If a serious inquiry committee investigates the financing of the extreme right, it will discover that much of it comes straight from the pocket of the American taxpayer. That is one of the great scandals: the US government is financing many of the settlements. For dozens of years, it has turned a blind eye to the American organizations that are providing funds to the settlements -- settlements that are illegal even in the official policy view of the US government. In the US, one can donate tax-free money for humanitarian purposes -- but not for political purposes. Almost all the money flowing to the extreme right in Israel is officially marked as devoted to humanitarian purposes.
And what about the Russian mafiosi, who are intimately connected with the Israeli right? What about the various dictators in fragments of the former Soviet Union? Where does Lieberman, whose connections with these countries are well-known, get his money from? Police investigators have been trying for years to unravel this mystery, with no concrete results so far.
All this could keep several inquiry committees busy for years to come -- and the initiators of the bills know this perfectly well. They are adamant: inquiry into leftist associations only, most definitely not rightist ones. (Rather like the lady who cried out in the darkness of a cinema: "Take your hands of me! Not you, YOU!"
THE INITIATORS of the bills did not hide the identity of the associations they want to "investigate." The list includes B'Tselem ("In the Image"), a veteran outfit that monitors events in the occupied territories and is treated with respect even by the army; Shovrim Shtika ("Breaking the Silence"), a group of former soldiers that collects testimonies from soldiers; Yesh Din ("There is a Law"), which is active in matters of land ownership in the occupied territories as well as overseeing the military courts; Yesh Gvul ("There is a Limit"), which defends soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories; Machsom Watch ("Checkpoint Watch"), an organization of female volunteers who oversee what's happening at the roadblocks; "Physicians for Human Rights," who have just been awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in Stockholm for activities in service of the sick in the occupied territories; the Association for Human Rights, the New Fund, IR Arim ("City of Peoples"), which conducts legal fights against the penetration of settlers into East Jerusalem; and Shalom Achschav ("Peace Now") for its important activities monitoring the building in the settlements.
(As far as I am concerned, this is a deeply insulting list because it omits Gush Shalom. Maybe the bodies hiding behind the initiators of the bill know that the Gush does not receive a penny from any foreign governmental source.)
There is nothing wrong with receiving funding from international governmental sources that are active in the field of human rights around the world. The Breaking the Silence group did not hide the fact that its recent book, a collection of the testimonies of 183 soldiers, was financed by the European Union. They boasted about it on the cover of the book.
ESPECIALLY REPREHENSIBLE is the pretense of the racists to be acting on behalf of the soldiers. They do not speak about the de-legitimization of the settlers, or of the fascist right, or of the racist policies of our government -- only about the "de-legitimization of the IDF soldiers."
That is a classic tactic of all fascist movements in the world. They wrap themselves in the flag of patriotism ("patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel") and claim to defend "our troops."
Our troops come from all segments of society. They include rightists and leftists, the religious and the secular, settlers and the informants of Breaking the Silence. Who appointed this peddler of poisoned cherries to speak for "our troops"? Woe to the army that needs defenders like these!
THE CAREER of Joe McCarthy was suddenly cut short. It was buried under one sentence that made history.
Joseph Nye Welch, a respected lawyer representing the US army, who appeared before the McCarthy committee, was shocked by his tactics and cried out: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
The audience in the hall burst out in spontaneous applause. These few words electrified the American public. Suddenly the wheel turned. The McCarthy era ended, the public regained its sanity and since then, McCarthyism is remembered only as something to be ashamed of.
I am waiting now for a decent Israeli citizen to seal the open sewer in the Knesset that is threatening to submerge the entire country.
Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu, sir, have you no sense of decency left?
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