http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=684258
The Hamas team had not laughed so much in a long time. The team, headed by
the prime minister's advisor Dov Weissglas and including the Israel
Defense Forces chief of staff, the director of the Shin Bet and senior
generals and officials, convened for a discussion with Foreign Minister
Tzipi Livni on ways to respond to the Hamas election victory. Everyone
agreed on the need to impose an economic siege on the Palestinian
Authority, and Weissglas, as usual, provided the punch line: "It's like an
appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but
won't die," the advisor joked, and the participants reportedly rolled with
laughter. And, indeed, why not break into laughter and relax when hearing
such a successful joke? If Weissglas tells the joke to his friend
Condoleezza Rice, she would surely laugh too.
But Weissglas' wisecrack was in particularly poor taste. Like the thunder
of laughter it elicited, it again revealed the extent to which Israel's
intoxication with power drives it crazy and completely distorts its
morality. With a single joke, the successful attorney and hedonist from
Lilenblum Street, Tel Aviv demonstrated the chilling heartlessness that
has spread throughout the top echelon of Israel's society and politics.
While masses of Palestinians are living in inhumane conditions, with
horrifying levels of unemployment and poverty that are unknown in Israel,
humiliated and incarcerated under our responsibility and culpability, the
top military and political brass share a hearty laugh a moment before
deciding to impose an economic siege that will be even more brutal than
the one until now.
The proposal to put hungry people on a diet is accepted here without
shock, without public criticism; even if only said in jest, it is
incomparably worse than the Danish caricature. It reflects a widespread
mood that will usher in cruel, practical measures. If until now one could
argue that Israel primarily demonstrated insensitivity to the suffering of
the other and closed its eyes (especially the stronger classes, busy with
their lives of plenty) while a complete nation was groaning only a few
kilometers away, now Israel is also making jokes at the expense of the
other's suffering.
This was not the first joke or contribution by Weissglas to the racist and
lord-like public discourse vis-a-vis the Palestinians. His true face was
already revealed about a year and a half ago in the famous interview with
Ari Shavit in Haaretz, when he stated,"And we educated the world to
understand that there is no one to talk to. And we received a
no-one-to-talk-to certificate ... The certificate will be revoked only
when this-and-this happens - when Palestine becomes Finland." This was the
peak of cynicism: The man who was involved up to his neck in the Annex
Research affair - the shell company for channeling huge contributions to
the prime minister - is conditioning negotiations with the Palestinians on
transforming them into the country ranked as least corrupt in a survey in
which Israel was ranked in the unenviable 26th place.
The recommendation for a "diet," along with the edicts Israel is poised to
impose on the Palestinian people, should have aroused a hue and cry among
Israeli society. Even if we put aside the awful political inanity of
pushing Hamas into a corner instead of giving it a chance to change its
ways, and even if we ignore the fact that Israel plans to confiscate tax
revenues that do not belong to it, the policy of the Kadima government
raises questions about its humanity. Where do we get the right to abuse an
entire people this way? Is it only because of our great power and the fact
that the U.S. allows us to run wild and do whatever we want?
We stopped talking about morality a long time ago - after all, we are not
living in Finland. Still, it would be good to ask: What country would dare
to exacerbate the living conditions (which are so miserable in any case)
of the residents of a territory under its occupation? What was the sin of
the 4,000 lucky people from Gaza whom Israel still allowed to work within
its borders, and to whom it is now closing the gates? Did the
decision-makers call to mind the sight of these downtrodden people,
crowded and humiliated at the Erez crossing on their way home from an
exhausting day of work? More than half of all Palestinians are already
living in poverty according to the last United Nations report, published
in December. Last year, 37 percent had difficulties obtaining food and 54
percent of the residents of the "liberated" Gaza Strip cut back the amount
of food they consume. Child mortality rose by 15 percent and the average
unemployment rate reached 28 percent. To travel in the West Bank, the
Palestinians have to traverse no fewer than 397 checkpoints and, in
addition to this, Israel now wants to wield an even heavier hand.
If there is still a staying obstacle, it is only the constraint of image:
Israel fears the spread of hunger only because of the world's reaction and
not because of the bestiality it entails. Nonetheless, politicians here
are competing with a range of extreme proposals, including cutting off
electricity and water and abandoning millions of innocent residents. Is
this also election spin? Is this what the Israeli voter wants?
What you see from there is truly not what you see from here: From the posh
restaurants where Weissglas and his colleagues from the Hamas team dine,
from the sophisticated road system on which they race along in their
official vehicles, from the splendid concert halls and frequent trips
abroad - you cannot see the suffering. From there, it is easy to impose
more edicts with the flick of a tongue, without considering their
frightful implications in the miserable alleyways of Jenin and ruined huts
of Rafah. From there you can even joke about it. |