Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 12/10 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 14. – 28. Juni 2010 1. Lockerung der Gaza-Blockade und Untersuchungskommission Nachdem die israelische Militäraktion, bei der neun türkische Aktivisten getötet wurden, heftige internationale Kritik und schwere Vorwürfe gegen Israel ausgelöst hatte, hat die israelische Regierung auf Grund internationalen Drucks, besonders durch die USA, Konsequenzen gezogen. Während eine internationale Untersuchung abgelehnt wurde und weiterhin abgelehnt wird, wurde durch die israelische Regierung eine unabhängige Untersuchungskommission gebildet, der neben drei israelischen Juristen und Experten auch zwei ausländische Beobachter angehören. Die Kommission soll die Legalität der Blockade des Gazastreifens und des Vorgehens der Marine überprüfen. Inzwischen hat die Regierung die Blockade Gazas gelockert und die Anzahl der Güter, die eingeführt werden dürfen, erhöht. Für Palästinenser, die einoder ausreisen wollen, bleiben die Grenzübergänge jedoch weiterhin geschlossen. Our enemies are smarter “This government had a policy of imposing a blockade on Gaza. In order to maintain it, the government sought to stop the Turkish flotilla. However, as it turned out, the raid ended up forcing Israel to ease the siege – just like several commentators predicted; one need not be a genius to look two steps ahead on the diplomatic chessboard. The Turks, which sought to undermine the siege, led us into a checkmate, and we, without any brains or resourcefulness, blindly stepped into their transparent trap.” Gadi Taub, JED 26.06.10 The public is dumb and therefore the public pays “If Benjamin Netanyahu believes he can tell Israelis for years that the blockade of the Gaza Strip is a security need, an Israeli interest, and then[…] he can simply claim the exact[…] opposite- that lifting the blockade is in Israel's interest, a means of weakening Hamas and a recipe for securing the release of Gilad Shalit- then he clearly thinks the public is dumb.[…] Israel has also proven once again this week that ‘only by force’ is its only language. The blockade should have been lifted a long time ago and its lifting could have been presented as a daring Israeli initiative[…]. But no, we will not ease the blockade unless they force us to do so.” Gideon Levy, HAA 25.06.10 We’ve become a joke “On Monday, the prime minister attempted to explain why Israel decided to lift the blockade on Gaza, arguing that it‘pulled the rug out from under the propaganda claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.’ However, any fool would immediately ask: If that’s the right thing to do, why haven’t we done it a year ago?[…] Netanyahu can keep on telling us tales, yet he 1

cannot evade the facts: the decision to lift the blockade is not part of a diplomatic move, it boosts the radicals, weakens the pragmatists, and avoids a solution for the Gilad Shalit problem. And as if this isn’t enough, the Quartet already announced Monday that the easing of the siege is insufficient.” Sima Kadmon, JED 22.06.10 Another wasted crisis “The Israeli public increasingly recognizes that our interest is to disengage from Gaza, rather than control it.[…] White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was quoted as saying that a crisis must not be wasted without drawing some benefit from it. Well, last week the Israeli government had an opportunity to take advantage of the flotilla crisis and tell the whole world:‘You want goods to come into Gaza and you want Gazans to freely leave the Strip? No problem, we’re sealing off the Erez Crossing hermetically; let Egypt open the Rafah Crossing to any person and any goods – with the exception of military equipment.’” Avi Trengo, JED 22.06.10 Weathering the approaching storm “Netanyahu bowed to US President Barack Obama’s demand that Israel set up an Israeli inquest of the Mavi Marmara takeover and permit foreigners to oversee its proceedings. Netanyahu also agreed to scale back Israel’s blockade significantly[…]. Netanyahu has made these concessions with the full knowledge that they will strengthen Hamas in the hopes that they would weaken the international onslaught against Israel. Unfortunately, it took no time at all to see that his hopes were misplaced.[…] The international stampede against Israel[…] exposed Israel’s Achilles heel.[…] On the one hand the IDF cannot enforce its blockade of Gaza without the use of force. On the other hands it taught Israel’s enemies that by forcing Israel to use force, Iran, Turkey and their allies incited a UN-EU-US lynch mob against Israel.[…] In the very near future, Israel will face off against Iranian, Lebanese and Turkish ships complemented by ships full of Israel-hating German Jews and other Jewish and non-Jewish Hamas supporters.” Caroline Glick, JPO 18.06.10 Clipped wings “The committee is a kind of Israeli council of sages whose purposes are to examine whether the naval blockade and the way it was enforced were compatible with international law, and to placate the world, especially the United States. But the two foreign observers who will grace the made-in-Israel committee[…] will not be enough to convince anyone that the committee is of sufficient stature to obviate the need for an international commission of inquiry, or to ensure that the U.S. will oppose an international inquiry.[…] The committee was intentionally chosen to conduct a quiet and not overly energetic investigation[…], while being mindful of outward appearances.” Ze’ev Segal, HAA 21.06.10 Terkel’s imperative “Surprisingly, the committee is drawing fire at home – especially via unprecedented attacks against its chairman, retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Terkel.[…] The loudest anti-Terkel outcry followed his remarks […] that he is‘not a fan of personal conclusions. Foremost, to my mind, is the heart of the matter – preventing failures and shortcomings from reoccurring in future. Whether a given person is removed from office or whether someone’s promotion is halted is secondary, in my view.’[…] Rather than being regarded as a sign of prejudice, Terkel’s lack of lust for political blood might actually signify fair-mindedness.Those impatient to see heads roll would obviously be unhappy with any impartial candidate helming the probe and with its members.[…] Caring primarily about the prevention of future failings is not an unacceptable premise. Indeed, it is an admirable imperative. Moreover, given Terkel’s record, there can be little doubt that if he discovers gross incompetence on anyone’s part, he will expose it.” JPO 16.06.10 Editorial Give them an inquiry “They want an international commission of inquiry […]? No problem- on condition that it is truly international: the kind that has UN secretaries-general[…] give testimony,[…] and all those who turned their backs when they knew what was going on in the Gaza Strip and agreed to the siege policy until the flotilla. All those who allowed 2

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to go on undisturbed and who felt that Gaza was a humanitarian, not a political problem.[…] An international inquiry should have a different mandate: to look into how Israel managed to sell its destructive policy to the countries of the world, how they agreed to the jailing of 1.5 million people without a UN resolution.” Zvi Bar’el, HAA 20.06.10 2. Diskriminierung an ultra-orthodoxen Schulen Im August 2009 ordnete der Oberste Gerichtshof Israels an, die Diskriminierung zwischen ashkenasischen(Juden mit Wurzeln in Europa) und sephardischen/mizrahischen(Juden aus Nordafrika und dem Nahen Osten) Schülerinnen in einer Grundschule in der Westbank-Siedlung Immanuel zu beenden. Eltern hatten gegen die ultra-orthodoxe Schule und das Bildungsministerium geklagt, weil die Schulleitung eine Mauer und separate Eingänge gebaut hatte, um den Großteil der sephardischen/mizrahischen Mädchen von den ashkenasischen Schülerinnen der ultra-orthodoxen Slonimer Sekte zu trennen. Nach Angaben der Schulleitung habe es sich dabei aber nicht um ethnische Diskriminierung gehandelt, sondern um eine Abtrennung der weniger religiösen Kinder. Nachdem ashkenasische Eltern sich weigerten, dem Gerichtsbeschluss nachzukommen und ihre Töchter aus der Schule nahmen, wurde nun ihre Verhaftung angeordnet. Während die Väter ihre zweiwöchige Haft antraten, kam es zu Großdemonstrationen, an denen bis zu 200,000 Ultra-orthodoxe(„Haredim“) teilnahmen. Schließlich willigten ultra-orthodoxe Vertreter ein, die Kinder für die verbleibenden drei Tage des Schuljahres zusammenzulegen – im nächsten Jahr werden jedoch vermutlich zwei neue Schulen in Immanuel errichtet, um die Trennung weiterhin aufrecht zu erhalten. A black day for education “As the press has been discussing for weeks, Ashkenazi families, most of them members of the Slonim Hassidic movement, decided to ignore the High Court ruling that they integrate Sephardi girls into their elementary school, and chose instead to riot and accompany the fathers to jail in what was quickly dubbed as‘the mother of all protests.’[…] Whatever they teach in that school, it is obviously not‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’[…] It strikes me that the obvious fear displayed by the 100,000-strong protesting parents shows a basic lack of trust in the education they are providing, both in the classroom and out of it. If you truly believe in what you teach and the way you live, you should have faith that your offspring will believe in it too. […] Ultimately[…], you have to feel sorry for the schoolgirls, all of them. The ones whose parents have convinced them that they are morally frail, unable to think for themselves and surrounded by an omnipresent threat intent on their corruption. And the Sephardi girls who received the message at the most formative stage of their lives that they are second-best. Liat Collins, JPO 26.06.10 Blame Ben-Gurion and his successors “The court would not be challenging the status quo had a small number of brave petitioners not decided to go all the way against the segregation in Immanuel. But this is a local issue, which has been inaccurately portrayed in the media as a matter of Ashkenazy bigotry, even racism. It is actually an example of the Haredi class system by which those who were born into the community will always be superior to[…] those who choose religious observance later in life. The real issue at stake here is the extent to which a closed and separate community can be allowed to manage its own affairs in a democratic state. Does the government have any responsibility to children whose parents choose to belong to a group that shuns modern education?” Anshel Pfeffer, HAA 18.06.10 The lost Jews “A collective abandonment of authentic Jewish values seems to have overtaken the haredi community.[…] Haredi leaders, in a convoluted perception of history, compared the High Court’s decision to incidents of repression perpetrated by the Greeks, the Romans, Tzarist Russia and even Nazi Germany.[…] To compare it to the situation in Tzarist Russia reveals a total lack of appreciation for the Jewish state’s role in helping haredi Judaism rebuild itself after the Holocaust. Thanks to the security provided by the IDF, the generous funds 3

made available by successive governments, and the exemption enjoyed by young haredi men from the obligation to serve in the IDF, there are today more devout Jews dedicating themselves to the full-time study of Torah than ever before in history.[…] Nor does the haredi community seem to appreciate Israel’s democracy.[…] Haredi leaders were free to publicly criticize the court and the state. If one day the haredim become the majority in Israel, would they treat minority groups so fairly? Ask the Sephardi girls who were walled out in Emmanuel.” JPO 17.06.10 Editorial Extortion in God’s name “Parents in Emanuel declare that they will not adhere to the High Court of Justice’s decision, thereby rebelling against an order issued by our top judicial authority in a democratic state. And what kind of noble values is this‘rebellion’ promoting? Genetically-based racism wrapped in a veneer of longwinded arguments. These Ashkenazi zealots intend to draw the entire Israeli public into a civil war only in order to keep their daughters away from Sephardic girls. Is this what Judaism is all about? […] This kind of extortion in the name of God brought the status of Judaism to a nadir.” Assaf Wohl, JED 16.06.10 The court comes up empty-handed “The High Court did not question the finding that no parent seeking admission to the hassidic track had been turned away. Rather, Justice Levy summarily concluded that the underrepresentation of Sephardim in the hassidic track demonstrates ipso facto discriminatory intent. By that standard, the High Court is the most discriminatory institution in the country. Levy is the only one of the 14 permanent members of the current court of Sephardi origin, a consistent pattern since 1948.[…] After the court, the most overwhelmingly Ashkenazi institution in the country is broadcast journalism. Yet the media have been quick to hurl the racism label at Slonimer Hassidim.[…] Is the haredi community free of all taint of ethnic prejudice? Of course not.[…] But Emmanuel was not a reflection of that prejudice.[…] It is an injustice to report the dispute in Emmanuel that way.” J. Rosenblum, JPO 27.06.10 We all lost “It would have been better for everyone had the effort to reach a compromise been continued,[…] for instance, by dismantling the existing school and setting up two new ones in its place. Relations between the Haredi and secular communities in Israel are not something that can be settled‘once and for all.’[…] It is necessary to try to reduce the friction and maintain the status quo, while handling the inevitable conflicts pragmatically, without turning them into fundamental issues of principle.” Yehezkel Dror, HAA 22.06.10 Going down wrong path “More than anything, the most regrettable conduct is that of Mizrahi Jews here: Their self-depreciation, their renunciation of their delightful tradition, and their desire to be accepted at any price into the terrible, zealous, and ignorant Ashkenazi education system in Emmanuel.[…] Instead of going to study at some Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking institute, which preserves a Diasporic, outrageous culture, all the Sephardic parents should have gathered and announced: We don’t need this.[…] We have our own places, which are more open and more tolerant. […] It’s a shame that Shas, whose political power is at least double that of Agudath Israel, does not back the Sephardic residents in Emmanuel and in Bnei Brak, granting them more funds and more power in order to become independent and build places that Ashkenazi students want to get into, rather than the other way around.” Hanoch Daum, JED 21.06.10 3. 5 Jahre nach dem Rückzug aus dem Gaza-Streifen In dem kürzlich veröffentlichten Bericht einer staatlichen Untersuchungskommission, die den israelischen Rückzug aus dem Gaza-Streifen im Jahr 2005 untersuchte, werden die früheren israelischen Regierungen scharf kritisiert. Nach der Evakuierung seien die Siedler zu„Flüchtlingen im eigenen Land“ gemacht worden. Beanstandet wird außerdem, dass ein Großteil der Evakuierten noch immer in Behelfsunterkünften untergebracht sei und dass die Arbeitslosigkeit unter den ehemaligen Gaza-Siedlern doppelt so hoch sei wie der israelische Durchschnitt. Allerdings hieß es in dem Bericht auch, die Evakuierten hätten den Prozess teils mutwillig verzögert. Auf Beschluss der 4

Regierung Sharon waren im Sommer 2005 alle israelischen Bürger aus dem Gaza-Streifen und vier Siedlungen im Westjordanland unter heftigen innerisraelischen Protesten evakuiert worden. Not too late to help Gush Katif evacuees “It’s been almost five years since over 9,000 Israeli citizens were forcefully uprooted from their homes in 25 Gush Katif and Northern Samaria settlements, most of them thriving veteran communities. Last week, the state commission of inquiry entrusted with investigating their ongoing plight issued its definitive report. It concluded that the state[…] had turned the evacuees into‘refugees in their homeland.’[…] The least Israeli society owes the evacuees is to guarantee them a fair equivalent of what they were forced to lose. For example, if evacuee groups insist on living together in communities, as they did previously, this is certainly their prerogative.[…] The question now is whether the commission’s exhaustive investigation and its resultant findings can improve matters.[…] This government[…] must rise to the challenge.” JPO 19.06.10 Editorial No need to exaggerate “The emotional statements made by members of the commission of inquiry into the failure in handling Gaza Strip evacuees, including scary declarations dubbing the pullout‘the gravest blow to human rights in the State of Israel’s history,’ raise doubts regarding the committee itself.[…] Gush Katif’s people are citizens with full rights who enjoy great sympathy and an infinite amount of concern for their fate and the fate of their children.[…] They received a huge amount of money from the state.[…] The truth is that the State did not fail.[…] The evacuees are adults possessing initiative and resourcefulness, and had they shown greater cooperation with authorities and greater initiative in resolving their problems[…] the problem would no longer exist.” Shulamit Aloni, JED 18.06.10 25 lost communities “The evicted settlers were treated reprehensibly.[…] Citizens[…] who, through hard work, built model communities in which unemployment was almost nil […] woke one day to a nightmare that has still not ended: expulsion, destruction, unemployment, refugeehood.[…] Bureaucratic obstacles were piled up before them. Problems not of their making suddenly became theirs.[…] Had those governments wanted to, they could have taken care of every one of those refugees. This is the moral obligation of the evictor, assuming he still has any morality left: not to rest until there really is a solution for every settler.[…]” Karni Eldad, HAA 21.06.10 Betrayed by the state “What difference will the committee’s conclusions make? They’ll prepare accordingly for the next evacuation?! We don’t want another evacuation. We merely want to live in our own home, and to get what was taken away from us.[…] Instead of healing the wounds, in the past five years the State picked at our wounds further.[…] The extent of the bureaucracy we had to contend with, and still do, is simply a form of abuse. I love our State, but I’m also angry. How can you add insult to injury? Why does it take five years to grant building permits?[…] We don’t want anything that we don’t deserve, merely to build our nest and start rebuilding our lives. We still live in the past. We have not yet closed this chapter.” Renana Kapach, JED 17.06.10 The committee failed, not the state “I haven't read such a warped, mistaken and one-sided report in a long while. It turns black into white, rewards the cynics who blackmailed the government for years, and slams the officials and politicians who bent over backward to help the evacuees[…]. The fundamental problem with the report is its misunderstanding of the evacuation process. The committee could not comprehend that all the problems, the waste and the delays stemmed from the behavior of the evacuees, who did all they could to stop the evacuation from taking place. The committee completely forgot that this was a highly political community, well organized and with a clear goal.[…] They wanted the disengagement to remain an open wound for years, so that no political leader would dream of staging another one.” Nehemia Shtrasler, HAA 16.06.10 Between principle and peril “Five years from the announcement by Ariel Sharon’s agitprop that there was a solution for every 5

settler, most of the expellees are still in limbo. If this was the best the government could do for the 9,000 former residents of Gaza and Northern Samaria, it is hard to expect a superior performance if such a tragedy is revisited on a population that is twentyfold larger. Once the Israeli peace camp could expect international largesse to resettle the expellees, but the current global financial crisis and the prevailing winds of austerity dash such optimism.” Amiel Ungar, JPO 23.06.10 4. Medienquerschnitt Die Vielfalt der in Israel relevanten Themen kann in einem Medienspiegel nicht umfassend wiedergegeben werden. Um den deutschen LeserInnen dennoch einen Einblick in das breite Themenspektrum, das in den Medien behandelt wird, zu gewähren, veröffentlichen wir in dieser Schlaglichtausgabe wieder eine kleine Auswahl an weiteren Themen, die in den vergangenen zwei Wochen die israelische Gesellschaft bewegten. Über die neue Kampagne von Gilad Shalits Familie und die Bemühungen, den im Gazastreifen entführten Soldaten zu befreien: Squandered opportunities to free Shalit “Politicians[…] are asserting that the release of convicted murderers must not be allowed to impede Shalit’s return home.[But] other safer, saner options for rescuing him are not even up for discussion. The Gaza blockade, for example, provides a potentially effective negotiating tool. But when has it been used as serious leverage for Schalit’s return? Oddly, never.[…] There is another tactic with a proven track record that seems to have been ignored.[…] It is ransom. Following Operation Cast Lead, the US government pledged$900 million toward reconstruction in Gaza and the West Bank.[…] Israel can and must urge the US to link its pledges to Schalit’s return.[…] To mark the fourth anniversary of Gilad Schalit’s captivity, on June 25, his tortured family has launched a fresh campaign to galvanize the public. This is an appropriate time to eradicate the misconception with which Israelis have been indoctrinated: that Schalit will be freed only by the release of hundreds of terrorists.” Frimet Roth, JPO 23.06.10 Protest won’t change a thing “The price demanded by Hamas has been known for a long time now: The release of 450 terrorists, including the murderers of Israelis and those who send them to carry out the worst, most despicable terror attacks.[…] We can assume that no Israeli government will accept Hamas’ demands. The Shalit family’s march is resonating among the public, yet it will not force Netanyahu to comply with Hamas’ demands.[…] None of the proposals being brought up frequently won’t change the cruel formula set by Hamas: Shalit will come back home only if Israel complies with all its demands.[…] The decision whether to keep or lift the Gaza siege has no effect whatsoever on the Shalit negotiations.[…] Netanyahu’s time in office shows that public pressure prompts him to make decisions he wouldn’t have made in the past. However, we can assume that in Shalit’s case he will hold firm and act like a prime minister should.” Shimon Shiffer, JED 25.06.10 Über die Abschaffung von staatlichen Stipendien für verheiratete ultra-orthodoxe Männer, die an Religionsschulen lernen: Taking in order to give “When people go to work, whether they want to or are forced to, they become less poor. The abolition of guaranteed income allowances for Haredim at the end of this year can thus be expected to cause a rapid rise in the number of workers, and in its wake, a dramatic decrease in the community's poverty level- on condition, of course, that Netanyahu does not cave in and hock the economy's future in exchange for short-term coalition quiet. But the money that is saved should not be taken from the Haredim.[…] It should be invested in rescuing Haredi society from poverty and creating a situation in which many fewer Haredim will need guaranteed income allowances. It is doubtful that there could be a better investment than this for the Israeli economy.” Shahar Ilan, HAA 21.06.10 Jews, go out to work “The court's recent decision regarding haredi income supplement is a proper one. [The ultra-orthodox city] Bnei Brak cannot go on 6

living at the expense of others forever. If it wishes to spend all its time studying the Torah, it must secure private funding for this lifestyle. There is no moral possibility of imposing this lifestyle on the public coffers.[…] Our Torah is uninterested in Torah-studying that is not supplemented by actions. The phenomenon of an immense Jewish community that doesn't work and only studies is a problematic modern-day innovation.[…] Our sages greatly valued Torah studies, but went to work in the morning.” Hagai Segal, JED 19.06.10 HAA= Haaretz HZO= Ha Tzofe IHY= Israeli HaYom JED= Jedioth Ahronoth JPO= Jerusalem Post MAA= Maariv GLO= Globes Veröffentlicht im: Juni 2010 Verantwortlich: Dr. Ralf Hexel, Leiter der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel Redaktion: Maike Harel Niko Pewesin Homepage: www.fes.org.il Email: fes@fes.org.il 7