Dissent is a dirty word in Israel

[Ed Barrow]

When an 81-year-old scholar is deemed threatening and the majority thinks human rights organisations enjoy too much freedom of expression , it is time to grab your worry beads. When the leader of the opposition has a warrant against her in Britain for ‘war crimes’ , it is time to wonder what is happening inside the storied and spunky country called Israel. When former supporters begin to whisper the word ‘apartheid’ to describe Israeli policies in the occupied territories, it is time to hold your head.

Recently, Noam Chomsky, the world renowned American academic, was barred from entering Israel to deliver a lecture at a Palestinian university in the occupied West Bank. After a two-hour grilling that was Kafkaesque and demeaning, he was told, “Israel does not like what you say.” Chomsky recalled he had been turned away once before “in another age, another time” by the Soviets in 1968 when he tried to visit Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia, father of the crushed Prague Spring.

The fear of Chomsky that Israeli officials displayed is a fear of ideas and in what is becoming fairly typical in a country as it careens rightward. Chomsky has been a consistent and blistering critic of Israel as he has been of his own government, the United States. Unforgiving in his analysis, he stands apart from the army of US supporters who easily rationalise any and many policies of Israel. He is seen as a traitor to the cause, more so because he is Jewish . And he is sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle — his ultimate sin. “Israel looks like a bully who has been insulted by a superior intellect and is now trying to fight it, arrest it and expel it,” said an editorial in the liberal newspaper Haaretz.

...

The superstructure constructed with the twin pillars of religion and security has seeped well into the population. Surveys repeatedly find Israelis accepting and adapting readily to this ‘we-are-under-constant-threat’ official mindset . They support gag orders, indefinite detentions and harsh punishment for those who blow the whistle on government misconduct. A survey by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University published in February showed more than 57 per cent support for curbing human rights organisations , which expose immoral behavior by Israel. A majority felt that there was “too much freedom of expression” and a whopping 82 per cent backed stiff penalties for people who leak information to expose misconduct by the defence forces.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Middle-East/Dissent-is-a-dirty-word-in-Israel-/articleshow/5988015.cms

[Mojorabbit]

1. The world

really is so much different than when I came of age in the early 70's. I am amazed at how easily people are manipulated and how little critical thinking many do.

[Union Yes]

2. Apartheidists fear collapse of consensus. Therefore, they fear dissent. K&R nt