Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 17/08 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 23. September- 4. Oktober 2008 1. Anschlag auf Prof. Sternhell Polizei und Medien vermuten, dass jüdische Extremisten für einen Anschlag auf den international renommierten Faschismusforscher Professor Ze’ev Sternhell in Jerusalem verantwortlich sind. Der Historiker, der in diesem Jahr mit dem Israelpreis ausgezeichnet worden war, war bei der Explosion einer Rohrbombe in seinem Vorgarten leicht verletzt worden. In der Nähe fand die Polizei außerdem Flugblätter, auf denen für den Mord an einem Mitglied der Friedens- und Menschenrechtsor­ganisation Peace Now 1 Millionen NIS versprochen wurden. Sternhell ist der israelischen Linken zuzuordnen und gehört zu den schärfsten Kritikern der jüdischen Besiedlung des Westjordanlandes. Insbesondere für einen Artikel aus dem Jahr 2001, in dem er den bewaffneten Widerstand in den besetzten Gebieten als„legitim“ bezeichnet hatte, war er von rechten Gruppierungen angegriffen worden. Nach dem Anschlag beeilten sich israelische Politiker, die Tat zu verurteilen. In den letzten Wochen ist in den Medien jedoch vermehrt über die Gewaltbereitschaft der extremen Rechten berichtet worden. Diese richtet sich vor allem gegen Palästinenser und deren Eigentum, in letzter Zeit jedoch auch gegen linke Aktivisten sowie Angehörige der Sicherheitskräfte. Everyone is a target “Sternhell doesn’t go easy on anyone.[…] He does not go easy on the Israeli Right as well. His articles against the occupation, settlement enterprise, and settlers are direct, blatant, and uncompromising. If we try to affiliate him with a political camp, we can say that he belongs to the old Left, the one that combined Zionist patriotism with humanistic values. […] He cares about what goes on around here, pain­fully so for himself and those he criticizes.[…] Sternhell does not evacuate outposts, he does not hand over territory to the Palestinians, and he does not put rightist offenders in jail. He merely ex­presses, in writing, views that are relatively preva­lent among the Israeli public, including the top politi­cal leadership. If he is a target, almost anyone who does not think like the far right can become a target. Everyone is facing a threat. […] The[secret service] Shin Bet didn’t know about it. The police didn’t know about it. The Shin Bet is faltering when it comes to politically-motivated Jew­ish criminality. It’s faltering even though anyone who deals with security in Israel knows that the rebellion among a certain strata in the settlements and their periphery has reached boiling point and is mani­fested daily through violent acts against Palestinians and soldiers.” Nahum Barnea, JED 26.09.08 Alliance of zealots “Well, Professor Sternhell, it appears that we dis­agree in respect to identifying the danger threaten­ing the State of Israel. Your statements show that you view the settlements as the root of all evil in our country. I, on the other hand, believe that the eternal danger to our state and people comes in the form of well-known zealots. They are the ones who since early on in Jewish history made sure to ruin, time and again, any attempt to build a national autonomy; and you, Professor Sternhell, display obvious signs of belonging to this zealot genre.[…] What exactly were you thinking when you said: ‘…There is no doubt in respect to the legitimacy of armed resistance in the territories themselves. Had the Palestinians possessed a little wisdom, they would focus their struggle on the settlements…’ (Haaretz, May 15, 2001.) How can these words of yours be interpreted in any other way except a call on Palestinian murderers(‘armed resistance in the territories,’ as you referred to it) to harm your politi­cal rivals across the Green Line?[…] 1