AIPAC, ADL Refuse to
Condemn Inclusion of
Ethnic Cleansers in
New Israel
Government
Wednesday, March 05 2003 @ 08:55 AM GMT
By Ali Abunimah
Leading pro-Israeli organizations in the United States
havepointedly refused to condemn Ariel Sharon's
inclusion in his new government of the National Union
alliance parties whose members ranfor election on a
platform openly advocating the "transfer" -- orethnic
cleansing -- of the Palestinians.
The National Union is madeup of three parties, Moledet,
Tekuma and Israel Beitenu and wonseven seats in the
recent Israeli election.The American-Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), widelyregarded as the most
influential pro-Israeli group on Capitol Hill,did not issue
any statement marking the formation of the
newgovernment.
Rebecca Needler, AIPAC's press secretary explained to
me that, "we don't comment on domestic Israeli issues."
When I asked her if she thought that the inclusion in the
Israeli government of aparty that openly espouses
ethnic cleansing would make AIPAC's advocacy work
more difficult, Needler replied, "Israel's coalition
government is representative of a true democracy."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which boasts of "90
years fighting anti-Semitism, bigotry and extremism,"
also remained publicly silent. When I called for a
comment, a woman named Sarah in the media relations
office initially told me that, "we don't usually issue
statements on changes of government in democratic
countries."
I later received a call from ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman. I asked Foxman if his organization planned to
issue a statement commenting on the inclusion of the
National Union parties in the Israeli government.
Foxman's first reply was "Why would we?"
I countered, "because they ran on a platform in favor of
physically removing all the Palestinians from their
homeland."
Foxman said that it is "an overstatement to say that the
party ran on a platform of transfer." He claimed that this
was just the personal view of a few individual members.
On its website, however,one of the National Union
parties says, "Moledet ("homeland" in Hebrew) is an
ideological political party in Israel that embraces the idea
of population transfer as an integral part of
comprehensive plan to achieve real peace between the
Jews and the Arabs Living inthe Land of Israel. [sic] "
The party further boasts that, "Moledethas successfully
raised the idea of transfer in the public discourseand
political arena in both Israel and
abroad."(http://www.moledet.org.il/english/)
The National Union's combined platform states, "Within
the framework of any agreement, it is necessary to solve
the Palestinian refugee problem -- refugees who have
spent the past 55 years in refugee camps. The proposed
solution is transfer by agreement (population exchange)
by which the refugees would be settled in Arab countries
in place of Jews who emigrated to Israel from these
countries." Morethan eighty percent of the population of
Gaza and up to forty percent of the population of the
West Bank are
refugees.(http://www.leumi.org.il/en/index.html)
Foxman explained that since "transfer" is not part of the
coalition agreement, on which the new Israeli
government is built, there wasno reason to issue a
public comment.
"We disagree," he said, "with many parties on many
things, and we don't make statements about
everything." I asked if he didn't think the ADL had a
special duty to respond to proposals that fit the
international legal definition of genocide. Foxman
assured me that he thought the idea of transfer was
"unacceptable" and "undemocratic," but made no firm
commitment to condemn the new Israeli government for
including parties with a clear pro-ethnic cleansing
platform.
Foxman said he had not read the relevant party
platforms "in a while," a remarkable admission from a
man whose organization apparently scrutinizes for
evidence of 'anti-Semitism' every obscure pamphlet
issued in the backstreets of Cairo.
"I will go back and read them," Foxman assured, "and if
transfer becomes part of the coalition agreement, then
you can be sure you will hear from us."
The very high tolerance for racist and potentially
genocidal ideas that Foxman evinces when they come
from Israelis is not evident in other, lesser cases.
For example, when the far-right Freedom Partymade
gains in Austria's elections in 2000 on an anti-immigrant
platform, Foxman issued a statement saying, "It is
astonishing that a significant portion of the [Austrian]
population is ready to embrace a party and leadership
that espouse xenophobic and nativist positions and
statements." (ADL press release, 1 February
2000)Foxman and ADL President Howard Berkowitz even
flew off to Vienna to meddle directly in Austrian politics,
and met with Austrian President Thomas Klestil, as well
as the president of the Austrian parliament and other
senior officials.
According to a 28 February 2000 press release, "The
Anti-Defamation League has watched the political
situation in Austria with great concern. After meeting
with elected officials, including President Thomas Klestil,
were main deeply concerned about the decision by
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel to include Joerg Haider's
Freedom Party as part of his coalition.
"The idea of "solving" the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by
ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is gaining increasing
exposure in the United States as well as in Israel.
In February 2002, the ubiquitous daily USA Today
published an op-ed calling for "resettling" all the
Palestinians in Jordan, and in May 2002, then US
Republican Majority Leader, Congressman Dick Armey,
explicitly backed transfer on national television.
More recently, popular comedian Jackie Mason wrote an
article in The Jewish Press headlined, "Time To Threaten
Arabs With Mass Eviction."
It is hardly surprising that such dangerous notions are
becoming increasingly mainstream when the leading
pro-Israeli organizations utterly fail to condemn them,
and not a single American newspaper devotes an
editorial to rejecting them. In such an unrestrained
atmosphere it cannot be long before Sharon is indeed
able to openly espouse "transfer" and still be lauded in
Washington as a "man of peace."
This article was first published in The Daily Star on 3 March
2003(http://dailystar.com.lb)
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