until Damascus and a part of Urvum. Some say that God presented to Abraham this Land as an inheritance for his children when he went up to the mountain and said to him: ‘Look around as far as your gaze can reach. Every place reached by your eyes will be theirs.’ The Holy Temple was the dwelling place of the prophets and the residence of the believers. ‘God hath written for you’ means ‘God swore it and wrote in the Divine Tablets of Predestination: that it is yours, belongs to your people and do not turn back from it. Do not be afraid of the Philistine giants who live there.

A similar note is also found in a commentary of Abdallah ibn ‘Umar al-Qadi al-Baidawi, who lived from 1226 to 1260, titled Asrar ut-Tanzil wa Asrar ut-Ta’wil, or The Secrets of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation.

3. Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel was never abolished

Moreover, the Quran explicitly refers to the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel before the Last Judgment when it says in the Surah of the Children of Israel, verse 104:

And thereafter We [God] said to the Children of Israel: ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd.’

Therefore, from an Islamic point of view, Israel is the legitimate owner of the land God deeded to her and whose borders were defined by Abraham in Genesis.

All recent claims according to which the “assignment of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people was withdrawn or abrogated” are bereft of scriptural or traditional evidence. The Quran mentions the territory that God assigned to the Jewish people, but neither it nor the traditional Islamic sources mention a supposed withdrawal.

Imam al-Qurtubi explains in al-Jami that the last promise concerning the return of the Jewish people “together in a mingled crowd” after the destruction of the Second Temple will be a sign that precedes the coming of the Messiah.

The Quran only mentions a double period of mischief and a double punishment with exile from the Land. God says:

We warned the Children of Israel in the Book, that TWICE would they do mischief on the earth and TWICE be elated with mighty arrogance.

According to this Quranic proof, the contemporary Zionist rebuilding of the State of Israel—the third entry of the Jews to their divinely appointed land—is not mischief but rather a fulfillment of what Imam az-Zamakshari reminds the Jews: “God swore it and wrote in the Divine Tablets of Predestination: that it is yours, belongs to your people and do not turn back from it.”

Tue, 2011-01-04 22:54 — Nathan (not verified)

Marcella, since Israel was attacked by five other countries on the day of its founding (as well as various other wars and intifadas since) after having peacefully accepted the partition plan, I'm hard pressed to understand your blaming Israel for the bloody cost that resulted to Israelis and Arabs alike (though, of course, you only mention Arab blood). Furthermore, since no Arab leader or left-wing activist has ever agreed with your assertion that "certainly Jewish people have every right to a homeland in the middle east", how can you ignore this as the essence of the conflict?

Wed, 2011-01-05 00:01 — Stan (not verified)

Looking at these comments, it just goes to show that nothing Israel can do is right in the eyes of extreme left antisemites

Wed, 2011-01-05 01:22 — Tim (not verified)

What a ridiculous assertion - that a case like Katsav's could never get near the courts in America or France. Has the writer forgotten the excruciating, breath by breath, public humiliation of Bill Clinton for lying about a sexual liaison to which both parties consented? The move to impeach the most powerful man in the world? Some fix that was to spare the establishment's blushes! For heaven's sake, which planet is Byrnes on? Give him a few quid and send him out to read some books.

Wed, 2011-01-05 03:05 — marcella (not verified)

@Zedy
I think you will find Ariel Sharon was found directly responsible for allowing the marionit phalongists to massacre over 2 thousand Palestinian refugees in Sabre and Shatilla.

Also the driver of the bulldozer who murdered Rachel Corrie was an IDF reservist, and was found guilty in an Israeli court. If you are wearing the uniform of your country and commit such acts . Your country is accountable. Don"t you think?

Wed, 2011-01-05 11:40 — Yaniv (not verified)

Wonderful.

Thu, 2011-01-06 17:17 — Nathan (not verified)

@Marcella
Since Israel already considers itself the "Jewish State" and the UN partitioned it as such, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that Arab recognition would suddenly change its policies toward its minorities. If it wanted to pursue such racist policies, it easily could and there is nothing the Arab states could do about it (especially given all of their own racist policies). The real matter, if you actually listen to what the Arabs say rather than make excuses, is the "right" of return which they are unwilling to give up and which would destroy Israel. To blame it on the lack of borders is also disingenuous, since the theoretical right has nothing to do with borders. Israel has accepted the principle of a Palestinian state for some time even though no borders exist. If there are all these moderates that you claim exist, why can you cite no example of Arab leadership recognizing Israel as a Jewish state? You are simply making excusesw without any proff.

Wed, 2011-01-05 13:36 — Marcella (not verified)

@Nathan
The ethnic cleansing and maassacres had already happened by the time Israel was declared a state. Plus the Hagganah and Zionist militas were better armed and trained, largely thanks to the British and outnumbered the arab armies. But keep peddalling the David and Goliath myth.

You also pedal the myth that most arabs want to anihalate Israel and all jews. Sure there are some who would sign up to this but a poll last year in Ramallah showed 75% of Palestinians would accept a 2 state solution on the 67 borders.

What they will never accept is the current Netenyahu plan devised by Sharon for a greater Israel, involving the colonization of East Jerusalem and the Jordan valley.

The Palestinan state they have in mind is 3 seperate bantustans with as much autonomy as a pow camp. This is not so much a plan for peace but one for pacification and is driven by right wing zionist ideology.

Sun, 2011-01-23 19:38 — NOT IMPORTANT (not verified)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYBsDwjezQI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgI1aph7AsE&feature=related

can someone please answer after watching those videos, What the Jews think of themselves & WHAT they are TEACHING their CHILDREN about about their fellow humans!!

Why the British & US foreign policy always blindly support Israel even if they kill the innocent civilians in Palestain on a DAILY basis??? WHY ?? Why our governments support that terrorist state BLINDLY?

If the US & UK could stop their blind support and could overcome the very strong Jewish influence to go to war & their always kill people attitude; then today we woldn't even come to the point of suicide bombing and worldwide terrorism.

These terrorist are always having their home-made recruits here in UK & In US & i think they themselves were born because of the injustice that's been happening to some group of innocent people around the world.

Killing innocent people regardless of their religion (Jew, Christan, Hindu Muslim and so on) is ofcourse wrong and I know it is prohibited in all the major religious books. Doesn't matter what the tiny number of sick terrorist bastard comes up with their sick explanation of killing innocent people; they clearly going against their own religion. Also those sick bastard politicians who lied to the public and went into illegal wars; now killing nearly millions of civilians; by which again the terrorist are having easy recruits!

In my opinion, Hezbollah, Hamas & organisations like them wouldn't even exist in this world, if we (the world) could stop the UNJUSTICE & killing of innocent people on a DAILY basis which has been happening for the last 60 years by Terrorist country Israel.

Thu, 2011-05-19 23:35 — Parkour Pete (not verified)

@Jerome Klobbs

Absolutely right about the bate effect of the article. The haters here are to be despised more than Hamas who at least have the decency to admit to their prejudices whilst many on the left like to think that being so somehow elevates them to a higher moral plane. BNP for broadsheet readers

Sun, 2011-01-16 20:34 — Jerome Klobbs (not verified)

Given the intensity of the hatred of Israel expressed here by the great unwashed NS-Readers public, I view Byrnes article as a shrew piece of bait hung out precisely to extract the views expressed here - which in turn, cynically portrays the NS readers as programable robots, spewing out their bile in an uncontrollable Pavlov-type reaction.expressed here - which in turn, cynically portrays the NS readers as programable robots, spewing out their bile in an uncontrollable Pavlov-type reaction.

Sat, 2011-01-08 13:19 — Mazuza (not verified)

The irradiation of the Sephardim is a fact! Look it up, I dare you!

Thu, 2011-01-06 22:43 — Lox (not verified)

@ Tim, I think the article is making the point that in no other ME country would an ex-president be tried and convicted in the way that Katsav was. Care to address that instead of bringing up a red herring like Clinton?

And Daniele, when you say that Israelis are supposed to be civilised and educated, what exactly does that imply? That, by contrast, Arabs aren't? That's a little bit patronizing; or ignorant. Perhaps you should get out more.

Fri, 2011-01-14 00:41 — alex (not verified)

I would slightly echo 'Zedy's comments about this being a strange way to praise Israel, the fact that their ex-president is a convicted rapist hardly seems like praise. Perhaps more to the point Israel is still a functioning democracy and whilst I am certainly not a supporter of Bibi or the neo-fascist Avigdor Liebermann at least it still is a democracy so there is the possibility of such people being voted out of office. In opinion polls (carried out by a peace foundation in Israel) Israeli arabs have fairly consistently expressed support for the judiciary and faith in politics, and and this bit should restore some faith in Israel to its attackers they have also said that after a peace settlement they would prefer to remain as Israeli citizens not become Palestinians. Of course I dont expect the Buckskins of this world to mention that and neither am I expecting bloggers on this post that talk about Gaza as a 'concentration camp' to acknowledge such realities, but reality is always a tad more complex than the partisan posts to this article

Wed, 2011-01-05 16:47 — Nathan (not verified)

@Marcella
The continued ethnic cleansing claims are not only baseless, but an insult to communities that have actually suffered the effects of ethnic cleansing. Any country where the cleansed still makes up 20% of the population, forms political parties, presides (see above) in the Supreme Court, etc., is the worst ethnic cleanser of all time. Just as Israel was among the only countries that closed down Palestinian refugee camps and absorbed and naturalized the inhabitants... again, not the move of an ethnic cleanser. You want to see ethnic cleansing, look for Jews in the Arab world, or Greek in northern Cyprus. As for the David and Goliath myth, it's hardly the point of the argument I was making, but you'd be hard pressed to show that they "outnumbered" the Arab armies. My point, quite clearly, was about which side started a war of annihilation and which side was content to live with the agreed partition plan. Furthermore, while there is much evidence of massacres of Jews pre-48, I have yet to see any that goes the other way (although, again, the many Jewish deaths register nowhere on your radar). As for the other "myth" I'm pedaling, you didn't answer my charge. Has any Palestinian poll or leader accepted Israel as a Jewish state? Simple question, because otherwise, what they are referring to are two Palestinian states; one which is entirely rid of Jews and the other which would absorb Palestinian "refugees" and have a Jewish minority. After signing the Oslo accords, Arafat immediately told his people that a Palestinian state would simply be a step toward eliminating Israel. A poll taken last month showed the majority of Palestinians also accepting a state as a step toward liberating "all of Palestine". Unless anyone will accept a Jewish state publicly, I don't see how you can assert that most Arabs don't want to annihilate Israel. As for your post to Zedy, Sharon was found indirectly responsible in that he should have know what would happen. But he was not proven to have planned, ordered, or endorsed what amounted to the massacre of Lebanese by other Lebanese. As for Corrie, the implication that wearing a uniform makes you incapable of committing an accidental act is a pretty weak on. Surely, it would have been easier and better for PR to arrest Rachel and remove her if that's what they wanted. Aah, but when it comes to Israel and Israelis "evil" is all the motivation we need, right?

Mon, 2011-01-10 22:40 — JJ (not verified)

Yeah marcella. And you're engaging in your own Hasbara or whatever the word is in Arabic. Taqiya? So what's your point?

Wed, 2011-01-05 20:42 — Gosia (not verified)

I won't be cancelling my subscription as I do enjoy few odd bits to bring diferent viewpoints to the table. This article however lacks historical and cultural depth which is a bit disappointing considering I think very highly of your journalists.
I wouldn't like go on about the fact that a rape case has been again used to boost a states's self-esteem and a victim was forgotten somwhere along the way, who she was, what obstackles and how long for she had had to face before shee even ended up in court.One question remains whether the great Israeli justice system would even bother to look into the rape case of an Arab woman...
Israeli charged by different standards...well the history shows this political creature as already mentioned is made up of mostly European origin Jews, who at the time couldn't learn a proper democracy because they were escaping totalitarian regimes.Being however tightly bonded with the USA and in their rhetoric (only) having the notion of democracy as their highest value export product, Israel seems to be politically exceptional and therefore quite logically is expected to practise its democratic law more than other "barbaric" countries in the Middle East.Touching upon Saudi Arabia proves yet again an incorrect data Mr Byrnes uses. Saudi Arabia as a closest Arab ally of the USA will never be condemned of human rights violation as long they produce enough oil and shut themselves out from the Israeli-Palestinan conflict.

If the justice prevails in Israeli system, why R Corrie's parents are still waiting for a proper court case.If it's only an accident Im sure it'll be easy address it...?

I'm sorry to say Mr. Byrnes...but you need more factual background to even begin to represent your viewpoint.

Mon, 2011-01-03 12:04 — Jonathan M. (not verified)

Oh dear. Yes, I do think Israel is so often held to account for matters simply glossed over when perpetuated in other nations. And I say 'bravo'to the NS for the above report. However, please remember that Israel continues to contribute to the current crisis that urgently needs resolution. No doubt I risk being called 'a self-hating Jew' but let Israel now continue to act justly on the pressing question of the plight of the Palestinians.

Mon, 2011-01-03 12:08 — ronmurp (not verified)

And being 'one of us' we judge Israel harshly as we would (and many of us do) judge our own governments when they betray our principles of freedom and democracy. And how would we react if our government permitted a fanatical religious sect here in the UK to oppress Muslims, take their homes, abuse them as they take their children to school, ...

And it's not that we necessarily are more lenient with those not like us, it's more that we come to expect worse from oppressive regimes, and are not surprised when we see it.

And much of the press that Israel gets, and others don't, is, well, press. Who is doing the reporting?

Thu, 2011-01-06 06:54 — marcella (not verified)

@Nathan

One of the problems the Palestinians have with accepting Israel as a jewish state is what will happen to the 18% Palestinian arabs within the jewish state. With racist politicians like Avigdor Lieberman around who advocate transfer. Their lot is somewhat precarious.

However the other major problem with accepting Israel as a jewish state is Israel unilateraly setting its own borders. What Israel should the recognize? 1948 Israel? or 1967 Israel? or todays colonized west bank?

Golda Meir once said Israel was anywhere jews chose to live between the river and the sea. The current right wing coalition seem to subscribe to that policy.

Hopefully there are enough pragmatic sane voices within Israel to realise these policies are unsustainable and will lead to more International isolation and Pariah status.

Havving spent many years in arab countries my sense is that sure it is hard for people to accept the state of Israel but likewise there are enough moderates and pragmatists to know Israel is not going away.

The last decade has saw a rise in Palestinian nationalism linked to Islamism largely due to the corruption of fatah and the PLO and they have filled a vacuum left by the lack of a settlement.

In the short term this plays into Netenyahu.s hands as they continue their colonization and containment strategy, but longer term it will have dire consequences for Israel.

Mon, 2011-01-03 12:42 — george garside (not verified)

I can't believe that NS would publish such complete rubbish, i will be cancelling my subscription first thing tomorrow.

Mon, 2011-01-03 13:04 — Lou (not verified)

The legal and justice system has been quite forthright in pursuing legal cases against high profile politicians and the military in Israel recently. Ari Shavit wrote in an Israeli paper, "Once again it has been proven that, despite its many faults and flaws, the legal system is what keeps the State of Israel from descending into an abyss of immorality,"

I wouldn't concur with his sentiments , a couple of right and honourable legal moves do not make for a country that is a beacon of democracy, fairness and tolerance and there is far more evidence of immorality and inhumanity than there is of justice and fairness.

Some have argued that this prosecution only came about through media pressure and was more about prejudice against Jews of Middle East origin and that the legal system is a sort of secular elite so Sholto let's not run before we can walk. Credit may be due here but there's a long way to go yet before I will be shouting Israel's praises from the rooftops.

Tue, 2011-01-11 08:21 — Marcella (not verified)

@Buckskins

Yes the IDF were let of the leash and faired rather better against the women and children in Gaza in the cast lead massacre.

@JJ My point being when any article about Israel and the occupation appear there are a number of bloggers producing the Israeli government viewpoint. Its PR department or propoganda and is called Hasbara. It attacks those who critscize Israel labelling them as anti-semites or drawing attention to similar arocities or activities in some of Israel,s enemies.

Tue, 2011-01-11 09:02 — JJ (not verified)

Marcella, whenever there are articles on Hamas's human rights abuses, immediately you see the pro-Arab PR brigade popping up and deflecting attention from the topic. We know about Taqya - and you practice it. Same regarding Darfour. We can criticise Islamists and without being called racists, you know. I am deeply offended when I want to protest the utter inhumanity of Islamists and then get mud thrown in my face.

The fact is, Marcella, that Muslim on Muslim atrocities are so widespread that to somehow criticise Israel above all is indeed very suspicious.

For the record, no serious defender of Israel thinks that criticism of Israel as such is antisemitism. But you use this straw man argument as propaganda.

Tue, 2011-01-11 09:06 — JJ (not verified)

Hopefully we will have some articles exposing the antisemitism in the Arab world where copies of Mein Kampf are very popular in Syria and Lebanon for example. Let's not forget how Syria sheltered the Nazi war criminal Alois Brunne, most recently sighted in 1996 there.

Sun, 2011-01-09 17:44 — Denis

A good article, insofar as it recognizes that Israel is a democratic state governed by law. Several inexplicable errors, though. The 'security wall' is actually a fence (bar 3%), and I'm fed up with those who simply refuse to recognize what's in front of their eyes. Rachel Corrie's death was the result of stupidity on the part of the ISM movement, its pressure to risk lives to make a point, Corrie's own decision to play chicken with half-blind bulldozers, and the driver's inability to see her. The most egregious mis-statement here, though, is the claim that Israel largely contributes to its own bad image abroad. Sometimes that's true, but mostly not. The Palestinians and their supporters have created a propaganda industry that pushes lies and half-truths in the most sickening way imaginable. The 'massacre' at Jenin that wasn't; the death of Muhammad al-Dura that didn't happen; the clever photo opportunities that are really tableaus set up for a lazy press, and much more. Western reporters, journalists and editors are also seriously to blame, selecting by preference photographs and text that show Israel in a bad light, and always going easy on all other Middle Eastern actors. No-one, it seems, has a sense of shame. If they get caught out, they just pout and shrug their shoulders and walk away. The Left has lost its bearings a entirely. I recently saw Gay and Lesbian protesters marching against Israel and for the Palestinians. This, despite the fact that the Palestinians (especially Hamas) would kill them and their fellow gays and lesbians, and that Israel would welcome them to take part in a gay pride march. That is a form of insanity, and it owes a great deal to limited understanding fostered by the press and TV.

Mon, 2011-01-03 14:06 — Daniele1

Oh dear, more apologies for Israel, like we needed more!
The case of Israel is similar to America's. They are both "democracies" in the sense that they have elections and appear to respect the rule of law when it comes to their own citizens. But they have no qualms about attacking, killing, oppressing, exploiting and generally disrespecting other peoples and nations.
So, no, a little internal democracy does not make up for the atrocities committed by the Israeli state on the defenceless nation of Palestine where they have organised a concentration camp where mainly women and children are held prisoners.
Yes, we should be harder on Israel than other nations. They are supposed to be educated and civilised. Furthermore they themselves have been the victims of the worst atrocities committed in the 20th century.They should know better.Instead they use anti-semitism to dismiss any criticism,a pathetic device which I find particularly contemptible.
Shame on Israel and any one who supports Israel!

Mon, 2011-01-03 14:20 — swatantra nandanwar

Critics of Israel have nothing to apologise for. Yes, we are pleased that the judicial system remains outside the control of their Govts, and that there are individuals like Barenboem still around, but the Zionists still have the upperhand in Israeli society and that should bring a shiver down anyones spine.

Mon, 2011-01-03 15:04 — X (not verified)

No mention at all on how justice in the Zionist Entity was dispensed precisely in the case of Rachel Corrie, or of Mavi Marmara, or of the thousands of cases of Palestinians murdered, maimed or dispossessed by the actions of the Zionist army? Please tell us gentiles, least we don't understand. This article is completely rubbish (to be polite).

Fri, 2011-01-14 14:47 — DAULAT RAM

Byrnes says, with stupefying ability to condemn himself and all his tribe forever:

"But are we more vocal about [Israeli] misdeeds such as the above than we were about the quotidian repression and torture practised by Saddam Hussein, for instance, or the status of the Shia minority in Saudi Arabia? Yes, we were and we are. For, however much we may squirm away from saying so bluntly, we in Britain have long regarded Israel as much more like "us" than "them"."

There is racial and cultural contempt for you, braying in full brazen nakedness. "We" westerners, Byrnes is braying, don#t EXPECT mere Arabs and Muslims to act according to decent standards....."We" expect Israelis to, as they are "our" kind.....

I ask you!!!!!! And to think it is people like Byrnes who demand that others respect Islam and Muslims......!!!!!

I'm different. I RESPECT Arabs and Islam enough to EXPECT that THEY will behave as decently as civilised people.

That is why I am not an NS type of psuedo-Leftist.....That is, a "leftist" who makes murderous excuses for Islamic tyranny.

Mon, 2011-01-03 15:43 — marcella (not verified)

The problem with Israel is it was created about one hundred years too late. In the middle of the 19th centuary the kind of violence and ethnic cleansing that was the result of its creation was acceptable and shared with many states.

The great irony is it was largely thanks to Jewish philosophers in the first part of the 20th centuary that made that kindof thing unacceptable

Mon, 2011-01-03 17:20 — Mohel (not verified)

Oh yes, Israel should be praised. Look at the irradiation of the Sephardim resulting in an entire lost generation, oh but that was not intentional, no they were just trying to eradicate the poor sephardic children's head lice...sort of like the Nazi's gas chambers which were just used to "delouse", not to kill, right? Yes, the irony is that Hitler would praise Israel if he were here today to see it in all of its racist, genocidal glory!

Mon, 2011-01-03 20:16 — Larry (not verified)

It's unbelievable how many people in this blog actually believe the Palestinian propaganda machine which routinely lies and changes night into day.

The root cause of the entire conflict is the fact that the Arabs continue to refuse to acknowledge that the Jewish people have ANY historical connection to the land of Israel at all. They recently even called the Western wall a Muslim site.

See "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters and you will see that, in fact, it is the Palestinians who are the outsiders to the land. The majority of people who now call themselves "Palestinian" are descendants of migrant Arabs who moved to the land of Israel in the mid 1900's after the Jews started returning to their ancient land, made the desert bloom, and created economic possibilities.

Yet, even though the West Bank is ancient Jewish land, Israel has been willing to allow another Arab state there called Palestine simply for the sake of Peace.

In 1947 it was the Jews who accepted the Partition plan while the Arabs rejected it. (Don't forget that back then the term "Palestinian" referred both to Jew and Arab inhabitants of the land.) The Palestinians, as they now call themselves, have rejected every opportunity for a state of their own, even as recently as 2000 and 2008.

Folks, learn the true history before you dehumanize Israel.

Fri, 2011-01-07 17:08 — Jake Davies (not verified)

@Larry

Joan Peters book 'From Time Immemorial' has long been acknowledged as a scholarly fraud. See Norman Finkelstein's 'Image and Reality of the Palestine Conflict' for an in depth analysis and criticism of Peter's book.

Mon, 2011-01-03 23:58 — Al (not verified)

Mohel, being a deranged anti Semite seems normal to you.

Tue, 2011-01-04 00:33 — Jacques (not verified)

I'd gladly compare Israel's human rights record with any country on the globe.
The rabid anti-Semitism driven by the oil-hungry and the oil-rich and Islamic dictatorships is shamefull.
Any time the Arabs want peace, then can get it. But they want all of Israel......and Europe....and America.

Tue, 2011-01-04 01:05 — marcella (not verified)

OH dear Larry. Joan Peters work was ridiculed as an academic fraud. Even the staunchest zionists are embarrassed by it.

Certainly Jewish people have every right to a homeland in the middle east ,but nobody can now deny the creation of Israel came at huge bloody cost to the Palestinian arabs and still does. This is the essence of the conflict and until their is a an ackowledgement and a just settlement the conflict will rage on.

Fri, 2011-05-20 18:49 — james (not verified)

I've been in Israel twice now for a long stretch of time and although i don't agree fully with Bill Clinton, i think he's onto something when he says the Russian population in Israel are a problem for israel making peace. Without sounding xenophobic, although israeli jews from other parts of the world are not perfect most of the Israeli prisons are full of predominantly Russians. The illegal strip clubs and gambling dens are run by Russians. The worst, racist politician in israels history, Avigdor Liberman, is of course a Russian. My own subjective experience of Israeli Russians are they are nice people individually however the only sole problems i ever have had in Israel with people i did not know were from a handful of israeli russians who seemed to think they can do what they want in Israel. A disproportionate amount of abuses in the West Bank and other areas are from Russian soldiers.

I know that Israel needs them because of demographic reasons but they certainly contribute to Israels bad reputation globally. And i think it is right that Israel is judged more harshly for reasons stated in the article.

Wed, 2011-01-05 09:14 — Lily (not verified)

• I am flabbergasted at the absolute nonsense that most of the writers have put. They are filled with a combination of out and out lies and Palestinian propaganda ranging from "irradiation of the Sephardim resulting in an entire lost generation"! What rubbish! The Sephardim constitute over 55% of the Israeli population! Daniella's contribution of "they have organised a concentration camp where mainly women and children are held prisoners" obviously knows nothing about concentration camps and doesn't question why the other border of Gaza- with Egypt - was also closed! The "Defenseless nation" also has managed to lob over 10,000 missiles into civilian areas and has adopted as their modus operandus to target defenseless Israeli women and children as their main targets. By all means debate but do get your facts right because currently all you are showing is your ignorance and bias!