Wednesday, November 15, 2017

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The Trials of Benjamin Netanyahu: Corruption in Israel is Not Just an Israeli Issue

By Ramzy Baroud

Whether the string of scandals, now hounding Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lead to his sacking or not, it matters little.

Though nearly half of Israelis polled last July - well before the scandals took a much dirtier turn - believe that Netanyahu is corrupt, a majority of Israelis said that they would still vote for him.

A recent survey conducted by Israel's Channel 10 TV concluded that, if general elections are held today, Netanyahu will garner 28% while his closest contenders, Avi Gabbay of the Zionist Camp and Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid will each gather 11% of the vote.

"The next stage, which is drawing near, is for the citizens of Israel to re-elect a criminal as their leader and entrust their fate to him," a leading Israeli columnist, Akiva Eldar, wrote in response to Netanyahu's continued popularity, despite accusations of corruption and repeated police investigations.

But Eldar should not be surprised. Political corruption, bribery and misuse of public funds have been the norm - not exception - in Israeli politics.

Alex Roy puts it more succinctly in a recent piece in the 'Times of Israel': "The fact that (Netanyahu) still has a good chance of being the prime minister after these coming elections says more about how used to corruption we have become than how clean he is."

Roy wrote that his country "has gotten used to political criminals" simply because "each prime minister over the last quarter century has at some point faced criminal charges."

He is right, but there are two major points that are missing in the discussion which had been, until recently, mostly confined to Israeli media.

First, the nature of the suspected misconduct of Netanyahu is different from his predecessors. This matters greatly.

Second, Israeli society's apparent acceptance of corrupt politicians might have less to do with the assumption that they have "gotten used" to the idea and more with the fact that the culture, as a whole, has grown corrupt. And there is a reason for it.

To elucidate, Netanyahu's alleged corruption is rather different from that of former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.

Olmert was corrupt the old-fashioned way. In 2006, he was found guilty of accepting bribes while serving as the mayor of Jerusalem. In 2012, he was convicted for breach of trust and bribery, this time as Prime Minister. In 2015 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment.

Other top Israeli officials were also indicted, including President Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of rape and obstruction of justice.

These charges remained largely confined to a person or two, making the nature of the conspiracy quite limited. Israeli and western media pundits used such prosecutions to make a point regarding the health of Israel's democracy, especially when compared with its Arab neighbors.

Things are different under Netanyahu. Corruption in Israel is becoming more like mafia operations, roping in elected civil servants, military brass, top lawyers and large conglomerates.

The nature of the investigations that are closing in on Netanyahu points to this fact.

Netanyahu is embroiled in 'File 1000', where the Prime Minister and his wifeaccepted gifts of large financial value from a renowned Hollywood producer, Arnon Milchan, in exchange for favors that, if confirmed, required Netanyahu to use his political influence as the Prime Minister.

'File 2000' is the 'Yisrael Hayom' affair. In this case, Netanyahu reached a secret deal with the publisher of the leading 'Yedioth Ahronoth' newspaper, Arnon Mozes. According to the deal, Yedioth agreed to cut down on its criticism of Netanyahu's policies in exchange for the latter's promise to decrease the sale of a rival newspaper, 'Yisrael Hayom'.

'Yisrael Hayom' is owned by pro-Israeli American business tycoon, Sheldon Adelson, Netanyahu's close and powerful ally, until the news of the Yedioth deal surfaced. Since then, 'Yisrael Hayom' turned against Netanyahu.

'File 3000' is the German submarines affair. Top national security advisors, all very closely aligned to Netanyahu, were involved in the purchase of German submarines that were deemed unnecessary, yet cost the government billions of dollars. Large sums of this money were syphoned by Netanyahu's inner circle and transferred to secret, private bank accounts.

This case, in particular, is significant regarding the widespread corruption in Israel's upper-most circles.

Central to this investigation are the cousins and two closest confidantes of Netanyahu: his personal lawyer, David Shimron and the country's 'de-facto foreign minister', Isaac Molcho. The latter has managed to build an impressive, but largely hidden, network for Netanyahu, where the lines of foreign policy, massive government contracts, and personal business dealings are largely blurred.

There is also the 'Berzeq affair' involving Israeli telecommunication giant, Berzeq, and Netanyahu's political ally and friend, Shlomo Filber.

Netanyahu was the Minister of Communication until he was ordered by court to step down in 2016. According to media reports, his handpicked replacement, Filber, served the role of 'spy' for the telecommunication powerhouse to ensure critical decisions made by the government are communicated in advance to the company.

Most intriguing about Netanyahu's corruption is that it is not a reflection of him alone: this is layered corruption, involving a large network of Israel's upper echelons.

There is more to the Israeli public's willingness to accept corruption, than its inability to stop it.

Corruption in Israeli society has become particularly endemic after the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. The idea that ordinary Israelis can move into a Palestinian house, evict the family, claim the house as their own, with the full support of the military, the government and the court, exemplifies moral corruption to the highest degree.

It was only a matter of time before this massive corruption racket - military occupation, the settlement enterprise, the media whitewashing of Israeli crimes - seeped back into mainstream Israeli society, which has become rotten to the core.

While Israelis might have 'gotten used' to their own corruption, Palestinians have not, because the price of Israel's moral corruption is too high for them to bear.

- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His forthcoming book is 'The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story' (Pluto Press, London). Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.

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'Submit or Resign', Defines Realpolitik of Saudi Arabia's New Czar

By Iqbal Jassat

What's going on in Saudi Arabia?

This appears to be the dominant question raised in many circles. A question, coupled with many more, seeking answers to try to make sense of the drama unfolding in the House of Saud.

While some insiders refer to it as an internal palace coup, others have ventured to describe it as the beginning of the end of the monarchy.

Though there are conflicting accounts of what may be at play behind the diamond-studded curtains, one certainty is that the socio-political landscape of the Arabian peninsula will not be the same as before.

From the arrests of senior religious scholars to the detention of a wide array of ministers, princes and business tycoons, the king-in-waiting Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) has shown scant regard for public opinion.

Reports reveal that MbS's arbitrary conduct has been accompanied by a ruthlessness usually associated with Arab despots. Almost in step with the cruelty Iraqi citizens were subjected to during the bloody reign of Saddam Hussein, MbS's purge is reminiscent of that era.

Heedless of bitter lessons which ultimately cost Saddam his life in the most ignominious way, MbS trudges along. He forgets that despite being the West's "blue-eyed boy", funded and armed to the teeth, Saddam fell on his own sword when his western backers pulled the rug.

Mohammed bin Salman has replaced the role Saddam was equipped for. In fact if one stretches back to the history of the 1950s, one can be forgiven for associating the present Czar of Saudi Arabia with the then Shah of Iran who foolishly believed that his gold-encased Peacock Throne would never collapse.

History is replete with narratives of foolish people or as Bertrand Russell is quoted as saying: "...man has never refrained from any folly of which he was capable".

As for MbS's punitive war of destruction in Yemen, alarming media reports warn that hundreds of sick and elderly Yemenis "will die within the next week" unless Saudi Arabia lifts its blockade and allows urgently needed medical supplies into the country.

In keeping with his ruthless pursuit of senseless violence, MbS has led Saudi Arabia's war with Yemen since 2015. Having failed to make any military gains apart from crushing parts of Yemen to pulp, he has tightened its air, land and sea blockade of the country.

While the tragedy that's befallen Yemen continues with no end in sight, the Saudi-led coalition remains impertinent.

And in the wake of the arrests, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri is summoned to Riyadh where he announces his resignation and blames Iran and Hezbollah for threats to his life. This bizarre event has failed to persuade Lebanon's political establishment and it's citizens at large, who on the contrary believe that Hariri has been forced against his will to read a script which has MbS's prints on it.

As if this strange, irregular and utterly ridiculous turn of events was not enough, the Czar summoned the Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas to Riyadh. His instructions are to cut ties with Hezbollah and avoid Iran. But it doesn't end here. He has been ordered to either accept an Israeli-Palestinian "peace" deal being put together by the Trump administration, or resign.

In addition the Saudi authorities made clear that they were dismayed by media images of Hamas's deputy political leader, Saleh al-Arouri visiting Tehran in October.

Why the resentment against al-Arouri? Because he is the Hamas signatory on a reconciliation deal with Abbas's Fatah group signed in Cairo last month. In addition, pictures of him with Hezbollah leader Hassen Nasrallah at a recent meeting in Lebanon doing the rounds, clearly anathema to MbS.

The ultimatum to Abbas made clear that Lebanese activists within Abbas's Fatah faction must no longer cooperate with Hezbollah.

The iron-grip held by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over internal and foreign policies cannot be sustained over the long term. He may be bolstered for the moment by the support of both Israel and America, but the demands for freedom and justice made by the Arab streets, though severely suppressed, will explode.

- Iqbal Jassat is an acclaimed writer, analyst and commentator and one of the founder members of MRN. His analysis is featured regularly in mainstream and alternate media outlets around the world. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story - Book Review

Reviewed by Vacy Vlazna

(Ramzy Baroud. The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story. London: Pluto Press, 2018.Pre-order now)

Dr. Ramzy Baroud's new book, The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story is described simplistically as 'non-fictional narrative of modern Palestinian history.'

It is much, much more; for us readers, it is an intimate encounter, chapter by chapter, wherein we are entertaining new friends; having the privilege of listening to, savoring and indeed cherishing the rarely heard Palestinian stories saturated with the fears, joys, suffering, triumphs of the human spirit.

Baroud's approach and praxis of a people's history debunks the traditional accepted notion of Carlyle's Great Man theory which proposes,"The history of the world is but the biography of great men" with the Elite Hero as its absolute focal point.

Baroud, however, by honoring the archetypal hero within our deepest selves connects us to the shared aliveness of the Palestinian Other; of Khaled, Jamal, Tamam, Um Marwan, Kamal, Hana, Sara, Ali, Leila and many more as well as solidarity friends like Joe.

With alchemical brilliance, he has, in the crucible of his art, purified hours of recorded interviews on love stories, generations of births, childhoods, disappearances, adversity, torment, deaths into the essence of Love and Truth and the magic is - we too are purified and illumined by a powerful knowing that can never be un-known.

As an activist, commentator, author, editor, poet, Baroud's prodigious energy equals his prodigious sense of responsibility to Palestine's struggle for political and human rights. His articles have an intellectual discipline to fine analysis and facts, whilst under the poetic sheen of The Last Earth, honesties are excoriated and refined through a powerful emotional turbulence; tender and intolerable.

The Last Earth presents eight personal stories, I shall touch only upon three stories, The Spirit of the Orchard, Death Note and Letters to Heba and leave the remaining five for your discovery.

The Spirit of the Orchard encapsulates the revolutionary spirit that is rooted in the earth of Palestine, grows upward through Palestinian hearts and rendered a force by family. Across three generations trapped in Israeli brutality, the story of Yousef, Hamda, Salim, Um Marwan, Mahmoud and their children, Marwan, Kamal, Iman proves that, when Palestine and her children are under threat, ordinary people become heroic and women emerge from their kitchens and orchards as lionesses wedging themselves "between screaming children and angry soldiers" and tend, like Fatima, to the wounds of Palestine's freedom champions. That is is a true story is both sobering and soaringly inspirational.

Death Note: News of Hana Shalabi's arrest and her later deportation to Gaza never revealed what happened in between. Her story expands beyond the news bites to the Nakba and her family's expulsion from Haifa to Burqin near Jenin where her father, Yahya and mother, Badia met and married, where her teenage neighbor, Mohammed was shot by Israeli soldiers before her eight-year old eyes, where her revolutionary siblings Omar and Amar and sister, Huda were arrested, where nearby Israelis crushed Palestinian resistance and demolished the camp, where her martyred brother Samir is buried, where Hana was arrested without evidence for being a threat to Israel by the Palestinian Authority which turned her over to the Israelis. Hana's phenomenal defiance is measured above and beyond the humiliation, physical and mental torture she endured for 25 months. The brutality was repeated with her second arrest in 2012 and this time her demand for justice was a hunger strike for 47 days that brought her to death's edge and exile to Gaza.

Letters to Heba reminds me of the trials of Job for such is the harsh history, the vagrant odyssey and personal, physical and mental sacrifices of Palestine's freedom fighters. Ali Abumghasib is now an old man, a noble Bedouin and battle scarred veteran soldier of the resistance and his story unfolds through his letters to his daughter, listed as a missing person from Deraa refugee camp in Syria. In 1948, the Abumghasib family were torn from their village Wadi Al-Shalalah in Bir Al-Saba and fled to Gaza. In the 1967 Naksa, Ali escaped to Jordan where at 17 he joined the PLO. Decades later, back in Gaza, Ali clings to the hope of reuniting with Heba. One fervently hopes that with Heba, his odyssey will soon culminate in his return home to Wadi Al-Shalalah.

As I read these beautifully written narratives, I easily relate to the childhood pleasures, teenage crushes, falling in love, connection to place but I wonder at the soul strength of Palestinians for whom normality is the violence of the illegal Israeli occupation and I wonder how would I cope with losing my home and not know for decades whether it was blown up, demolished or unlawfully inhabited, sans compensation, by foreign predators? How would I cope with the devastating murders of my parents, or siblings, or neighbors and friends? Could I relinquish my dead child (children) for burial? Could I bear torture? Have I the strength for a 47 day hunger strike? I don't know the answers but I do know that I bow with great respect to the Palestinian warrior soul.

These stories set in the default position of exile and loss, whether within Palestine or the Diaspora, challenge Israel's megalithic propaganda and rearticulation of Palestinian history, stolen and maimed over decades of savage Zionist colonization. The Last Earth redresses and reclaims Truth built on the abiding, unfaltering Love for the stolen Palestinian homeland sealed with sumoud in indomitable refugee hearts.

This is a dangerous book because by inviting us into an intimacy with the people of Palestine, it predicates compelling moral action to end the monstrous injustice; for this reason Baroud's The Last Earth must be read and shared.

- Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters and editor of a volume of Palestinian poetry, I remember my name. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association and coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.