democracy

One of the most common slogans used by Israeli left-wingers is "the occupation corrupts." Meaning, it corrupts Israeli society -- and even more importantly, it corrupts Israeli democracy.

But the damage that Benjamin Netanyahu's government has done in its first year is so overwhelming, one can only wonder what will happen if he's lucky enough to stay in power for a full four-year term.

Every year at about this time, radical Islamic students--aided by radical anti-Israel professors--hold an event they call "Israel Apartheid Week." During this week, they try to persuade students on campuses around the world to demonize Israel as an apartheid regime. Most students seem to ignore the rantings of these extremists, but some naïve students seem to take them seriously. Some pro-Israel and Jewish students claim that they are intimidated when they try to respond to these untruths.

I logged onto Facebook today and saw my mother's status: "This is serious and my son and I have differences of opinion: The New Israel Fund and The Next War" What a world we live in, right? We're all more connected to each other and our communities than ever before...who would have thought our moms and dads would be hanging on Facebook when we joined it half a decade ago?

In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran "is moving toward a military dictatorship," and continued the Administration's campaign for tougher sanctions against that country.

Last week, Im Tirtzu ("If you will it"), a relatively new purportedly-Zionist group, organized a brutal campaign against the New Israel Fund (NIF), an organization committed to democratic change and social justice in Israel, which has - in the last three decades - supported more than 800 cutting-edge civil society organizations.

Co-authored by Jesse Bacon, JVP Board Member and co-editor of theonlydemocracy.org.

Over the last week there has been a significant outcry in Israel and in some Jewish circles in the US about an ugly, anti-Semitic, and sexist ad campaign against the US-based New Israel Fund (NIF), a key funder of Israeli civil society and human rights groups.

A campaign against the New Israel Fund -- a U.S.-based organization that funds civil society activists in Israel -- has sparked a fierce debate over the limits of free speech, the financing of NGOs, the dictates of loyalty to the state and, ultimately, over the fundamental values of Israel's Zionist democracy.

I recently saw the critically acclaimed German film, "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex," which depicts the exploits of the Red Army Faction (RAF), the terrorist group responsible for the wave of radical violence that swept Western Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. Although the group survived into the 1990s, its heydays ended with the capture, the trial and the eventual prison suicide of its principle protagonists, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.

Yesterrday Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said that "as long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entity, called Israel, it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state."

Former Prime Minister Olmert has repeatedly said the same thing.

Despite police plans to end the demonstration with force, more than 300 Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli activists gathered in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday afternoon to protest the evictions of Palestinian families from their homes.