Jerusalem, February 14: Nervous to any criticism of its human rights violations and policies in the occupied Palestinian lands, Israel is growing intolerant to critics, even nationals, accusing them of disloyalty and betrayal.
“There is an assault on the basics of law and order,” Israeli rights activist Naomi Chazan, 63, told.
“But most important I see this as part of a very pernicious attempt to stifle alternative voices, and most seriously to equate criticism with betrayal.”
The former left-wing politician said the Israeli political and military establishments have become intolerant to criticism, especially following the Gaza war.
“And there is a very strong political underpinning to that,” she said.
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Chazan, a university professor, tasted herself the Israeli punishment for daring criticize her country’s behavior during last year’s war in Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post columnist was sacked from her work after a 14-year-old stint.
The President of the New Israel Fund was also accused by the government of “serving the agenda of Iran and Hamas”, though her fund has served the country for three decades.
Her house was also the focus of right-wing Jews, who used to shout slogans against her and chill a caricature of her with a horn obtruding from her forehead.
“They don’t want peace, so they’re trying to delegitimize the human rights movement.”
Israeli troops killed more than 1,400 Palestinians and injured thousands in three weeks of air, land and sea attacks in Gaza in December and January 2008.
A UN fact-finding committee headed by world-renowned judge Richard Goldstone, a Jew, had accused Israel of committing war crimes during the Gaza war.
Hell-bent
Chazan said the nervous reaction to criticism is reminiscent to the hate-laced run-up to former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in November 1995.
“Every country has its own version of things but the general climate is very problematic,” she said.
“It’s ugly.”
She cites the arrest of Israelis protesting the seizure of Palestinian houses in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) by Jewish settlers.
“Just as the Palestinians have the right to a Palestinian state with a Palestinian majority alongside Israel,” she said.
“And I think in that regard I express the view of the vast majority of Israelis.”
The former Knesset member warned that such a trend would have a devastating impact on Israel and its reputation.
“They are hellbent to denounce anyone who dissents from the government line or dissents from their definition of what being a loyal Israeli is,” she said.
“That is ridiculous. Democracies are all about disagreements.”
-Agencies