In Israel's Supreme Court, Thoughtcrime Depends on Whether You're Jewish or Arab
A wicked man prospers because he is Jewish; a righteous man suffers because he is Palestinian. Could anything be more surreal than ex-cons defeating an innocent man in the High Court of Justice, and all because of an opinion piece?
On Friday my cellphone pinged: a recorded message from Itamar Ben-Gvir about his victory in the Supreme Court. He promised "Bara, bara" ("Get out!" in Arabic slang) to Sami Abu Shehadeh – and he delivered. That was enough to drive anyone crazy: A racist, Kahanist cabinet minister who is a convicted supporter of terrorism and who boasts about the war crimes he orders in Israeli prisons, incites the commission of crimes against humanity and celebrates his victory.
He does this on the steps of the Supreme Court. Next to him is Ze'ev Wolf, a lawyer who, together with fellow members of the Kach movement's "Retaliation Unit," threw a hand grenade into a crowd in the Old City of Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter, killing an older Palestinian man and wounding several others in 1992. The terrorism supporter and the murderer defeated a man who has never hurt a fly, neither a Jewish fly nor a Palestinian one.
The murderer became a lawyer, the terrorism supporter a government minister – and Abu Shehadeh was forced to withdraw from the Knesset election after the justices announced there was a majority in favor of his disqualification. A wicked man prospers, because he is Jewish; a righteous man suffers, because he is Palestinian. Could anything be more surreal than ex-cons defeating an innocent man in the High Court of Justice, and all because of an opinion piece?
The course was set when a panel of nine justices said that a majority would vote to disqualify Abu Shehadeh. This is the moral portrait of the Supreme Court in its current composition, the one whose independence the "change bloc" took to the streets to defend. This the court you defended? How embarrassing.
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Gone are the days when the erstwhile head of the Central Election Committee, Justice Mishael Cheshin, opposed the disqualification of Azmi Bishara over much graver claims than those made against Abu Shehadeh. "Your affiliation with Hezbollah annoys and outrages me," Cheshin said, adding: "but Israel's democracy is strong and can tolerate exceptions like Bishara."
Half a century later, Israel's democracy has weakened, its Supreme Court has weakened, Abu Shehadeh has been disqualified and Ben-Gvir is winning.
The hearing on the disqualification of all the Arab parties lasted nine hours, with three hours devoted to Abu Shehadeh. Absolute madness. Ben-Gvir, in the role of Gideon Hausner, implies that Abu Shehadeh is Adolf Eichmann: "When I stand before you here, I am not standing alone. With me are the 1,163 people who were slaughtered in this massacre." Did the 1,163 victims authorize Ben-Gvir to speak for them? Eichmann? Really?
Thus began the humiliating hearing of Abu Shehadeh, reminiscent of a Stalinist purge committee. The exalted justices sought to probe his innermost thoughts. They would never do that to a Jew: Did you truly want to kill 1,000 babies? None of them dared to see the bigger picture, in which individuals who incite genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass starvation are fit to run for office while a candidate who is a proponent of peace and equality is disqualified.
Justice Daphne Barak-Erez wanted to know if the gentleman regretted his remarks, even though he has already expressed remorse, as if this would help him; Justice Alex Stein asked to see "a single essay in English" in which Abu Shehadeh called Hamas a terror organization. And if the redeeming essay were found, would Stein have voted against disqualification? Surely you jest. Is Hamas a terror organization? Stein interrogated him the way any Arab is interrogated: If he answers yes, they say he doesn't mean it. If he answers no, or tries to evade the question, he's a terrorist.
The Supreme Thought Court wanted to know what he meant, but Abu Shehadeh and his lawyer, Hassan Jabareen, never stood a chance. The court was compelled to offer up its pound of flesh to the zeitgeist, to Israeli fascism and to the government. After all, even the princess of Israeli justice, the attorney general, was for disqualification.
The accused gave in, so we will never know if there was a righteous man in Sodom. But the spirit that blew through the court was clear: a Jewish and democratic disqualification, in the finest tradition of Zionist mendacity. From now on, Israeli Palestinians may think and express themselves only within the narrow confines set for them by the beacon of justice, whose light has long since been extinguished.