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Hebrew UniversityHebrew University - Naomi Chazan compares Israel to Nazi Germany"We are at a stage,” Chazan said, “when we are fighting for the soul of Israel and, therefore, we have to protect Israel’s democracy and combat some of the very pernicious threats that seem to be engulfing us.” The threats were embodied in what she called “direct attacks” on peace movements, the political left, human and civil rights organizations and the “key target”: Israel’s justice system. She compared present-day Israel to Nazi Germany.
Attacks on peace groups, political left called threats to Israel Written by Joanne Hill TORONTO – To hear Naomi Chazan – the self-described “mother of civil society in Israel” – explain it, one would think that the main threat to Israel’s democracy is criticism of the New Israel Fund (NIF) or those who share its views, and the second biggest threat is the supposed Nazi-like behaviour and racism of a growing number of Israelis. Chazan, NIF president, addressed about 200 people at Congregation Darchei Noam on May 9. Although the topic was billed as, Achievements and Challenges of Israel’s Democracy, the only achievements she mentioned were its statehood and democracy. “We are at a stage,” Chazan said, “when we are fighting for the soul of Israel and, therefore, we have to protect Israel’s democracy and combat some of the very pernicious threats that seem to be engulfing us.” The threats were embodied in what she called “direct attacks” on peace movements, the political left, human and civil rights organizations and the “key target”: Israel’s justice system. She compared present-day Israel to Nazi Germany. “This is a very, very serious attack; the latest happened to me two weeks ago,” when the Knesset decided to review textbooks in response to a report that “79 per cent of the reading list in courses in nationalism in Israeli universities and political science departments are anti-Israel.” Chazan then paraphrased Niemoeller (beginning with “first they came for the anarchists”) and said, “We are in the midst of a process which should disturb the sleep of everybody who cares about Israel. I don’t know who the next one is going to be, but it’s going to be somebody and we can’t be silent.” Although she said that disagreement is central to democracy, whether she characterized it as productive criticism or as “demonization” and “delegitimization” all seemed to depend on who was doing the disagreeing. She asked why she was being targetted personally and said, “I think that we’re seeing so much distrust in ourselves because of fear and paranoia and a very, very deep-seated sense of victimhood.” Another reason was that, “you cannot continue to be democratic when you rule over another people against their will. And the inability to end the occupation and to create a Palestinian state alongside Israel is not only deeply hurting the Palestinians and Israel’s relations with the Arab states, but it is now eating away at the core of Israeli society and, therefore, it has to be resolved.” Despite the warm reception she was given by most of the audience members, several asked probing questions during the Q&A and Chazan was loudly booed after she confirmed that she had in fact signed a petition on the second day of Operation Cast Lead that decried the “slaughter of Palestinians by the IDF.” The sole responsibility for the lack of a two-state solution and a lasting peace with the Palestinians was placed on Israel: Chazan did not mention any of the many offers and concessions made by Israel and rejected by Palestinian leaders, nor did she mention terrorism. Chazan neatly sidestepped another audience member who asked whether she believed peace was possible given the antisemitism taught to Muslim children. “Yes,” Chazan said, “there is incitement in textbooks in the Arab world. The latest survey of the attitudes of Israeli schoolchildren to Palestinians and Arabs will send shivers down your back because 80 per cent of Israeli schoolchildren in religious schools hold racist attitudes against Arabs. But it doesn't bother you?...This kind of talk leads nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. It does not lead anywhere.” The Jewish Defence League (JDL) of Canada organized a small demonstration outside, which Chazan mentioned three times. Meir Weinstein, national director of JDL-Canada, told the Jewish Tribune, “We’re here because the president of the New Israel Fund is going to be speaking in this congregation and the New Israel Fund funds organizations, groups and individuals that are extremely hostile to Israel, call for boycotts of Israel and demonize Israel. There’s a whole slew of organizations on their web site that they give funding to and those organizations are not for a Jewish state or for a Palestinian state. Some of those organizations have gone so far as to label Israeli soldiers as Nazis. This kind of demonization has to stop and we’re here to let people know the truth about them.” Chazan declined the Jewish Tribune’s request for an interview. |