|
Profile: Israeli Response to Arab Israeli Voices it Claims are Threatening Its' Democracy
Morning Edition: January 14, 2003
Israel Orders Closure of Islamic Newspaper
BOB EDWARDS, host:
In Israel, the Supreme Court's decision to restore two Arab Israeli politicians to this month's election ballot is a relief to the country's Arab minority, but many Arabs who live in Israel still say they're subject to indifference at best and persecution at worst. The government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says it intends to act against those who threaten the state. Two of the most recent targets have been an Arab Israeli newspaper and the Islamic movement. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.
PETER KENYON reporting:
Israel's status as a Jewish democracy was called into question during the unsuccessful knock to Ahmad Tibi and Azmi Bishara off the ballot for parliamentary elections. Critics said it was a democracy for Jews only, a sentiment heard frequently among the 20 percent of Israelis who make up the Arab minority. Some Israelis insist that tough measures are unpleasant but necessary. Speaking in the wake of the recent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that left 23 people dead, Prime Minister Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said Israel must survive to remain an example of Middle East democracy.
Mr. RAANAN GISSIN (Spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon): Israel's democracy serves as a shining example of a defending democracy, of a democracy under attack that knows how to respond.
KENYON: Faced with a high court that sees its role in that democracy as upholding freedom of expression and civil liberties, the Sharon government is turning to other methods to crack down on Arab Israeli voices that it finds threatening. Last month, Interior Minister Eli Yishai sent a fax to the northern Israeli town of Ummal-Fahm, near the border with the West Bank. It said that the town's Islamist weekly newspaper, The Voice of Truth and Freedom, would be shut down for two years for endangering the public order. Editor Tawfik Jabbarin says it's not the first time Israel has gone after the paper. It was closed in 1990 for three months for, in Israel's view, publishing inciting statements against Zionism and Judaism. Jaborine says the latest closure ordered came out of the blue after five years of not receiving a single complaint from the Israeli military censor.
Mr. TAWFIK JABBARIN (Editor, Voice of Truth and Freedom): (Through Translator) They said that we are in our newspaper fighting the symbols of Zionism and the symbols of government, it's a danger on the public and it's a newspaper on behalf of the Islamic movement, as if the Islamic movement is a crime committed by people.
KENYON: The newspaper is linked to the Islamic movement, which seeks to establish Islamic rule for Arabs in the region. The paper has called Israel, quote, "a parasite living in the body of the Arab world, sucking its blood and resources into a mania of conquests," and has published an interpretation of the Koran that says the peak of happiness for a shaheed, or martyr, is, quote, "the moment when he sees his body torn to pieces while he's in a state of celebration."
Even so, a leading Israeli expert on the Islamic movement says the case against the paper is far from ironclad. Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar-Ilan University says Israeli law takes a narrow view of what constitutes danger to the state. Kedar doesn't doubt that the interior minister believes the paper is threat.
Dr. MORDECHAI KEDAR (Bar-Ilan University): That's what he thinks, and I think he might be right. But is it allowed, or is it not allowed? So this is the question now. That's why they cannot take them to court, because court will not accept this closure of the paper. That's why they use this kind of law, which is some heritage from the mandatory time.
KENYON: The closure law is a holdover from the British mandate. It was enacted in 1933 during a time of rising Arab hostility to their British rulers, and it allows the government to act without the approval of the courts. Islamic movement president Raed Salah says ordering the paper closed is part of what he calls the ongoing Israeli harassment of his movement.
Mr. RAED SALAH (Islamic Movement President): (Through Translator) They are not only trying to make our society Jewish society, but they are now asking for a transfer for our people and they are--they call us a cancer that should be destroyed. In my opinion, this is very ugly terminology that they are using.
KENYON: The newspaper responded to the closure order with a list of inflammatory comments made by Israelis, such as Shas Party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's comment that, quote, "no mercy should be shown to these evil Arabs. They should be showered with missiles and destroyed." So far there's been no response from the Interior Ministry. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Ummal-Fahm, Israel.
EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
Copyright ©2003 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further information, please contact NPR's Permissions Coordinator at (202) 513-2000.
This transcript was created by a contractor for NPR, and NPR has not verified its accuracy. For all NPR programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative
version.
|
