[R-G] "Without Loyalty, No Citizenship": Interview with Danny Hershtal of Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home)

[Suzanne de Kuyper]

No loyalty, i.e. obedience, no citizenship is also a feature of the U.S..  Illustration:  Professor Finklestein.  Suzanne


--- On Wed, 1/21/09, Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
> Subject: [R-G] "Without Loyalty, No Citizenship": Interview with Danny Hershtal of Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home)
> To: "suzanne  de Kuyper" <suzannedk at yahoo.com>
> Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 1:21 AM
> <http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45479>
> Q&A:  'Without Loyalty, No Citizenship'
> Daan Bauwens interviews DANNY HERSHTAL of the Yisrael
> Beitenu party in Israel
> 
> JERUSALEM, Jan 20 (IPS) - Arab Israeli lists Balad and
> Ta'al might not
> be allowed to take part in the upcoming elections. Last
> Monday,
> representatives from all major parties voted for the
> exclusion of the
> lists. Danny Hershtal, candidate of main instigator Yisrael
> Beitenu
> explains why his party considered such a move necessary.
> 
> In the shadow of operation Cast Lead and a growing feeling
> of national
> conformity, right-wing parties Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our
> Home) and
> National Union petitioned for the exclusion of Arab Israeli
> parties
> Balad and United Arab List-Ta'al.
> 
> The Central Election Committee consisting of
> representatives of all
> parties overwhelmingly voted Monday for disqualification of
> the Arab
> lists. Balad and Ta'al are now awaiting the verdict of
> the High Court.
> 
> It is widely expected that the High Court will overrule the
> decision
> by the Central Election Committee, as happened in 2003 and
> 2006 before
> elections were held. Human rights associations, media and
> left-wing
> politicians accuse the Israeli right of "cheap
> politics" and "winning
> votes on the backs of soldiers in Gaza", while Yisrael
> Beitenu
> persists that their initiative was little more than
> "legal
> responsibility".
> 
> IPS: What are the arguments for the exclusion?
> 
> Danny Hershtal: According to Israeli law, a party that runs
> for the
> Knesset has to abide by the rules set out in Israel's
> Declaration of
> Independence which says that Israel is a Jewish and
> democratic state.
> While in the past, there have been parties that have
> represented
> Israeli Arabs in terms of their rights and equality within
> the Jewish
> state, the leaders of Balad en Ta'al specifically
> negate the idea of
> Israel being a Jewish state. Therefore we felt that they
> contradicted
> the law and could not possibly run in the elections.
> 
> IPS: What is the evidence you hold against Balad and
> Ta'al?
> 
> DH: We have recently compiled new evidence: during this
> last military
> operation in Gaza there was a rally in the Israeli Arab
> town of
> Sakhnin in Northern Israel at which point one of the
> members of Balad
> called out on Israeli Arabs not only to protest the actions
> but also
> to physically assault soldiers and to lead an armed
> rebellion against
> Israel. This goes beyond any sense of democratic protest or
> any
> democratic dissent on a government decision, it's a
> call for outright
> rebellion. We'll be presenting these statements to the
> High Court,
> showing that these parties do not simply disagree with the
> government.
> They are parties which openly want to overthrow and change
> the nature
> of the country. That goes beyond the spectrum of what
> should be
> allowed.
> 
> IPS: Attempts to exclude Arab parties from the elections
> have failed
> in 2003 and 2006. Why should it be any different this time?
> 
> DH: I can't say I have great confidence that it will
> work. But we have
> the law on our side and we have the responsibility to show
> that these
> parties have gone beyond what's democratically
> acceptable. It will
> even act as a sign to Israeli Arabs: if they feel they have
> grievance
> against the government, they have the democratic right to
> voice it,
> but not through leaders that fight and create further
> violence in the
> country. That's not the way they can achieve the kind
> of equality and
> enfranchisement they deserve.
> 
> They have to choose leaders that want to be part of the
> country, that
> may disagree with the government but can't call out for
> outright
> dissent. During the last elections the leader of Balad,
> Azmi Bshara,
> was accused of helping Hizbullah during the second Lebanon
> war. He
> fled the country before he could be indicted. Balad has
> never
> distanced itself from Bshara's actions and they still
> have a picture
> on their website as the inspirational leader of Balad.
> Again, the
> treasonous nature of these parties is revealed.
> 
> IPS: How do you react to the accusation of Jewish left and
> media that
> this is an election stunt to make headlines and win votes?
> 
> DH: There's a sound legal basis for what we're
> doing, and therefore I
> wouldn't call it a stunt. In all honesty I think
> Yisrael Beitenu would
> benefit more from having them run. Because when they run
> and open
> their mouths and say something violent and inciting, the
> media
> attention they get makes us go up in the polls. So it's
> not in our
> electoral interest to have them disqualified. We have a
> legal
> responsibility. And we feel that the High Court has been
> blind to the
> actual incitement, we hope this time they will change their
> minds and
> do what is appropriate according to the law.
> 
> IPS: In the meantime, Avigdor Liberman (Deputy Prime
> Minister,
> Minister of Strategic Affairs and President of Yisrael
> Beitenu) is
> campaigning with the slogan 'Without loyalty, no
> citizenship'. Isn't
> this a way to directly target Israeli Arabs?
> 
> DH: To a certain extent, yes, but there are also Jews who
> don't take
> responsibilities and loyalties that are demanded from a
> citizen by any
> state. While I admit that there's definitely
> discrimination against
> Arab Israelis, from a legal perspective they do have all
> the rights.
> And while they have the right to demand a higher level of
> equality and
> equal funding for government programmes, they don't
> have the right to
> demand the dissolution of the country.
> 
> We are very proud to enjoy the support of the Israeli Druze
> community:
> they are serving in the army, willing to accept Israel as a
> Jewish
> state and would like nothing more than to wear their
> citizenship,
> their loyalty on their sleeve and be judged by the
> commitments that
> they've made to the country to be treated as equal
> citizens.
> 
> IPS: Isn't it logical that Arabs or Palestinians
> aren't loyal to a
> state that is repeatedly called 'Jewish'?
> 
> DH: We can't allow a continuation of the fight about
> the country's
> nature. If that were to happen, the country would loose its
> legitimacy, both internally and externally. Israel was
> founded on the
> principle of being a Jewish state and has chosen to have a
> democratic
> government which honours the right of all its citizens to
> enjoy equal
> protection under the law. Unfortunately, Arab Israeli
> parties don't
> have leaders that are interested in bettering the rights of
> the Arabs,
> but leaders that are interested in causing trouble, that
> are actually
> trying to undermine the foundation of the state.
> 
> For instance, the Arab parties never vote on the budget.
> With
> substandard infrastructure and sewage in the Arab towns in
> Israel, you
> would expect that at least their elected leaders would
> intervene in
> the budget. But they never do, because they feel it has an
> underlying
> bias against Arabs. Essentially, they're trying to
> undermine the
> state, instead of working with it for the betterment of the
> population.
> 
> It was the same at the meeting of the Central Election
> Committee, when
> we decided to exclude them: it was almost comical when one
> of the Arab
> leaders yelled: "Israel is a racist country that's
> excluding parties
> while it's drinking the blood of Palestinian
> children". In the same
> sentence that they accuse Israel of racism, they drag out
> the oldest,
> most disgusting anti-semitic imagery.
> 
> While the left-wing parties in Israel have protested
> against many of
> our ideals and while there are many things we disagree on,
> we're still
> discussing with a party that wants the best for Israel.
> When a party
> is trying to do what is absolutely worst for Israel, in
> order to
> undermine the country, it goes beyond what's tolerable
> in a democracy.
> Such a party shouldn't have the right to sit in the
> government.
> 
> IPS: If you exclude the Arab parties from the elections,
> one-fifth of
> the population of Israel will not be able to represented in
> the
> Knesset. Isn't your initiative itself a direct assault
> on Israeli
> democracy?
> 
> DH: The High Court has repeatedly said exactly what you
> have just
> said. And yes, there's a good chance that they will
> allow those
> parties to run again. Because they feel Israeli Arabs
> deserve some
> kind of representation. They are welcome to vote for any
> Zionist party
> they want. Yisrael Beitenu, Kadima, Likud, as well as
> Labour and
> Meretz are all fielding non-Jewish candidates. And again,
> we don't
> want to prevent them from voting for their own interest,
> but their
> interest cannot be to undermine the very foundation of the
> country.
> (END/2009)
> 
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