Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 09/12 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 16. Mai – 31. Mai 2012 1. Debatte über illegale Migration aus Afrika Die Anklage afrikanischer Flüchtlingen wegen der versuchten Vergewaltigung einer jungen Israelin, vor allem aber öffentliche Äußerungen einer LikudPolitikerin haben die Situation von aus Afrika größtenteils illegal ins Land gekommenen Flüchtlingen/Migranten ins Zentrum innenpolitischer Auseinandersetzungen gerückt und eine Debatte über den angemessenen Umgang mit ihnen entfacht. Die Likud-Abgeordnete Miri Regev hatte sudanesische Migranten bei einer Demonstration gegen afrikanische Flüchtlinge/Migranten als „cancer in our body“ bezeichnet. Während dieser Demonstration forderten die Bewohner eines Tel Aviver Stadtteils die Ausweisung von Flüchtlingen/Migranten. Während und nach der Demonstration kam es zu Gewalt gegen Migranten. Don't blame illegal immigrants for violence „The handling of illegal African immigrants is reminiscent of the way some countries made Jews their scapegoats. It doesn't take much to create the impression that a certain group is responsible for the violence.(...) Of course, there are always politicians who are not slow to ride the populist wave. Today the finger is being pointed at the African just as yesterday it was the Russian immigrants and before them the Moroccans and a long list.(…) The illegal immigrants from Africa are pitiful people. They move around from place to place because nobody wants them. They cannot return home to their own country where they would face starvation. So they look for somewhere with food and a roof over their head. They're not looking for much more than that. That is no reason to allow them to build their lives here. But this is a fact we must remember when we transform these wretched people into the heads of organized crime. If they rape then clearly they must be punished just like anyone else. But it is unclear why we must see them as the solution for all Israel's violence, which is at the end of the day pure blue and white. We cannot delude ourselves, if we really want less violence, then we must tackle the roots of the problem.“ GLO, Matti Golan, 20.5.2012 Take action against illegal infiltrators „This problem surrounding the infiltrators, which media spin has turned into"refugees," must be addressed with an iron fist. The State of Israel should not have to solve Africa's problems. Israel is always ready to send aid and assist people in distress, but we cannot open our borders to everyone who wants in. There is no other nation in the world that took in millions of people from more than 100 countries and provided them with work and housing. It is now the world's turn to pitch in and contribute to resolving Africa's problems. The Israeli government can learn a thing or two from the U.S. and other enlightened democracies on how to deal with infiltrators. Real problems are not solved by rolling one's eyes toward the heavens, but rather by taking a real look at the harsh reality that is taking shape – the sooner the better. We have already lost much precious time.“ IHY, Haim Shine, 21.5.2012 Israel’s migrant fiasco „The riots against the migrants from Africa are ugly, and the statements uttered by certain politicians are even uglier and more dangerous. It is not the migrants who are at fault here. Naturally, they are following the money and comfort. The culprit here is the government, which has woken up only after seeing screaming newspaper headlines. The State is at fault, for informing the High Court of Justice that it will no longer follow the practice of returning refugees to Egypt right after they are nabbed. 1

Indeed, the infiltrators do not arrive in southern Tel Aviv on their own; the authorities transport them. This issue did not start during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s term in office. He received a problematic inheritance, and to his credit we shall note that he accelerated the construction of a fence on the Egypt border meant to curb the flow of migrants. However, Netanyahu does continue the practice of lacking a clear policy. On Thursday we read reports about a plan to deploy a Border Guard platoon in southern Tel Aviv to contend with the surging violence. That’s a rather creative idea. Now, we need a platoon of decision-makers to be deployed i n Jerusalem.“ JED, Yoaz Hendel, 25.5.2012 The migration challenge „However, there is absolutely no excuse for the sort of demagoguery witnessed at a rally in south Tel Aviv last week against the Sudanese and Eritrean migrants.(…) These MKs’ irresponsib le behavior certainly did not prevent, and probably encouraged, the outbreaks of violence against the highly visible Sudanese and Eritrean migrants during and after the rally. Israel’s raison d’etre is not just to maintain a Jewish majority. The Holocaust proved beyond a doubt that the Jewish people could not rely on the compassion of the nations of the world and had to be allowed to return to its historic homeland where Jews could defend themselves militarily, culturally and, yes, demographically. But because the State of Israel was created out of the lessons of the sufferings of the Jewish people, Israel has a special obligation to the foreigner, to the sojourner in a land that is not his. The Jew has a duty to remember his history, first in Egypt and later in other lands of exile. With a sovereign state of its own, the Jewish people has the opportunity not only to ensure that a strong Jewish majority is maintained in a sovereign Jewish state, but also to serve as a moral example of how developed countries can and should host refugees and asylum- seekers, at least until it can be arranged, both practically and ethically, to have at least some of them repatriated to their respective countries.“ JPO, Editorial, 27.5.2012 Israel is the most naive and racist country in the West „Israel is both the most racist and most naive country in the West. Racist, because in no other country can politicians make remarks about migrants as they do here and still remain in office another day; naive, because only now has Israel discovered the problem that has been facing the "first world" for years.(…) It is only Israel that does not have a migration policy; it is only in Israel that the migrants are still officially known as"infiltrators"; it is only in Israel that the government incites the weaker classes against them and after violence breaks out, the prime minister makes do with a weak remark that"there is no place for this."(…) When dealing with migrants, all the masks are pulled off. Racism has become the new political correctness in Israel.(…) The incitement against the migrants not only ignores Jewish history and global reality, it ignores the reality of the future as well. And what will happen if one day the government's campaigns of fear turn out to be true, heaven forbid, and Israel indeed faces an existential threat and tens of thousands of Israelis try to escape from here? What shall we say then to the world if it closes its doors to Israelis just as the doors are now being closed in the faces of the African migrants, many of whom are fleeing for their lives? How long will this perverse claim go on – that"Israel's situation is different." HAA, Gideon Levy, 31.5.2012 2. Nakba Day/ Jerusalem Day Die Gründung des Staates Israel 1948 und der damit verbundene Unabhängigkeitskrieg werden von den Palästinensern als„Nakba“, als nationale Katastrophe bezeichnet. Jahr für Jahr organisieren sie an ihrem„Nakba Day“ Demonstrationen und Proteste. Eine von mehreren Demonstrationen in diesem Jahr – die meisten davon gewaltfrei- fand auf dem Campus der Universität von Tel Aviv statt, mit Genehmigung der Universitätsleitung. Ein staatlicher Gedenktag, den jüdische Israelis wiederum engagiert begehen, ist der„Jerusalem Day“, mit dem sie an die Rückeroberung des jordanisch besetzten Teils der Stadt im Sechstagekrieg 1967 erinnern. Nakba Day Nakba and freedom „As a Jewish state, Israel cannot be expected to use taxpayers’ money to perpetuate a Palestinian narrative of victimization that intentionally distorts reality in order to delegitimize Zionism. After all, Palestinian suffering was the result of the extremist Palestinian leadership’s rejection of the 1947 UN General Assembly’s partition plan and the foolish decision by figures such as the anti-Semitic Haj Amin al-Husseini to launch a war against the fledgling Jewish state. Short of lying down and dying and trashing aspirations for national selfdetermination, there was little Jews could have done to prevent Palestinian suffering. Still, as a democracy, Israel has an obligation to protect the 2

right of Palestinians to commemorate their history, regardless how distorted and counterproductive to peace it might be.(…) As for the participants in the Nakba Day commemorations (on Tel Aviv University campus, d.R. ), would it be too much to ask that along with the mourning over the“catastrophe” they recognize some of the good as well? If the Palestinians had succeeded in snuffing out Israel at its very inception there would almost certainly not be an institute of higher learning like Tel Aviv University – not just in Israel but in the entire region – that accepts all students regardless of race, religion or gender and fosters an atmosphere of free expression. Just something to ponder on Nakba Day.“ JPO, Editorial, 14.5.2012 The Nakba hoax „It is understandable that Israeli Arabs lament the fleeing and even expulsion of their kinsmen in the course of war. But instead of mourning their losses or commemorating humanitarian tragedies, their leaders promote hatred of the people among whom they live and garner support for vengeance and the delegitimization of the Jewish state.(…) There is nothing precluding people in a democracy from maintaining unconventional or even controversial customs in their private lives. But if Israeli Arabs publicly indulge in activities that mourn the creation of the state in which they live as a catastrophe and demand the right of return for their refugee brethren and their offspring— a step that would end the Jewish majority in Israel— they are playing with fire. (…) Thus, the government(…) must ensure that such provocative organizations(which many would consider treasonable) are denied government funding— at the very least. Describing such activity as treason, shocking though it may sound, is justifiable. The Nakba commemoration operates in complete synchronization with the orchestrated global campaign to demonize and delegitimize Israel. It is part of the new assault that suppresses the reality that Israel fought in 1948 to defend itself against forces seeking its annihilation. It amounts to an attempt to delegitimize Israel by transforming public discourse about the rights and wrongs of the Arab-Israeli conflict to one in which"the injustice caused to the Palestinians" is the source of the problem. If we fail to challenge and repudiate this false narrative, we expose ourselves to immeasurably horrendous long- term repercussions.“ IHY, Isi Leibler, 23.5.2012 The Nakba isn't history, it's still happening „By choosing a place like a public Israeli university, the Tel Aviv University, as the venue for a Nakba Day ceremony, Arab students – even if unconsciously – are admitting they accept that the former Palestinian village of Sheikh Munis has turned into a north Tel Aviv suburb, Ramat Aviv. What we are witnessing, therefore, is the emergence of a new public discourse, one completely different from the formerly dominant narrative of Palestinian right of return. The younger generation of Israel's Palestinian citizens may find this hard to admit, but by standing inside Israel, at Israel's public institutions, as they recall the destroyed Palestinian villages and uprooted Palestinian families of 1948, they are conceding that the expulsion is permanent.(…) While one of the Israelis' worst nightmares is a mass influx of Palestinian refugees coming with keys in hand to claim their pre-1948 homes, the very institutionalization of Nakba Day may disarm it from its connotations, transforming the keys from symbol of threat to mere museum pieces.(…) After all, throughout most of its years of existence and certainly in the days of the present government, the State of Israel has proved it will not stop at the destruction of the Palestinian nation in 1948. As private Palestinian land is stolen, settlement expands, and the refugee problem in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is being perpetuated, the dimensions of the Nakba grow broader by the day. The upshot is that while Israeli Palestinians take tentative steps toward putting the Nakba behind them and transforming it into memory, Israel's leadership seems bent on maintaining the Nakba as a living experience.“ HAA, Dimitry Shumsky, 28.5.2012 Jerusalem Day Unified Jerusalem – a situation report „Aside from the well-understood historical and religious significance of Jerusalem for the Jewish people, a unified Jerusalem is also a paramount security requirement. The Oslo Accords, the Gaza disengagement plan and the withdrawal from southern Lebanon proved that wherever the Israel Defense Forces pulled out, a terrorist network arose in its place and proceeded to attack Israel with lethal results. The same scenario may also occur if Jerusalem is divided, and in the Middle East such a reality is by no means science fiction.(…) As for the claim that Jerusalem is already a divided city, the claim is disproved by the fact that Jews, Muslims and Christians move back and forth across the old division lines each day and move about freely in all areas of the city. Unlike the situation today, when the city was divided both freedom of religion and of movement were blatantly restricted. Are we aiming 3

to restore that situation? Of course not. So when we celebrate the city's reunification for the 45th time, let us remember the great privilege we have to live in this unified city, and to wish all of its residents prosperity.“ IHY, Eli Hazan, 20.5.2012 The lies of Jerusalem „Each year the gulf between the festive joy of the Jews and the alienation felt by their Arab neighbors widens. The holiday has turned into a day on which the right provokes the city's Palestinian residents, and nationalist Knesset members demonstrate their domination.(…) Every year Jerusalem Day reminds us that no country in the world has recognized Israel's decision to annex the neighborhoods that had been under Jordanian control, and to add to them the surrounding West Bank villages. Unilateral measures that ignore the rights and the needs of the Palestinians undermine the chances for the twostate solution. Without a peace agreement, Jerusalem will continue to be a capital city that no political entity except for Israel recognizes as such. Victory parades that ignore international law and the Palestinians' ties to Jerusalem are not a substitute for responsible policy.“ HAA, Editorial, 21.5.2012 Jerusalem – our heart „In certain po litical and social circles, Jerusalem has become a black hole – a symbol of nationalism, ignorance, poverty and fundamentalism. That is why some are quick to declare a willingness to give up Jerusalem, and replace it with the rightful capital of the enlightened Zionist enterprise: Tel Aviv, the first Hebrew city, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. But Jerusalem is not just a decoration on the map of Israel,(…). Jerusalem is the most primal symbol of Jewish existence on this earth. It is not just an urban symbol of Jewish history, it is the greatest expression of the Jewish people's existence among the nations of the world. It is not just the rock of our existence, but the bedrock on which the entire enterprise stands. Jerusalem did not awaken from its slumber in 1860, when the first neighborhood was built outside the Old City walls. It wasn't divided in half in May 1948 and it wasn't reunified in June 1967. It was always there, waiting for the sons who built it to return. That is why the very terms "concession" and"partition" in the context of Jerusalem not only express political separation or a retreat of our sovereignty, but also an acceptance of the transitory nature of Jewish life in Israel, and everywhere.“ IHY, Lior Alperovitch, 23.5.2012 3 . Wahlen in Ägypten Israel verfolgt aufmerksam und besorgt die anstehende Präsidenten-Wahl im größten arabischen Nachbarland. Eine der größten Befürchtungen ist, dass Ägypten in der PostMubarak-Ära das seit 1979 geltende Friedensabkommen, das Israel über Jahrzehnte Stabilität und Frieden an dieser Grenze bescherte, aufkündigt oder daran deutliche Änderungen vornehmen will. Whither Egypt? „Still, Shafiq is undoubtedly the best candidate from an Israeli perspective. However, it was Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, who appears to have received a slim plurality of the votes. Mursi(...) has a track record of inflammatory statements about Israel, including repeatedly calling its citizens“killers and vampires.” Last month, Mursi sat impassively at a Cairo stadium rally on his behalf as a radical preacher pledged to create a new Islamic caliphate based in Jerusalem, and an emcee led the crowd in chants of“Banish the sleep from the eyes of the Jews; come on, you lovers of martyrdom, you are all Hamas!” The candidate has called for the 1979 peace treaty with Israel to undergo“revisions.”(…) In essence, in the final stage of presidential elections, slated for June, we will be witnessing a rematch of the struggle that has driven Egyptian politics for six decades, between secular authoritarians – represented by Shafiq – who vow to restore stability, and Islamists – led by Mursi – who promise a novel experiment in religious democracy. (...) even if he succeeds beating Mursi, Shafiq will preside over a parliament controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists that can effectively marginalize him. He will also have to cater to an Egyptian society that is virulently anti-Israel. A recent BBC poll found 85% of Egyptians hold negative views of Israel, up 7% from the year before. Under the circumstances, it is difficult to be overly optimistic about the future of Israeli-Egyptian relations.“ JPO, Editorial, 28.5.2012 Shafiq or bust „Yet now, every sane and enlightened person in the world is hoping for a Shafiq victory, because the alternative is no Egyptian Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel or Nelson Mandela. Egyptians face a choice between a Mubarak associate and a Muslim Brotherhood candidate.(…) It's safe to assume that if Shafiq is elected president, he will follow in Mubarak's footsteps. In light of Egyptian public opinion and the Islamist majority in parliament, he will likely remain hostile toward Israel. However, he 4

will also likely respect the military aspects of the peace treaty and will ensure it isn't scrapped. It is not at all certain that the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi, would do the same. Under his leadership, Egypt could return to a state of conflict with Israel. Mubarak was a dictator and adversary of Israel. Shafiq is his successor. And yet, considering the alternative, Shafiq has emerged as Israel's hope. This principle also applies to Syria, where following more than a year of slaughter, regime change could be a possibility. We must keep in mind that the butcher of Damascus could end up being the lesser of two evils. We have to avoid illusions and understand the nature of the region in which we live.“ IHY, Uri Heitner, 30.5.2012 A new direction for Egypt The developments in Egypt are a harbinger of bad things to come for Israel and for Western interests in our region.(…) Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is displaying a sound and cautious diplomatic policy, and will certainly continue to publicly express its desire to maintain the 1979 peace agreement between the two countries. Neither Israel nor the U.S. has an interest in highlighting the risks involved in the rise of an Islamic regime in Egypt.(…) At a time when economic pressure is felt at home, putting former senior regime officials and military council leaders on trial could be a short-term sedative for the masses on the street. After the process of blaming past leaders is exhausted(or perhaps simultaneously), the finger of blame will begin pointing toward external targets such as Israel and the U.S. Despite all this, we mustn't err in thinking that, despite their religious zeal, the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Egypt wouldn't recognize the steps necessary for their rule to be deemed legitimate in the eyes of the international community. (…) Any student of inter national relations knows that most of the world's revolutions since the French Revolution have ended in all-out war, at most five years from the time the change took place. War unites people around a new regime, which exploits conflict to demonstrate how it differs from the old regime. This is a lesson that Israel must fully internalize by the time the second round of voting ends in Egypt.“ IHY, Alexander Bligh, 31.5.2012 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 diesem Schlaglicht wieder eine Auswahl an weiteren Themen, die in den vergangenen zwei Wochen die israelische Gesellschaft bewegten. Über die Absicht der türkischen Justiz, vier führende Mitglieder des israelischen Militärs anzuklagen. Neun türkische Staatsbürger kamen vor zwei Jahren ums Leben, als das Militär versuchte, ein Schiff(„ Gaza Flotilla“) aufzuhalten, das mit Hilfsgütern in Richtung Gaza unterwegs war. Die türkischen Ankläger fordern 18.000 Jahre Haft. Turkey's blatant belligerence „A predatory virus must have infected Turkey. The decision to indict senior Israel Defense Forces officials who were involved in blocking the Mavi Marmara points to one of two possible strains of this virus: an obsessive, borderline, infantile need to keep digging into the two-year-old flotilla fiasco to the point of fulfilling Turkish Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan's every whim and fantasy; or, alternately, the sneaky, malicious desire to fuel the friction between Turkey and Israel to prevent that wound from ever healing.(…) This conduct is just another example of Turkey's blatant international belligerence. It won't allow Cyprus to explore underwater natural gas reserves, and it has threatened NATO against incorporating the majority of the Greek island into its security arrangement. Every move is an extortionist ultimatum: either Turkey's will is done, or Turkey throws a fit.(…) Israel is not powerless. Turkey is an active NATO member, and a prominent member of the U.N. and its subsidiaries. The U.S. and Europe could restore Ankara's balance, a balance necessary for such an important regional superpower. Enlightened nations must remind Erdogan that there are obligations that go along with NATO membership. It is almost like nobility – noblesse oblige. Turkey's unreasonable hostility is precisely not the way to get into the international club of enlightened nations. If this message is clearly conveyed, it may do the trick.“ IHY, Dan Margalit, 29.5.2012 Israel's unfinished business with Turkey „The indictment in Istanbul necessitates activity on two fronts, internal and external. Internally, the politicians must give the army full backing, and share in both the responsibility and the consequences. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, for instance, should refuse to visit Turkey as long as the officers subordinate to him are barred from doing so. On the external front, Netanyahu must find the 5

courage, despite the objections of a minority of his cabinet, to sign off on the formula agreed on with America and Turkey: an apology for the operational errors that Israel has already publicly acknowledged. Each side is entitled to read as much or as little as he pleases into those words. It is unjust to indict Israelis over the Mavi Marmara incident. Nevertheless, that isn't a reason not to act with coolheaded good sense, for that is the price of rehabilitating Israeli- Turkish relations.“ HAA, Editorial, 30.4.2012 Im Gegensatz zu deutschen Medien war Joachim Gaucks Staatsbesuch in Israel in den israelischen Medien nur vereinzelt Gegenstand von Bewertung und Kritik. Die Tageszeitung Haaretz führte jedoch ein großes Interview mit ihm. Die Zusammenfassung des Interviews beschreibt die Wahrnehmung Gaucks als Person in Deutschland als auch seine Standpunkte zu den deutschisraelischen Beziehungen und die mögliche Bedrohung eines mit Atomwaffen ausgerüsteten Irans. Iran's comments a threat to Europe too, German president tells Haaretz „In less than three months as president, the Lutheran pastor has developed the aura of a national superstar. The charismatic Gauck, a former anti-Communist civil rights activist in East Germany, has been hailed as the"president of hearts" and 'Germany's Nelson Mandela." He is an apolitical personality and a proud patriot who describes himself as a"conservative liberal with leftist leanings." All told, Gauck, one of the leaders of the „peaceful revolution“ that led to the downing of the Berlin Wall, is a symbol in the eyes of his countrymen – a symbol of freedom, unity and hope. (…) Germany, he insists,"has a unique responsibility for Israel due to the darkest chapter in our history," a responsibility, he says,"that will never cease. Germany is fully committed to the security and right to exist of the State of Israel."(…) Removing the threat posed by Iranian nukes is a top priority for the German president.(…)" I'm very concerned about Iran's nuclear program," he says. "Given the comments made by Iran's leaders, it not only represents a concrete threat to Israel but also a potential threat to the region and also for us in Europe." He believes that Europe's tough sanctions are what has led Iran to the negotiating table and hopes that it will be possible to reach a diplomatic solution backed up by sanctions. But he has no illusions."At any rate, we will judge Tehran by its actions and not by its words," he says. Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gauck was dubbed the"Stasi hunter" for his efforts to publish thousands of classified documents from the archives of the East German secret police and to expose their crimes. Until then, for around four decades, he felt the heavy hand of the Soviet bloc country most hostile to Israel. He is proud of the efforts his countrymen made to gain their freedom, and is proud that they, too, can"stand by Israel and Germany's responsibility for the Jewish people.(…) He welcomes the fact that the next generation of Germans is being educated to feel shame and sorrow about the history that his predecessors are responsible for. He adds, however,"We are not only the country of guilt and the country of guilty people a guilt we have taken over and that we have accepted from our ancestors and our predecessors. We are also a country that has been able to achieve a remarkable economic miracle, a country that has been able to carry out a very enormous effort of returning to democracy and the rule of law and a constitutional state. I think that that is worthy of admiration."Now, at the age of 72, I see a complete other country than the one I knew in my youth. Because of that I would like to tell the younger generation not only what their grandfathers have done, but what their parents were able to create."I will therefore, come to Israel with a little bit more self-confidence, since I sincerely believe that Germany today can be trusted by other nations, Israel included.“ HAA, Adar Primor, 29.5.2012 Medien: HAA= Haaretz JED= Jedioth Ahronoth JPO= Jerusalem Post IHY= Israel HaYom GLO= Globes AS= Arutz Sheva Veröffentlicht am: 4. Juni 2012 Verantwortlich: Dr. Ralf Hexel, Leiter der FriedrichEbert-Stiftung Israel Redaktion: Anita Haviv, Andrea König Homepage: www.fes.org.il Email: fes@fes.org.il 6