Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., July 03, 2009 Tamuz 11, 5769 | | Israel Time: 19:14 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Share |
Last update - 03:28 30/06/2009
Crocodile tears
By Yitzhak Laor
Tags: Israel News, Shimon Peres 

In October 2000, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For several weeks the Israel Defense Forces sprayed them with half a million bullets, leaving many dead, wounded and disabled. The child Mohammed Dura became a symbol. TV networks from all over the world broadcast the clashes.

This month's heroic events in Tehran were a summer camp compared to what happened in the territories back then. In Iran, civil war only almost erupted; by contrast, the civil war here was waged between two sides of unequal strength, and ended in a victory of the strong majority (even if the shooters and their victims belong to different peoples, it is still a civil war). Few members of the majority dared to leave the ranks. Struggles for freedom photograph well when you are not the oppressor. A little integrity wouldn't hurt those who are now shedding tears over the collapse of the Iranian spring.

Yes, there's a difference, but the difference is always determined by the victors. True, the uprising in the territories did not arise as a challenge to an election. There were no elections in the territories at the time, and those that were held were not designed to implement sovereignty but to submissively accept its limitation. The terrible firing at the demonstrators was widely supported by the Zionist left, which enlisted Western public opinion in the cause of Israeli public relations, especially from January 2001 onward, by using the scare tactic of the "right of return"; as though the Second Intifada had erupted because of the right of return and not because, instead of getting their own small state, the Palestinians found that massive swathes of their land had been expropriated and settlements and checkpoints expanded. Within months the uprising turned into a bloody war between a massive, uninhibited army and equally uninhibited suicide bombers.
Advertisement
The nine years that ensued destroyed anything related to the concept of liberty within Israeli society, including academic freedom. The intelligentsia remains mum. The two wars that have broken out since were supported by that very same "peace camp" that sent its last remaining vestiges to the Knesset after the most recent elections. Last Shabbat the army broke the bones of left-wing activists who had come to help the Palestinian farmers in Beit Omar. Nobody said a word in protest. Iran is far away; we are, after all, a self-evident democracy - with a wall.

Now, as the chatter on Twitter and YouTube, the cell phone images and the other toys of globalism are dying down - as though they could have defeated an oppressive regime - we would do well to pay attention to the Hebrew voice, which is mourning the death of freedom with crocodile tears.

When President Shimon Peres, in a widely publicized speech, hopes for the victory of freedom in Iran, not only does he fail to realize that he is interfering with the Iranian opposition, he also fails to understand that during his tenure in the defense establishment he in fact assisted the hated regime of the last Shah. Our president is not the only one incapable of self-reflection. Senior Mossad members who served in Iran and were active during the Shah's reign also appeared on TV, and they, too, were hoping for something.

What exactly were they hoping for? For the regime to fall, of course. But why pretend that they are concerned with freedom? What does former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy have to do with human freedom? Why take the name of democracy in vain? The political establishment is interested in Iranian democracy about as much as it is interested in democracy in Kazakhstan, where our president is now visiting and delivering a speech. As far as they are concerned, the Shah's son can return to Tehran and reestablish its monstrous security service, the Sawak, which was created - you guessed it - with Israel's help.

Here is an explanation of Israelis' inability to challenge their own government. Do you want to free captive soldier Gilad Shalit? Don't demand the release of Palestinian prisoners, demand the tightening of the siege on Gaza. In Hebrew freedom sounds like fences.
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Pro-segregation
Housing Minister calls for spread of Arab population to be stopped
End of an era
Last remaining U.S. Jewish Republican Senator loses his seat
  1.   The Emperor has no clothes 09:09  |  Observer 30/06/09
  2.   Yitzhak Laor, all I can say is, you truly do not know 12:44  |  Behrooz 30/06/09
  3.   Some Tears Generate Only More Tears 13:37  |  soeasytomakefriends 30/06/09
  4.   crocodile tears 14:37  |  DrMark 30/06/09
  5.   Prisinor Shalit 21:47  |  yuval 30/06/09
  6.   Behrooz 18:27  |  -YT 03/07/09
Special Offers
Advertisement
hotel Jerusalem
David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
Dead Sea Skin Care
Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
16:39 Report: Israel mulling easing Gaza siege
14:49 Israeli sub sails Suez sending message to Iran
16:49 Assad invites Obama to Syria, signaling thaw in ties
18:21 EU summons Iran ambassadors in joint protest
15:30 Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit
13:07 Israel's 'angel of destruction' is gambling on Iran
15:40 An imam, a priest, a rabbi, and a Buddhist monk meet 10 atheists
20:58 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
13:25 Jewish heritage does not begin and end in the synagogue
08:44 A generation of Israeli Arabs nurtured on Jewish chutzpah
09:55 IDF shoots Palestinian woman carrying toy gun near Nablus
10:04 For some Israeli Bedouin, border smuggling is a way of life
12:36 UN's Richard Falk: IDF seizure of Gaza-bound ship is 'criminal'
08:32 Are we still afraid the Jewish state won't last?
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved