Oakland, Ca. (Special for Informed Comment; Feature) – As state paranoia rises in Israel, civil liberties including freedom of the press have taken a huge hit. Indeed freedom of thought is under siege for Israeli Jews, not to mention the nightmare faced by Israeli Arabs, and those in the West Bank.* Israel has recently abused and imprisoned more journalists in the past two months than all but six, notorious right-wing dictatorships.
A recent Haaretz editorial begins, “War and emergencies provide fertile ground for curbing individual rights, even to the point of disposing of them while expanding the state’s rights to surveil and control its citizens, ostensibly for reasons of ‘state security.’ As in Iran and Russia, Israel is “putting a chokehold on dissent.” A companion threat arises from Communications Minister Shlomo Khari, who has proposed dissolving the Cable and Satellite Council as well as the Second Authority of Television and Radio, and consolidating all that media power into his hands with Bibi’s approval and supervision. As Bibi faces criminal indictments on three fronts, he’s desperately using any state mechanisms available to shut out information that reveals the depth of his crimes, as he prosecutes greater war crimes to stoke the state of emergency and remain in power.
*Since October 7, civil liberties for Israeli Arabs living in Israel and the West Bank have been destroyed: Young men and women who voiced support for their families enduring the siege of Gaza have lost jobs, been kicked out of schools, and had their lives and livelihoods destroyed by the Shin Bet. Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Belezel Smotrich have given unconditional approval for far-right Israeli settlers to carry out violent attacks on law-abiding Palestinians, in an effort to drive them out. Bibi’s goals in Gaza and Israel is to make Palestinian lives so miserable, they will willingly go anywhere else, though they have no place to go.
Aljazeera English Video: “Occupied West Bank arrests: Palestinians held without charge by Israel”
Meanwhile Bibi is betraying the Israeli hostages in Gaza, and appears to be willingly sacrificing them for his war effort to remain in power. By doubling down on his demands, Bibi is knowingly squeezing the lives of the hostages and non-combatants in Gaza. For Bibi, destroying Palestinian lives is more important than saving Israeli ones. To the callous and insensitive mindset of Bibi’s Zionism, this Faustian bargain is not a “moral quandary,” but rather a “strategic bind,” as characterized by the NYT.
As a Jew, I grieve over the fate of the Israeli hostages, and the 10’s of 1000’s of Palestinian victims of Bibi’s war crime massacres. The hostages have all suffered horrible fates, and we can’t know how many are still alive. I especially grieve over the fates of the innocent Israeli women subjected to the most horrible sex crimes imaginable, the innocent children whose lives have been reduced to war pawn status, the elderly and disabled who likely perished without the intensive care and medication they need, and all the innocent people on both sides who suffered horrible deaths as non-combatants. We can’t know if there are living hostages to be bargained for. Regardless, their lives don’t matter to Bibi; he’s already shown he’s willing to sacrifice them, leaving him free to prosecute further war crimes against the Palestinians. Then consider that the goal of wiping out Hamas will bring an opportunity cost of even more Israeli lives.
Thoughtful war-tested Israeli generals do not believe the hostages can be rescued by military operations; that leaves diplomacy and hard bargaining-sacrifices as the only option. A tragic dialectic is occurring in Israel with, “Right-wing politicians … urging the military to act more aggressively in Gaza, even while Israel is contending with outrage across the globe over the carnage and decimation of so much of the territory. At the same time, the families of hostages are urging concessions to secure their return.”
As badly as Bibi disrespected President Barack Obama with his address to Congress in 2016 after he refused the President’s White House invitation, Bibi’s disrespect is becoming even more costly to President Joe Biden. Biden is sacrificing great political capital, in a futile effort to be a good ally to Israel. The US de facto position now is that there MUST be an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, governed by moderate forces of the Palestinian Authority. Bibi made his own deathly Faustian bargain when he shunned a willing negotiating partner in the PA, leaving Hamas with all the power, but a fatal intent to destroy Israel. The PA was willing to bargain acceptance of Israel’s existence. Hamas won’t negotiate anything, and neither will Bibi. That’s a recipe for protracted war, which has already lit fuses along the Lebanese border, the Red Sea, Yemen and now the Irani-Pakistani border. Without a change in Israeli leadership, we are on the path to WWIII (G-d forbid).
Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, has clearly said that, “Only a deal with Hamas would secure the release of the hostages,” he said, adding that Israel had so far failed in its stated aim of destroying Hamas. This keen recognition fuels the movement to oust Bibi, which had been gaining momentum until October 7, and is again gaining force. Bibi’s self-serving, dysfunctional leadership has brought more fractures to Israeli society from within, while stoking greater external threats at the same time. Joe Biden needs to get forceful to demanding Bibi’s resignation. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken needs to get make good on threats to withhold aid to the Israeli war crimes machine. Not doing so could cost Biden the 2024 Election.
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