Israel
may not be Nazi, nor even a fascist state. Yet it is a member of the
same terrible family, the family of evil states. Just consider these
acts of evil perpetrated by the state...
haaretz.com
After we’ve cited
nationalism and racism, hatred and contempt for Arab life, the security
cult and resistance to the occupation, victimhood and messianism, one
more element must be added without which the behavior of the Israeli
occupation regime cannot be explained: Evil. Pure evil. Sadistic evil.
Evil for its own sake. Sometimes, it’s the only explanation.
Eva Illouz
described its signs (“Evil now,” Haaretz Hebrew edition, July 30). Her
essay, which challenges the idea of the banality of evil, considers the
national group as the source of the evil. Using philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s
concept, she finds a “family resemblance” between the Israeli
occupation and history’s evil regimes. This similarity does not mean
that Israel is Nazi, nor even fascist. And yet it is a member of the
same terrible family, the family of evil states. It’s a depressing and
brilliant analysis.
The
evil that Illouz attributes to Israel is not banal, it cannot happen
anywhere, and it has political and social roots that are deeply embedded
in Israeli society. Thus, Illouz joins Zeev Sternhell,
who warned in his impressive and resounding essay about the cultural
soil out of which fascism is now growing in Israel (“The birth of
fascism,” Haaretz Hebrew edition, July 7).
But
alongside these analyses, we must also present a brief history of evil.
We must present the instances that combine to create a great and
horrific picture, a picture of Israeli evil in the territories, so as to
stand up to those who deny the evil. It is not the case of the
individual – Sgt. Elor Azaria,
for example, who is being tried for the death of a subdued Palestinian
assailant in Hebron – but the conduct of the establishment and the
occupation regime that proves the evil. In fact, the continuation of the
occupation proves the evil. Illouz, Sternhell and others provide
debatable analyses on its origins, but whatever they are, it can no
longer be denied.
One case is like a thousand witnesses: the case of Bilal Kayed.
A young man who completed a prison term of 14.5 years – his entire
sentence – without a single furlough, without being allowed to at least
say goodbye by phone to his dying father; a clear sign of evil.
About
six weeks ago, Kayed was getting ready for his release. A
representative of the Shin Bet security service – one of the greatest
agencies of evil in Israel – even showed him a photograph of the home
his family had built for him to stir him up even more ahead of his
release. And then, as his family waited impatiently for him at the
crossing point and Kayed grew ever more excited in his cell, he was
informed that he was being thrown into administrative detention for at
least another six months, without trial and without explanation.
Since
then, he has been on hunger strike. He is cuffed to his bed. His family
is not allowed to see him. Prison guards never leave his room and the
lights are not turned out for a moment. Evil.
Only
evil can explain the state’s conduct toward Kayed – only an evil state
acts this way. The arbitrary announcement, at the last moment, of a
senseless detention is abuse, and the way he has been treated since then
is also abuse.
Only evil can explain the detention last week of another young man, Hiran Jaradat, whose brother Arif (who had Down syndrome) was killed in June
and whose father died two days ago. He is under arrest for “incitement
on Facebook” and was not released to attend his father’s funeral. Evil.
The continuation of the detention of poet Darin Tatur – evil. The destruction of the tiny swimming pool
that the residents of Khirbet Tana in the northern West Bank had built
for themselves – evil. The confiscation of water tanks from a community
of shepherds in the Jordan Valley in the July heat – evil.
A
great many of the decisions of the occupation regime that decides the
fates of individuals, families, communities, villages and cities cannot
be explained without evil. The list is as long as the occupation. The
extortion of sick people from Gaza to enlist them as collaborators, the
blockades on cities and towns for weeks, the Gaza blockade, the
demolition of homes – all evil.
Banal
or not, its existence must be acknowledged and it must be recognized as
one of the most influential values in Israel. Yes, there is an evil
regime at work in Israel, and therefore it is an evil state.
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