Last month (April 19, for those interested), the German network “Deutsche La News” interviewed Alan Dershowitz, an American attorney and a well-known and passionate supporter of Israel, who is even considered close to Benjamin Netanyahu (as part of a blitz of interviews he did in those two or three days).
For those who do not know the rules of the format, “supporting Israel” means: an enthusiastic and automatic supporter of everything that the Israeli governments feel like doing, mainly and especially in the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and in military operations with a lot of dead bodies of unarmed Palestinians. If you raised a finger now with any reservation – congratulations, you are anti-Semitic. We will not dwell on that.
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For those who don’t know the rules of the format, “supports Israel” means: an enthusiastic and automatic supporter of everything the Israeli governments feel like doing, mainly and especially in the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and military operations
Since the establishment of the current Israeli government, the famous jurist has been careful to express his disapproval of the legislative program led by Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman. On the “Haaretz” podcast in January, he even said: “If I were Israeli, I would join the protests right now.” He repeated this position in a series of interviews.
Right at the beginning of the current interview, Dershowitz opens with manipulation: “I have always supported Israel’s right to exist…as the nation-state of the Jewish people.” This relaxed and smiling statement refers to the “fundamental law: the State of Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people” as a kind of universal physical law. For balance, Dershowitz waves his support (since 1970!) for the “two-state solution” (but notes that “both sides” are not ready to make the necessary compromises). This fig leaf will have to cover many piles.
And this is where the main dish begins: despite the respected interviewee’s stated opposition to the reform designed to weaken Israel’s legal system, he emphasizes that it is an internal matter for Israel, and does not invite the international community to intervene. Dershowitz is misleading:
“No matter how it will be resolved [המשבר]Israel will remain one of the most vibrant democracies in the world, and this will be evidenced by the protests on both sides, which there is not even an attempt to stop them.”
It seems that Mr. Dershowitz did not hear about the public and loud skirmish between the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir and the top of the police regarding the demonstrations and regarding the way in which the Israel Police is expected to deal with them.
And what’s more: as early as 2020, the replacement government that Benjamin Netanyahu established with Benny Gantz was looking for many months for different reasons and different methods to limit and silence (on the wings of the corona epidemic) the previous protest wave (“Balfour protest”).
Despite the respected interviewee’s stated opposition to a reform designed to weaken Israel’s judicial system, he emphasizes that this is an internal matter for Israel, and does not invite the international community to intervene
“Internal matter”, has always been the claim of despotic regimes, regimes that have violated human rights. In their narrative, human and civil rights are the decoration of the living room and the choice of wallpaper on the walls. What right does the international community claim to interfere with their aesthetics?
From here on, the list of talking points (an effective but clearly inclusive propaganda method, which imposes on the political debate a framing and terminology chosen by one side), which sound as if they came straight from the house in Caesarea – is extremely comprehensive.
This propaganda show is almost impressive. It implies that the world interferes too much in Israel’s affairs; Israel is a victim of excessive intervention attempts and negative attention (in short, whatabautism, or in simple words “look what’s happening in Syria why-don’t-you-protect”); Why does the world condemn one Israeli MK who proposes a bill more than one who condemns Palestinian terrorism and the Palestinian Authority; Diaspora Jews? Most of them do not know what they are talking about; about Netanyahu’s trials, Dershowitz replies, “It has nothing to do with reforming the judicial system and has no effect on the process.” Or in Hebrew: “What? No way!”.
And how is it possible without the classics: the place of the nuclear warning cheer and the demand from the European Union to focus on Iran – not absent; The status of the Arab citizens? Their situation is much better than the situation of Arabs in any of the Arab countries.
The propaganda show is almost impressive and it implies that the world interferes too much in Israel’s affairs; Israel is a victim of excessive intervention attempts and negative attention, Netanyahu’s trials have nothing to do with reform and more. Or in Hebrew: “What? Why!”
Dershowitz firmly claims that Netanyahu was forced to form a coalition with “people he does not agree with”, due to the unique necessity of the circumstances – five election systems in four years. The fact that Netanyahu initiated most of these election campaigns, and undoubtedly stood in the eye of the storm, and twice (after the 21st and 22nd Knesset elections) simply announced new elections without forming a government at all – was forgotten by our learned friend’s memory.
The same goes for Netanyahu’s and the Likud leadership’s repeated promises to form a “full right-wing government”, free of “left-wing” influences (for those who have forgotten, Avigdor Lieberman, a resident of the Nokad settlement, was crowned as Barel Katznelson of his right, and following him a whole series of prominent right-wing politicians received a left-wing diploma from the Likud ).
As part of the framing of the discourse in the field that is convenient for him, Dershowitz presents “The Squad” (that is, the declared progressive wing of the Democratic Party) as a radical and anti-Semitic circle. This claim is presented as a fact, just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and no one argues with him about this gross lie.
Opposing the policies of the Israeli government is not anti-Semitism. Even if AIPAC screams like that in a snoring throat. From there Dershowitz returns with an easy skip to Israel, and in the spirit of the “extremists on both sides” fashion, reduces the political essence of “Otzma Yehudit” and the Noam party (ideological trends that cause astonishment and deep anxiety in Europe) – to “people who think different from you”. What will protect the public and democracy? “The free market of opinions”.
Dershowitz firmly claims that Netanyahu was forced to form a coalition with “people he does not agree with”, due to the unique necessity of the circumstances – 5 election sets in 4 years. The fact that Netanyahu initiated most of them was forgotten from his memory
In the American discourse, this position is called “absolutism of freedom of speech” (I do not know if Dershowitz declares his support for this). This is a position that is, of course, exploited by racists, misogynists and LGBT-phobes, along with the new hit: science deniers (from vaccine opponents to global warming fools) and conspiracy theorists.
The most prominent honest exponent of this philosophy these days is Elon Musk, who bought Twitter and immediately put some of the speakers of horrific views back on stage. Needless to say, this approach is completely opposite to the approach of defensive democracy, which was established in the West after World War II.
Dershowitz stubbornly repeats the rebuke and rebuke: it is none of Germany’s business! seen that Alan Dershowitz’s main motivation is to deprive the democratic-liberal protest in Israel of one of its most important force multipliers: public opinion in the democratic world.
The influence of this factor is not so amorphous, because it serves as a windfall for heads of state who usually hesitate to criticize Israel decisively, and it has not gone unnoticed by global economic forces, investment funds and credit rating agencies. These bodies, by the way, have research departments that make sure to periodically check the direction of the political spirit and social stability.
He presents, as usual, as a fact (and without substantiation) the claim “everyone wants to reach a compromise”, and “Israel will solve its problems alone”. If we were paranoid, we would say that Dershowitz wants to help the leaders of the center-right parties in the opposition to “close a deal” over the head of Kaplan’s protest. In protest circles, the demand for a constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence (or at least to enact the Declaration of Independence as a fundamental law in itself) is heard more and more. This is a more determined democratic position, which completely contradicts the prediction that the leaders of the opposition in the Knesset will reach some sort of compromise with the coalition.
The influence of global public opinion is not amorphous. It serves as a boost to leaders who usually hesitate to criticize Israel, and does not go unnoticed by global economic forces, investment funds and credit rating agencies.
Dershowitz makes an impressive “nim dropping”: he met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad; In the current context, he states that he spoke several times with Netanyahu, with Benny Gantz, with President Boji Herzog, and for some reason with Natan Sharansky (?).
In the end, the picture Alan Dershowitz paints fits well with the basic conservative position: let the old boys, the old boys club, decide. They will already decide what democracy is and how it will be conducted.
The political culture he expresses is more of a generational thing than a camp or party position. Dershowitz is portrayed as a representative of the baby boom generation (that is, of the class politics of that generation), who feel threatened by new popular political initiatives such as the Kaplan protest, or the progressive “Squad” in Congress. The faction itself, by the way, is not focused on Israel at all, but did the unbelievable: it returned the term “social democracy” to the center of the political stage in America, together with Senator Bernie Sanders.
These days (and even in the same interview) the veteran lawyer marvels at acrobatic shows, some Olympic, some circus, to present former US President Donald Trump as a victim of case-fixing, or perhaps a victim of his flawed character and dubious actions, which make him easy prey for a judge, prosecutor and friend Hostile juries; or did he say it was a dangerous precedent to convict and incarcerate a former president, even if he were found guilty? The cheapest of the lines of defense, including doubling down? A bit hard to follow.
So, with all due respect to Mr. Dershowitz – and the writer of these lines uses the expression in its broadest sense (due to the madrano circus of the pepperballs) – We answered him with “Sir, don’t interfere, and don’t tell the Europeans, statesmen and ordinary citizens, what to give their opinion on and what to express their opinion on.”
In the end, the picture Alan Dershowitz paints fits well with the basic conservative position: let the old boys, the old boys club, decide. They will already decide what democracy is and how it will be conducted
One last thing: No, Israel is not the first and only case in which the international community and the press show keen interest in drastic changes made by a government in the judicial system. A similar matter arose in Poland, or in Turkey for example. Perhaps Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Andrzej Duda are also victims of anti-Semitism.
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