An ugly and extremely violent confrontation has, for the time being, been avoided in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al Fahm, near Haifa. Israel’s northern police command has decided to postpone a so-called “Jewish pride” march, organized by far right activists and scheduled for Monday, December 15.
Ynet reports:
[Public Security Minister Avi] Dichter held an evaluation of the situation with various defense officials on Thursday, and decided to make a decision on one day before the planned march. On Sunday, the police decided that the parade could quickly escalate into violent riots. The minister received a petition signed by 10,000 people, urging him to call off the rally. In addition, heads of Jewish local council near Umm al-Fahm, members of different associations and peace movements, said they would place a human chain of Jews and Arabs at the entrances to the city.
…
Chairman of the forum of regional heads in Wadi Ara Ilan Sade said, “The rightists’ rally is dynamite that could drag the region and the whole country into violent clashes. We must not allow a handful of extremists to ruin the harmony we have in the region.”
The most sensible option here is not to just postpone the march, but to cancel it altogether. Doubtless, such a decision would lead to more pompous complaints from Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the organizers, about “a disgrace to the rule of law.” When you remember who he is and what he stands for, such remarks sound just a little hollow.
Ben-Gvir and his comrades are followers of the late fanatic Rabbi Meir Kahane, known for their utter contempt for the rule of law, their violence and racism against Arabs and their rejection of the democratic institutions of the State of Israel (”Democracy and Judaism are two opposite things. One absolutely cannot confuse them,” Kahane famously said.) The sole purpose of their march - which could take place in two weeks time, depending on what the police deem to be workable - is to provoke ugly, inter-communal violence.
Coming so soon after the riots between Jews and Arabs in Acre, the last thing Israel needs is an escalation in Umm al Fahm.
If there is one positive aspect to all this, it’s that many parts of the Jewish population have declared their solidarity with Umm al Fahm’s citizens; some even stated that they would travel to the city and form a human chain to prevent the Kahanists from entering. Thankfully, there won’t be a need for that tomorrow. In two weeks time, there may well be.
Such hate demonstrations should be always forbidden.
Israel is certainly not a light to the nations but Israeli courts are punishing incitement. The Jewish and democratic state is in contradiction to its neighbors a state founded on law.
Of course the professional detractors will never acknowledge this. Some of them dream about a one-state-solution which would be for the Jews of Israel terrible. In not one Arab state (and in Iran) are minorities and Human Rights respected.
Those “antizionists” who point with a finger to Israel and get excited about the extreme right riffraff there should not forget, by doing so 3 of their fingers point to their own country.
So let’s sweep the dirt before the own door first.
Here in Vienna it is incredible to see the “women in black” demonstrating every month in the center of town against the state of Israel and thus accommodating the many antisemites here.
It also makes possible a future scenario, in which Arab Israelis will want to march for a one state solution. The police will be perfectly in line with this precedent to refuse them permission to do so.
I am reminded of the the when a neo-Nazi group announced its intention to parade in Skokie, Illinois, in 1977.
“The debate was clear-cut: American Nazis claimed the right of free speech while their Jewish “targets” claimed the right to live without intimidation. The town, arguing that the march would assault the sensibilities of its citizens and spark violence, managed to win a court injunction against the marchers. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union took the case and successfully defended the Nazis’ right to free speech.”
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/strwhe.html
A much better solution would have been to allow the parade, but to organize hundreds of thousands of Israeli JEWS to come and form a human wall between the Kahanists and the toundspeople. Plus a heavy riot police presence. Democracy costs and this is one of those times when it seems at though upholding a democratic principle is not worth the trouble. I think it does. It could send a powerful message to the anti-democratic forces on both sides.
I beg to differ dear Noga knowing that my opinion is not popular in the English speaking democracies.
Article 1 of UN Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 1.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
“Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association…”
So when people misuse “freedom of opinion and expression” in order to breach the peace and injure the human dignity of others, those hate preachers should not be allowed to trample on the dignity of others.
Probably in countries like the USA and the UK there is no danger in letting the hate preachers preach, but in those countries of Europe, where the Holocaust took place there is a danger. Alone in Hungary in November four Roma were murdered. Let us not forget, first come the words, then the murder.