For "Israeli mainstream, the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis is the perfect parable: naive leftist meets his death at the hands of the inherently hateful Palestinians whose dark side he willfully denied. The Palestinians are evil and the left is in denial. What better way to justify continued oppression of four million than to hold that they are undeserving of human rights and that those who advocate for them are hopelessly deluded?"
Racheli Gai.
Ofer Neiman adds: Following the murder of Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza, we should brace ourselves for another round of selective sanctimonious lecturing. The lecturers will surely ignore the tremendous outcry of grief, anger and condemnation coming out of Palestinian society. Instead they will teach us that the Salafist groups in Gaza are a significant and representative Palestinian voice.
About the Salafi, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafist_jihadism
Also, below Breslau's piece find a post from the International Crisis Group, including a link to their full report about radical Islam in Gaza.
[As of today, April 16, some Salafi groups in Gaza denied a role in the murder of Arrigoni. - RG]
A leftist has been murdered: attack the left!
By: Daniel Breslau
Znet
13 April 2011
http://www.zcommunications.org/a-leftist-has-been-murdered-attack-the-left-by-daniel-breslau
When a unique figure in the struggle for Palestinian rights, a unique kind of leftist, was gunned down in Jenin, most commentators pointed out the senselessness of the crime. Ha`aretz colmnist Ari Shavit saw the tragedy as a wonderful opportunity to attack the left (http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-s-left-needs-to-wise-up-to-middle-east-reality-1.354548
Of course Israeli pundits can find in any death, or even unseasonable weather, an occasion to bash the left. But how was Shavit provoked by the assassination of Juliano Mer-Khamis to write a piece that would make Avigdor Lieberman proud, attacking a group of his fellow citizens?
With no evidence, Shavit claims the left has fallen silent, overcome with moral confusion, in the face of the murder in Jenin. Leftists can only conceive of evil emanating from Israel or Western forces. So when a `peace hero` is murdered by Palestinians, their brains short circuit. This invention launches Shavit into a tirade on the left`s selective morality and denial of `the forces of evil in the Arab-Muslim world.`
But Shavit has fabricated a description of `the left`s` behavior in order to support his attacks. Any quick survey of responses to the murder will show that his charge of confusion and silence is ridiculous. Mer was `killed in cold blood` (Combatants for peace - Hebrew), his murder was `a crime against humanity` and the result of `religious fanaticism` (The Left Bank - Hebrew), and these poignant words from his friend, Natan Zahavi (Hebrew):
`Juliano was murdered by cowardly maniacs beside the theater that he founded for the children of the refugee camp, `Freedom Theater` he called it. Five bullets made orphans of the 150 children of the theater, as they lost the man who tried to teach them the word`s most original form of warfare, war on the stage without bloodshed. Blessed be his memory.`
Some clues to Shavit`s animus can be found in other comments that make the same point without Shavit`s vagueness and code words. Less diplomatic was Asaf Golan (Hebrew) in the right-wing Makor Rishon (the online paper that brags that it is `unbiased, and unabashedly Jewish and Zionist.`):
`This disturbing and simple truth is hard for many students of the western liberal school to digest, as they try in various ways to please the Islamic demon, in order to open up a dialogue with him. However, in practice this approach only strengthens the darkest dictatorships in the world, and produces tragicomic situations, in which a moral army like the IDF is presented as war criminals, while hideous murderers like Moamar Gaddafi, Bashar Al-Asad, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are presented as exemplary human beings.`
Still more direct was a publicist named Yehuda Drori (Hebrew), who gives us a full translation of Shavit`s thesis into plain language:
`I have no doubt that Juliano Mer fell victim to murderers representing the very group of people that he was trying to help. But in plain terms, he lived among snakes, and one of them killed him with its bite. … Now I believe that Juliano Mer is of greater value in death than in life, because he proves to us once more that there is no one to talk to, there`s no one there to work with toward `peace` and we must be extremely wary of them, and of all the do-gooders who believe that it is possible to build a bridge to peace with that rabble.`
If you find this message is still too subtle, here`s self-styled journalist Dudu Cohen on Mako (Hebrew), the website of Israel`s commercial channel 2, finally doing away with niceties:
`Not that I didn`t already know this, but the barbaric murder of Juliano Mer just reminded me of whom we are dealing with. ... The murder of Juliano Mer demonstrates that opposite us stand human animals. A civilized people that seeks peace? Don`t make me laugh. A poor oppressed people that just wants to live with us in peace beneath the olive trees? Get real. A moral, kind, and humane people that is only looking for a chance to make the world a better place? Yeah, right. What is funny is that many among us Israelis, particularly from the liberal-humanist department, paint the Palestinians with such flattering colors. The Palestinians themselves refuse to fit that image, and are driven mostly by hatred of others, discrimination against women, lack of democracy, and values that are completely opposed to those of the world of humane values.`
In all of these comments racism is tightly coupled with attacks on the left. The belief that the Palestinians suffer from inherent moral and cultural deficiencies, and that the left makes things worse by ignoring this self-evident fact, are two sides of a single discourse. From this outlook, which is that of the Israeli mainstream, the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis is the perfect parable: naive leftist meets his death at the hands of the inherently hateful Palestinians whose dark side he willfully denied.The Palestinians are evil and the left is in denial. What better way to justify continued oppression of four million than to hold that they are undeserving of human rights and that those who advocate for them are hopelessly deluded?
Political repression, violent Islamic political movements, oppression of women: are these phenomena better understood by those who insist they be denounced as `forces of evil` or by those who see them as having historical causes, as not inherent to a race, religion, or culture? Which of these demonstrates an `ability to see historic reality as a whole, in all its complexity`? There are countless studies, essays, and commentaries by people on the left that relate the rise of Islamic violent movements to a set of historical circumstances that include autocratic regimes, Western imperialism, the distortion of the political space by autocrats and occupiers, and the repression of secular alternatives, among other factors.
But Juliano Mer himself is perhaps the best refutation of the slander of Shavit and his more straight-talking allies. This fighter for Palestinian rights knew he was simultaneously fighting religious and political repression in Palestinian society. Those who use such phenomena to confirm their sense of superiority and to blame the victims of oppression cannot claim to understand the problems of that society better than Juliano Mer.
An International Crisis Group's post about the Salafi from 6 weeks ago w/ a link to their report:
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT
Radical Islam in Gaza
Ramallah/Jerusalem/Brussels, 29 March 2011: The dangerous escalation between Israel and Hamas demonstrates once more the need for both a fresh approach toward Gaza and a better understanding of Hamas's relationship with rival Islamist groups.
Radical Islam in Gaza, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the impact of Salafi-Jihadi groups in Gaza. Adhering to a more militant brand of Sunni Islam than Hamas, these groups pose both a practical and an ideological threat to the movement. As progress toward normalising life, engaging the world or achieving a prisoner exchange stalls, the uncompromising outlook of the Salafi-Jihadis becomes more appealing to militants.
"These groups are comprised mostly of former members of Hamas and other established factions. Many of their recruits are disaffected younger activists who see Hamas as compromising with Israel while getting very little in return", said Nathan Thrall, Crisis Group's Middle East Analyst.
Local Salafi-Jihadi groups emerged primarily after Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and expanded their activities during the subsequent fighting between Hamas and Fatah. Over time, Hamas's relationship with them has shifted from cooperation to antagonism: since taking over Gaza, Hamas has limited their freedom of manoeuvre. Clashes with Hamas security forces killed dozens and, in one case, in effect wiped out one of the largest groups.
The influence of Salafi-Jihadis is not preponderant, but nor is it negligible. Although their numbers are few, they are responsible for a significant proportion of rockets fired at Israel. Moreover, they accuse Hamas of laxity in enforcing religious mores, a charge that resonates with many movement supporters and leads the government to greater zeal in applying Islamic law.
"The policy of isolating Gaza and ignoring Hamas has only exacerbated the problem", said Robert Malley, Crisis Group's Middle East and North Africa Program Director. "As the international community seeks a new way to address political Islam in the wake of the Arab upheaval, Gaza would be a good place to start".
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