Hi everyone!
There's a freedom of speech battle currently being waged in Israel between the media and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a report in today's New York Times, Israel's Channel 10 -- one of only two independent channels in the state of Israel -- is under fire for a report it broadcast last spring about an expensive vacation Netanyahu and his wife had taken to New York, London, and Paris on the dime of wealthy friends in 2009, before he became prime minister but was a member of parliament. The network went so far as to make public the bills the Netanyahu's racked up during their trip. As a result, the prime minister's rightist Likud party has refused to extend the end-of-January deadline Channel 10 had been granted to pay back its $11 million debt.
This isn't the first time Channel 10 has infuriated the Likud Party. In 2006, Channel 10 broadcast a series of negative reports on Israel's handling of the Lebanon War as well as allegations of under-the-table land deals conducted by Ariel Sharon's family while he was prime minister. In addition, Channel 10 was instrumental in reporting on the deaths of a Palestinian doctor and his three daughters during Israel's military strikes against Gaza in 2008-2009. In other words, what this boils down to is an attempt by the Israeli government to stifle freedom of speech in a country that was purportedly founded on democratic principles. The latest moves against Channel 10 come mere weeks after legislation was introduced in the Knesset that seeks to prevent loudspeakers in Israel from announcing the Islamic call to prayer and another that prevents left-leaning Israeli groups from receiving financial aid from foreign governments.
According to the New York Times, over the past ten years, Channel 10 was financed by several wealthy investors who happened to be friends of Netanyahu, including American cosmetic mogul Ronald S. Lauder and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. Netanyahu had initially supported the idea of a right-oriented news network because he'd felt Israel's news channels were too liberal. But once Channel 10 started criticizing the Likud Party's more hawkish policies the channel rapidly fell out of favor. If the network fails to either get another extension on its debt repayment or pay the $11 million outright, it will be off the air in a month's time, which means Israel will be left with only one independent television network...again a rather dubious distinction in a country meant to be a democracy.
Of course, democracy in Israel is a selective affair. Any country that practices a brutal form of apartheid against its native inhabitants can hardly be considered a democratic state. This is also a country where its Arab population is forced to live as second class citizens and is not granted a representative voice in parliament. I realize that Israel has had to endure its share of terrorist attacks and should be granted a certain leeway in defending itself, but the indiscriminate and disproportionate killing of innocent women and children in the name of self-defense is not only shameful, it is criminal. Unfortunately, precedents for this have long since been set -- the U.S. (Israel's biggest backer) has only to look to its own history of violence against its Native American population. All one has to do is drive through New Mexico or Arizona to witness the continual devastating effects of this genocide.
At any rate, Israel is now facing perhaps its most uncertain time since the Yom Kippur War. With the Arab Spring opening the door for more Islamist-leaning governments that don't necessarily intend to honor a long-standing detente with the Jewish state, Israel is facing an existential crisis. However, government-sanctioned suppression of news reports that criticize the ruling party is not the way to go about protecting itself. Censorship of this kind is what prompted millions in the Arab World to take to the streets in demand of greater freedoms. If the Israeli government continues to suppress dissenting views in its media and legislation as seems to be occurring, could an Israeli spring be next? It's doubtful but not totally outside the realm of possibility. Of greater probability though is a third intifada as Palestinians and Israeli Arabs choose to follow the lead of their brothers and sisters in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and elsewhere in the Arab World. If this were to happen, Israel would find itself in serious trouble indeed.
Ciao.
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestine. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Religion: An Extremist Opiate for the Dispossessed Masses
Hi everyone!
It is always disappointing when religious-inspired violence mars religious holidays. While sitting in my post-Christmas dinner food coma last night, I was upset when I turned on the BBC and saw that a Catholic church in Madala, a suburb of the Nigerian capital Abuja, was bombed as the faithful filed out after Christmas Mass. According to the New York Times, at least 25 people were confirmed killed while many others were wounded or unidentified. An Al-Qaeda affiliated insurgent group, Boko Haram ("Western education forbidden") claimed responsibility for the attack which comes on the heels of a series of lesser bombings and skirmishes in the area over the past few days.
According to various reports, Boko Haram have typically limited their terrorist activities to the northern, Muslim-dominated, area of Nigeria while focusing their attacks on local government headquarters and the police with the reported aim of imposing a stricter form of Shariah law on the country. In August, however, they claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja, which killed at least 23 people. The Christmas bombing marks the first time Boko Haram have specifically targeted a Christian institution, and the fact that they chose Christmas Day, one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, is particularly disturbing in that it indicates a decision to deliberately aggravate Christian-Muslim tension in the area.
I feel particularly disappointed in these events because for the past year I have been cheering on the Arab Spring movement and have been heartened by the fact that fundamentalist Islam has remained more-or-less out of it. And while I know that at its heart Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked by a relatively small minority of its adherents, I continue to be sickened by the tenacity of those who corrupt Islam to serve their nefarious means. In the grand scheme of history, Islam is a new-ish religion, at least when compared to its Judeo-Christian counterparts. Christianity has its own history of violence, particularly upon Muslims during the dark days of the Crusades. An argument can be made--and I have heard this--that Islam is merely going through its Dark Ages and that every religion must endure a period of growth and development that puts it in conflict with, well, the rest of the world. Perhaps this is what we are witnessing now?
Meanwhile, Gaza-based Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya embarked yesterday on a two-week mission throughout the Arab World to raise money and support for Hamas. While Hamas has been labeled a terrorist organization by the US and other Western governments, one cannot deny its role in Gaza as a humanitarian organization. Many Palestinians have greatly benefited from Hamas's efforts to help those who have been affected by the Israeli blockade. It is no wonder that it enjoys the support that it does. While I certainly do not condone Palestinian terrorist activities, I understand their frustration as that of the powerless. I believe that the majority of Palestinians (and Israelis for that matter) support a peaceful resolution to their ongoing conflict. Unfortunately, each side is hijacked by extremists--Arab and Israeli--who use religion as their most lethal weapon.
While organized religion of any ilk has the capacity to be a source of comfort and genuine good, I fear that it has an equal--and perhaps more powerful--capacity as an extremist opiate for the dispossessed masses. I want to believe in its positive and life-affirming elements but am continually disappointed by what I am seeing perpetrated in the world, all under the guise of organized religion, regardless of whether it's done in the name of Christ, Moses, or Mohammed. I fear I am going to be disappointed for a long time.
Ciao.
It is always disappointing when religious-inspired violence mars religious holidays. While sitting in my post-Christmas dinner food coma last night, I was upset when I turned on the BBC and saw that a Catholic church in Madala, a suburb of the Nigerian capital Abuja, was bombed as the faithful filed out after Christmas Mass. According to the New York Times, at least 25 people were confirmed killed while many others were wounded or unidentified. An Al-Qaeda affiliated insurgent group, Boko Haram ("Western education forbidden") claimed responsibility for the attack which comes on the heels of a series of lesser bombings and skirmishes in the area over the past few days.
According to various reports, Boko Haram have typically limited their terrorist activities to the northern, Muslim-dominated, area of Nigeria while focusing their attacks on local government headquarters and the police with the reported aim of imposing a stricter form of Shariah law on the country. In August, however, they claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja, which killed at least 23 people. The Christmas bombing marks the first time Boko Haram have specifically targeted a Christian institution, and the fact that they chose Christmas Day, one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, is particularly disturbing in that it indicates a decision to deliberately aggravate Christian-Muslim tension in the area.
I feel particularly disappointed in these events because for the past year I have been cheering on the Arab Spring movement and have been heartened by the fact that fundamentalist Islam has remained more-or-less out of it. And while I know that at its heart Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked by a relatively small minority of its adherents, I continue to be sickened by the tenacity of those who corrupt Islam to serve their nefarious means. In the grand scheme of history, Islam is a new-ish religion, at least when compared to its Judeo-Christian counterparts. Christianity has its own history of violence, particularly upon Muslims during the dark days of the Crusades. An argument can be made--and I have heard this--that Islam is merely going through its Dark Ages and that every religion must endure a period of growth and development that puts it in conflict with, well, the rest of the world. Perhaps this is what we are witnessing now?
Meanwhile, Gaza-based Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya embarked yesterday on a two-week mission throughout the Arab World to raise money and support for Hamas. While Hamas has been labeled a terrorist organization by the US and other Western governments, one cannot deny its role in Gaza as a humanitarian organization. Many Palestinians have greatly benefited from Hamas's efforts to help those who have been affected by the Israeli blockade. It is no wonder that it enjoys the support that it does. While I certainly do not condone Palestinian terrorist activities, I understand their frustration as that of the powerless. I believe that the majority of Palestinians (and Israelis for that matter) support a peaceful resolution to their ongoing conflict. Unfortunately, each side is hijacked by extremists--Arab and Israeli--who use religion as their most lethal weapon.
While organized religion of any ilk has the capacity to be a source of comfort and genuine good, I fear that it has an equal--and perhaps more powerful--capacity as an extremist opiate for the dispossessed masses. I want to believe in its positive and life-affirming elements but am continually disappointed by what I am seeing perpetrated in the world, all under the guise of organized religion, regardless of whether it's done in the name of Christ, Moses, or Mohammed. I fear I am going to be disappointed for a long time.
Ciao.
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