Human rights in Israel curtailed in wake of Gaza war, report says
Study cites arrest of demonstrators, firing of Arab-Israelis; also sees positive moves by Knesset
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
This year saw both worrying and encouraging trends for human rights in Israel, according to a report by an Israeli civil rights NGO.
The 50-day conflict in Gaza over the summer created an environment in Israel in which dissent was curtailed and minorities targeted, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s study, “Human Rights in Israel 2014.” (Hebrew link)
The report cited the arrest of approximately 1,500 Arab-Israelis for involvement in protests against Israel’s operation in Gaza, and the illegal firing or reprimanding of at least 70 Arab-Israelis for publicly opposing the war.
Throughout the war, Arab-Israelis faced discrimination from the streets, where Jewish protesters chanted “Death to Arabs,” and from the halls of Knesset: Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called for a boycott of businesses owned by Arab-Israelis who participated in a one-day strike to oppose the war.
Some Knesset members called for Balad lawmaker Hanin Zoabi, who was suspended from parliamentary activity for six months, to be punished even more harshly for several statements they called inflammatory. And some right-wing Knesset members proposed a bill to demote Arabic from being an official language of Israel.
The study also cited the heightened tensions in Jerusalem, where Arabs have suffered attacks in city streets and complain of excessive force by police. A wave of attacks, some lethal, by Palestinian East Jerusalem residents on Jews in the capital has persisted since the summer’s fighting.
The ACRI report decried gaps in civil protection between various sectors in the country: “Council heads were sent to collect donations to fund shelters; Gush Katif evacuees, immigrants, and other populations living in caravans were left without protection; foreign agricultural workers and residents of Bedouin villages were left entirely without protection.”
Despite these concerns, there were positive signs in 2014, said the study. It pointed to legislative success in governmental commissions on poverty, public health, affordable housing, and access to water. In addition, the Interior Ministry worked to narrow gaps between rich and poor local councils, and to address transgender issues.
Sayed Kashua, a well-regarded Arab-Israeli Hebrew-language writer, made news this summer when he decided to move from Israel to Illinois. Kashua wrote about the transition in a Guardian op-ed titled “Why I have to leave Israel,” describing his fears for his family.
“After my last columns some readers beseeched that I be exiled to Gaza, threatened to break my legs, to kidnap my children,” he wrote. “I live in Jerusalem, and I have some wonderful Jewish neighbors, and friends, but I still cannot take my children to day camps or to parks with their Jewish friends. My daughter protested furiously and said no one would know she is an Arab because of her perfect Hebrew but I would not listen. She shut herself in her room and wept.”
Earlier this year, a spate of so-called “price tag” attacks targeted Arab-Israel communities. Perpetrated by Jewish-Israeli right-wing extremists in response to perceived anti-settlement policies, the attacks ranged from graffiti on mosques and businesses to tires slashed on Arab-owned cars.
Tensions spiked when Jewish extremists kidnapped and burned alive a Palestinian teen, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, on July 2 in a revenge attack following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens by Palestinian Hamas members in June. Outraged by the incident, Arab-Israelis gathered in mass protests in Jerusalem and northern Israel. Demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires, and vandals damaged Jerusalem light rail stations in the eastern part of the city. Demonstrations continued across Israel throughout the war.
Thousands of Jewish-Israelis, it should be noted, protested alongside their Arab counterparts during the war — and a handful of those Jewish demonstrators were arrested.
Following a demonstration by Arab-Israelis after the war celebrating the Palestinians’ “Gaza victory,” Liberman said Israel should treat the demonstrators “as traitors and supporters of a terror organization, to put them to justice and to give them the ‘right’ to stand for a moment of silence, as they did during the demonstration, in jail cells.”
Biotechnology student Alaa Taha, 25, lost her job monitoring quality control at a plastics factory shortly after she was arrested at a protest on July 18. Her managers said they were firing her for an error committed months ago, Taha said, but she doubts that story. To boot, she said, she still hasn’t received her the final paycheck or a letter of termination that would allow her to receive unemployment benefits.
“I don’t know what to say, but this is racism,” she said. “I went to a protest. I didn’t do anything. We just yelled and that’s it. This is a democratic state. Where’s the democracy?”
JTA contributed to this report.
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