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Professor Hasan A. Yahya

When Israel invaded Lebanon 1982 hasan was 12 years old, Sabra and Shatilla massacre happened. This event may not understood when he was in that age, in 1988 First Intifada in the Palestinian lands, Hasan was 18 years old, almost high school senior, in 1990 and after Iraq, he was 20 years old.  In 1998 his parents died, he became alone. (The cause needs investigation). What life a young man like Hasan is expected to have? In 2001the 9/11 attack on N.Y, and illogical outrage included profiling of ALL Arabs and Muslims, and even Hindos and Iranians, who are not Arabs. When Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded after 2001 he was 30 years old.

In 2006 Hasan was 36 years old, he witnessed the destruction of Lebanon, and two years later, Gaza, while Arabs are watching, and USA postponing the UN action to stop the war in both cases. This is a humiliation factor for the majority of  Arabs and Muslims.

 The  central question, in Hasan’s case according to experts, is whether authorities decided to pursue their preliminary inquiry into Hasan as a criminal case or a terrorism tip. FBI  has said that investigators decided that Hasan’s e-mail exchanges with Awlaki were a legitimate part of the psychiatrist’s academic research. Whither Hasan’s communications with Awlaki were intercepted by the National Security Agency, through eavesdrops on e-mails and phone calls around the world, or not. Emails, and phones  every stupid or midsized mentality person (from the Middle East) knows that they are evesdropped by NSA. The major is smart not to give  evident even if he was planning something, but he did not think to do horrible things at that time.

His outrage was born heavily in his mind in the last few weeks, no more, no less. Therefore, the email issue is less important  to be taken as a factor for accusation.

 Mental ability, in my judgment, and according to Hasan’s life background as an Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian, and according to my knowledge of their cultures, mental ability is the only factor which should be taken into consideration in this case, and I will support this conclusion.

For simple reasons, the age, the origins, and American support for Israel, U.S.A involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Israeli stallment of the peace process. And finally the red flag deployment of Hasan by the army fired his nerves. Lack of understanding to this situation among young Muslims from FBI,  the Pentagon, and CIA, made the outrage took place. And in case they understood through their councilors they fail to understand Hasan’s case and act to solve the conflict. He was not able to release himself from the mission and tried by saying that to friends and colleagues, but no one listened to his appeal or raised the issue to help.

 Hasan is a person with feelings, like any other human being, he feels defeat, humiliation while just solution is not reached or attempted by U.S.A government. I don’t think he was Shi’i, he was an everyday defeated Arab, Muslim, and  Palestinian, forced by the negative influence of U.S.

In more details, eecently, in 2008-9 Gaza was under siege by the Occupation forces, and Israel guilt of committing systematic war crimes across Gaza and the West Bank, under the US consent and permission, which supported, funded and armed Israel during the war, as an accessory to those crimes.

 Concerning Goldstone Report, in going after Israel, the report,  unintended, is going after the US, which has committed many of the same crimes (side by side with Israel on the grounds by supplying Israel with arms, and in the UN to  stop the unequal war between occupied forces and occupied Gaza Strip and the small fraction of  Hamas).

USA will be blamed for its occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and perhaps through its drone attacks, in Pakistan and other countries. This is the report’s true danger, and why – from the US perspective - its accusations against Israel cannot stand. Foreign policy against his people. That’s why many Arabs and Muslims follow their emotions and think that he’s a hero, which is far from accuracy in this case.

 Other factor, the U.S. Foreign policy and UN Resolutions for Palestine were also humiliating Muslim communities everywhere, in both Arab Muslims in Arab countries, and abroad. With no listening ears or minds to break through the destruction of Lebanon in 2006, or the military attack against civilians in Gaza Strip. The  continuous and systematic abuse, outrages on personal dignity, humiliating and degrading treatment contrary to fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law according to Goldstone Report.

The week before, Goldstone Report, and 867 Congress Resolution. The report, written by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, has caused uproar in Israel and the US for its alleged bias against Israel and avoidance of serious criticism of Hamas. The condemnation, House Resolution 867, passed by a 344-36 vote. While the report in fact, concludes that the treatment of (Gazan)  civilians “constitutes the infliction of a collective penalty on those persons and amounts to measures of intimidation and terror. Such acts are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and constitute a war crime,” as the report says.

Goldstone sent a letter to members of Congress before the vote on the resolution refuting most of the allegations contained in it. But his rebuttal did not lead to substantive changes in the report’s accusations and apparently had no effect on the vote. After opposition of the report  unfolded, it would be easy to conclude that this is merely another case of the vaunted Israel lobby shutting down any debate over Israel’s actions in the Occupied Territories. Furthermore, the resolution recommendations calling on the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict” in multilateral fora.” Which is humiliating for Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians.

Why America sided with Israel and rejected the report. America is loosing political grounds for irrational congresspersons who blindly reject the report or further discussion of its content without full evaluation of the reactions to such resolution. The congress, in fact made the same mistake of Yassir Arafat, when he sided with Iraq against Kuwait in 1990, instead of fair position to be neutral.   

 It is not a secret, that foreign policy of the U.S was defeating all Arabs and Muslims in any UN decision or resolution concerning the Middle East. Through the last forty years. age of Hasan. After he became high school attendant.  Intifadah took place, Israeli atrocities destroyed  Lebanon, Gaza two years later, was destroyed (indirectly) by American assistance and support. It is not easy for a normal person to remain sane, would it be easy for a mentally troubled lonely, defeated and fearful person?  In Islam, life is so cheep, when it comes to preserve dignity, justice, and honor. Investigators experienced this quality among almost all prisoners of al-Qai’da.     

In addition, the consequences of Israeli rejection of peace, stalled peace efforts and Tel Aviv’s refusal to abide by UN resolutions, continuing settlement building, made Palestinian people divided with little hope. Palestinian people have not been able to reach a two-state solution through 18 years of negotiations. This is a disturbing matter, Palestinians are denied of return to their lands, (194 UN Resolution), Jerusalem is  fallen down piece by piece under Israeli boots recently, What do you want from Muslims to be, or how to act under these circumstances. The media masters minds. All the previous events in any Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian life time is humiliating, which I believe, make any normal person insane and full of outrage. While these events according to politicians can be understood, it would be very hard for a lay person to handle logically. Emotions will replace the mentality and reasoning to make a difference.

When Major Hasan made his decision, he was insane, lead by accumulated feelings through the years of defeat politically and on ground, such feeling if accompanied with fear  to be deployed to fight in Muslim land would be devastating as it was. While nothing justifies violence, temporary insanity of evaluating life price, is the only possible motive  for revenge. Hasan was a victim of circumstances, defeat,  loneliness and fear, rather than terrorist recruit.  (1410 words) www.hasanyahya.com

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On January 7, 2008, I received the following good news email from Mordecahi Vanunu:

Hi There,

The news:

The court hearing today postponed. Israel Gov’ by their prosecutor agree to change the 6 months prison sentence to community service. Next the prosecutor will discuss with us which community service I will do. So all this trial and sentence for the last 3 years come to nothing.

Wishing you to see me free very soon,

vmjc

Ever since Vanunu was convicted in July 2007 and sentenced to six more months in jail for the interviews he gave foreign media in 2004, this civilian journalist has suffered a guilty conscience because I have been streaming 2005 and 2006 video of Vanunu on my site and YOUTUBE. I figured if Israel would send Vanunu back to jail for interviews nobody is reading anymore, what would they do to him for videos that are currently freely streaming on the World Wide Web?

This civilian journalist also owes her very career to Vanunu, so I am in his debt for he inspired me to realize my childhood dream of growing up to be Brenda Starr, the red headed ace investigative journalist of the Sunday comics. Because of a chance crossing of paths with Vanunu in June 2005 that lead him to share with me about his childhood and journey into Christianity, I was also inspired to imagine an adult hope; of becoming the 21st century Dorothy Day, a radical Christian who birthed The Catholic Worker newspaper that gave voice to the poor and oppressed in the 20th century.

Because I had been reporting on Vanunu’s historic year and a half long freedom of speech trial in Jerusalem I was asked to speak in California on October 13, 2007-Vanunu’s 53rd birthday- at the NO More Wars for Israel Conference, which had been dedicated to him. I went with the hope and desire to raise some funds for Vanunu’s Defense before his January 8, 2008 appeal.

And another door opened to me when I heard another speaker there say,

“It was God that kept us afloat.”

That speaker was Phil Tourney, a USS LIBERTY Veteran who has now become a brother, a friend and comrade in the good fight for justice for the USS LIBERTY.

Liberty also means freedom from captivity.

When Phil spoke those seven words, I immediately knew in my heart/gut, I had to do something. In less than three months, I have heard those same words affirmed by every USS LIBERTY survivor and supporter, I have thus far spoken with; and I have only just begun.

Although Vanunu’s and the LIBERTY Vet’s situations are very different, they are also very connected in my heart/gut. In both instances governments that claim to be democracies told truth tellers to SHUT UP and both governments have lied and covered up……..

I made a phone call on January 5, 2008, to LIBERTY CENTRAL/Rich Schmucker. I thought I was just doing another USS LIBERTY article, but another door opened up to me.

Rich wasn’t on the USS LIBERTY, the spy ship that Israel attacked and tried to destroy during the Six Day War, but he has been a supporter and accumulator of records galore about that day in infamy when the USA Government failed to support the troops, Congress went limp and the MSM went MIA.

Rich told me, “From 1963 until 1969, I was a CT, a Communications Technician stationed at the Naval base in Wahiawa, Hawaii. CT’s are apart of the intelligence community and our work was classified. I never heard a word about what happened on June 8, 1967 in the Mediterranean until I was in a library in Auburn, Nebraska in 1979 and came across Jim Ennis’s book, ASSAULT ON THE LIBERTY.

“I checked it out and after reading it, I became so dang angry because I hadn’t heard anything about it while in the Navy, or in the newspapers or on TV, so I began doing research. Through the years I have obtained over two hundred pounds of documents and I have stuff the crew never even knew about. What I read opened more doors and I was led to contact Russians, Egyptians, Israelis and others and my phone bill was higher than a kite.

“I got the USA documents using the Freedom of Information Act and most of the time I got what I asked for, but sometimes, I was completely ignored. I signed a secrecy agreement when I entered the Navy and I think one of the reasons our government has ignored me was because they didn’t want to give me any credibility. The only negativity I met with was when I received a package from Paris, France. Two hours after opening it up, I landed in the hospital because it had some kind of poison in it. Apparently somebody in France didn’t like me because I was asking questions about the USS LIBERTY. I have gotten a couple of phone threats, but it’s the one’s who won’t talk to you, you have to worry about. “

Rich’s comment caused me to reflect upon the link I have to my website that affirms that the USA Government, Israel [and France!] are consistently in the Top 20 out of 70+ countries that hit on WAWA every day. Nobody from any of those governments ever email me, but I have been and remain grateful they are interested in this little sister of Christ, for Big Brother is out of control and it is empire that I am challenging on the web.

Rich continued, “It’s not the Jewish people or the Jewish religion I have a problem with. It’s the governments of America and Israel that colluded in the cover-up that I have a problem with…This is off topic, but I want to tell you that one day I was just sitting there looking at a picture of the Star of David and I realized it had six little triangles, six sides in the center and six points and I wondered if it was the Mark of The Beast; you know 666 from the Book of Revelation.”

I had never heard of such a thing but I do know that some modern day Biblical scholars contend that the number 666 was code for the Roman Emperor Nero. The ancients used numerical codes of the alphabet and writers were thus able to name without actually naming those contemporary figures that were politically dangerous to openly criticize.

Some current day Christian fundamentalists believe that 666 is a code for the letters of a name or title of the Antichrist. A particular cult of modern day USA fundamentalist Christians who are pro-war, pro-torture, pro-military occupation and lust for Armageddon best exemplify what centuries of theologians understood to be what the term anti-Christ is really all about.

The term “antichrist” never appears in John’s Revelation or Daniel, two disparate works of literature written three centuries apart and under very different circumstances, yet some modern day Christian fundamentalists have woven them together and have left behind what the author who coined the term ‘antichrist’ actually penned. The writer of 1 John and 2 John-the only sources in the Bible where the term appears wrote:”…as you have heard that the antichrist is coming; even now many have come…”- I John 2:18

To be anti anything is to be against something. To be anti-Christ is to be against what Jesus was all about; and Jesus was all about forgiving, blessing and loving one’s enemies and remaining nonviolent even while being nailed to a cross.

Nuclear weapons and military occupation are in direct conflict with what Jesus taught and lived.

Jesus also taught liberation from the bondage of the corrupt teachers of The Law, who made their bread off of the poor. The Temple priests made their living by convincing the people that God would only accept them after they paid for ritual baths and sacrificing livestock, that only the Temple priests could perform.

Jesus was a dissident, a subversive, social justice radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who challenged the job security of the Temple priests by teaching the people that they didn’t need to pay the priests a dime to be OK with God, for God already loved them, just as they were; sinners, diseased, outcasts, refugees, prisoners all living under Roman Military occupation.

What got Jesus crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Occupying Forces because he taught the people that in God’s eyes everyone is equally valuable and Caesar only had power because God allowed it.

2,000 years ago the cross has NO religious symbolism. When Jesus said: “Pick up your cross and follow me,” everyone then understood he was issuing a political statement. The Roman Empire crucified thousands of agitators, rebels, dissidents and any others who disturbed the status quo, and the road to Jerusalem was lined with the Roman Occupying Forces method of the death penalty.

Jesus did not speak Hebrew, he spoke Aramaic. The word Nero, written in Aramaic was valued at 666 in the Hebrew numbering system. The Roman Empire oppressed Jews and Christians and both communities used codes, symbols and numerology understood by their members, but not the empire.

I asked Rich had he ever considered that the anti-Christ might actually be nuclear weapons. Had he ever considered that the anti-Christ is not a man at all but is the evil that comes from a heart that seeks power, control and empire. I asked Rich had he ever wondered about how governments promote nuclear weapons as instruments of peace, but nukes only reap destruction and instability for they fill others with the desire to obtain them.

Rich hadn’t thought of such a thing and neither had Vanunu when I raised the very same question to him in June 2005.

But Vanunu did reply, “The only way to peace is peace; the only way is nonviolence. The only answer to Israeli nuclear weapons, their aggression, occupation and oppression, and the wall and refugee camps is to answer them with truth and a peaceful voice. When I became the spy for the world, I did it all for the people of the world. If governments do not report the truth, and if the media does not report the truth, then all we can do is follow our consciences. Daniel Ellsberg did, the woman from Enron did, and I did. The United States needs to wake up and see the truth that Israel is not a democracy, unless you are a Jew. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where America can right now find nuclear weapons.

“America can also find where basic human rights have been denied Christians: right here in Israel.The time has come for the United States to see the truth of Zionism. It began as a secular nationalist movement, not a religious one. Then some Christians believed that when Israel became a nation, it was the beginning of the second coming. They are deluded if they believe peace will come through atomic weapons. Atomic weapons are holocaust weapons. Christians should be the first people against them.

“The Christians in America should be helping the Christians here. America needs to wake up to this fallacy that Jesus will come back by nuclear war. America needs to wake up to the fact that the Palestinian Christians here have no human rights. Aren’t Christians supposed to be concerned about other Christians? Aren’t Christians supposed to be concerned about all the poor and oppressed?”

I totally agreed with Vanunu and told him, “It is non-negotiable: all of that stuff Jesus said about doing for the least and the oppressed. It is non-negotiable for Christians; we must forgive our enemies, and we must love those who hate us. Whatever we do or do not do, we do it unto God. Every time I went through a checkpoint, saw The Apartheid Wall, or heard a story of oppression, I wondered how God can stand this situation. I can’t. I also think you were crucified for telling the truth.”

Vanunu agreed, “My human rights have been denied me because I am a Christian. When I was on trial, I was treated just like a Palestinian: no human rights at all, and cruel and unusual punishment, all because I told the truth. The government spread slander about me, that I was a homosexual, that I hated Jews, that I wanted fame and money. What I did was sacrifice my life for the truth. In prison, I really began to feel like Jesus and Paul. When Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, it was like me in Dimona, exposing the Israelis’ dirty secrets. I felt like Paul, being thrown in prison for speaking the truth.

“The only real way to worship is in loving one’s enemies. It was not easy to love my tormentors; it was only because I felt so much like Jesus crucified on the cross, and as if I was crucified in prison, that I could do it. It was not ever easy. I have forgiven but not forgotten anything, and I never will. In Israel, a life sentence is twenty-five years. Even murderers go free after seventeen. They imposed the same restrictions on me that Palestinians receive: no human rights at all; no phone; no visitors, except family, and only through an iron grill; no vacation; no holidays; and no gifts. Even murderers get out for vacations! I was locked up for eighteen years and still cannot go on vacation; I cannot leave, and that is all I am asking for, just to leave here. For eighteen years in prison, they even attempted to control my thoughts on paper. I would write exactly what I wanted and they would censor words like kidnapped and atomic bomb. They would show me how they chopped up my letters, but I continued to write exactly what I wanted. They held my body, but never my spirit or mind.”

……After I said good bye to Rich I immediately flipped my Bible open to the Book of Revelation as I prayed for a revelation of my own. What jumped out at me was:

“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words…to blaspheme God and to slander his name and his dwelling place…He who has an ear, let him hear…If anyone kills…he will be killed.” Rev.13: 5-10

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth…I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven…and I heard a loud voice saying, “There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev. 21: 1-4

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don’t stand in the doorway

Don’t block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There’s a battle outside

And it is ragin’.

It’ll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin’

Regional and Local Context

It would be quite unfair, particularly in the face of the current anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda in the international community, to write about civil rights problems in Israel without first presenting a factual context. The state of Israel, contrary to popular opinion, is not the foremost opponent of human and civil rights in the Middle East, not by a long shot.

Israel is not connected in any way with the child executions in Iran, or the horrid practice of female circumcision practiced in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, or the ruthless Iranian terror campaign in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The recent genocide in Sudan and the fighting between Yemen and Saudi Arabia have absolutely nothing to do with Israel. Likewise, the Taliban war in Afghanistan, the war between Egypt and Yemen where the Egyptians used the chemical weapons, and Saddam Hussein’s use of poison gas against his Kurdish citizens have absolutely no relation to Israel. Certainly, Hussein did not attempt to conquer Kuwait because of Israel. In fact, from the genocide and ethnic cleansing in the last few years in Algeria, the ruthless murder of thousands of Syrian citizens in El Hamma by their own government, to the Libyan hijacking and destruction of the Pan-Am flight a few decades ago, none of these horrible abuses of human rights have anything to do with Israel whatsoever.

The main problem in our region, which includes 22 nations stretching from Afghanistan to Morocco and from Turkey to Somalia, is radical Islam, which has effectively booted over 300 million Moslems back into the dark ages. This whole region, with a land mass exceeding that of the USA, and massive oil and natural resources, has a combined GDP smaller than that of the nation of Italy. The gaps between those who have and those who have not, in this sad reality, are simply staggering. The status of women’s rights is deplorable. Millions of children are exploited, abused and indoctrinated with militant hatred. Minority religions, such as Christianity and Judaism, are tolerated, but have virtually no rights, public representation, or substantive freedom to share their faith. In the heart of this terribly dysfunctional region, a tiny fledging democracy called Israel has somehow succeeded in not only surviving; indeed, it is thriving. 

The fact that there are more Israeli companies traded on NASDAQ than all of Europe combined, even more than India, China, Korea and Japan combined, and that Israel has the fastest growing entrepreneurial economy, in the midst of an international global economic crisis, is quite impressive. But it is nothing less than a miracle that this miniscule Jewish nation, located in the midst of the most chaotic region on the globe, has succeeded in building a strong, democratic society, which places the highest value of the sanctity of human life, liberty and freedom of religion.

We are by no means stating that Israel is a utopia. If it were, there would be no need for the advocacy of a civil rights organization like the Jerusalem Institute of Justice. Anyone who has lived in this nation, for even a relatively short amount of time, knows that Israel, like every nation, has serious weaknesses and struggles.

In our opinion, Israel’s civil rights challenges have evolved as the result of three major phenomena within its society. One phenomenon is the prevalence, and indeed the deepening, of a collective mentality coined by the Israeli academia as a “siege mentality”. The second phenomenon has more to do with the organic development of historic political realities, namely the disproportionately large political power granted to the ultra-orthodox Jewish sector in Israel, in spite of their relatively small numbers in the society at large. The third phenomenon, which is not a challenge faced exclusively by Israel, is the ongoing, unconventional, unethical, and downright evil attempt of radical Islamic elements in the region to infiltrate, undermine and ultimately destroy the egalitarian fabric of all western democracies. We will very briefly touch on how each of the above phenomena has developed and coalesced, and how their combination has created a situation of systematic illegal discrimination in certain cases in Israel.

Siege Mentality

A siege mentality is a common factor in people groups who have a collective history of persecution and constant existential threats. It would be superfluous to list here all of the attempts to eradicate the Jewish nation, from the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, to the emperors of Rome, to the popes of the inquisitions and the leaders of the Third Reich; nation after nation, people after people, leader after leader have persecuted, hounded, harassed and brutally murdered innumerable amounts of Jewish people spanning several millennia.

The effect that this historic reality leaves on the collective mentality of any people group is the acute sense that they are under a constant siege. This mentality is unfortunately reinforced in Israel by current realities. Undeniably, genocidal despots still find a platform in the international community from which to spew forth their rabid anti-Semitism; Mahmud Ahmadinejad tops off the current list.

The siege mentality is so vivid in the Israeli society, that many times new or unusual streams within Judaism, let alone foreign movements or societies, are perceived as an existential threat, a “time-bomb”, or an attempt to extinguish the Jewish people. There are organizations in the Israeli society which thrive on the promulgation and magnification of the siege mentality.

Although Messianic Judaism, for instance, currently accounts for less than 0.2 percent of the Israeli population, there are self-described “anti-missionary” organizations which raise tens of millions of dollars per year to “fight the Mission”. Such organizations play on the siege mentality by constantly exaggerating the size of the Messianic Jewish movement, and presenting its members as devious individuals with the sole goal of converting as many Jews as possible to a foreign religion: a clear and present danger as far as they’re concerned.

Political Power of the Ultra-Religious

The disproportionate political power of ultra-religious Jewish factions in Israeli politics is the direct result of the structure of our coalition-government-system.

Israeli democracy is both fascinating and admirable. It never ceases to amaze political science students to see how such a heterogeneous democratic system continues to function. After any given election, we usually have anywhere from ten to thirteen political parties represented in our parliament. These may include right-wing parties, left-wing parties, Russian immigrant parties, Arab communist parties, ultra-religious parties, national-religious parties, as well as parties with the sole goal of separating religion and state.

In fact, there are Arab members of parliament in Israel who do not believe in the legitimacy of the existence of the state of Israel. Yet these MPs are permitted to express that opinion in the parliament of the very state which they wish to undermine. In this sense, Israel is probably the strongest democracy in the world.

After each election, a coalition government is formed by creating a political pact of several parties representing at least 61 out of 120 seats in the parliament. Traditionally, the political map is split up into three political blocs; a large left-wing bloc, a large right-wing bloc, and relatively small ultra-religious bloc.

For the last three decades it has been impossible for either the right-wing bloc or the left-wing bloc to have enough seats to create a coalition government on their own. In the 2009 elections, for instance, the right-wing had a stunning victory, but they still lacked around 7 seats to reach the 61 seat majority; hence the need to incorporate the ultra-religious parties into the coalition government. Without them, there would be no government, and for this reason they are commonly referred to as the “swivel vote”, a term used to denote their relatively large amount of power.

The ultra-religious parties will typically join either a right-wing or left-wing government, just as long as they can receive more funding for their educational institutions and maintain the control of key ministries in the government, particularly the Ministry of Interior; a position they have held for most of the last 30 years.

The Ministry of Interior is responsible in Israel for the administration of many basic civil rights, which affect the life of each citizen from the time they are born to the time they die; namely the registration of birth, the granting of citizenship, the registration of addresses and voting zones, the recognition of religious conversions, the allocation of funds to religious institutions, the licensing of fire-arms, the recognition of marriages, the administration of burial rights and the registration of deaths.

To complicate matters further, even though Israel’s Declaration of Independence, its code of laws and its court precedents uphold the right of freedom of religion, many of the civil rights in Israel are administrated based solely upon religious affiliation. Such rights would include the granting of citizenship, the recognition of religious conversions, the allocation of funds to religious institutions, the recognition of marriages, and the administration of burial rights. One can see why the ultra-religious parties prefer to control this portfolio.

Simply by profiling any citizen as belonging to a certain religion, their representatives can grant or deny such a citizen basic civil rights. Thus the controversial question of “who is a Jew” goes beyond theological discourse in Israel and has very profound implications in the life of each Israeli citizen. By maintaining their position in the Ministry of Interior, the ultra-religious parties have effectively maintained a monopoly in Israel over deciding who is a Jew for every practical purpose.

Without going into extensive detail, it is sufficient to say that this reality does not just affect the civil rights of minority religious streams in Israel. If we take the issue of marriage as case in point, there are some 350,000 Israeli citizens who are prevented from getting married in Israel, because they do not fall into the orthodox definition of being Jewish (i.e. strictly by maternal heritage), and they do not fall into the definition of any other religion either (e.g. one who has a Jewish father and a Christian mother). For this reason, around 11,000 Israeli citizens per year fly overseas, particularly to Cyprus, to get married, so that after they return, their own government will recognize their marriage.

Unconventional Security Threats

It is reasonable to say that in recent times Israel’s, and indeed most of the western world’s, security threats have become unconventional in every sense of the word. From sophisticated identity theft, to suicide bombings, to abuse of freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of religion for militant purposes, to intentional targeting of civilian populations, to plain-clothed soldiers hiding in houses of prayer and hospitals, to smuggling massive amounts of weapons on commercial freighters, the radical Islamic expansionist movement has made a gross mockery of conventional rules of engagement.

The major difference between Israel and much of the western world, however, is a difference of proximity. This nation of approximately 6,000,000 Jews is surrounded by some 300,000,000 Moslems, millions of which reside within its own borders. This situation has obviously not helped to diffuse or moderate Israel’s already existing siege mentality.

Sophisticated warfare requires sophisticated defense mechanisms, and Israel, for pragmatic reasons, is far ahead of the international community at adapting to this new reality. Through the use of very advanced intelligence tactics and administrative cross-referencing, Israel is able to carefully monitor suspects posing a security threat and to prevent them from reeking havoc in the Israeli society.

Unfortunately, no advanced system of profiling, monitoring and prevention, no matter how sophisticated, can be on target 100% of the time, and a small percentage of innocent civilians are bound to suffer the consequences from time to time. This is an inconvenience that we all bear due to the dubious methods practiced by Islamic terrorists in our modern societies.

Case in Point

An excellent illustration of civil rights problems caused by the convergence of the aforesaid phenomena is the issue of the Ministry of Interior’s Denial of Service Regulation (DSR). The DSR, which was condemned by the Supreme Court in 2004 and is still in practice to this day, was created to protect Israel from security threats both from within and from outside its boarders.

If, for instance, an Arab woman who is a resident of East Jerusalem marries a Jordanian citizen who is suspected by Israel’s security forces of being a terrorist, the Ministry of Defense can notify the Ministry of Interior with regards to its suspicions. According to the DSR, the Ministry of Interior must mark the file of the aforesaid citizen and deny her services, until such a time as the file is cleared by the legal department of the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense.

This method, in theory, can prevent suspected terrorists from infiltrating Israel by obtaining citizenship through marriage. Unfortunately, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice has handled many cases where the DSR has been used against innocent citizens in Israel over the past few years, simply because of their religious affiliation.

In most cases, so called “anti-missionary organizations” have written letters to clerks in the Ministry of Interior, who were appointed by the ultra-religious factions in control of that office, accusing certain Messianic Jewish citizens of being a “threat to the existence of the Jewish state”, because of missionary activity. Regardless of the fact that no Messianic Jew in the history of the State of Israel has ever been indicted, tried, or convicted of illegal missionary activity (which in Israel consists either of actively proselytizing a minor under 18 years of age, or bribing someone to change their religion), and regardless of the fact that such clerks are not authorized to apply the DSR based notifications from non-government sources, the inevitable result always occurs.

Numerous Messianic Jewish citizens have been denied basic services from the Ministry of Interior, ranging from denial of entrance into the country, to refusing to register a newborn child, to refusing to renew a passport, to refusing to grant citizenship to a spouse (and unfortunately, the list goes on and on), because their file was marked with a denotation prescribed for terrorists.

The clerks in the Ministry of Interior, like the vast majority of the Israeli society, usually suffer from a siege mentality, and they see their position as an opportunity to protect the nation of Israel from “the others”. No matter how well-intentioned they may be, they are susceptible to propaganda from ultra-religious extremists which create phobias by magnifying perceived threats to the existence of the Jewish people. These same clerks report to representatives of the ultra-religious parties which appointed them to their positions, and which consistently look for ways to favor citizens who fit into their narrow, warped definition of who is a Jew and to deny basic rights to those who don’t fit into it. To complicate matters, these same ultra-orthodox parties have at their disposal very sophisticated systems that were created to profile, monitor and prevent infiltration of radical Islamic terrorists into Israel.

Civil Rights Advocacy

The good news, as mentioned in the beginning of this article, is that Israel is a strong democracy. We have an excellent independent court system which upholds the rule of law, and a free and independent media. This means that the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, and other civil rights advocacy groups in Israel, have all of the tools necessary to achieve justice in cases of discrimination.

Indeed, thanks to the tools that are available to us, we have successfully handled over 350 cases of discrimination over the past 5 years, including 15 victories in the High Court of Justice. We have combated the unequal application immigration laws, prevented revocation of citizenship and residency rights, safeguarded freedom of worship, and prevented unlawful termination of employment based on religious affiliation.

Our goal is to make Israel an even stronger democracy. There is a war raging between western democracy, which values human life and dignity, and radical Islamic fundamentalism, which thrives on oppression and terror. Israel stands at the forefront of this war and, no matter where you live, her success as the only democracy in the Middle East will have profound effects on the peace and security of you and your children.

For more information about the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, civil rights in Israel, and how you can help strengthen Israel’s democracy, please visit us at: www.jij.org.il.

If you, or anyone you know, are facing a civil rights problem in Israel, you are welcome to turn to the Jerusalem Institute of Justice for help at: counsel@jij.org.il.

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