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PRO-ISRAEL PAC CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES
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TELLING THE TRUTH FOR MORE THAN 34 YEARS...
Volume XXXV, No. 6
On Middle East Affairs
INTERPRETING THE MIDDLE EAST FOR NORTH AMERICANS
✮
October 2016
INTERPRETING NORTH AMERICA FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
8
The Expulsion Law: This Is What Israeli Democracy Looks Like—Jonathan Cook
12 14 16
10
As Prominent Israelis Say the Occupation Is “Irreversible,” U.S. Plans Massive New Aid—Allan C. Brownfeld
Gazans Fear Israel’s Intimidation of INGOs Could Become Official Policy—Mohammed Omer
Divide and Rule: How Factionalism in Palestine Is Killing Prospects for Freedom—Ramzy Baroud
A New Milestone: BDS at the Olympics—Nada Elia
18 20
Lawsuit Aims to Block U.S. Aid to Israel —Grant F. Smith O Say, Can’t You See?—Samuel Hazo
Congress and the 2016 Elections
22 23 28
Not All Eyes, but Some Eyes Are on the Senate —Janet McMahon
Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2016 Congressional Candidates—Compiled by Hugh Galford
Anti-Iran Members of Congress Make Another Push to Kill Iran Nuclear Agreement—Shirl McArthur
SPECIAL REPORTS
52 54
50
The Other 2016 Election: for Next U.N. Secretary-General—Ian Williams
Turkey’s Long Hot Summer—Jonathan Gorvett Malaysia’s Prime Minister: Challenges Abroad, Consolidation at Home—John Gee
See postcard.
ON THE COVER: A Palestinian man on his donkey turns around in front of Israeli military vehicles at an entrance to the northern West Bank village of Madama, Aug. 24, 2016. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)
Other Voices Jewish Allies Condemn Black Lives Matter’s “Apartheid” Platform, Sam Kestenbaum, The Forward
Compiled by Janet McMahon
OV-1
Kashmir and Palestine: The Story of Two Occupations, Goldie Osuri, www.aljazeera.com
OV-8
America’s Longest War Gets Longer, Eric Margolis, http://ericmargolis.com
OV-9
No, Palestinians Don’t Need to Empathize With the Zionist Narrative, Peter Eisenstadt & Mira Sucharov, http://+972mag.com
OV-2
Turkey’s Sensible Détente With Russia, Graham E. Fuller, www.consortiumnews.com
OV-10
The Dangerous Fantasies of Jeffrey Goldberg, Gideon Levy, Haaretz
OV-3
Does This Change Everything? Russia’s First Strikes on Syria From Iran Airbases, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com
OV-11
“How Do We Sell Our Food in Canada?”, Molly Hayes, The Hamilton Spectator
OV-12
The Meaning of Lebanon’s Stalled Governance System, Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global
OV-13
OV-6
The Change Luck City: Dhaka’s Climate Refugees, Nellie Le Beau & Hugh Tuckfield, The Diplomat
OV-14
OV-7
Hungary: Unearthing Suleiman the Magnificent’s Tomb, Dan McLaughlin, www.aljazeera.com
OV-15
The Shot Heard All Over the Country, Uri Avnery, www.gush-shalom.org
OV-4
Foreign Ministry Director Bars All Diplomats From Contacting Israeli Journalists, Barak Ravid, Haaretz Israeli Builders Behind Gaza Wall See Growth In Europe, Africa—And Trump, Naomi Zeveloff, The Forward Sheldon Adelson Takes Surprisingly Modest Approach in Campus Initiative, Nathan Guttman, The Forward
DEPARTMENTS 5 Publishers’ Page
6 letters to the editor
47 the World looks at the
Middle east — CARtoons
48 other PeoPle’s Mail
56 MusliM aMerican activisM:
OV-5
60 Waging Peace: Experts React to Failed turkish Coup Attempt
66 Music & arts: Hajjaj Artwork on View in Bentonville, AR Hotel Gallery 70 book revieW: the turbulent World of Middle East soccer—Reviewed by John Gee
71 Middle east books and More 72 obituaries
73 2016 aet choir oF angels 55 indeX to advertisers
Muslim Women’s Voices Heard at Busboys & Poets
Elkarra Wins school Board seat,
Attends White House Eid Reception
57 huMan rights: Rally for Refugees Held in Washington, DC
58 diPloMatic doings:
Iraq’s Foreign Minister on the Fight
Against IsIs
The Washington Report’s 2016 summer interns (l-r): Meghan Blizinski, Anthony Hokayem, Massarah Mikati, Gabe Ghostine and Gloria Cheung. We miss them already!
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
57 arab aMerican activisM:
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American Educational Trust
One Bite Will Get You Hooked...
Publishers’ Page
tions help our new neighbors get to classes, grocery stores, doctor’s offices and work—and feel welcome here!
This special issue contains “Other Voices,” the delectable 16-page insert (see the pages with a green border) that many of our readers already devour every issue. Like it? Want more? Call or write our subscription department (see contact information at the bottom of our masthead on p. 6) to add $15 a year to your regular subscription to get your fill and read “Other Voices” every issue.
Summer Is Over, and It’s Time to Roll Up Our Sleeves.
In hopes of finding new readers, this issue will be passed out for free in Washington, DC at the Adams Morgan Day festival, St. George Mediterranean Food Festival, DC, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee annual convention, DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation annual conference, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation conference, and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ annual Arab-US Policymakers Conference. We’ll also send copies across North America to anyone who asks for events at their university, house of worship or upcoming conference. Please consider the Washington Report as a vital educational tool in your toolbox as you work to improve U.S. policies and ...
Get Out and Vote in November.
But before you do, peruse this listing of pro-Israel PAC contributions to candidates (pp. 22). This is the season when Americans pay attention to politics. Write letters to the editor and call into radio talk shows to get a conversation rolling on foreign policy. The U.S. elections matter to immigrants dreaming of safety in America. They matter to Syrians, Palestinians, Afghans, Iraqis and the rest of the world which is counting on American leadership and sound policies. We voters must try to “bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice.”
Your Response to Our SOS.... ocToBEr 2016
Applauding Helen Thomas Summer Interns.
Joudie Kalla’s Deput Cookbook
Palestine on a Plate: Memories from my mother’s kitchen is now available from MiddleEastBooks.com for $25. The cookbook, released the day we went to press, features colorful photos, recipes and stories from Kalla’s grandmothers, mother, aunties and everyone who has touched her life. Kalla has worked as a chef at popular restaurants Pengelley’s, Daphne’s and Papillon for more than 16 years. Her mouth-watering masterpiece showcases Palestinian food and puts Palestine back on a map. The publisher, Interlink, is donating 50 percent of the profits from the sale to support the Nablus-based Palestinian House of Friendship.
In this summer’s action alerts and donation appeal has been heartwarming. You’ve helped us replenish our pottery, new books and olive oil stocks in time for the holiday rush. We’d asked you, the community we’ve served for nearly 35 years, to come through for us and raise $40,000 by Sept. 15, and we’re nearly there.
Welcome Wagon Rolling Along.
Thanks also for your donations to help incoming refugees through our “Welcome Wagon” project. We were able to purchase loaded Metro cards and deliver them to refugees receiving support from the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg. Your tax-deductible dona-
Summer flew by with five hard-working interns toiling away at the magazine and bookstore (see photo on facing page). Thank you for your service: Meghan Blizinski (Texas State University, San Marcos, TX), Anthony Hokayem (Georgetown University, Washington, DC), Massarah Mikati (Ohio State University, Columbus, OH), Gabe Ghostine (Connecticut College, New London, CT) and Gloria Cheung (University of California, Berkeley, CA). We’re looking for interns this Fall to write and photograph all the marvelous events coming up and help the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy and the American Educational Trust (that’s us!) prepare for another...
Ground-Breaking Conference. Angel Dr. Rafeek Farah.
Palestinian-American (Hajj) Rafeek Farah, 68, a physician who treated the Trenton, MI community for 40 years, died in November 2015 following a battle with cancer. Dr. Farah survived an earlier fight in March 1989. After the Detroit Free Press printed his ad criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and calling for recognition of the new state of Palestine, his clinic was vandalized and he received threatening phone calls. We met him in 2004 when he was president of the El Bireh Society at a convention in Ramallah. He told fellow Palestinians who had gathered from around the world that the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs was “required reading” for Palestinian activists, and urged everyone in the room to subscribe and support its vital work (see October 2004 Washington Report, p. 61). Last month we received his generous $10,000 bequest so we can continue that work. Once again, together, we will...
Make A Difference Today!
WasHINgToN rEPorT oN MIDDlE EasT aFFaIrs
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Publisher: Managing Editor: News Editor: Assistant Editor:
Middle East Books and More Director:
Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Executive Editor:
ANDREW I. KILLGORE JANET McMAHON DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY NATHANIEL BAILEY CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH U. SCHERER RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July and Aug./Sept. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 200091707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s landfor-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications. Indexed by Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica. CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA
6
LetterstotheEditor SPREADING THE WORD
Our local organization, Richmonders for Peace in Israel and Palestine, is hosting a booth at our upcoming Peace Festival Weekday held at St. Stephens on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, here in Richmond. We would like to share the Washington Report with festival visitors, as the focus of the festival is to raise awareness and to continue to educate communities on the issues of peace and from our point of interest, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We request 30 copies of the Aug./Sept. 2016 (most recent) issue. I am a subscriber and supporter of the Washington Report and I am more than happy to send a check to cover postage and handling. Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA As always, we are happy to provide you with the requested copies of the Washington Report for you to distribute at your event—and we thank you for your dedication and support.
“JOYCE” IN HER OWN WORDS
Just yesterday afternoon I finished reading and annotating all nine of the 2013 Washington Report magazines you sent me recently. Then, after a brief break, I picked up the just received Aug./Sept. issue. I could hardly believe my eyes when I read about that “Joyce” character on the “Publishers’ Page”! Many thanks and I hope it works. I started my Palestine studies in 2010—captivated by the Mavi Marmara story! But the Washington Report is a whole new level of information and insight. I’ve traveled a lot over my 78 years, but I’ve lived in Florida since the 1970s, with many years as part of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice. As you may know, there is a very nice Arab American Association here that does a Spring Festival every year. I would be delighted for you to come to it next year. (A visit to Walt Disney World not required!) I’ve been incapacitated for the past three years from multiple falls, but perhaps I can still visit you in Washington some time. At least I already got my supportive T-shirt for the September Women’s Boat to Gaza, although I fear for their safe passage! Thank you for all the good work you do. Viva la Palestina! Dr. Joyce Chumbley, Orlando, FL
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
We’d especially love to see you in Washington for our March 24 conference next year! Meanwhile, it’s wonderful to know that there are organizations all over the country working for justice in Palestine, and we are honored to be a resource for and chronicler of their activities.
OUR AMBITIOUS EFFORT
Best wishes for success in this effort to raise $40,000 by Sept. 15. You’ll make it! Mary Norton, Austin, TX P.S. Thanks for your hard work over so many years. Thank you for your generous support over the years, and for giving us a chance to remind our readers and friends that it’s not too late to help us reach our goal!
FROM ANOTHER LONGTIME FRIEND
Greetings from Amman. As an old friend of the American Educational Trust since it was established, I am very proud of what you do in the service of peace and justice. Please accept my humble donation of $100 in response to your new announcement. I made a similar contribution two months ago. Warmest wishes to your dedicated staff. Mahmoud A. Zawawi, Amman, Jordan It’s friends like you who have made it possible for the Washington Report to celebrate its 35th birthday next year!
ALL THE NEWS NOT FIT TO PRINT
I had hoped to attend your great Spring conference this year but medical problems kept me homebound. I would ride the bus to DC if I could hear some of the speakers, especially Gideon Levy. I subscribe to Haaretz basically to read Levy: I really fear for his safety. Reading Haaretz is rather amazing, the issues discussed in Israel that do NOT hit the news media in this country. The views of important rabbis would make ecumenical-minded believers wince in this country. I wonder where the evangelical community is hiding when leading Israeli rabbis declare Jews were created by God with a soul, while gentiles (that includes Christians!) were creOCTOBER 2016
lte_6-7_October 2016 Letters to Editor 9/1/16 3:38 PM Page 7
ated later with the animals and state and ADP. Apparently one KEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS only given a spirit. The chief readoesn’t have to be Jewish to COMING! son for the gentile creation give money, just to get money. Send your letters to the editor to the Washington seems to serve the Jewish comThere seem to have been a Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 munity! number of complaints filed or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>. I think I have visited about 50 against it—which may be why different nations. I count them inthere’s a blog called kars4kidsstead of sheep at night. Many years ago ganization that donates funds to Ortho- scam. I visited Israel as a tourist and not on a dox Jewish children and families. Well, tour. Many countries I like so well that I you can imagine my total surprise, so he KEY2PACS I’m a long-time reader, supporter, and return again and again. When I left Israel brought out his phone to confirm. I said to myself I would not return until Here I am at the computer, and admirer of your magazine. Your regularly conditions improved. Interestingly, I felt Wikipedia indicates that Kars4Kids defi- appearing pro-Israel PAC Contributions many of the most insensitive comments nitely is a multinational nonprofit organi- chart is eminently useful, and should be, were made to me or in my presence by zation that donates its proceeds to considering the huge amount of meticuAmericans living in Israel. Oorah, an incorporated Orthodox Jewish lous effort that it must require. My suggestion is that in your KEY you On two occasions I stayed in the Ar- organization that dedicates funds to menian Christian section of the Old City “awakening Jewish children and their include a clearer explanation of the hyof Jerusalem. Both times there was a families to their heritage.” However, it phen or dash, and zero. The KEY states lack of water in the hotel. The owners has been criticized and fined for inade- that the hyphen “indicates money returned by candidate.” But how much told me this was done purposefully by quately disclosing its religious mission. the Israeli government at the height of Thought you might be interested in money?? For example, William M. Casthe tourist season. Only a few blocks knowing this. Had no clue until it was sidy is listed as receiving a current contribution of –5,000. Does that mean he away in the Jewish area, they said, there pointed out to me today. received and returned $5,000? If so, why would be no water shortage. This seems Judith Howard, Norwood, MA to be a tactic of the Israeli government On its website—but in small print, if is the zero (“all money received was rethat continues to the present day, and one looks hard enough—Kars4Kids de- turned”) not used? And what about not just in the Old City of Jerusalem. scribes itself as “a 501(c)(3), a national someone who simply received no Politically I have a gut feeling that a organization dedicated to addressing the money? Would a zero not be appropriate Clinton presidency will mean an aggres- educational, material, emotional and there? (I’m aware that such a person sive policy toward both Iran and Russia. spiritual needs of Jewish children and may not exist.) I’m sure a bit of editing will remove this I read daily the Iranian and Russian their families.” It describes Oorah as “our news. Notice how many “neocons” are sister charity,” and lists its “matching gift confusion, which I know you don’t want. Richard Johnson, via e-mail supporting Clinton?…look out for some sponsors” as Microsoft, Merck, HP, AllOur final pre-election pro-Israel fireworks. PAC totals appear on p. 23 of this And you heard it here issue. To get the easiest answer first…Jews want to pray on the out of the way first, if a candidate site of the Temple Mount. How OTHER VOICES is receives no pro-Israel PAC contriabout the site of the Wailing Wall an optional 16butions during a given election opening up to both Muslim and cycle, her name does not appear Christian worship? When does page supplement at all. Secondly, all figures repreWorld War III begin?? available only to sent net totals. Richard H. Curtiss, Boynton Two of the three people with Beach, FL subscribers of the net negative totals for 2015-16 We thank you for your recent Washington Report are not running for Senate this contribution and longtime angelic year: Cassidy (R-LA) and Kay support. It is indeed amazing on Middle East Hagan (D-NC). Both ran in 2014 how Israel and its American apolAffairs. For an addi(Hagan unsuccessfully). We can ogists continue to talk about thus surmise that neither re“shared values” when there are tional $15 per year ceived pro-Israel PAC contribuso many Israeli policies Ameri(see postcard insert tions this year but returned some cans—including Jewish Ameriof the funds they received in cans—wouldn’t tolerate here at for Washington Report subscription rates), sub2014. If Cassidy had received home. Unfortunately, an unbiscribers will receive Other Voices inside each and returned $5,000 this year, ased media isn’t one of them. that would indeed be indicated issue of their Washington Report on Middle East KARS4KIDS by a 0. Affairs. In a conversation with friends, As for the third candidate, the subject of Kars4Kids was HSBC whistleblower Everett Back issues of both publications are available. To brought up, and the fact that the Stern, who is running as an Indesubscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) number of commercials are so pendent against incumbant Sen. many. A young man in the group, Pat Toomey (R-PA), he seems to 226-9733, e-mail circulation@wrmea. org>, or write who happens to be an attorney, have given non-pro-Israel PAC to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. already had Googled it and said money to a pro-Israel PAC. Now it is a multinational non-profit orthat is confusing! ■ OCTOBER 2016
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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The Nakba Continues
The Expulsion Law: This Is What Israeli Democracy Looks Like
By Jonathan Cook
STAFF PHOTO JANE ADAS
minority, the Expulsion IT WAS HARD to reconLaw has no parallel in any cile Israeli Prime Minister democratic state. The Binyamin Netanyahu’s group noted that it was actions and words. the latest in a series of He was one of the laws designed to strictly prime movers behind a circumscribe the rights of new law—passed on July Israel’s Palestinian minor19—that awards the Isity and curb dissent. raeli parliament, or KnesOthers fear that the set, with draconian new measure will ultimately powers: a three-quarters empty the Knesset of its majority of its members Palestinian parties. can expel an elected law“This law violates all maker if they do not like rules of democracy and his or her views. the principle that minoriKnown as the Expulties should be represion Law, the measure is sented,” said Mohammed widely seen as a way for Zeidan, director of the Jewish parties in the Human Rights AssociaKnesset to expel legislation in Nazareth. “It sends tors representing Israel’s Palestinian Israeli MK Haneen Zoabi, the immediate target of the Knesset’s a message to the public large Palestinian minority. Expulsion Law. that it is possible, even One in five Israelis are desirable, to have a Jewish-only Knesset.” Palestinians. The four Palestinian parties in the parliament, in a coalition called And yet, less than a week later, Netanyahu posted a video on the Joint List, issued an open letter on July 22 warning that Nesocial media in Hebrew and English apologizing to Palestinian cittanyahu and his government “want a Knesset without Arabs.” izens for much-criticized comments he made last year, during IsZeidan noted how quickly that could happen: “It would only rerael’s general election. quire one Palestinian legislator to be expelled and there would be Then he urged his supporters to go to polls, warning that “the enormous pressure on the others to resign their seats in protest.” Arabs”—Israel’s 1.7 million Palestinian citizens—“are coming out Yousef Jabareen, a Palestinian Knesset member (MK) for the to vote in droves.” Joint List, said the law created “MKs on probation,” intimidating He said his comments had been misunderstood. Instead he urged them into silence or “good behavior.” Its effect, he added, would be “Arab citizens in Israel to take part in our society—in droves. Work in to strip tens of thousands of voters of the right to representation. droves, study in droves, thrive in droves.…I am proud of the role “The threat of expulsion will serve as a silencing tactic,” JabaArabs play in Israel’s success. I want you to play an even greater role reen said, “while also impeding MKs’ ability to faithfully fulfill the in it.” mandate they promised to their voters.” The Expulsion Law, however, threatens to severely limit the role Those advancing the law have done little to conceal their intenof Palestinians in the Knesset, Israel’s single most visible public intion to use the measure solely against Palestinian MKs. With 13 stitution. seats, the Joint List is currently the third-largest faction in the 120According to Adalah, a law center representing the Palestinian seat Knesset. Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in Nazareth and a winner of the The legislation’s immediate target is Haneen Zoabi, a politician Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He is the author of with the Balad party who is reviled by most Jewish MKs (see Blood and Religion and Israel and the Clash of Civilisations (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). June/July 2015 Washington Report, p. 13). The measure was orig8
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
OCTOBER 2016
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inally termed the Zoabi Law. In late June, in a dramatic prelude to the law’s passing, more than a dozen Jewish MKs stormed across the chamber toward Zoabi as she made a speech concerning the Israeli government’s reconciliation pact with Turkey. She had to be protected by Knesset guards. She had outraged the MKs by referring to the “murder” of 10 humanitarian activists by Israeli commandos in 2010. The Israeli navy attacked an aid flotilla, in which Zoabi participated, as it sailed in international waters from Turkey to Gaza. The incident led to the split with Ankara. Rather than criticize the Jewish MKs, Netanyahu said Zoabi had “crossed every line” with her comments against the commandos and there was “no room for her in the Knesset.” Similarly, opposition leader Isaac Herzog called for all of Zoabi’s speeches to be censored from the Knesset TV channel. Celebrating the law’s passage, Netanyahu posted on social media: “Those who support terrorism against Israel and its citizens will not serve in the Israeli Knesset.” Zeidan said the new law was a “dangerous escalation” in a wider trend of suppressing dissent and inciting hatred. “We are entering a new era. Before, there were racist laws and policies, but now we are heading rapidly towards outright fascism. “The constant incitement against the Palestinian minority from the prime minister [on] down moves this on to the street, where there will be more violence and more attacks from the Jewish public on Palestinian citizens.” In July Zoabi was reported to have refused a Knesset bodyguard, even though the level of threats against her required it, according to Israeli police. Proceedings against a politician can be initiated with the backing of 70 MKs. An expulsion will be carried out if 90 MKs find that the politician either incited racism or supported armed struggle against Israel. There is no definition in the legislation of what constitutes “support.” The Knesset will be able to take into account the legislator’s statements—and the majority’s interpretation of them—and not OCTOBER 2016
just actions or stated aims, noted Adalah. Until now, a politician could be removed from the Knesset only if convicted of a serious crime. Netanyahu spearheaded the legislation in February, after Zoabi and her two Balad colleagues in the Knesset, Jamal Zahalka and Basel Ghattas, met a dozen Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem whose sons had been killed either during lone-wolf attacks or in clashes with security services. The three MKs promised to help put pressure on the government to return the bodies for burial. Israeli officials claimed the visit was tantamount to support for “terror.” The three were suspended from the Knesset for several months. Under the new law, they could be permanently expelled. Zahalka, leader of the Balad party, said Palestinian MKs would face a “kangaroo court, where hostile MKs serve as judge and jury.” He said the Joint List faction was preparing to send a letter to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization representing 170 parliaments worldwide, urging it to oust the Knesset from membership. Given the large majority needed for an MK’s expulsion to take place, some have claimed the new law will be nearly impossible to implement. Zahalka disagreed. He said: “If you see a gun in the first act, you know it will be used
in the last act. And so with this law. When we have the next ’emergency’ or the next war, Jewish MKs—even those who now criticize the law—will rally to expel those who are outside the consensus.” Zoabi has found herself repeatedly rounded on by almost all the Jewish parties in the Knesset. In the summer of 2014, during a major Israeli attack on Gaza known as Protective Edge, the Knesset’s ethics committee suspended her for a record six months—the longest period then allowed. During an Israeli radio interview, she had criticized Palestinians behind the abduction of three Israeli youths in the occupied West Bank, but refused to call them “terrorists.” The Israelis were later found dead. Zahalka said Palestinian MKs now faced an “extraordinary” situation. “In every country, parliamentary immunity confers on legislators greater rights than ordinary citizens to help them carry out their parliamentary duties,” he said. “Only in Israel will elected representatives have more restricted freedom of speech and action than ordinary citizens.” The Joint List said it intends to appeal to the Supreme Court against the law. The Expulsion Law follows the outlawing last year of the northern Islamic Movement, the largest extra-parliamentary movement among the Palestinian minority in Israel (see Continued on p. 19
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WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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brownfeld_10-11_Israel and Judaism 9/1/16 3:56 PM Page 10
Israel and Judaism
As Prominent Israelis Say the Occupation Is “Irreversible,” U.S. Plans Massive New Aid
By Allan C. Brownfeld
HAZEM BADER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
2018. Moreover, Obama has provided additional money for missile defense. All of this aid comes, it seems, with no strings attached. At the same moment Washington sharply criticizes Israel for its illegal construction of settlements which make peace with the Palestinians unlikely, if not impossible, U.S. officials offer massive aid to enable Israel to pursue policies which we oppose. It is difficult to see logic in any of this, much less a concern for long-term U.S. interests in the region—or, in reality, the actual longterm best interests of Israel as well. Many Israelis fear that the policies of the Netanyahu government have made the occupation “irreversible,” and that prospects for a two-state solution have Israeli soldiers escort Jewish settlers through a Palestinian neighborhood in the occupied West become “virtual” rather than real. Bank city of Hebron as they head to the Jewish shrine of Atnaeil Ben Kinaz, April 26, 2016. This past June marked the 49th anU.S. POLICY, under Republicans and Democrats alike, has niversary of the 1967 Six-Day War and saw the release of a held that Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank is in viodocumentary that recounts the history of the settlement movelation of international law and has advocated a two-state solument that arose in its wake. “The Settlers,” by Israeli director tion and the creation of a Palestinian state in this territory. In Shimon Dotan, is both “horrifying and frustrating,” according to July, the State Department sharply criticized Israel for taking Yossi Melman, writing in the June 27 Jerusalem Report. steps to build hundreds of new housing units in East Jerusalem. In 1967 Israel conquered the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza State Department spokesman John Kirby described the activiStrip from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan ties as “corrosive to the cause of peace. These steps by Israeli Heights from Syria. The official Israeli policy following the war authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a was that all lands would be returned to their owners, after steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically minor territorial adjustments, in return for peace. undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.” In 1982, Sinai was returned to Egypt following the peace At the same time, in early August a senior Israeli official artreaty between the two countries. Israel unilaterally withdrew rived in Washington for a final round of negotiations involving the from Gaza in 2005, but maintains control of the land and sea largest military aid package the U.S. has ever given any country borders. Against the backdrop of the Syrian civil war, there are and that will last more than a decade after President Barack few demands that Israel return the Golan Heights. According Obama leaves office. The Obama administration has said it is to Melman, “The major remaining obstacle to peace with the prepared to sign a 10-year “memorandum of understanding” that Palestinians is the continued Israeli occupation of the West significantly raises the $3.3 billion a year U.S. taxpayers curBank. The central hurdle to ending the occupation and enrently provide Israel under an existing agreement that expires in abling the creation of an independent Palestinian state is the Jewish settlements.” Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of Until the Yom Kippur War of 1973, “The Settlers” shows, the the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Reofficial policy of the governments of Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir search and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism. had been to use the occupied territories as “bargaining chips” to 10
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be returned in exchange for peace. The only territorial exception was the “Allon Plan,” which advocated building Jewish urban neighborhoods around Jerusalem and settlements in the Jordan Valley. According to Melman, “...all that changed following the traumatic events of the 1973 war.” Religious zealots formed the Bloc of the Faithful, which was “driven by messianic and religious zealotry, they swore to fight the settlement policies of the Labor government by all means—democratic and not so dramatic.” In the film, Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar says he once asked Shimon Peres whether he regrets helping the settlers. Peres answered: “Had I known what a monster would grow, I wouldn’t have lent my hand to them.” Today, the West Bank and greater Jerusalem are inhabited by 370,000 Jews and 2.8 million Palestinians. Melman notes that, “Dotan’s film is horrifying because of the contradictions between the tranquil and wonderful landscape and the dreadful conditions of the Palestinians. But also because of the contrast between the soft-spoken words expressed by the settlers—some of them bordering on messianic hallucinations—and the true reality of Israeli colonialism, racism, discrimination and economic exploitation of Palestinians. The film also touches...on how Jewish terrorists emerged in the last 30 years...They assassinated Palestinian mayors, killed innocent civilians, planned to bomb Palestinian school buses and the mosque on the Temple Mount...” The film also cites Baruch Goldstein, the Brooklyn-born doctor who in 1994 murdered 29 Palestinian worshippers in Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque. Goldstein’s funeral was attended by Yigal Amir, who a year later murdered Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Hebrew University philosopher Moshe Halbertal says in the film that the new generation of Jewish terrorists “are envious” of the Palestinian martyrs and want to be like them—to sacrifice their lives through murder. Melman concludes: “‘The Settlers’... OCTOBER 2016
places a mirror in front of Israelis like me, Israelis who are secular, patriotic, who love this country and believe in human rights and human dignity—know that the battle about the spirit and soul of Israel as a free, democratic, Westernized state is over...The settlers won...The West Bank position is irreversible as politician and writer Meron Benvenisti prophesied three decades ago. The two-state solution of an Israel and Palestine living in peace, side by side, is just a virtual reality on paper.” The chance for a two-state solution is steadily eroding, members of the Middle East Quartet—composed of the U.S., the U.N., Russia and the EU— said in early July. Its latest report calls on Israel to cease constructing and expanding settlements and designating land exclusively for Israeli Jews. According to the Quartet, creating two states was the only way to end the occupation and ensure Israeli security, but Israeli policies are “steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution.” Speaking recently at the annual Herzliya security conference, former Israeli Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak— who in 2000, prior to losing his bid for reelection to Ariel Sharon, walked away from post-Camp David peace negotions with the Palestinians—said that “a fanatic seed of extreme ideology has taken over the Likud.”
He argued that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s priority was not security but “a slow and cunning advancement of the one-state solution agenda.” Barak warned that this would lead either to an apartheid state or a bi-national state “in which the Jews will become a minority within a couple of generations.” Could that be why a two-state solution suddenly looks so attractive? ■ (Advertisement)
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Gaza on the Ground
Gazans Fear Israel’s Intimidation of INGOs Could Become Official Policy
By Mohammed Omer
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
rael’s secret service, on accusations of channeling aid to Hamas. Given the reality on the ground, aid workers find themselves stuck between two firing lines: an occupation that controls all aspects of their professional lives, and the de facto authority in Gaza, which imposes new restrictions by requiring audit reports to see how money is spent. The indictment of Mohammed El Halabi, head of the Gaza branch of World Vision, a Christian INGO, and Waheed Borsh, an engineer with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), on charges of working for Hamas has been met with skepticism and fears of intimidation in Gaza. El Halabi was accused of diverting millions of aid to Hamas, and Borsh of allowing rubble to get into their Palestinian children hold posters of Mohammed El Halabi, director of World Vision’s Gaza hands. branch, during an Aug. 7 rally in Gaza City in support of the humanitarian worker. “Yes, they did intimidate us,” acknowledges a local Gazan who works for a Swedish INGO, speaking anonymously in order to avoid TWO-THIRDS of Gaza’s two million residents would be unreprisal. able to survive without the assistance of international non-govAccording to the worker, the fact that Germany and Ausernmental organizations (INGOs). tralia have suspended aid to World Vision already has made “This aid is all we have left,” says 50-year-old Attaa Darthe Israeli occupation the victor—despite the fact that Israel’s wish. He has been unemployed for years due to a disability he actions have violated the Geneva Conventions and Human suffered 20 years ago while working in a Tel Aviv suburb. Rights Commission for decades. “If they take aid from us, then we starve, and I tell you: they Other donors may also withdraw—although the U.N. immehad better not strangle us further,” he warns, “because you diately responded to the accusation that one of its staff alcan never control a starving man who has nothing left to lose.” lowed construction materials to get into the hands of Hamas But it’s not really up to Darwish. Like so many others, he lives by stating that it has “robust measures” to prevent aid from his life at the whim of Israel—which now insists that internabeing stolen. Nevertheless, Israeli officials have called for tional aid agencies are colluding with Hamas because they more restrictions on aid to occupied and besieged Palestinichoose to help nearly 2 million people who voted —along with ans trying to survive in Gaza. their West Bank compatriots—for what Israel considers to be Previously, Israel tried to persuade many of its allies to the wrong party in the 2006 democratic parliamentary election cease funding projects to Palestinian NGOs that support BDS. which brought Hamas to power. While that attempt did not have much impact, Israel is now apIn early August of this year, two Palestinian aid workers servplying pressure on aid workers on the ground. ing international organizations were detained by Shin Bet, Is“This is a bigger project—of silencing the voices of NGOs,” the worker adds, citing several examples. Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports regularly on the Gaza Strip. Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza. “This could happen to any one of us,” he explains. “I am not 12
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particularly Islamist, and there are oceans of difference between my thinking and Hamas, yet I realize Israel could throw any accusation at me—and I will stand unable to defend myself, because I am imprisoned.” Since 2008, Gaza has struggled through three Israeli offensives which caused massive destruction of infrastructure—including schools, hospitals, aid stations, power plants, water desalination plants and farming land—the deaths of thousands of men, women and children, and injuries to thousands more. While NGOs try their best to offer aid and assistance to the suffering, they are still not widely appreciated or considered totally transparent. A recent U.N. report described the “progress of reconstruction” for homeless Palestinians two years after Israel’s 51day assault on Gaza as “slow,” and called on Israel to lift its restrictions on the import of building materials. Israel claims these same building materials could be used by Hamas, but the U.N. has developed a monitoring mechanism which tracks where every kilo of cement would go. This, however, does not seem to satisfy Israel. Following Borsh’s indictment, the U.N. issued a statement saying it was “greatly concerned” by Israel’s allegation that the UNDP engineer had “complied with a request from a senior Hamas individual to transport 300 tons of rubble from a UNDP rubble removal project site to a Hamas-run location at the northern Gaza Hamas-operated port.” The United Nations added that it will be “conducting a thorough internal review of the processes and circumstances surrounding the allegation,” while noting that the allegations “refer to 300 tons of the more than one million tons removed, or seven truckloads out of a total of nearly 26,000.” El Halabi was accused of diverting up to 60 percent of World Vision’s Gaza budget—more than $7 million a year—to Hamas—an amount every aid worker agreed was impossible without approval at the highest level, since financial decisions are usually reached between the OCTOBER 2016
main office in Jerusalem and upper-level management abroad. Despite having shut down its Gaza office, World Vision acknowledges that it has received no evidence from Israel. According to a World Vision statement, “The cumulative operating budget in Gaza, for the past 10 years, was approximately $22.5 million, which makes the alleged amount of up to $50 million being diverted hard to reconcile.” World Vision president and CEO Kevin Jenkins has vowed to uncover the truth behind the accusations against his organization. He explained to Christian Today that El Halabi, who has served as head of his organization’s Gaza branch since October 2014, cannot process more than $15,000 at a time, despite the size of World Vision’s budget for Gaza. El Halabi’s mother, Umm Mohammed, said her son has always been a humanitarian worker and has no political affiliation. “All his international bosses are fully aware of how money is spent,” she stated. “He worked to help farmers and
children, and now he is paying the price for being a human.” A European diplomat who specializes in economics told the Washington Report that Israel has become unreasonable with its campaign against INGOs, saying that Palestinians are being arrested without justification. However, he added, Israel’s allegations could affect the future willingness of banks to transfer funds within the Middle East. U.N. agencies seem to be more cautious, as well. In the United States and elsewhere, anti-terrorism legislation has made banks increasingly wary of dealing with NGOs working in high-risk environments like Gaza. But that all seems irrelevant to Darwish, who understands one thing: ending food rations will mean starvation, more desperation and a revolution. “At that moment, we don’t know where we will head—but more likely to break down the walls surrounding us,” he says. “We will die, I know—but standing this time.” ■
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Special Report
Divide and Rule: How Factionalism in Palestine Is Killing Prospects for Freedom
By Ramzy Baroud
MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Blaming a local mayor of a tiny West Bank village that is surrounded by Israeli military walls, trenches and watchtowers, and is attacked daily by armed Jewish settlers, for failing to make a noticeable difference to the lives of the villagers is as ridiculous as it sounds. The local elections, however, are also politically and factionally driven. Fatah, which controls the PA, is buying time and vying for relevance. No longer having a major role in leading the Palestinians in their quest for freedom, Fatah constantly invents ways to proclaim itself as a relevant force. It can only do so, however, with Israeli permission, donor money and U.S.Western political backing and validation. Hamas, which might endorse selected candidates but is unlikely to participate in Palestinian women wave their national flag and chant slogans calling for an end to the politithe elections directly, is also embattled. It cal division between Hamas and Fatah during a protest in Gaza City, Dec. 18, 2012. is under a strict siege in Gaza and its regional politicking proved costly and unreliable. While it is not as AS PALESTINIANS in the occupied territories begin preparacorrupt—at least, financially—as Fatah, it is often accused of astions for local elections which are scheduled for October, diviserting its power in Gaza through the use of political favoritism. sion and factionalism are rearing their ugly head. While one must insist on national unity, it is difficult to imagine Palestinian political platforms and social media are abuzz with a successful union between both groups without a fundamental self-defeating propaganda: Fatah supporters attacking Hamas’ change in the structure of these parties and overall political outalleged failures, and Hamas’ supporters doing the same. look. What is conveniently overlooked by all sides is that the perIn Palestine, factions perceive democracy to be a form of conformance of Palestinian municipalities is almost entirely irreletrol, power and hegemony, not a social contract aimed at fostervant in the greater scheme of things. ing dialogue and defusing conflict. In the West Bank, local councils are governed by strict IsraeliThus, it is no wonder that supporters of two Fatah factions, PA arrangements. Aside from very few chores, village and town one loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and another to Mocouncils cannot operate without a green light: an endorsement hammed Dahlan, recently clashed in Gaza. Several were hospifrom the Palestinian Authority itself conditioned on a nod from talized after sustaining injuries. the Israeli occupation authorities. Of course, a main case in point remains the civil war of 2007, a This applies to almost everything: from basic services to conyear or so after Hamas won parliamentary elections. The Fatahstruction permits to digging of wells. All such decisions are predHamas political culture failed to understand that the losing party icated upon political stipulation and donors’ money, which are must concede and serve in the opposition, and the victorious party also politically motivated. cannot assume the vote as a mandate for factional domination. Dr. Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a Other factors contributed to the Palestinian divide. The U.S., media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of at the behest of Israel, wanted to ensure the collapse of the PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My father Was a freeHamas government and conditioned its support for Fatah based dom fighter: gaza’s Untold story (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>. on the rejection of any unity government. 14
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Israel, too, inflicted much harm, restricting the movement of elected MPs, arresting them and eventually entirely besieging Gaza. The European Union and the United Nations were hardly helpful; they could have insisted on the respect of Palestinian voters, but they succumbed under American pressure. However, there can also be no denial that these factors alone should not have jeopardized Palestinian unity, if the factions were keen on it. To appreciate this further, one must look at the experience of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Although they divide themselves based on factional and ideological affiliations, they tend to exhibit much more solidarity amongst themselves. When a prisoner from a certain group goes on hunger strike, he or she is often joined by a few, tens or even hundreds of other political prisoners from all factions. These prisoners find ways to communicate and transfer messages amongst
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themselves, even when in solitary confinement or shackled to their beds. They even hold elections in larger prisons to choose their own representatives and issue joint letters to Palestinians outside, calling for unity and a common strategy. If shackled prisoners are able to foster dialogue and adhere to a semblance of unity, those living in Ramallah mansions and those free to travel outside Palestine should be able to do so too. But the truth is, for many within the Palestinian leadership, unity is not an urgent matter and, for them, the ascendancy of the faction will always trump the centrality of the homeland. This is partly because factional politics is deeply rooted in Palestinian society. And like the Israeli occupation, factionalism is an enemy of the Palestinian people. It has constantly overwhelmed any attempt at fostering dialogue and true democracy among Palestinians. It is true that democracy is suffering a crisis in various parts of the world. In Brazil, a (Advertisement)
parliamentary subversion pushed an elected president out of office. In the UK, Labour Party plotters are entirely discounting the election of a popular leader. In the United States, democracy had been reduced to clichĂŠs, while powerful elites are bankrolling wealthy candidates who are, more or less, propagating the same ideas. But Palestine is different. It ought to be different. For Palestinian society, dialogue and a degree of a democratic process is essential for any meaningful national unity. Without unity in politics, it is difficult to envisage unity in purpose, a national liberation project, a unified resistance strategy and the eventual freedom of the Palestinians. There can never be a free Palestine without Palestinians first freeing themselves from factional repression, for which they, and only they, are ultimately responsible. For Israel, Palestinian factionalism is a central piece in its strategy to divide and rule. Sadly, many Palestinians are playing along, and by doing so are jeopardizing their own salvation. â&#x2013;
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Special Report
A New Milestone: BDS at the Olympics
By Nada Elia
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
And yet two days earlier, the Lebanese team had refused to let Israeli athletes ride on the same bus that had picked them up first, on its way to the opening ceremony. The Lebanese athletes persistently blocked the door, preventing the Israelis from getting onto the bus. As a result, the International Olympic Committee had to send in a separate bus for the Israelis. While the Olympics are without a doubt an athletic competition, they are also, and to an equal degree, about the countries that send these athletes to the games. At the end of the day, and at the end of the games, we have a countdown of medals by country. And even as the Games are said to be about nations coming together, they are really yet another venue for pitting nations against each other. When any athlete competes, their country and their country’s flag is displayed as prominently as their own name. Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby (in blue) rejects the outstretched hand of Is- The winner’s national anthem is played during the medal raeli Or Sasson following their Aug. 12 match at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. ceremony, and all are expected to show their respect to that country. It is no surprise that the formidable gold medalist Gabby Douglas has been pilloried by her compatriots for “I HAVE NO PROBLEM with Jewish people or any other reliher neglecting to place her hand on her heart during the U.S. nagion or different beliefs. But for personal reasons, you can’t ask tional anthem (even though she was otherwise very respectful), me to shake the hand of anyone from this state, especially in and one of the most iconic political images in Olympics history refront of the whole world.” These words, spoken by an individual mains the raised Black Power fists of Tommie Smith and John who has just engaged in a gesture of support for the Palestinian Carlos, at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. people, are a standard response to the accusation of anti-SemiOf course, then, the snubbing by Lebanese, Egyptian and tism which is routinely hurled at pro-justice activists. Saudi athletes of members of the Israeli delegation is a political The necessary distinction made between the “Jewish people” act. And, of course, Israel has complained that these athletes and the Israeli state is one Israel itself seeks to erase, as it “are bringing their respective countries’ ongoing conflict with Isstrives to deflect all criticism of its policies, blaming it on anti-Jewrael to the Rio games.” ish hatred instead. As such, these words do not in themselves The actions of these athletes are in keeping with the Palestinestablish new grounds, but a new approach to solidarity. Yet as ian call for global solidarity in the form of BDS, including the Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby uttered them Aug. 12 in sports boycott of Israel. A sports boycott is an individual gesture Brazil, they signified a new milestone: the sports boycott had arwith the greater immediate negative consequences suffered by rived at the 2016 Olympic Games. the person engaging in it, as they will likely be disqualified from “Shaking the hand of your opponent is not an obligation written further competition. Yet the Arab athletes who refused to norin the judo rules. It happens between friends and he’s not my malize with the Israelis have been criticized as violating “etifriend,” El Shehaby explained, in the fallout from his action, which quette” and “the Olympic spirit.” Which drives one to wonder, is resulted in his dismissal from the games, for “poor sportsmanship.” this yet another venue where Israeli exceptionalism wins, as the One day before El Shehaby’s refusal to shake the hand of the violent, racist state is left off the hook, not held accountable for its Israeli Olympian he had just competed with, another judoka, assault on Palestinian athletes? Saudi Joud Fahmy, had withdrawn from the competition, in order Over the recent years, Israel has prevented Olympics-bound not to have to compete against an Israeli athlete, should she win Palestinian team chiefs from leaving the country. It had restricted and advance to the next round. their freedom of movement, making it basically impossible for them Nada Elia is a Palestinian scholar-activist, writer, and grassroots orto practice in adequate facilities, and it has shot at the ankles of ganizer, currently completing a book on Palestinian Diaspora activism. Copyright © 2016 Mondoweiss. Palestinian soccer players. Where was the criticism when these 16
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Fans of Scotland’s Celtic FC wave Palestinian flags during a UEFA Champions League Playoff soccer match against Israel’s Hapoel Beer Sheva team at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 17, 2016. crimes were committed? Two years ago, an international campaign to ban Israel from FIFA, because of its human rights violations, had failed to pressure the international organization into censoring that country. When no official organization is willing to hold Israel accountable, individuals can do so. The snubbing by some athletes of the Israeli delegation is a noble gesture in a political arena, and it is incumbent on us to appreciate it for what it is: a refusal to normalize with a country that bombs young boys playing on the beach, prevents young swimmers from reaching a pool, and prohibits Olympic hopefuls in Gaza from training with their compatriots in the West Bank. We then can surely appreciate the exquisite irony of the separate buses at the Olympic village for the delegation from a country that builds separate roads for its Jewish citizens, transporting them to their Jewish settlements in illegally occupied territories. While the Olympics athletes were competing in Rio, another game was being played halfway around the world with an overt political message as well: we will not be cowered into “civility” toward an apartheid state. In Glasgow, Scotland, fans of Scotland’s Celtic FC had organized an event to “Fly the Flag for Palestine, for Celtic, for Justice,” during a game against the Israeli team Hapoel Beer Sheva. The Facebook page of the event is clear about its understanding of OCTOBER 2016
the political reality of Israel, as the organizers explain that the display of flags would be to “invoke our democratic rights to display our opposition to Israeli apartheid, settlercolonialism and countless massacres of the Palestinian people.” The fans had been warned by UEFA that they could face fines or the closing down of part of their stadium if they flew the Palestinian flag. But, as John Wight writes, “Celtic supporters are typically among the most politically aware and conscious of any demographic in society. For them Celtic is more than just another football club it is a political and social institution, one that has always stood and must continue to stand for justice in the face of injustice, racism, oppression, and against apartheid wherever and whenever it arises.” Around the world, the Palestinian flag— almost like the keffiya—has taken on a dimension beyond nationalism to signify progressive politics, a collective stand against systemic violence, and anti-colonialism everywhere. And as the game began, Palestinian flags appeared everywhere in the stands. A sea of Palestinian flags greeted the Israeli team in defiance of UEFA rules, and at the risk of the Celtic FC being penalized. Yes, flying the flag was without a doubt an expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people. But it was also a rejection of the system behind the op-
pression of the Palestinian people; a rejection of apartheid, colonialism and racism. The display of hundreds of Palestinian flags at the Celtic FC game showed an understanding of shared experiences of discrimination, disenfranchisement, dispossession, and a rejection of the Zionist narrative. Every flag that flew in that stadium ripped at Israel’s projection of normalcy and its paper-thin veneer of “democracy.” And the media carried the news around the globe, amplifying the gesture. Beyond the boycott of consumer products in grocery stores, BDS has so far dealt a major blow to Israel’s image. Artists continue to cancel scheduled concerts in Tel Aviv, academic associations are voting to boycott complicit Israeli institutions, churches are screening their portfolios to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s illegal practices, and the recent events in Scotland and at the 2016 Olympics are the principled athletes’ way of saying: we do not normalize with the representatives of a pariah state. Before these gestures get spun into anti-Semitic incidents by Zionist hasbara, it is incumbent upon BDS activists and organizers to explain the context of the snubbing, the defiance, and the refusal to engage in “good sportsmanship” with a country that violates the most basic human rights of an entire people. ■
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Special Report
Lawsuit Aims to Block U.S. Aid to Israel
By Grant F. Smith ON AUG. 8 THIS writer filed a lawsuit in DC federal court challenging U.S. foreign aid to Israel. The U.S. is finalizing a new 10year memorandum of understanding (MOU) which will reportedly boost that aid to between $4 billion and $5 billion per year, up from its current $3.1 billion annually. However, U.S. aid to Israel violates longstanding bans on funds to non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) with nuclear weapons programs. Many have wondered why these bans are never enforced, but none have had standing to mount a challenge—until now. In the mid-1970s, during investigations into the illegal diversion of weapons-grade uranium from U.S. contractor NUMEC to Israel (see May 2015 Washington Report, p. 11), Sens. Stuart Symington (D-MO) and John Glenn (DOH) amended the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act to ban any aid to clandestine nuclear powers that were not NPT signatories. Although Symington was a strong advocate for national defense, he opposed Department of Defense waste, U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and CIA covert operations in Laos. Symington was close to President John F. Kennedy and CIA Deputy Director of Covert Operations Theodore Shackley. Like Glenn, who questioned Shackley about Israel’s diversion of weapons grade uranium from the United States, Symington likely knew of JFK’s secret opposition to Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons plant. In committee reports Symington clarified the legislative intent of his 1976 amendment: “...if you wish to take the dangerous and costly steps necessary to achieve a nuclear weapons option, you cannot expect the United States to help underwrite that effort indirectly or directly.” Although key elements of Symington and Glenn have periodically been watered down, their core provisions—that the U.S. cannot deliver aid to non-signatories to the NPT that engage in transfer of nuclear weapons technologies—remain the law of the land. Since the bans went into effect, U.S. foreign aid to Israel is
Grant F. Smith is director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). View the lawsuit online at <http://irmep.org/CFP/S&G/116-cv-01610lo_r2.pdf>. View slides and listen to the Aug. 11 lawsuit audio briefing at: <https://youtube.com/ IaCjQaC0TyU>. 18
estimated to be an inflation-adjusted $234 billion, including secret intelligence aid. The lawsuit alleges that the president and key federal agencies are violating both the Administrative Procedures Act and the “Take Care” clause of the U.S. Constitution by failing to uphold Symington and Glenn. It lists many historic cases where the president was required to act, and more recent cases such as post-2010 illegal diversions from the United States of oscilloscopes and pressure transducers for centrifuge cascades by Israeli front companies. The original doctrine of the U.S. ignoring and Israel never mentioning its nuclear weapons program was hatched in 1969, during a meeting between visiting Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and President Richard Nixon. Recently declassified files reveal that Nixon feared a “Zionist campaign to undermine” his administration if he withheld U.S. foreign aid over the program. Since then, presidents and national security officials have run away from media requests for comment on the program. The Obama administration has gone further than any previous one in enforcing this “nuclear ambiguity” policy. In 2012 the U.S. Department of Energy, under guidance from Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Department of State, promulgated what amounts to an illegal gag law. Titled “Guidance on Release of Information Relating to the Potential for an Israeli Nuclear Capability,” the gag law severely punishes any federal official or contractor who frankly discusses Israel’s nuclear program. This has overturned government sunshine laws as federal agencies block Freedom of Information Act requests, string out the release of official records, attempt to charge exorbitant fees to dissuade public interest watchdogs, fail to pay damage awards in lost court battles, and simply claim that records known to exist “cannot be located.” As perhaps the lead research organization expending tens of thousands of dollars to obtain the release of such records through sunshine laws and related legal challenges, IRmep can quantify and demonstrate how it has been injured by “nuclear ambiguity,” thereby providing the standing necessary to proceed. However, the lawsuit does not seek any repayment of these doc-
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umented expenditures and injuries, arguing that these injuries pale in comparison to the harm done to unsuspecting American taxpayers. The relief sought from the court is that it enjoin the federal government from any further actions to uphold “nuclear ambiguity,” including gag order enforcement, violations of sunshine laws and other systemic abuses. More importantly, such a ruling would also put a halt to future aid deliveries to Israel, unless the president publicly issues a special waiver. Symington and Glenn allows a president to issue such a waiver justifying why it is in the U.S. national interest to deliver aid to a non-NPT country developing a nuclear weapons program. During the Clinton administration, such waivers were issued for Pakistan and India. However, the U.S. president would be hard pressed to prove that Israel has any major strategic significance to the United States justifying a waiver. In fact, the opposite is true. Instances cited in the lawsuit include CIA predictions in the 1960s that a nuclear-armed Israel would be resistant to any negotiated peace with Palestinians or Arab neighbors. Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians was a motivation behind the 9/11 attacks, according to the official report. Foreign aid to Israel in reality generates blowback rather than defending any national interest. More ambitiously, the suit demands the “disgorgement” of the value of aid already
delivered since Symington and Glenn went into force, “for use in legal and legitimate purposes that serve the common good rather than unlawfully subsidizing through offset a foreign nuclear weapons program.” As discussed in an Aug. 11 audio briefing, the real reason the United States delivers more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country can be found in the activities of Israel lobbying organizations: channeling campaign contributions, launching propaganda campaigns, saturating the news media and placing political appointees in key policymaking positions. Subversion of Symington and Glenn for four decades is only one indicator of their harmful, undue influence. Advocates for American taxpayers have appeared nowhere in this vicious circle, but a judge may soon finally act in their interest. ■
Expulsion Law Continued from page 9
Jan./Feb. 2016 Washington Report, p. 24). Its head, Sheikh Raed Salah, is considered a spiritual leader to a large section of the community. At the time, Netanyahu hinted that the Islamic Movement was linked to “terror” activity. Leaks from government ministers to the Haaretz newspaper, however, revealed that the Israeli security services had found no such ties. (Advertisement)
Zeidan observed that the Israeli right had been waging a battle to rid the Knesset of Palestinian parties for some time. Over the past 15 years, the Central Elections Committee, which is dominated by Jewish parties, has repeatedly tried to ban Palestinian MKs from standing for election. However, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the decisions on appeal. In 2014, the government tried a different route. It passed a Threshold Law, raising the proportion of votes needed to win a place in the Knesset. The threshold was set too high for the four small Palestinian parties to clear. The move, however, backfired. The parties responded by forming the Joint List and became one of the largest blocs in the Knesset after last year’s general election. It was in this context, noted Zeidan, that on the eve of the election, Netanyahu made his much-criticized comment warning that “Arabs are coming out in droves.” Asad Ghanem, a politics professor at Haifa University, said the Expulsion Law might realize for Netanyahu his stated goal of discouraging participation by the Palestinian electorate. Turnout had fallen to barely more than half of the minority’s voters before the Joint List’s creation in time for the 2015 election. “If we see these attacks on Arab representation in the Knesset continue,” Ghanem said, “then voters may conclude that enough is enough and that it is time to withdraw from the political game.” ■
Save the Date: Friday, March 24, 2017 Conference at the National Press Club It’s been called the most important annual conference in Washington, DC! That’s because we don’t shy away from the key issues: Israel’s institutionalized, decisive and dangerous role in U.S. policy! Our conference, co-organized with the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, has become an essential gathering point for Americans working for positive change. Purchase your ticket online at 2017conf.eventbrite.com. Donate seed money to help make our next conference another YUGE success! (Please write “conference” on the memo line of your check.)
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ISRAEL’S INFLUENCE:
GOOD OR BAD FOR AMERICA? www.wrmea.org
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©2016 American Educational Trust All Rights Reserved • Made in the U.S.A.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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Special Report By Samuel Hazo
How did we get to this point? Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (l) and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. THE VAUDEVILLIAN catfight now masquerading as a presidential election has prompted many to ask, “How did we get to this point?” Perhaps the best way to address (if not answer) this question is to consider what our country has become in the last 50 or so years. First, the effects of war. Since the end of Word War II, but particularly since 1965, we have become inured to the daily death counts and casualty lists created by war. The approximate total number of American war deaths from 1965 to the present is 66,000. The wounded along with civilian deaths reach a much higher number. Meanwhile those in the population of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq that we have killed is over one million. This has prompted some historians to claim that we have killed more people in the last 50 or so years than any other nation. The irony is that these presidentially chosen wars have now been shown to have had no legal or moral justification. Nothing reveals this more succinctly than George W. Bush’s answer to Richard A. Clarke, chairman of the Counterterrorism Group, when Clarke questioned the legality of the invasion of Iraq that Bush was determined to launch. “I don’t care what the international lawyers
Samuel Hazo, the author of more than 30 books, is professor of English emeritus at Duquesne University and founder of the International Poetry Forum. 20
say,” Bush bragged, “we are going to kick some a---.” So began the ongoing deterioration of the Middle East on orders from a former collegiate cheerleader. That seems blameworthy enough, but even more blameworthy are those who never charged Bush judicially with taking the country to war unjustifiably. Lyndon Johnson benefitted from the same legal disregard over his hyping the war in Vietnam for cooked-up reasons. One result of this is that we have become a people inured to indifference to the law by elected officials while simply accepting the reverberating effects that such indifference has on other aspects of our very lives. I often wonder if our resignation to military deaths is related to our acceptance of homicides at home— approximately 80 per day nationwide (compare this to 35 homicides per year in Japan, where owning a gun or sword is illegal). I wonder also if the military’s reliance on force as a problemsolver is related to the self-arming of the population. At this writing the number of guns in the country outnumbers the census— 300,000,000-plus. The effect of war on the outlook of citizens has been accompanied by a change in demographics since what Arthur Miller called the “Reagan trance.” In the 1980s the wealthy constituted about 10 percent of the population. By the end of the Reagan administration that figure was close to doubling, while the lower
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
OCTOBER 2016
PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO BY ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
O Say, Can’t You See?
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The final contributor to public distrust in part, a Hollywood producer named Haim middle class (the poor) increased from 20 percent to 30 percent. In terms of arith- government is our tolerance of pressures Saban, has pledged comparable millions metic, this means that the middle class from foreign governments and domestic to Hillary Clinton for the same purpose. All had shrunk…and the middle class is lobbyists over American foreign policy. such “contributions” are legally sacrosanct The Saudis remain displeased over Amer- now because of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 America at work. What were the results? One of the re- ican détente with Iran and our pleas for re- passage of Citizens United, which equates sults was that young men unable to find straint in Yemen. The Israelis went so far political gifting with free speech, so that work were joining the military as a viable as to collude with Republican political “money” now literally “talks.” Facing the options, voters are increasoption with its promise of the G.I. Bill and leaders to have Prime Minister Binyamin sizable bonuses for extension. This in turn Netanyahu speak to a joint session of ingly being urged to choose the lesser evil. enriched the pool of servicemen to be com- Congress in opposition to the Iran issue This is nothing but a craven escape masmitted to another presidentially chosen and other matters. Obama, who had not querading as a conscientious alternative. war. The Pentagon, which has a larger even been told of the invitation, said noth- Evil is presented as just another abstract public relations budget than any compara- ing to denounce this open insult to the noun. But just suppose the options had to ble government or fiscal institution on the presidency itself. Sixty members of Con- do with relief from constipation, and the face of the earth, cooperated with incentive gress proved themselves defiantly of- sufferer was offered two equally repugnant advertising and other inducements to en- fended (as expressed by Congressman laxatives and asked to choose. Political Earl Blumenauer of Oregon on YouTube) constipation is our present condition, and listment and extension. The reality is that an all-volunteer mili- by not attending the speech that was the present “laxatives” being offered do tary assures compliance without dissent. greeted by robot-like standings and sit- not promise much more than a prolongaThe dark side to this is that repeated de- tings and applause by the obsequious at- tion, not a cure. None of the aforementioned pressures ployments in dangerous areas might have tendees. Lately a Las Vegas billionaire named on our national life shows signs of vanisha connection to the number of suicides of men on active duty (some 300 per year). Sheldon Adelson with a fortune fleeced ing. Neocon greed is firmly ensconced. Among veterans (including Iraq and from suckers at casino games has The late historian Tony Judt stated accuAfghanistan veterans) the rate is more pledged $100,000,000 to Trump to influ- rately, “We have pursued our self-interest ence Middle East policy while his counter- (defined as maximum economic advanthan 20 per day. tage) with minimal reference to For young people not involved (Advertisement) extraneous criteria such as altruin the military, the most desirable ism, self-denial, taste, cultural option is a college education. habit or collective purpose.” With room, board and tuition runThe policies of the New Deal ning annually at many universiA UUA Related Social Justice Organization working for justice in Palestine-Israel and the progressive legislation of ties to more than $65,000 plus the early 1960s were altruistic at clothing and travel, only the We offer numerous ways to engage in the core, and the country as a wealthy or those resigned to a promoting a just peace in Palestine-Israel whole benefitted from Social Selifetime of debt can cope with curity, the G.I. Bill of Rights, collegiate costs. Noam Chomsky Study Guides Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil even implies that some universiincluding one based on the 7 UU Principles Rights Bill, Headstart, student ties may be heightening costs Human Rights Trips loans, the Peace Corps, food and becoming more concerned to Palestine-Israel with financial aid available stamps, the National Endowwith profit than education. I ment for the Arts, the National would like not to believe this, but Chapters Endowment for the Humanities there is no question that the enabling local, regional, and young adult engagement and the Corporation for Public lenders are profiting and that the Young Adult Scholarships Broadcasting. There’s been student-debtors become more for travel/learn experiences in Palestine-Israel nothing as altruistic since. Beconcerned with debt remission cause both nominees for the than with dissent on public isVisit the UUJME website www.uujme.org presidency are viscerally hawksues. Whether they are complicit to subscribe to the newsletter and bulletin lists, collaborate with faith-based allies, and organize ish and inspire nothing but disor not, the universities may be with ministers, seminarians, and other UUs. taste in more than 50 percent of curbing public dissent on war the shrinking electorate, the respolicies by graduating students UUs for Justice in the Middle East urrection of such altruism is unwhose first concern is debt rewww.uujme.org | facebook.com/uujme | @uujme likely. ■ duction. It’s worth thinking about.
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
OCTOBER 2016
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Election Watch
Maybe Not All Eyes, but Some Eyes Are On the Senate
WHILE THE NATIONAL
By Janet McMahon
OP EN AND AREER ECIPIENTS OF media have focused primarily on this year’s presidential RO SRAEL UNDS race—which has this writer as Compiled by Hugh Galford mezmerized as a charmed snake—several Senate races HOUSE: CURRENT RACES SENATE: CURRENT RACES also merit attention. This is especially true since there is Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL) $30,500 Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY) $46,100 some speculation that the DeDeutch, Theodore E. (D-FL) 27,200 Ayotte, Kelly A. (R-NH) 40,055 mocrats might be able to take Engel, Eliot L. (D-NY) 25,500 McCain, John S. (R-AZ) 36,700 control of what was once Royce, Edward R. (R-CA) 25,000 Kirk, Mark S. (R-IL) 33,450 known as the “world’s greatest Zeldin, Lee M. (R-NY) 22,500 Lee, Mike (R-UT) 29,700 deliberative body.” If this does Curbelo, Carlos (R-FL) 19,500 Grassley, Charles E. (R-IA) 29,200 indeed come to pass, will the Schneider, Bradley S. (D-IL) 18,750 Isakson, John H. (R-GA) 28,200 Israel Lobby’s fear that support Hoyer, Steny H. (D-MD) 17,700 Portman, Robert J. (R-OH) 24,700 of Israel has become a partiSantarsiero, Steven J. (D-PA) 16,500 Toomey, Patrick J. (R-PA) 23,700 Graham, Gwen (D-FL) 16,000 Blunt, Roy (R-MO) 23,500 san—i.e., Republican—issue be assuaged? A look at which candidates the Israel Lobby is House: Career Totals Senate: Career Totals supporting might provide some insight. Engel, Eliot L. (D-NY) $377,918 McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $582,392 Both of California’s candiRos-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL) 324,740 Durbin, Richard J. (D-IL) 401,171 dates for Senate, Rep. Loretta Hoyer, Steny H. (D-MD) 305,725 Reid, Harry (D-NV) 394,001 Sanchez and the state’s attorLowey, Nita M. (D-NY) 235,623 Kirk, Mark S. (R-IL) 382,936 ney general, Kamala Harris, are Pelosi, Nancy (D-CA) 149,150 Wyden, Ronald L. (D-OR) 358,462 Democrats seeking to win the Levin, Sander M. (D-MI) 135,827 Boxer, Barbara (D-CA) 279,044 seat being vacated by retiring Boehner, John A. (R-OH) 129,200 McCain, John S. (R-AZ) 242,700 Sen. Barbara Boxer. Pro-Israel Sherman, Brad (D-CA) 118,630 Sessions, Jefferson B. (R-AL) 229,325 Hastings, Alcee L. (D-FL) 112,850 Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI) 218,988 PACs are supporting Sanchez Andrews, Robert E. (D-NJ) 112,025 Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) 215,318 (albeit with only a measly $2,500)—despite that fact that she voted against the invasion of Iraq and the adoption of the PATRIOT Act. She also came in as “the most endangered Senate Republican facing reelection second to Harris in the June 7 Democratic primary by more than this year.” Kirk was therefore quick to distance himself from 800,000 votes—but, by being second in total votes, still qualified for the head of the ticket, describing Trump as “too bigoted and the runoff general election—and, according to the Center for Reracist for the Land of Lincoln.” We suspect he is more consponsive Politics, has raised $3.7 million to Harris’ $12.3 million. cerned by Trump saying, for example, that he would be a Has the Lobby risked alienating the next senator from California? “neutral” negotiator between Israel and Palestine. The Jewish “Either woman, should she be elected in November…would make Forward has described the Republican as “Israel’s worst history in bringing diversity to the Senate—Sanchez as a prominent nightmare,” warning that Trump is “utterly ignorant of the comLatina, Harris as the daughter of parents who immigrated from Japlex web of relationships on which Israel depends.” maica and India,” the Los Angeles Times noted. Nevertheless, Kirk has received the fourth highest amount In Illinois, Lobby favorite Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican, is of pro-Israel PAC contributions. His opponent, Rep. Tammy thought to be at risk from running on the same ticket as presiDuckworth—an Iraqi vet and protégé of Chicago Mayor Rahm dential nominee Donald Trump. Indeed, Politico described him Emanuel (see March 2006 Washington Report, p. 30)—has received less than $10,000 for her race. She’s not that far behind Kirk in overall fund-raising, however: $10.1 million to Janet McMahon is managing editor of the Washington Report on Kirk’s $11.3. Stay tuned. ■ Middle East Affairs. 22
T
T
2016 P -I
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
C R PAC F
OCTOBER 2016
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PRO-ISRAEL PAC CONTRIBUTIONS TO 2016 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES State Alabama
Alaska Arizona
Arkansas California
Colorado Connecticut Florida
Office District S H H H H S S S H H H H H S S H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H S H S S
1 2 3 6 3 4 5 8 9 2 3 5 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 25 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 31 33 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 47 51 52 53 1
Candidate
Shelby, Richard C.* Byrne, Bradley R. Roby, Martha Rogers, Michael D. Palmer, Gary Murkowski, Lisa* Kirkpatrick, Ann*# McCain, John S.* Grijalva, Raúl M. Gosar, Paul A. Salmon, Matt Franks, Trent Sinema, Kyrsten Boozman, John* Sanchez, Loretta*# Huffman, Jared Garamendi, John Thompson, Mike Cook, Paul McNerney, Jerry Denham, Jeff DeSaulnier, Mark Lee, Barbara Speier, Jackie Swalwell, Eric M. Costa, Jim Honda, Mike Eshoo, Anna G. Lofgren, Zoe Farr, Sam Nunes, Devin G. McCarthy, Kevin Knight, Steve Caforio, Bryan Brownley, Julia Chu, Judy Schiff, Adam Cardenas, Tony Sherman, Brad Aguilar, Pete Chabot, Paul R. Lieu, Ted Waxman, Henry A. Becerra, Xavier Torres, Norma Ruiz, Raul Bass, Karen Sanchez, Linda Royce, Edward R. Roybal-Allard, Lucille Takano, Mark Lowenthal, Alan Vargas, Juan C. Peters, Scott Davis, Susan Bennet, Michael F.* DeGette, Diana L. Blumenthal, Richard* DeSantis, Ronald D.*#
Party R R R R R R D R D R R R D R D D D D R D R D D D D D D D D D R R R D D D D D D D R D D D D D D D R D D D D D D D D D R
Status I I I I I I C I I I N I I I O I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N I I I C I I I I I I C I N I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N
2015-2016 Contributions 1,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 3,500 13,200 5,000 36,700 3,000 4,500 2,500 2,000 6,000 19,200 2,500 3,000 3,000 4,000 2,500 1,000 10,000 3,000 3,500 3,000 4,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 1,000 4,500 2,500 4,000 2,500 12,200 2,500 500 8,500 26,215 3,500 6,000 6,000 5,500 2,500 25,000 2,500 2,500 6,500 11,000 2,500 2,000 12,500 3,000 18,300.40 5,000
Career
201,825 5,000 7,500 34,825 3,500 88,800 17,000 242,700 16,500 4,500 11,500 7,600 9,000 27,700 71,450 9,500 19,500 12,500 5,000 33,600 10,000 3,000 8,500 11,000 28,000 29,000 26,500 12,750 10,750 18,150 7,500 23,500 2,500 1,000 21,150 4,500 97,917 11,100 118,630 8,150 500 9,600 84,147 8,500 6,000 17,550 9,000 28,950 77,950 10,000 8,500 21,200 11,100 5,150 21,163 25,000 10,500 43,800 8,500
Committees A (D, HS) AS A AS, HS B A(D, HS) AS, HS
FO AS
A(FO) AS, HS
AS W AS, FO
A(FO), B AS, I I A
A I, W Maj. Ldr. AS I
FO AS
B
W HS
FO W FO A(HS) FO
AS AS AS, C FO(NE)
KEY: The “Career Total” column represents the total amount of pro-Israel PAC money received from Jan. 1, 2009 through July 15, 2016. S=Senate, H=House of Representatives. Party affiliation: D=Democrat, R=Republican, Ref=Reform, DFL=Democratic Farmer Labor, Ind=Independent, Lib=Libertarian, WFP=Working Families Party. Status: C=Challenger, I=Incumbent, N=Not Running, O=Open Seat (no incumbent), P=Defeated in primary election. *=Senate election year, #=House member running for Senate seat, †=Special Election. Committees (at time of election): A=Appropriations (D=Defense subcommittee, FO=Foreign Operations subcommittee, HS=Homeland Security, NS=National Security subcommittee), AS=Armed Services, B=Budget, C=Commerce, FR=Foreign Relations (NE=Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs subcommittee), HS=Homeland Security, I=Intelligence, IR=International Relations, NS=National Security, W=Ways and Means. “–” indicates money returned by candidate, “0” that all money received was returned.
OCTOBER 2016
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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State Florida
Georgia
Hawaii Idaho Illinois
Indiana Iowa
Kansas Kentucky Louisiana
24
Office District S S S H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H S S H H H H H S H H S S S H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H S H H H S S H H H S H H H H H
1 2 3 9 11 13 14 15 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 26 27 2 3 4 5 10 1 2
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 4 6 7 1 1 2
2 3 6
1 2 4 5 6
Candidate
Grayson, Alan M.*# Murphy, Patrick E.*# Lopez-Cantera, Carlos* Miller, Jefferson B. Graham, Gwen Yoho, Theodore S. (Ted) Soto, Darren Grabelle, Justin M. Lynn, Eric Castor, Kathy Ross, Dennis A. Chane, Jonathan Hastings, Alcee L. Deutch, Theodore E. Frankel, Lois J. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie Hill, Randal Diaz-Balart, Mario Curbelo, Carlos Taddeo, Annette Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana Isakson, John H.* Perdue, David Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. Crane, Michael R. Johnson, Henry C. (Hank) Lewis, John R. Collins, Michael A., Jr. Schatz, Brian* Takai, Kyle M. (Mark) Gabbard, Tulsi Crapo, Michael D.* Duckworth, L. Tammy*# Kirk, Mark S.* Kelly, Robin L. Lipinski, Daniel W. Gutierrez, Luis V. Quigley, Mike Roskam, Peter Davis, Danny K. Morris, Kirk Schakowsky, Janice D. Dold, Robert J., Jr. Schneider, Bradley S. Foster, G. William (Bill) Bost, Michael Davis, Rodney L. Hultgren, Randy Kinzinger, Adam Bustos, Cheri LaHood, Darin McKay Rokita, Theodore E. Messer, Allen L. (Luke) Carson, André Grassley, Charles E. (Chuck)* Blum, Rodney Vernon, Monica W. Loebsack, David W. Moran, Jerry* Roberts, Pat Jenkins, Lynn Yarmuth, John A. Barr, Garland A. (Andy) Cassidy, William M. Scalise, Steve Green, Eugene J., Jr. Fleming, John C., Jr. Abraham, Ralph L., Jr. Graves, Garret
Party D D R R D R D R D D R D D D D D D R R D R R R D R D D R D D D R D R D D D D R D R D R D D R R R R D R R R D R R D D R R R D R R R D R R R
Status P C N N I I O O O I I O I I I I P I I P I I I I P I I N I N I I C I I I I I I I N I I C I I I I I I I I I I I I C I I I I I I I I N I I I
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
2015-2016 Contributions 3,500 15,000 2,500 10,000 16,000 5,000 2,500 4,000 3,500 1,000 7,500 2,500 10,000 27,200 15,500 2,500 9,000 2,500 19,500 1,500 30,500 28,200 3,000 2,500 500 5,000 3,000 1,000 4,000 2,500 15,000 8,738 9,850 33,450 4,700 7,450 3,000 15,900 3,700 4,500 10,000 2,000 5,200 18,750 1,700 3,200 1,000 6,700 7,700 3,000 1,700 2,500 3,500 2,500 29,200 5,000 1,000 4,000 10,000 1,000 10,000 3,500 4,500 -5,000 7,500 2,000 5,500 3,000 5,000
Career
11,500 38,500 2,500 23,500 23,550 10,500 2,500 4,000 3,500 28,600 24,000 2,500 112,850 110,550 28,500 76,800 9,000 70,750 30,000 1,500 324,740 69,700 23,000 5,000 500 48,200 80,250 1,000 39,200 6,000 16,500 65,238 30,824 382,936 6,800 19,850 40,561 18,650 33,200 19,750 10,000 39,395 35,700 51,700 25,400 5,700 2,800 10,200 17,950 13,000 1,700 9,000 4,500 5,600 190,523 5,000 1,000 25,000 25,700 93,300 12,500 24,020 4,500 22,000 48,000 2,000 19,500 6,000 8,000
Committees FO(NE) I
AS, I AS FO(NE) B FO(NE) FO(NE) A(FO)
A(D, FO), B FO(NE), I FO B, FO(NE) A
AS W
A(D), C AS AS, FO B AS A(FO) FO
I A, I W W W
B
I B B
A(D, FO), C
W B
A(HS) AS OCTOBER 2016
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State
Office District
S H H Maryland S H H H H H Massachusetts H H H H H H H Michigan H H H H H Minnesota S H H H H H Mississippi H Missouri S S H H H Montana H Nebraska H Nevada S S New Hampshire S S H New Jersey S H H H H H H New Mexico H H New York S H H H H H H H H H H H North Carolina S S S H H H H H
Maine
OCTOBER 2016
1 2
5 7 8 8 8 1 2 3 4 6 7 1 2 5 9 12 13
1 2 4 5 8 3
1 5 7 At-L. 2
2
1 2 3 4 10 12 1 3
1 4 5 6 7 15 16 17 18 20 25 1 4 5 10 11
Candidate
Collins, Susan M. Pingree, Chellie M. Cain, Emily Van Hollen, Chris*# Hoyer, Steny H. Cummings, Elijah E. Anderson, David M. Matthews, Kathleen Raskin, Jamie Neal, Richard E. McGovern, James P. Tsongas, Nicola S. Kennedy, Joseph P., III Moulton, Seth Capuano, Michael E. Johnson, Lonnie B. (Lon) Huizenga, William P. Kildee, Daniel T. Levin, Sander M. Dingell, Debbie Conyers, John, Jr. Klobuchar, Amy Walz, Timothy J. Kline, John P., Jr. McCollum, Betty Ellison, Keith M. Nolan, Richard M. Harper, Gregg Blunt, Roy* Kander, Jason* Clay, William L., Jr. Cleaver, Emanuel, II Long, Billy Zinke, Ryan K. Ashford, Brad Heck, Joe*# Masto, Catherine Cortez* Ayotte, Kelly A.* Hassan, Margaret Wood* Kuster, Ann McLane Menendez, Robert Norcross, Donald W. LoBiondo, Frank A. MacArthur, Thomas Smith, Christopher H. Payne, Donald M., Jr. Coleman, Bonnie Watson Lujan Grisham, Michelle Luján, Ben R. Schumer, Charles E.* Zeldin, Lee M. Rice, Kathleen Meeks, Gregory W. Meng, Grace Velázquez, Nydia M. Serrano, José E. Engel, Eliot L. Lowey, Nita M. Maloney, Sean P. Tonko, Paul D. Slaughter, Louise M. Burr, Richard* Hagan, Kay R. Tillis, Thom R. Butterfield, G K Price, David E. Foxx, Virginia A. McHenry, Patrick T. Meadows, Mark R.
Party
R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R D D D D DFL DFL R DFL DFL DFL R R D D D R R D R D R D D D D R R R D D D D D R D D D D D D D D D D R D R D D R R R
Status I I C O I I P P O I I I I I I O I I I I I I I N I I I I I C I I I I I O O I C I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N I I I I I I
2015-2016 Contributions 2,000 3,000 1,000 10,000 17,700 2,500 2,000 1,000 2,500 2,500 3,000 2,000 2,500 2,750 3,000 1,000 500 2,150 1,000 2,500 3,000 500 2,500 4,000 4,000 3,500 1,000 1,000 23,500 8,000 3,500 4,000 5,000 6,500 12,200 2,000 3,550 40,055 2,500 1,000 4,000 9,000 3,000 2,500 10,000 2,500 9,000 3,000 4,000 46,100 22,500 4,500 2,000 2,250 1,000 2,500 25,500 11,735 2,000 4,000 3,000 15,000 -2,500 4,500 2,500 3,500 5,000 1,000 3,000
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Career
147,900 13,676 1,000 14,000 305,725 27,000 2,000 1,000 2,500 19,250 17,075 14,000 3,500 2,850 12,000 1,000 1,000 34,650 135,827 2,500 13,000 82,335 9,500 31,500 16,750 11,000 4,500 5,500 101,850 8,000 26,000 22,000 17,500 11,000 12,200 6,000 3,550 57,555 2,500 8,000 215,318 9,000 38,750 6,000 75,750 38,750 17,000 5,000 8,500 131,985 27,500 5,500 2,000 4,750 1,500 9,250 377,918 235,623 14,500 13,000 69,880 49,250 66,300 9,500 9,500 69,327 12,000 44,700 3,000
Committees A(D), I A
B
W
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25
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State
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H H S North Dakota Ohio S S H H S Oklahoma H Oregon S H H H Pennsylvania S S H H H H H H Rhode Island S H H South Carolina S S H H Tennessee H Texas S H H H H H H H H H Utah S H H Vermont S H Virginia S H H Washington S H H H H H H West Virginia H Wisconsin S S H H H H H
North Carolina
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Candidate
Adams, Alma S. Holding, George E. Hoeven, John* Portman, Robert J.* Strickland, Ted* Jordan, James D. Joyce, David P. Inhofe, James M. Bridenstine, James F. Wyden, Ronald L.* Bonamici, Suzanne Blumenauer, Earl DeFazio, Peter A. Stern, Everett A.* Toomey, Patrick J.* Santarsiero, Steven J. Boyle, Brendan F. Doyle, Michael Dent, Charles W. Cartwright, Matt Murphy, Timothy Whitehouse, Sheldon, II Cicilline, David N. Langevin, James R. Graham, Lindsey O. Scott, Timothy E.* Duncan, Jeffrey D. Clyburn, James E. Cohen, Stephen I. (Steve) Cornyn, John Poe, Ted Ashford, Jerry D., Jr. Green, Alexander McCaul, Michael Granger, Kay Hurd, William Green, Raymond E. (Gene) Johnson, Eddie B. Doggett, Lloyd Lee, Mike* Chaffetz, Jason Love, Mia Leahy, Patrick J.* Welch, Peter Kaine, Timothy M. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. (Don) Connolly, Gerald E. Murray, Patty* DelBene, Suzan K. McMorris Rodgers, Cathy Kilmer, Derek McDermott, James Smith, D. Adam Heck, Dennis Mooney, Alexander X. Feingold, Russell D.* Johnson, Ronald H.* Ryan, Paul Pocan, Mark Kind, Ronald J. Moore, Gwen S. Duffy, Sean Clinton, Hillary R. Cruz, Rafael E. (Ted)
2015-2016 Total Contributions: Total Contributions (1978-2016): Total No. of Recipients (1978-2016): 26
Party D R R R D R R R R D D D D I R D D D R D R D D D R R R D D R R D D R R R D D D R R R D D D D D D D R D D D D R D R R D D D R D R
Status I I I I C I I I I I I I I C I O I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I N I I I C I I I I I I O O
2015-2016 Contributions 2,000 5,000 8,500 24,700 3,500 500 3,500 1,000 2,500 9,000 3,000 3,500 3,000 -500 23,700 16,500 7,500 1,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 1,500 8,500 1,500 12,200 10,500 4,500 4,000 1,000 10,000 2,500 6,000 1,000 2,500 1,000 12,000 2,000 3,500 29,700 10,000 6,000 5,250 3,500 3,500 2,000 3,000 16,500 3,000 5,000 3,000 4,000 4,000 2,500 500 5,550 6,000 10,500 3,000 1,000 2,000 2,000 7,500 500
Career
2,000 5,000 38,000 41,200 21,650 500 9,500 136,800 2,500 358,462 13,500 16,500 19,600 -500 55,950 16,500 7,500 8,500 18,750 7,500 3,000 115,500 33,500 48,000 120,000 39,800 10,500 33,600 34,500 89,580 25,000 2,500 6,000 13,000 42,500 1,000 12,000 9,000 12,500 50,200 27,500 6,000 151,161 16,500 20,701 2,000 24,500 211,793 10,000 8,850 12,000 14,000 43,925 2,500 4,250 218,988 11,000 41,950 9,000 8,500 4,500 13,000 72,118 19,000
Committees W A(HS) B, HS A AS AS B, I
W B
FO(NE)
A(FO)
B FO(NE) AS, HS A(D, FO, HS), AS, B FO, HS
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FO(NE) A(D, HS), B A B, W AS B
B, C, FO(NE), HS
B W B
AS, C
$ 1,592,743 58,082,670 2,488
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OCTOBER 2016
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Congress Watch
Anti-Iran Members of Congress Make Another Push to Kill Iran Nuclear Agreement
By Shirl McArthur
WITH THE ONE-YEAR anniversary in mid-July of the Iran nuclear deal, members of the informal congressional “I hate Iran no matter what” contingent produced a flurry of anti-Iran measures, and House Republican leaders made one more—futile—push to kill the deal. They selected three bills to ram through the House, any one of which would be sure to cause Tehran to cancel the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) implementing the agreement. By deciding on this course of action “in the middle if the night,” however, without consulting their Democratic colleagues, Republicans once again made U.S.-Iran relations a partisan matter, and few Democrats were willing to support the bills. So House passage was just partisan grandstanding, perhaps to make points with Jewish and born-again Zionist voters and donors, since the bills will not make it through the Senate, and President Barack Obama has promised to veto them if they reach his desk. The first bill to be taken up was H.R. 5119, introduced April 28 by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS). It would prohibit any federal agency or department from using funds to buy or to issue a license to buy “heavy water” produced by Iran’s nuclear program. (Under the JCPOA Iran must dispose of its heavy water, so cutting off the U.S. as a possible outlet would make it difficult, perhaps impossible, for Iran to comply with this requirement.) It was passed on July 13 by a roll call vote of 249-176, with only 10 Democrats voting for it and 2 Republicans against. The second bill, H.R. 4992, introduced on April 19 by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), is intended to prevent the administration from loosening financial restrictions on Iran. It would “codify regulations relating to transfers of funds involving Iran.” It was passed on July 14 by a roll call vote of 246-181, with 6 Democrats voting for it and 3 Republicans against. The third bill was H.R. 5631, introduced July 6 by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). It would expand existing sanctions and impose new ones, including on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and would prohibit Iran’s access to the U.S. financial system. It was passed on July 14 by a roll call vote of 246-179, with eight Democrats voting for it and four Republicans against.
All three bills were sent to the Senate, where they likely will sit. Another source of anguish for anti-Iran members of Congress was Boeing’s mid-June announcement that it was concluding a major agreement to sell Iran commercial aircraft. Rather than generating congressional support for an American company’s business, this prompted at least seven bills aimed at killing the deal. Three of the bills would specifically prohibit the Treasury Department from issuing export licenses for the aircraft: Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and one co-sponsor on July 11 introduced H.R. 5711; Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC) on July 11 introduced H.R. 5716, and on July 12 Pittenger introduced a slightly expanded version as H.R. 5729. Three bills would attack the deal by prohibiting the U.S. Exim Bank from providing financing for the sale: in the Senate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and seven co-sponsors on July 7 introduced S. 3138; in the House Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) with 16 co-sponsors on June 28 introduced H.R. 5608; and on July 11 Roskam, with 10 co-sponsors, introduced a modified version as H.R. 5715. Earlier Roskam, with eight co-sponsors, took a different approach with H.R. 5550. It would “impose an excise tax on U.S. dollar clearing done for the benefit of Iran or Iranian persons.” Since the beginning of the year there were persistent reports that Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) and Ranking Democrat Ben Cardin (MD) were working to produce a new, bipartisan Iran sanctions bill that would also extend the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), due to expire at the end of this year. Finally, on July 14 Corker, with five co-sponsors, introduced S. 3267, a wide-ranging bill covering most of the hotbutton Iran issues, including Iran’s missile program, the IRGC, cyber threats and espionage. But Cardin refused to co-sponsor it, largely because of its restrictions on presidential waiver authority. It is unlikely to gain much Democratic support, largely because of the intense partisanship surrounding Iran relations. Its only Democratic co-sponsors are Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), neither of whom is a surprise. Menendez has said that he still thinks it is possible in the remaining time in this congressional session to pass a “clean” bill extending ISA that can gain broad bipartisan support. But two such bills were introduced—by Democrats—and they have little support. The first, S. 2988, was introduced May 25 by Sens.
Republicans once again made
U.S.-Iran relations a partisan matter.
Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. 28
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Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Chris Murphy (DCT). It would extend ISA until the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has â&#x20AC;&#x153;reached a broader conclusion that all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities.â&#x20AC;? Then, on July 14, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), with 13 Democratic cosponsors, introduced S. 3281, which would simply extend ISA until Dec. 31, 2026. There was much congressional outrage, real or otherwise, when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization dedicated to combatting international money laundering and terrorist financing, on June 24 issued a decision deferring counter measures against Iran for 12 months. It said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The FATF welcomes Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adoption of, and high-level political commitment to, an Action Plan to address its strategic (anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing) deficiencies.â&#x20AC;? So eight senators, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Menendez, wrote to Trea-
sury Secretary Jacob Lew urging him to â&#x20AC;&#x153;addressâ&#x20AC;? the FATF decision.
SENATE AND HOUSE MEASURES URGE INCREASED AID TO ISRAEL
House and Senate resolutions were introduced urging that the Obama administration quickly conclude a new, â&#x20AC;&#x153;robustâ&#x20AC;? Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s government setting the levels of U.S. military aid for Israel for 10 years. The current MOU, setting aid at $30 billion over 10 years, was negotiated in 2007 and will expire next year. There have been a couple of reports that last November the administration offered a package of $40 billion over 10 years, but Netanyahu turned it down, wanting more! There have been several unconfirmed reports that the Israeli negotiators have been insisting on $50 billion over 10 years, or $5 billion per year, a number the U.S. side has not agreed to. (The total FY â&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 military aid appropriations for ALL countries is about $4.7 billion. So, to (Advertisement)
accede to this request would mean either eliminating all other military aid programs, or increasing the total, at a time when Congress is busily cutting important domestic programs.) The House measure, H.Res. 729, was introduced May 13 by leading IsraelFirster Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). It has 274 co-sponsors, including RosLehtinen. The Senate measure, S.Res. 508, was introduced June 22 by Rubio. It has 23 co-sponsors, including Rubio. On July 14 two new bills urging greater U.S.-Israel cybersecurity cooperation, H.R. 5843 and H.R. 5877, were introduced by Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX).
NEW MEASURES WOULD URGE EU TO DESIGNATE HEZBOLLAH A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
Two identical, non-binding measures were introduced â&#x20AC;&#x153;urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization and increase pressure on it and its members.â&#x20AC;?
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STATUS UPDATES
S. 2752, introduced in April by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to prevent Iran’s access to the U.S. financial system, now has eight co-sponsors, including Rubio. S. 2725, introduced in March by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and H.R. 4815, introduced in March by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), would both sanction Iran over its ballistic missile program. S. 2725 now has 19 co-sponsors, including Ayotte, and H.R. 4815 has seven co-sponsors, including Pompeo. H.R. 4333, introduced in January by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-MA), and H.R. 4342, introduced in January by Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), both relate to Iran’s missile tests. The former now has 31 co-sponsors, including Kennedy, and the latter 20 co-sponsors, including Delaney. H.Con.Res. 100 and S.Con.Res. 26 are identical bills introduced in December regarding the right of state and local governments to impose sanctions on Iran. H.Con.Res. 100, introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), now has 55 cosponsors, including Roskam, and S.Con.Res. 26, introduced by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), has five co-sponsors, including Kirk. H.Con.Res. 128 and S.Con.Res. 35 are identical measures opposing U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and urging that the U.S. continue to veto such resolutions. The House measure, introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) on April 15, now has 27 co-sponsors, including Lamborn. S.Con.Res. 35, The House measure, H.Res. 750, was introduced May 25 by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL). It has 49 co-sponsors, including Deutch. On June 6 Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced S.Res.482. It was passed by the full Senate on July 6, with 23 co-sponsors, including Shaheen. Meanwhile, H.R. 3892 and S. 2230, identical bills introduced in November aimed at designating the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, have gained more support. H.R. 3892, introduced by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (RFL), now has 65 co-sponsors, including Diaz-Balart, and S. 2230, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) now has 8 cosponsors, including Cruz.
BILLS TARGETING IRANIAN VISITORS, REFUGEES INTRODUCED
A provision in the FY16 “Omnibus” appropriations bill to “improve” the visa waiver program makes any person ineligible for the program who during the past 30
introduced by Rubio on April 19, now has 16 co-sponsors, including Rubio. S. 2531 and H.R. 4514, identical bills introduced Feb. 10 by Kirk and Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL) respectively, both “authorize state and local governments to divest in entities” that engage in BDS activities against Israel. The Senate measure now has 42 co-sponsors, including Kirk, and the House bill now has 139 co-sponsors, including Dold. H.R. 4448, introduced in February by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), also concerns the right of state governments to impose sanctions on Iran. It has 38 co-sponsors, including DeSantis. H.Res. 551 and S. Res. 383 are identical measures recognizing U.S.-Israel economic cooperation and encouraging new areas of cooperation. The House measure was introduced in December by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and has 106 cosponsors, including Lieu. Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) introduced S. Res. 383 in March, and it was passed April 27 by the full Senate with 14 co-sponsors, including Perdue. H.Res. 686, introduced in April by Rep. John Yarmuth (DKY), “expressing support for efforts to enhance Israeli security and create the conditions toward a negotiated twostate solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” now has 63 co-sponsors, all Democrats. H.R. 4860 was introduced in March by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) to authorize U.S.-Israel cybersecurity cooperation. It has 42 co-sponsors, including Cicilline. —S.M.
five years has been in Iraq, Syria, Sudan or Iran. Also ineligible for the program are nationals of program countries who are also dual nationals of Iraq, Syria, Sudan or Iran. On May 12 Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA), with eight co-sponsors, introduced H.R. 5203, which goes even further. Pretending security concerns, the bill would put probably impossible conditions on Iranians seeking to visit the U.S. as tourists, students or businessmen, as well as those applying for an immigrant visa, including those seeking to join family members who are U.S. citizens. Two new anti-refugee bills were introduced. H.R. 5804 was introduced July 14 by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) and five co-sponsors. It would require the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to get the approval of the governor of a state before placing a refugee in that state. And on July 14 Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) introduced H.R. 5816 “to suspend, and subsequently terminate, the
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
admission of certain refugees” and “to examine the impact on national security of the U.S. of admitting refugees.” It has 45 co-sponsors, including Babin. However, one positive refugee bill was introduced in the Senate. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), with three co-sponsors, on July 14 introduced S. 3241 “to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to reaffirm the U.S. historic commitment to protecting refugees who are fleeing persecution or torture.”
U.S.-JORDAN COOPERATION ACT SIGNED INTO LAW
Previously overlooked was the passage of H.R. 907, the “U.S.-Jordan Defense Cooperation Act.” It was passed by the House in July 2015, passed by the Senate in February 2016, and signed into law Feb. 18, as P.L. 114-123. Among other provisions, it authorizes the U.S. to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to increase military cooperation. ■ OCTOBER 2016
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OTHER VOICES F R O M T H E M I D D L E E A S T C L I P B OA R D Compiled by Janet McMahon
Jewish Allies Condemn Black Lives Matter’s “Apartheid” Platform
nizations that have stood with the grassroots movement to end police brutality against African Americans. The organization also praised “the leaders of Black Lives Matter for insisting that the United States meet its human rights obligations, and for concretizing these into specific policy recommendations.”
“I am struggling with # BlackLivesMatter but I believe black lives matter,” wrote Rabbi Ari Hart, from the Bayit Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, on his public Facebook page. Other groups, including Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council, had harsher words—saying they would be disassociating themselves with any
BY SAM KESTENBAUM
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new platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement that describes Israel as an “apartheid state” committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people has triggered critical responses from Jewish organizations—even its allies. “[We] are extremely dismayed at the decision to refer to the Israeli occupation as genocide,” a statement from T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, read. Since Black Lives Matter took shape in 2013 to protest police killings of African Americans, Jewish groups across the country have struggled to strike the right tone in their responses to the movement. Activists aligned with Black Lives Matter have frequently visited the occupied Palestinian West Bank in what some call “solidarity tours,” as recently as July 30. Black Lives Matter has again risen in prominence in the run-up to the presidential election and amidst a spate of videotaped killings, grimly detailed, of African Americans by police. Now the platform, announced on July 3, has prompted several Jewish organizations to more precisely define their relationship to the movement. T’ruah is one of several Jewish orgaO THER V OICES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Jewish Allies Condemn Black Lives Matter’s “Apartheid” Platform, Sam Kestenbaum, The Forward OV-1
Kashmir and Palestine: The Story of Two Occupations, Goldie Osuri, www.aljazeera.com OV-8
No, Palestinians Don’t Need to Empathize With the Zionist Narrative, Peter Eisenstadt & Mira Sucharov, http://+972mag.com OV-2
America’s Longest War Gets Longer, Eric Margolis, http://ericmargolis.com OV-9
The Dangerous Fantasies of Jeffrey Goldberg, Gideon Levy, Haaretz OV-3 The Shot Heard All Over the Country, Uri Avnery, www.gush-shalom.org OV-4 Foreign Ministry Director Bars All Diplomats From Contacting Israeli Journalists, Barak Ravid, Haaretz OV-5 Israeli Builders Behind Gaza Wall See Growth in Europe, Africa—And Trump, Naomi Zeveloff, The Forward OV-6 Sheldon Adelson Takes Surprisingly Modest Approach In Campus Initiative, Nathan Guttman, The Forward OV-7
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Turkey’s Sensible Détente With Russia, Graham E. Fuller, www.consortiumnews.com OV-10 Does This Change Everything? Russia’s First Strikes on Syria From Iran Airbases, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com OV-11 “How Do We Sell Our Food in Canada?”, Molly Hayes, The Hamilton Spectator OV-12 The Meaning of Lebanon’s Stalled Governance System, Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global OV-13 The Change Luck City: Dhaka’s Climate Refugees, Nellie Le Beau & Hugh Tuckfield, The Diplomat OV-14 Hungary: Unearthing Suleiman The Magnificent’s Tomb, Dan McLaughlin, www.aljazeera.com OV-15
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group aligned with Black Lives Matter from now on. “We cannot and will not align ourselves with organizations that falsely and maliciously assert that Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” a statement from the group read. “We reject participation in any coalition that seeks to isolate and demonize Israel singularly amongst the nations of the world.” For some Jews of color, particularly African-American Jews, who had embraced the popular movement, the language of the new platform was especially troubling. “It broke my heart,” said Stacey Aviva Flint, a student at Chicago’s Spertus Institute who is African American and Jewish and writes on parallels between black and Jewish nationalist movements. “I understand what Zionism was about when it first started. You had a group of people who were seeking selfdetermination. And self-determination was also something that African Americans desperately needed and wanted,” said Flint. “[In past months], I really thought, ‘a movement is starting, I want to support this, as African Americans are being targeted by the police,’“ Flint said. “This dashed my hopes.” Flint said that calling Israel an apartheid state would only “muddy” Black Lives Matter’s message. “Now people don’t see Black Lives Matter as a legitimate platform.” Jews of color have taken center stage in a series of Black Lives Matter-inspired protests happening in New York City. The Jews of Color Caucus, which is a smaller body within Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, most recently staged a protest of more than 100 in downtown Brooklyn. Speaking on the topic, but before the new platform was released, founding member of the caucus Yehudah Webster said, “It’s important for white Jews and Israelis to recognize, yes, the Palestinian-Israeli situation is unique, but still it does play into this global system of white supremacy.” “I consider myself a Zionist,” said Webster, “but being a patriot means pushing your government and people OV-2 O CTOBER 2016
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to be better. That’s why I want Israel to be the best it can be.” The platform of the “Movement for Black Lives,” a coalition under the Black Lives Matter umbrella, calls for “an end to the war against Black people.” It is being called the campaign’s “first comprehensive document” addressing specific federal policies. Most of the document has nothing to do with Israel. But the section on foreign policy (called “Invest-Divest”) criticizes American military aid to Israel. Israel is “a state that practices systematic discrimination and has maintained a military occupation of Palestine for decades,” the platform reads. The section dealing with Israel also calls on activists to “build invest/divestment campaigns” to end “U.S. Aid to Israel’s military industrial complex” and credits Adalah, an Israeli advocacy group for Arab rights, among its “authors & contributors.” Right-wing Jewish groups, including the Zionist Organization of America, have condemned Black Lives Matter since the movement’s early days. The Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greeblatt has said that racial justice for African Americans is one of “the struggles of our time,” and the ADL includes educational material about Black Lives Matter on their website.
This article was first published in the Forward, Aug. 4, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
No, Palestinians Don’t Need to Empathize With The Zionist Narrative BY PETER EISENSTADT AND MIRA SUCHAROV
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f American Jewish historians Hasia Diner and Marjorie Feld’s Haaretz article last week disavowing Zionism was intended to provoke, it has succeeded. Diner called her earlier Zionism
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a “naïve delusion,” while Feld wrote of her painful rejection of Zionist “propaganda.” In response, Jonathan Sarna, another American Jewish historian, accused the authors of exchanging one “naïve delusion” for another. Rabbi and talmudist Ysoscher Katz called the authors “weak-kneed.” Los Angelesbased Rabbi David Wolpe dared the authors to experience the chilly reception his congregants would likely accord them. Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg tweeted that the piece prompted him to consider stopping reading Haaretz altogether. While we do not share their emotional detachment from Israel, we think that Diner and Feld’s anguished essay is important in urging us to consider how fealty to Zionism may hinder creative thinking about Israel’s future. If one ideal of Zionism was to create a Jewish state, another was to “normalize” the condition of the Jewish people. Zionism has succeeded in the first task, and not the second. Israelis are challenged both by the ongoing state of enmity from many corners as well as by having become almost permanent occupiers of another people. Neither of these conditions approach normalcy. Still, there was one particularly thoughtful and nuanced response to Diner and Feld. Writing in Haaretz, Noah Efron faults the authors for a lack of empathy toward Israel. For Efron, empathy matters because a “solution will arrive when both sides realize that the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the other side, like their own, have value, beauty and legitimacy.” For scholars, empathy is an important tool; it’s the stock-in-trade of our own disciplines—history and politics. But just as we recognize empathy as a professional and public good, in the Israeli-Palestinian domain we fear that the current demand for empathy above all else is obscuring what should be a more urgent discourse—that of rights. Over four million Palestinians under Israeli rule are denied citizenship, with order maintained through the brutal military occupation in the West Bank, and an inhumane blockade (run in tandem with Egypt and abetted by Hamas’ intransigence) around Gaza.
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An additional million-and-a-half Palestinian citizens of Israel suffer from the democratic deficits inherent in Israel’s ethnic democracy. And millions of additional Palestinians, living abroad, await word on whether there will be return or even compensation for the Nakba. While engaging in dialogue on competing historical narratives may be intellectually and emotionally enriching, today there is something much more basic at stake: international law and human rights. The end of Jim Crow in the American South was brought about not by whites and blacks coming to acknowledge the “hopes, dreams and aspirations” of the other, but by unremitting pressure on white supremacy. Whether whites and blacks understand each other better now than half a century ago is doubtful, and the change wrought by the civil rights movement hardly ended all of America’s racial problems. Still, there has been progress. If, over the next half-century, Israelis and Palestinians find a way to co-exist, it will probably resemble the progress in American race relations: slow and halting, but undergirded by certain fundamental political and legal changes basic to democracy. So where does this leave Zionism? Even in its most progressive and empathic form, Zionism has meant a commitment to an increasingly elusive “two-state solution,” the kind that is supposed to take into account the needs and identities of both sides. But as the occupation nears the half-century mark, we are increasingly concerned that the progressive Zionist commitment to the two-state solution as being the “only” one—due to a perceived need to protect Israel’s Jewish identity—is, if inadvertently, helping to shore up an unjust status quo. In a future peaceful scenario, it is unlikely that Palestinians will be able to call up much empathy for Zionist ideals. It is, however, nearly certain that Israelis will have to recognize that the Palestinians deserve the same basic rights that they themselves enjoy. If Diner and Feld’s essay has struck a nerve, it is probably because it articulated sentiments that many who call O THER V OICES
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themselves progressive Zionists have to some extent shared, but were reluctant to articulate. Both the anger and the sympathy it has generated indicates the importance of probing Zionism’s current relevance. That Zionism helped to create the current impasse with the Palestinians is undeniable. Whether it can be of any assistance in resolving it is far less clear.
Peter Eisenstadt is an independent historian living in Clemson, South Carolina. He has written extensively on New York City and New York State, and African American and Jewish history. Mira Sucharov is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa, specializing in Israeli-Palestinian relations. She writes regularly for Haaretz, The Jewish Daily Forward and the Canadian Jewish News. This blog was first posted on <http://+972mag.com>, Aug. 8, 2016. Copyright © 2010-2016 +972 Magazine. Reprinted with permission.
The Dangerous Fantasies of Jeffrey Goldberg BY GIDEON LEVY
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effrey Goldberg has a fantasy. Like every fantasy, it’s only loosely connected to reality. But don’t dare try to spoil it—he’s enjoying it too much. Goldberg is an enlightened liberal, representing progressive American Jewry. He’s liberal, intellectual, Zionist (of course), a friend of Israel (of course), close to U.S. President Barack Obama and a highly regarded journalist. He is critical of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (who isn’t?) and has liberal, enlightened Israeli friends just like him. In Goldberg’s fantasy, Israel is as enlightened as he is: liberal, democratic and just. Don’t you dare try casting doubt on that—Goldberg’s liberalism won’t tolerate it. He will praise freedom of expression in Israel, as he did at a Haaretz conference in Palo Alto last November, and will say that Israelis’ freedom of the press and lively public debate is what makes Israel so popular in America. But from now on, it will have WASHINGTON R EPORT
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to be without Haaretz and the lively public debate it fosters about Zionism among Jewish Americans. According to Goldberg, Haaretz is doing something unforgiveable: it’s shattering his fantasy. Because of an op-ed piece in which two AmericanJewish historians explain why they’ve abandoned Zionism, as well as a piece of my own (“Yes, Israel is an evil state,” July 31), the liberal Goldberg has decided he’s had enough of Haaretz. He tweeted to his 107,000 Twitter followers that these sort of pieces make him sick. Neo-Nazis, he said, have been distributing my op-ed, so he was going to have to “take a break” from Haaretz. I would love to know who those neoNazis are. After all, neo-Nazis and the radical right are now some of Israel’s best friends. Did Goldberg mean to say that BDS advocates are neo-Nazis? And besides, I’m not sure I understand. What, the pieces are true, but it’s only the way they’re used that angers Goldberg? Should they not be published because neo-Nazis disseminate them? Or are the articles not actually true? Behind this lies the greatest boorishness of all: the rather primitive idea that Israel’s critics are the ones giving it a bad name, not its actions and policies. That criticism of Israel was born of articles in Haaretz, not the crimes of the occupation. The video footage released Tuesday showing a border policeman throwing the bike of a terrified Palestinian girl into the bushes in Hebron did more damage to Israel than all of my pieces in Haaretz combined. Goldberg probably thought it should never have been posted, because of the neo-Nazis. You’re tired of Haaretz, Jeffrey? The Palestinians are far more tired of the occupation. They’d also like a break. And now to the essence. Goldberg thinks a country that’s oppressing four million human beings is an enlightened state implementing the liberal values of the West. That a country that in its own backyard is maintaining one of the most brutal and tyrannical regimes that exist today—certainly in the Western world—and has been running an apartheid regime for nearly 50 years, is a democracy. Would Goldberg call his country a democracy if there O CTOBER 2016 OV-3
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was racist discrimination in the South? No one is denying Goldberg his right to deceive himself and his readers. But the Goldbergs bear a heavy burden of guilt, because the occupation also continues because of them—those who spread the lie of Israeli democracy and its liberal nonsense. The smokescreen that Goldberg spreads in America allows it. He wants to continue enjoying Israel as long as it doesn’t harm the Reform movement or the Women of the Wall, while ignoring everything it does to the Palestinians. Haaretz will manage without Goldberg, but Israel would be a different country without this newspaper. It would be a country that even propagandist Goldberg would be ashamed of, without journalism of substance and without real oversight. Who will cover the occupation? Channel 2? Or the asylum seekers—Yedioth Ahronoth? Who will write about the undermining of democracy? Israel Hayom? That’s the country Goldberg would like to continue to fantasize about in Washington. Thanks, but we’re not interested.
This column was first published in Haaretz, Aug. 3, 2016. Copyright © Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Shot Heard All Over the Country BY URI AVNERY
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N JUNE 28, 1914, the Austrian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, visited Sarajevo, the main town of Bosnia, then an Austrian province. Three young Serbian inhabitants of Bosnia had decided to assassinate him, in order to achieve the attachment of Bosnia to Serbia. They threw bombs at the car of the archduke. All three failed to harm him. Later on, one of the assailants, Gavrilo Princip, chanced upon his intended victim again. The archduke’s car had made a wrong turn, the driver OV-4 O CTOBER 2016
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tried to reverse, the car stalled, and Princip shot the duke dead. That was “the shot heard around the world.” This small incident led to World War I, which led to World War II, with altogether some 100 million dead, to Bolshevism, Fascism, Nazism and the Holocaust. Yet, while the names of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler will be remembered for centuries, the name of Gavrilo Princip, the most important person of the 20th century, is already forgotten. (Because he was only 19 years old, Austrian law did not allow him to be sentenced to death. He was sent to prison, where his death from tuberculosis went unnoticed in the middle of World War I.) For some reason, this insignificant person who made history reminds me of an insignificant young Israeli named Elor Azaria, whose act may well change the history of the State of Israel. The facts of the case are quite clear. Two young Palestinians attacked an Israeli soldier with a knife in Tel Rumaida, a settlement of extremist Jews in the center of Hebron. The soldier was slightly wounded. The attackers were shot, one died on the spot, the other was severely wounded and lay bleeding on the ground. What happened next was photographed by a local Palestinian with one of the many cameras distributed by the Israeli human rights association B’Tselem to the local population. The crew of an Israeli ambulance was treating the wounded soldier, ignoring the seriously wounded Arab who was lying on the ground. Several Israeli soldiers were standing around, also ignoring the Palestinian. About 10 minutes later Sergeant Elor Azaria, a medic, appeared on the scene, approached the wounded Palestinian and shot him point-blank in the head, killing him. According to eyewitnesses, Azaria declared that “the terrorist must die.” Later, on the advice of his phalanx of lawyers, Azaria claimed that he was afraid that the wounded Palestinian had an explosive charge on his body and was about to kill the soldiers around him—an assertion clearly disproved by the pictures which showed
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the soldiers standing nearby obviously unconcerned. Then there was a mysterious knife which was not there at the beginning of the clip and could be seen lying near the body at the end. The film was widely distributed on social media and could not be ignored. Azaria was brought before a military court and became the center of a political storm that has been going on for weeks. It is splitting the army, the public, the political scene and the entire state. Let me interject a personal note. I am not naive. In the 1948 war I was a combat soldier for 10 consecutive months, before being severely wounded. I saw all kinds of atrocities. When the war was over, I wrote a book about these atrocities, called The Other Side of the Coin (in Hebrew). It was widely condemned. War brings out the best and the worst in human nature. I have seen war crimes committed by people who, after the war, became nice, normal, law-abiding citizens. So what is so special about Elor Azaria, apart from the fact that he was photographed during the act? We all saw him on TV, sitting in the military courtroom during his trial, which is still going on. A childish-looking soldier, seeming quite lost. His mother sits directly behind him, cradling his head in her arms and stroking him all the time. His father sits nearby and in the intermissions shouts abuse at the military prosecutor. So what is so special about this case? Similar acts happen all the time, though not on camera. It’s routine. Especially in Hebron, where a few hundred fanatical settlers live among 160,000 Palestinians. Hebron is one of the oldest cities in the world. It existed long before Biblical times. In the center of Hebron there is a building which, according to Jewish belief, houses the graves of the Israelite patriarchs. Archaeologists dispute this claim. Arabs believe that the tombs belong to venerable Muslim sheikhs. For them, the building is a mosque. Since the beginning of the occupation, this has been a place of continued violent strife. The main street is re-
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served for Jews and closed to Arab traffic. For soldiers sent there to guard the settlers, it is hell. In the clip, Azaria is seen shaking hands with somebody immediately after the killing. This person is no other than Baruch Marzel, the king of the Tel Rumaida settlers. Marzel is the successor of “Rabbi” Meir Kahane, who was branded as a fascist by the Supreme Court of Israel. (Marzel once openly called for my assassination.) During the trial it was revealed that Marzel plays host every Saturday to the entire company of Israeli soldiers guarding the settlement, including the officers. This means that Azaria was exposed to his fascist ideas before the shooting event. What makes the case of the “shooting soldier” (as he is called in the Hebrew press) a turning point in the history of the Zionist enterprise? As I mentioned in a recent piece, Israel is now rent into diverse “sectors,” with the rifts between them growing ever wider. Jews and Arabs; Orientals (Mizrahim) and Europeans (Ashkenazim); secular and religious; exclusive Orthodox and inclusive “national religious”; male and female; heterosexual and homosexual; old-timers and new immigrants, especially from Russia; rich and poor; Tel Aviv and the “periphery”; Left and Right; inhabitants of Israel proper and the settlers in the occupied territories. The one institution which unites almost all these diverse—and mutually antagonistic—elements is the army. It is far more than a mere fighting force. It is where all Israeli youngsters (except the Orthodox and the Arabs) meet on equal terms. It is the “melting pot.” It is the holiest of the holy. Not any more. This is where Sergeant Azaria comes in. He did not just kill a wounded Palestinian—named, by the way, Abd alFatah al-Sharif. He mortally wounded the army. For some years now, a secret endeavor of the “national-religious” has been going on to conquer the army from below. This sector was once a small and disdained group, since religious Jews by O THER V OICES
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and large rejected Zionism altogether. According to their belief, God exiled the Jews because of their sins, and only God has the right to allow them back. By appropriating God’s task for themselves, Zionists were committing a grievous sin. The mass of religious Jews lived in Eastern Europe and were destroyed in the Holocaust. A number of them came to Palestine and are now a secluded, self-sufficient community in Israel, taking huge sums of money from the Zionist state and not saluting the Zionist flag. The “national-religious,” on the other hand, grew in Israel from a small, timid community into a large and powerful force. Their tremendous birthrate—7-8 children is the norm— gives them a large advantage. When the Israeli army conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank, studded with holy places, they also became assertive and self-assured. Their present leader, Naftali Bennett, a successful high-tech entrepreneur, is now a dominant member of the government, in constant competition and conflict with Binyamin Netanyahu. The party has its own education system. For decades now this party has been engaged in a determined effort to conquer the army from below. It has prearmy preparatory schools which produce highly-motivated future officers, and is slowly infiltrating the lower officer corps. Kippah-wearing captains and majors, once a rarity, are now very common. All this is exploding now. The Azaria affair is blowing the army apart. The high command, still mainly composed of old-timers, Ashkenazim and (comparative) moderates, put Azaria on trial. Killing a wounded enemy is against army orders. Soldiers are allowed to shoot and kill only if they are in immediately danger to their lives. A large part of the population, especially the religious and rightist sectors, protested loudly against the trial. Since the Azaria family is Oriental, the protesters include the bulk of the Oriental sector. Netanyahu’s acute political nose imWASHINGTON R EPORT
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mediately scented the trend. He decided to visit the Azaria family, and was only held back at the last moment by his advisers. Instead, he called Elor’s father, and conveyed his personal sympathies on the phone. Avigdor Lieberman, before his appointment as minister of defense, personally visited the courtroom in order to demonstrate his support for the soldier. It was an open slap in the face of the army command. Now the army, the last bulwark of national unity, is being torn apart. The high command is openly attacked as leftist, a term not far removed from traitorous in current Israeli discourse. The myth of military infallibility lies shattered, the authority of the high command profoundly damaged, criticism of the chief of staff is rampant. In the contest between Sergeant Elor Azaria and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, the sergeant may well win. If convicted at all for blatantly disobeying orders, he will get off with a light sentence. Killing a defenseless human being has turned him into a national hero. His was the shot that was heard all over the country. Perhaps all over the world.
Uri Avnery, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, is a founder of Gush Shalom, <www.gush-shalom.org>. This article was first distributed Aug. 6, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
Foreign Ministry Director Bars All Diplomats From Contacting Israeli Journalists BY BARAK RAVID
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he Foreign Ministry’s director general on Thursday banned all Israeli diplomats in Israel and abroad from holding contacts with Israeli journalists. The exceptional directive was issued by Dore Gold in the wake of a Haaretz report that Arab O CTOBER 2016 OV-5
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states would not seek a vote regarding Israel’s nuclear arms at next month’s International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday that Gold became furious when he saw the report and convened an urgent meeting in his office. He raged over what he called a “leak,” even though most of the information in the report was unclassified. At the end of the meeting Gold ordered the release of new rules forbidding any contact with the Israeli media, but did not extend the ban to the foreign press. Following the meeting, Gilad Cohen, the deputy director general, and Emanuel Nahshon, the ministry spokesman, sent a telegram to all Foreign Ministry workers in Israel and abroad containing the new rules. “In light of recent events, in which unauthorized contact with Israeli journalists was made, we seek to repeat and refine the rule,” the letter stated in a copy obtained by Haaretz. “No contact is to be made by ministry workers in Israel or abroad with any representatives of the Israeli press. In any request by an Israeli journalist you must turn to the ministry spokesman and receive instructions.” Senior Foreign Ministry officials remarked that the new directive reflects a trend led by Gold and some of his assistants, mainly chief of staff Shimon Shapira, to become more aggressive with journalists, especially critical ones. Shapira, a political appointment by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, serves effectively as his personal representative in the ministry. Senior ministry officials stressed that in recent months Shapira’s behavior has earned him the nickname “Commissar.”
INTIMIDATION TACTICS Gold and Shapira have taken steps to limit press accessibility to the ministry to create a funnel effect that will make diplomats fear answering journalist questions or to keep in touch with the press. The most drastic step so far has been Gold’s directive to open an internal investigation following a Haaretz reOV-6 O CTOBER 2016
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port on June 19 about the ministry’s failure to prevent the decision by 28 EU foreign ministers to adopt the French peace initiative. Gold was furious about that report, and during a management meeting that morning raised his voice several times. Senior officials who were present at that meeting remarked that Gold hinted that Alon Ushpiz, the deputy director general for diplomacy, was behind the report. “Anyone who thinks that he can become director general through leaks to the press is making a bitter mistake,” Gold reportedly said. Senior ministry officials said that Gold’s veiled accusation of Ushpiz was evidence of tension between the two. Gold has denied any such tension, commenting that he never suspected Ushpiz leaked any information to anybody. “I have full and absolute faith in Alon Ushpiz, who is among the most senior and best of Israeli diplomats,” said Gold. Encouraged by Shapira, Gold tasked the Foreign Ministry’s general inspector, Orna Sagiv, with calling in for questioning dozens of diplomats who had been exposed to telegrams and e-mail messages that dealt with the EU meeting. A senior ministry official remarked that at least 20 diplomats, some of them as senior as deputy director general, were questioned by Sagiv regarding the Haaretz report. The investigation ended inconclusively. “It was clear that the person behind the link would not be found,” said a senior ministry official. “The whole goal was to intimidate us from contacting journalists in [the] future.” Senior ministry officials say that in contrast to the order that he gave to Israeli diplomats, Gold himself actually likes the press, especially the part of the Israeli press identified with the right or that rarely criticizes Israeli policy. Gold himself gave information about his secret trip to Chad last month exclusively to Israel Hayom. “Hysteria is running wild at the Foreign Ministry,” MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), who heads the caucus for the strengthening of Israel’s diplomatic relations, said. “What has been
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left there, after they stripped [the ministry] of its power and responsibilities? To fight in the media. This is ridiculous and sad.”
This article was first published in Haaretz, Aug. 18, 2016. Copyright © Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved.
Israeli Builders Behind Gaza Wall See Growth in Europe, Africa— And Trump BY NAOMI ZEVELOFF
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he Israeli company that built a fence around Gaza is building up what they call their “border business,” in Europe, the Middle East, Africa—and maybe on the border between the United States and Mexico, if Donald Trump is elected president. Should such a project come to fruition “probably we will know about it and do our best to take part in it,” Hagai Katz, the vice president of marketing and business development at Magal Security Systems Ltd., told the Forward. According to a Bloomberg profile on Magal, the Israeli company’s “smart fence” which encases the Gaza Strip has become its “key sales prop” in its bid to help fortify borders across the globe. Magal’s “smart fences” feature video cameras, motion detectors, ground sensors and satellite monitoring. “Anybody can give you a very nice Powerpoint, but few can show you such a complex project as Gaza that is constantly battle-tested,” Magal CEO Saar Koursh told Bloomberg. The Israeli government says the fence keeps militants out of Israel. Palestinians say Israel’s siege amounts to collective punishment for Gazans, turning the embattled strip on Israel’s southern border into the world’s largest open air prison. Since 2008, there have been three wars between Israel and Gaza. Up until recently, physical borders
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were not a major component of Magal’s offerings. The company provides security products in dozens of countries for seaports, airports, oil and gas facilities, industrial sites and prisons. “The border business was down, but then came ISIS and the Syrian conflict,” Koursh told Bloomberg. “The world is changing and borders are coming back big-time.” Magal is now competing to build a 425-mile, $15.2 billion border project in Kenya. Most of the 1,000 kilometers of border fence built by Magal have been in Israel itself, on the borders with Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Katz would not provide specific details about the borders the company has built elsewhere, saying only that it has worked on the border between Eastern and Western Europe with “virtual fences” that use buried sensors. It has also worked on another Middle East border, not in Israel. Of Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, Katz said, “We listen to this debate, it is in the background.” He agrees with Trump that the current border policing isn’t enough. “There are hundreds of kilometer already built,” he said. “Are they effective or not? I think not.”
This article first appeared in the Forward, Aug. 3, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
Sheldon Adelson Takes Surprisingly Modest Approach in Campus Initiative BY NATHAN GUTTMAN
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ramed as the biggest Jewish communal effort yet to battle anti-Israel sentiments on campus, the Maccabee Task Force has ended its first year of work as a modest, cautious operation. A more “sober” approach has set in
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at the task force’s Las Vegas headquarters, according to David Brog, its executive director, following initial reports in the media and talk among some donors of a $50 million budget. As things turned out, the fund doled out about $9 million this past school year to various campus groups. And its budget, which was initially expected to win support from the community’s biggest donors, is now reliant on a single philanthropist—Las Vegas billionaire and Republican funder Sheldon Adelson. “Those who wanted to see us dump a lot of money could be disappointed,” said Brog, in an interview with the Forward last month. “The headlines got ahead of reality.” Brog added: “Fifty million right away was never Sheldon Adelson’s model. Our model is to start small, identify what works, and build from there.” This low-key gradual approach— seemingly in contrast to the initial spirit of the initiative—may actually prove valuable in assuaging concerns voiced by Jewish organizations already active on the campus scene. In the lead-up to the program’s launch many of these groups expressed unease with a major new player, flush with cash, stepping into the already crowded field of pro-Israel campus activism. “Everybody anticipated a much faster ramp-up,” said a top official at a pro-Israel organization that is also actively working to block anti-Israel efforts on college campuses. “The big surprise is how slow it is happening.” The organizational official, who asked not to be named due to the group’s policy of not airing differences with other Jewish organizations in public, said that based on MTF’s limited activities this year, “there was nothing there that raised concerns for us.” With only a few months to organize after its launch in the summer of 2015, the Maccabee Task Force, also known by its acronym, MTF, concentrated on six California campuses with visible pro-Palestinian activism during the past school year. The group’s roll-out, according to Brog, began with outreach to groups already working on campus. After listenWASHINGTON R EPORT
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ing to their needs, MTF gave out grants to selected existing programs and funded new initiatives specific to each college’s circumstances. “They asked the students: ‘If you had unlimited resources, what would you like to do?’“ recalled Liora Zimerman, who served as the Jewish Agency for Israel fellow at University of California Santa Cruz Hillel and collaborated with MTF in promoting pro-Israel programs. On Zimerman’s campus, one result of this brainstorming was the “Israel palooza,” celebrating Israel’s independence day, with graffiti artists and advocacy booths funded by MTF. Rabbi Aaron Lerner, executive director of the Hillel at UCLA, another school where MTF ran its pilot program, described a similar experience. “Our students were invited to suggest programs to expand awareness about Israel,” he said, adding that the outside funding from Adelson’s group “has helped UCLA Hillel grow the pro-Israel community on our campus.” MTF’s most ambitious project is a Birthright-style all-expenses-paid trip to Israel for groups of students, made up primarily of non-Jewish campus leaders. “There’s pressure on these students not to go because they will be brainwashed,” Brog said. To counter these claims, students were taken to meet Palestinians, including representatives in Ramallah of the Palestinian Authority, which governs some areas on the West Bank under Israeli aegis. Tour members also met, he said, with representatives of different points of view within Jewish Israeli society. Another program sponsored by MTF seeks to offer a counter-narrative to pro-Palestinian events on campus known, on some campuses, as the “Israel apartheid week.” MTF’s polling has found that students respond better to positive messages and are turned off by anger and hate, and therefore the group framed its events as the “Israel peace week.” The program does not encourage students to seek confrontation with pro-Palestinian peers, but instead offers free falafel, T-shirts, and a message that “you may not like the Israeli presence in the West Bank, and that’s O CTOBER 2016 OV-7
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fine, but to put all the blame for it on Israel is not,” said Brog. The Maccabees Task Force was launched last June at a secretive invitee-only two-day event hosted by Adelson at his Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Standing alongside Adelson at the launch of the initiative was Israeli-American Hollywood billionaire Haim Saban. Among the invitees were representatives of some 50 Jewish organizations as well as major Jewish donors. The latter were invited to a “Mega Philanthropists Session” at which opening pledge minimums were set at $1 million. Within months, friction between the staunch Republican Adelson, who is set to be Donald Trump’s largest contributor this year, and Saban, a friend and top donor to Democrat Hillary Clinton, led Saban to withdraw from the project. Other mega-donors also chose not to take part in the initiative, leaving Adelson as the prime sponsor. A year after its launch, the group, which is registered as a tax-deductible charity under the IRS code, is still reluctant to provide full information about its finances and the scope of its activity. Brog said MTF’s budget in its first year of operation was “under $10 million, maybe under $9 million.” He declined to name all six California campuses on which the group had operated in the last school year. MTF’s first-year tax return, which would offer precise information on this, is not yet publicly available. In making its funding choices, MTF focused on local organizations such as the Spartans for Israel in San Jose, Bruins for Israel at UCLA, Students Supporting Israel, local Chabad campus groups, AEPi fraternities, Christians United for Israel, and several campus Hillel groups. National Jewish organizations, such as Hillel international, were not considered for support, at least at this stage. Brog stated that MTF surprised its partners “when they saw we did not come with ideological baggage.” Adelson rejects a two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and occupation of the West Bank, and generally opposes Israeli territorial concesOV-8 O CTOBER 2016
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sions. But Brog stressed that Adelson did not ask to impose his political views on groups MTF intends to partner with. Nevertheless, MTF still upholds a policy of refusing to partner with J StreetU, the campus arm of the dovish pro-Israel lobby, which opposes boycotts of Israel but is openly critical of its policies toward the Palestinians. “There is no reason we should take positions that divide the community,” said Brog. For the Maccabee Task Force this means trying to counter the proPalestinian narrative on campus. When the question of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank comes up, Brog said he responds that “this is a simplistic approach that ignores the reality of repeated offers made by Israel and rejected by the Palestinians.” MTF’s promise of revolutionizing the anti-BDS field has evolved into a singlefunder operation taking baby-steps toward becoming a player on the alreadypacked pro-Israel campus field. Brog said that his group now has a “tried and tested action plan” that will allow it to expand to 20 campuses this fall. MTF will also try this coming school year to broaden its financial support base by soliciting other donors rather than rely exclusively on Adelson, its founder.
This article first appeared in the Forward, Aug. 11, 2016. Reprinted with permission.
Kashmir and Palestine: The Story of Two Occupations BY GOLDIE OSURI
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he India and Israel alliance has been described as a full-blown romance, but the ongoing siege of Kashmir makes this a bloody affair—covert for years. India has bought arms from Israel since the 1960s. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Israel in 2017, marking the 25th anniversary of full diplomatic relations.
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The two nations are passionate about their brutal occupations of Kashmir and Palestine. India is one of Israel’s biggest arms exports clients, spending about $10 billion over the past decade. Indian police forces have been receiving training in Israel for “anti-terror” operations, which Israel conducts against Palestinians.
THE ONGOING UNREST IN KASHMIR Writing in the Middle East Review of International Affairs in 2004, Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College London, frames the selfdetermination struggles in Kashmir and Palestine within a post-9/11 narrative of the “global scourge of Islamist terrorism.” This terror frame supports the economy of arms trade between India, Israel and the United States. In this story, the aggressive religious nationalisms of Zionism and Hindutva are neutral shared security interests. Kashmiri and Palestinian quests for self-determination are reduced to neighboring Muslim or Arab states causing unrest. The current siege of Kashmir by India’s forces follows the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Kashmiris came out in thousands to mourn the event. Kashmiri writers and journalists say that the savage response of the Indian state to the popular crowd support for the slain militant was unprecedented. The pellet gun, a weapon banned in many countries, was used to blind and maim hundreds, from a one-year-old child to the elderly. The dead numbered more than 70, and 6,000 or more were injured. These numbers continue to rise. Yet, Kashmiris continue to protest against the Indian state and call for Azadi (freedom).
OCCUPATION AND OCCUPIERS These current events must be placed in a longer context. Since the 1990s,
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through a decade of armed struggle against the Indian state, state violence in Kashmir has taken its toll. There are about 500,000 military personnel in the region—in other words, one soldier for 25 civilians. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society reports more than 70,000 killings, about 10,000 enforced disappearances and 7,000 mass graves. Torture, rape, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings are widespread. These human rights violations are intricately linked to the denial of political sovereignty for Kashmiris. We desperately need to reconsider our West versus non-West understanding of the geography of colonialisms. The years 1947 and 1948 mark the creation of the nation-states of India and Israel. These years scar Kashmiris and Palestinians. Palestinians have been dispossessed of territory and many forced into exile. Kashmir was handed over from an unpopular ruler without the legitimacy of popular vote to the Indian state on Oct. 26, 1947. A condition of that accession is the United Nations resolution of 1948 for referendum or plebiscite, never facilitated by the Indian state. Israel and India thus inaugurate the colonial occupations of Palestine and Kashmir.
UNEVEN SCALE OF ATROCITIES When is an occupation not an occupation? When it is executed by one of the world’s largest markets? When is a butcher not a butcher? When he is a prime minister; or when he is an ally? Let’s not forget that Modi was denied a visa to the U.S. in 2005 for his alleged responsibility over the mass murder of Muslims during the Gujarat riots. His nickname, the “Butcher of Gujarat,” comes from that 2002 event. He can now add the title of the “Butcher of Kashmir” to his name—even as that title fits previous Indian prime ministers. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, like his predecessors, can be named the “Butcher of Palestinians,” as he presided over the brutal bombing of Gaza in 2014 that killed 2,100 Palestinians, a third of them children. O THER V OICES
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The Israeli dead listed 66 soldiers and 7 civilians. This uneven scale led the U.N. Inquiry of Gaza to lay the weight of the charge of war crimes on Israel even as they also charged listed Palestinian armed groups. The U.S. was the sole vote against the U.N. inquiry, and European countries abstained, as did India. The Gaza bombing was not the first and it is not the last, as the violence of occupation continues in Palestine daily in the form of illegal settlements and killings.
GREATER NEED FOR SOLIDARITY We live in a time when nation-states overtly commit war crimes, are cheered on by bloodthirsty majoritarian citizens, and literally get away with murder. The word democracy glitters like fool’s gold on the tongues of world leaders. Human rights regimes seem toothless in the face of the bold barbarisms of nation-states invested in repressing democracy, and need reform if they are to deliver justice. And so transnational solidarity and activism are urgent when almost every nation-state seems rogue. The small but growing pockets of solidarity expressed for Kashmiris are heartening, as is the international solidarity for Palestinian struggle. Joining the dots between the occupations of Kashmir and Palestine shows the need for a greater solidarity between these two sovereignty struggles.
Goldie Osuri is associate professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, UK. She is the author of Religious Freedom in India: Sovereignty and (Anti) Conversion. This opinion was first posted on <www.aljazeera.com>, Aug. 24, 2016. Copyright © 2016 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
America’s Longest War Gets Longer BY ERIC MARGOLIS WASHINGTON R EPORT
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nti-Russian hysteria in America reached its apogee this week as Democrats tried to divert attention from embarrassing revelations about how the Democratic Party apparatus had rigged the primaries against Bernie Sanders by claiming Vlad Putin and his KGB had hacked and exposed the Dem’s emails. This was rich coming from the U.S. that snoops into everyone’s e-mails and phones across the globe. Remember German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone being bugged by the U.S. National Security Agency? Unnamed U.S. “intelligence officials” claimed they had “high confidence” that the Russian KGB or GRU (military intelligence) had hacked the Dem’s emails. These were likely the same officials who had “high confidence” that Iraq had nuclear weapons. Blaming Putin was a master-stroke of deflection. No more talk of Hillary’s slush fund foundation or her status as a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street. All attention was focused on President Putin, who has been outrageously demonized by the U.S. media and politicians. Except for a small faux pas—a montage of warships shown at the end of the Democratic Convention in a blaze of jingoistic effusion embarrassingly turned out to be Russian warships! Probably another trick by the awful Putin, who has come to replace Satan in the minds of many Americans. And what a joy for the war party that those dastardly Ruskis are now back as Enemy Number One. Much more fun than scruffy Arabs. The word is out: more stealth bombers, more warships, more missiles, more troops for Europe. The wicked Red Chinese will have to wait their turn until Uncle Sam can deal with them. I always find conventions depressing affairs. Rather than the cradle of democracy, they remind me of clownish Shriners Conventions. Or as the witty Democratic adviser Paul Begala said, “Hollywood for ugly people.” What, I kept wondering, is the rest of the world thinking as it watching this tawdry spectacle? O CTOBER 2016 OV-9
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One thing that amazed me was the convention’s lack of attention to America’s longest-ever war that still rages in the mountains of Afghanistan. For the past 13 years, America, the world’s greatest military and economic power, has been trying to crush the life out of Afghan Pashtun mountain tribesmen whose primary sin is fiercely opposing occupation by the U.S. and its local Afghan opium-growing stooges. The saintly President Barack Obama repeatedly proclaimed the Afghan war over and staged phony troops withdrawals. He must have believed his generals who kept claiming they had just about defeated the resistance alliance, known as Taliban. But the war was far from being “almost won.” The U.S.-installed puppet regime in Kabul of President Ashraf Ghani, a former banker, holds on only thanks to the bayonets of U.S. troops and the U.S. Air Force. Without constant air strikes, the U.S-.installed Ghani regime and its drug-dealing would have been swept away by Taliban and its tribal allies. So the U.S. remains stuck in Afghanistan. Obama lacked the courage to pull U.S. troops out. Always weak in military affairs, Obama bent to demands of the Pentagon and CIA to dig in lest the Red Chinese or Pakistan take over this strategic nation. The U.S. oil industry was determined to assure trans-Afghan pipeline routes south from Central Asia. India has its eye on Afghanistan. Muslims could not be allowed to defeat the U.S. military. Look what happened to the Soviets after they admitted defeat in Afghanistan and pulled out. Why expose the U.S. Empire to a similar geopolitical risk? With al-Qaeda down to less than 50 members in Afghanistan, according to former U.S. defense chief Leon Panetta, what was the ostensible reason for Washington to keep garrisoning Afghanistan? The shadowy ISIS is now being dredged up as the excuse to stay. This longest of wars has cost nearly $1 trillion to date—all of it borrowed money—and caused the deaths of OV-10 O CTOBER 2016
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3,518 U.S. and coalition troops, including 158 Canadians who blundered into a war none of them understood. No one has the courage to end this pointless war. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Afghans are being killed. Too bad no one at the Democratic or Republican Convention had time to think about the endless war in forgotten Afghanistan.
Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist and the author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination? Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). This article was first posted July 30, 2016 on his website, <http://ericmargolis.com>. Copyright © 2016 Eric S. Margolis. Reprinted with permission.
Turkey’s Sensible Détente With Russia BY GRAHAM E. FULLER
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arely more than a few weeks after the failed coup in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised the world by turning up for a meeting in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many observers in the West view the event darkly, as a sign that perhaps Erdogan is now making a strategic about-face to embrace Russia. This meeting, while coming fast on the heels of the coup, does not really represent a great surprise and should not be viewed as some sinister new departure in Turkey’s strategic posture. It’s important to remember that the foreign policy introduced in 2003 by Erdogan’s party, the AKP, already represented a major new departure in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation. Erdogan’s foreign policy guru, and later foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, proclaimed a new policy of “zero problems” with neighbors. Suddenly, and for the first time in the history of modern Turkey, Ankara decided to dramatically reverse its previously bad relations over 50 years with
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virtually all of its neighbors, and declared a desire to reach accommodation and resolve long-standing tensions with states where cold relations had previously existed. The new vision opened a huge new chapter for Turkey in international relations. Washington, of course, was not pleased with these shifts since they entailed Turkey’s improving ties with countries and organizations which Washington had sought to weaken and isolate: Iran, Russia, Iraq, Syria, China, Hamas and Hezbollah. Turkey further determined that U.S. policies in the region were failing, unproductive, unrealistic, dangerous, and against the interests of Turkey—and perhaps of the region as a whole, as Washington plunged into war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and military incursions into Pakistan and Somalia. In my view as well, Turkish assessments of U.S. strategic errors and miscalculations were not far off the mark. Ankara famously denied the U.S. military the right to invade Iraq from Turkish soil at the last minute in 2003. Thus a decade ago we had already heard much discussion in the U.S. press about whether Turkey had “gone off the reservation,” or had ceased to be a reliable ally of the U.S. Indeed, Ankara was no longer a “reliable ally,” which historically had meant that Ankara would follow the U.S. lead in Middle East policy. No longer. Ankara had truly set out on an independent path in keeping with its perceptions of its own interests, and those generally ran counter to what Washington wanted. That particularly included burgeoning strategic and economic ties with Russia. Indeed, Turkey no longer considered itself to be uniquely a “Western power” but also a Middle Eastern one, and went on to declare its historical, cultural, economic and strategic interests in the Caucasus, Eurasia, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and even newly expanding interests into Latin America. These initiatives were accompanied at the time by an expansion of the Gülenist network of schools and commercial ties in all these areas as well,
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with the full blessing of the Turkish Foreign Ministry as representing a new source of Turkish soft power. At that time, overall Turkish relations with Washington were cool and Erdogan was disliked.
CREATING PROBLEMS But Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” had represented a fresh and productive policy as Turkey became the 16th developing nation in the world with spreading interests. In 2013, Turkish airlines served more countries than any other airline in the world. Turkey entered the process of globalization and its economy boomed. But Turkish foreign policy successes were to bite the dust with the onset of the Arab Spring, a phenomenon which no one foresaw and which no country handled well, including Washington or Ankara. Erdogan, long a mentor to Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, soon became obsessed with overthrowing him—the signal foreign policy error that Turkey committed. Turkish involvement in the Syrian conflict led eventually to the unraveling of its good ties with virtually every neighbor, undoing the foreign policy gains of a decade. So looking at the present situation we need to see it in the perspective of the events of the last decade. Turkey is not “drifting away from Washington” as such—it had long since already done so. It is not now suddenly cozying up to Russia—it had already long done so. It was only the toxic character of the Syrian mess that had severely damaged Turkish relations with Moscow, culminating in the Turkish shoot-down of a Russian fighter aircraft on the SyrianTurkish border. That is now being righted. Following the failed putsch attempt against him on July 15, Erdogan has indeed found little warmth or support from the West. Indeed, there has long been little love for him in the West, even though all countries appropriately condemned the coup attempt as an unwelcome blow to the Turkish democratic order. Whatever sympathy Erdogan might have won even then was largely weakO THER V OICES
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ened by his subsequent sweeping purges in the military, the judiciary, police, educational and financial system against any and all potential opposition to Erdogan from any quarter—not just Gülen—now reaching well over 60,000 people cashiered or arrested. Erdogan is thus somewhat isolated in the West, where he is viewed as mercurial, erratic and seeking authoritarian powers at home. But his efforts to restore his damaged ties with Russia and the East does not represent a bold new break or a slap to the West, so much as a return to his original foreign policies of a decade ago. Indeed, Erdogan is now moving to again mend the damage to nearly all Ankara’s foreign ties so heavily inflicted during Ankara’s Syrian adventure. This is not surprising, and from Erdogan’s point of view, eminently sensible. He seeks to shore up his basis of foreign support to the maximum degree on all fronts. But he is also highly unlikely to abandon NATO, since it represents his key institutionalized relationship with the West. After the disastrous state of TurkishRussian relations over the past year or so, they had nowhere to go but up. Turkish ties with Russia are not unnatural, especially after the breakup of the Soviet Union. These ties center on energy, trade and tourism. Russia is of major importance to Ankara. The two share many common interests from the Balkans, across the Middle East to the Caucasus and Central Asia. They may be partial rivals in the region, but stability benefits both. Thus these developments do not represent a genuine new setback to the U.S. in the region—unless one views America’s number-one interest in the region to be the exclusion of Russian influence at all cost. That is really old think—and quite unrealistic.
Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official, and author of numerous books on the Muslim world. His latest book is Breaking Faith: A novel of espionage and an American’s crisis of conscience in Pakistan. This article was first posted on <www.consortiumnews.com>, WASHINGTON R EPORT
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Aug. 17, 2016. Copyright © 2016 Consortiumnews. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Does This Change Everything? Russia’s First Strikes on Syria From Iran Airbases BY JUAN COLE
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ussian bombers for the first time have taken off from bases in Iran to carry out air strikes on rebel targets in Syria. The U.S. military is complaining that under a Russian agreement with the U.S., it was supposed to get a timely notification of Russia air strikes so they could avoid any conflicts. The Russians appear to have given the Americans last-minute notice—enough so that the U.S. could make the necessary arrangements, but only barely so. Likely Russia did not want to give the U.S. time to complain about the basing in Iran or to try to pressure Moscow back out of this plan. According to Russian sources, this procedure is a matter of saving money on logistics. But the move will inevitably be seen in the light of grand strategy. A tightening of Russian-Iranian security cooperation will be seen by Saudi Arabia and Israel as a threat, and since those two countries have the most powerful lobbies in Washington, it will view the development as threatening, as well. BBC Monitoring says that “Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, chair of the State Duma’s Defense Committee and a former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, told RNS (Rambler News Service, 0952 gmt 16 Aug 16): ‘It is expensive and takes a long time to fly from bases in the European part of Russia. The issue of the cost of military combat activities is, at present, a priority. We must not go over the current Defense Ministry budget. Flying Tu-22s O CTOBER 2016 OV-11
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from Iran means using less fuel and carrying larger payloads…Russia won’t be able to find a friendlier and more suitable, from the point of view of security, country in that part of the world, and strikes must be carried out if we want to end this war…Airfields in Syria are not suitable because of the constant [need for] flying over areas of combat activities.” TeleSur reports that the “long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers” took off from Iran’s Hamadan air base. These are the first strikes by Russia on Syrian targets from the territory of another country. It is also unprecedented since 1979 for the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow a foreign power to use its facilities for military purposes. The United States had bases in Iran in the 1960s and 1970s and U.S. soldiers were guaranteed immunity from prosecution in Iranian courts. After 1979 when Iran and the U.S. cut off relations, the slogan of Iran was “Neither East nor West, an Islamic Republic.” This slogan referred to the Cold War exigency of allying with the U.S. or the U.S.S.R., and Khomeini’s refusal to play that game. From an Iranian point of view, closer military relations with the Russian Federation at this juncture have advantages. They are some protection from the belligerence toward Tehran of Binyamin Netanyahu’s far-right, expansionist Israeli government, and of the new and reckless Saudi government, which is bombing Yemen, supporting Salafi extremists in Syria, and rattling sabers at Iran. Asked about the Russian basing, Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, said that it was a matter of strategic cooperation against terrorism—given the importance of defeating ISIL. Shamkhani appears to have been a little embarrassed about the de facto return of Iran to being a military asset of a great power. He went on to underline that in all its struggles in the region against terrorism, in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Tehran was depending primarily on local people power. OV-12 O CTOBER 2016
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What Russia and Iran aren’t talking about is that apparently they have given up on the February cease-fire in favor of an aggressive campaign to conquer rebel-held East Aleppo as a way of ending the Syrian civil war. The Russian air strikes from Iran are in service to that goal. Since it is likely that there will be a Clinton administration in January, this Russian-Iran cooperation on Syria will pose a problem for a President Hillary Clinton. She is on record as wanting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria, to impose a no-fly zone over that country, and to support the remnants of the Free Syrian Army—exactly the opposite of the policies of Moscow and Tehran. You could imagine a clash. The development may also hurt Donald Trump, since he says he wants an alliance with Russia against Da’ish (ISIL, ISIS). Since Russia has such an alliance with Iran, wouldn’t that in reality make Trump allied with Iran? (Actually the U.S. is already de facto allied with Iran against Da’ish, but no one is willing to admit it.)
Juan Ricardo Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). This blog was first posted on his Informed Comment website, <www.juancole.com>, Aug. 17, 2016. Copyright (c) 2016. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
“How Do We Sell Our Food in Canada?” BY MOLLY HAYES
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ust a few months after arriving in Hamilton, three Syrian refugee moms are combining their cooking skills and entrepreneurial spirit to create jobs for themselves and delicious meals for their community. Sitting around a table at the Kitchen Collective on King Street East, Rawa’a
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Aloliwi, Dalal Al Zoubi and Manahel Al Shareef share a laugh about the way things have turned out. Through a translator, they explain that they never expected they’d be the ones going to work—launching a small business, no less—while their husbands go to classes to improve their English. The trio and their families arrived in the city from Syria—via a refugee camp in Jordan and a quick stop in Toronto—this past spring. The transition was terrifying at first. They did not speak much English. They did not know the culture, and were acutely aware of the misconceptions about their own. Even small things like street signals were a new puzzle to figure out. But just a few months in, they have been pleasantly surprised to find their new city so welcoming. Two women in particular—Brittani Farrington and Kim Kralt—have done more for them than they could have dreamed. It was Al Shareef, 32, who first met Farrington, when she volunteered to give the newcomer and her husband a ride back into Toronto on their first day in the city. From there, Farrington’s church—the Eucharist Church, downtown—decided to throw a welcome dinner for the families. But the women insisted on doing the cooking for them. The church provided the ingredients and the women took over the kitchen. In Syria, they’d never thought of their cooking skills as special—everyone cooked big meals, often welcoming dozens of extended family members and friends into their homes at a time. But here, in the MacNab Presbyterian Church in their new hometown, everyone was blown away by their culinary skills. Suddenly they had a gift to share. Yalanji, falafel and kibbeh. Kababs. Manakeesh. Kabsa. Each dish received rave reviews. And they began to wonder…could this translate into a career? “They said ‘How do we sell our food in Canada?’” Farrington recalls. “In their minds, cooking was a skill they are amazing at—and you don’t need a lot of language skills…cooking
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for 60 people is not stressful for them. They just know how to scale it up.” Once Kralt, a friend of Farrington’s who has a bachelor’s degree in social work and experience in the catering industry, got on board, the fivesome began to brainstorm a business plan. Soon, the Karam—meaning “generous” in Arabic—Kitchen was born. “It’s a natural fit, they are the most generous women I’ve ever met,” Farrington says. They were inviting her and her husband over for dinners even before they were fully settled. They have launched a KickStarter fundraising campaign, looking to raise $6,500 to help cover the basic equipment they’ll need to get started— things such as printing menus, kitchen supplies, business licensing and insurance, and, of course, ingredients. They have met with city staff, and have secured a spot for their headquarters at the non-profit Kitchen Collective, an affordable communal commercial kitchen on King Street East. The group is also hoping to use the funds to hire an Arabic translator for meetings, to ensure that all three of the woman are able to participate in all aspects of the business. It has been a whirlwind for three women who never expected to be entrepreneurs. Back home in Syria, Al Zoubi, 45, was a teacher. Al Shareef was a housekeeper, and Alolaliwi, 30, had been in school. She graduated from a sustainability program just before her family was forced to flee. On Wednesday, a gaggle of happy kids squealed around them during the interview, as translator Alice Al Houjairy—a social worker from Wesley Urban Ministries—relays questions to the trio. Language is still the biggest challenge. Al Zoubi is the only one of the three who can speak English, though the other two are slowly learning. As a result, the kitchen often becomes a game of charades. But Farrington and Kralt are learning a new language themselves—the language of food. They are in awe watching the women mix ingredients from memory, O THER V OICES
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going only by scent. Even in the camps they always found a way to cook. Farrington and Kralt are impressed, but are continually asking them (well, acting out the request) to use measurements so they can price it out. It has been a long, war-torn road here. And deep down, they just want to be back at home in Syria. But for now, Hamilton is home—they are safe here, and thriving. They feel empowered. Al Zoubi adds—through the translator—that she is happy that this business might help change people’s perceptions of newcomer Arabic women. They are working hard to support their families, just like everyone else. Just a couple days into their fundraising, they’re more than two-thirds of the way to their goal. It seems the community, too, is generous. At this rate, Farrington says they should be up and running by September.
This article was first published in The Hamilton Spectator, July 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 Metroland Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
The Meaning of Lebanon’s Stalled Governance System BY RAMI G. KHOURI
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generally refrain from writing about domestic politics in Lebanon, except when events here reflect wider regional patterns. We are passing through such a situation today, when several things are happening at once: decision-making systems have become totally blocked, the citizenry is deeply polarized, angry, and alienated, and foreign lifesavers appear nowhere on the horizon, as life for most citizens becomes increasingly expensive and difficult. The Lebanese governance system has just registered another troubling milestone with the failure of the three-day “national dialogue” gathering that
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brought together representatives of all major political and sectarian groups. The national dialogue itself epitomizes the frailties of the governance system that has slowly ground to a halt. The national dialogue was launched a decade ago precisely to overcome the logjam brought about by the division of the political class into two opposing camps, after the Syrians were forced to withdraw from Lebanon following the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. One camp was broadly aligned with Syria, Hezbollah and Iran, and the other with Saudi Arabia, the United States and others. In the political shorthand of contemporary Lebanon, if Iran and Saudi Arabia disagree on a domestic Lebanese issue, that issue is not resolved, and remains hanging. The political system remains hostage to these and other regional rivalries, making it necessary to try and agree on some critical national matters through the national dialogue process. This has been structured under the chairmanship of the president of the country as a means of discussing big sticker items that could not be resolved in the existing mechanisms of governance that also should represent all Lebanese, such as the cabinet and the parliament. Even national elections are difficult to hold, and parliament has extended its term twice in a row because the country’s political elite cannot agree on an election law to use for the elections. The presidency (by tradition held by a Maronite Christian) also has been vacant for over two years, due to the same lack of top-level and regional agreement. The national dialogue’s attempt to overcome this kind of frazzled and hollowed governance has included numerous sessions, where the heads of the major demographic-political groups in the country neither acted like responsible national leaders nor acted like politicians and made deals based on mutual compromises. The national dialogue approach has repeatedly failed, leaving the situation in Lebanon today more troubling than ever, because the failure of the political A UGUST /S EPTEMBER 2016 OV-13
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class now coincides with the deteriorating conditions on the ground that impact every family (except the wellto-do political class that is sheltered from things like piles of uncollected garbage or daily multiple electricity cut-offs). This is a most serious development for Lebanon because in the past decade the country has caught up with many other Arab countries that suffer a combination of derelict and corrupt governance and deteriorating life conditions for millions of increasingly desperate citizens. Ordinary citizens are irritated and frustrated by the cumulative impacts of the vacant presidency, moribund parliament, lack of agreement on an election law to hold a new parliamentary vote, and the cabinet’s occasional handling of only routine administrative issues while leaving more important items on hold. More ominously for the system as a whole, citizens get the message that the political elite— their own sectarian leaders—does not really care very much about the quality of citizens’ daily life. The pressures citizens feel include lack of jobs and low salaries, weak social protection policies, growing poverty and income disparities, expanding electricity cuts, erratic water supply and quality, deteriorating education quality, chaotic public transport, ineffective and now dangerous rubbish collection practices, and other aspects of life that were never a problem before. Tens of thousands of Lebanese reacted to these stresses through street protests last year, and some historic electoral rebellions during the municipal elections a few months ago. They are clearly fed up, but they have not indicated what they can or plan to do about their difficult situation. Here is the critical dilemma for Lebanese: In the past 75 years of national life, they could reliably count on the three main actors in their life—the government, their local sectarian leaders, and their foreign patrons—to provide them with the material and political means of a decent life. Today, all three of these providers have started to fail, while stop-gap efforts to overcome this problem through the national diOV-14 O CTOBER 2016
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alogue only confirm the underlying, apparently structural, inefficacy of the governance system. We may be dealing here with more than merely a short-term political hiccup that can be overcome through compromise and deal-making. We may be witnessing the early signs of a catastrophic systemic failure of those novel creatures that were born in this region in the 1920s and ‘30s: foreignbacked sectarian governance systems anchored in post-colonial structures. The Lebanese are very able, resilient, and creative, and they will have to draw on all their assets to get out of this embarrassing and unprecedented situation.
Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly in Beirut’s Daily Star. He was founding director and now senior policy fellow of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. This commentary was first distributed Aug. 6, 2016. Copyright © 2016 Rami G. Khouri. Distributed by Agence Global. Reprinted with permission.
The Change Luck City: Dhaka’s Climate Refugees DISPLACED BY CLIMATE CHANGE, ALMOST HALF A MILLION PEOPLE FLEE TO BANGLADESH’S CAPITAL EVERY YEAR. BY NELLIE LE BEAU AND HUGH TUCKFIELD
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he devastating effects of climate change—floods, salinization of land, destructive super cyclones, and reduced agricultural yields—have displaced millions of people from rural Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of people each year flee to Dhaka, one of the most densely populated cities on earth, to seek work and shelter. Dhaka’s slums are overcrowded and expensive, and many new arrivals are forced to make
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their homes wherever they can find space: in alleys, on footpaths, under bridges, or by the river port; under plastic sheeting and blue tarpaulins; in parks, graveyards, bus stations and train stations; behind stadiums and religious centers; next to the High Court of Bangladesh; in between luxury high-rise condominium buildings named for exotic flowers. Displaced primarily from Bangladesh’s southern and eastern regions, these are climate change refugees, called the “pavement dwellers” of Dhaka—soon to be the largest megacity in the world. As the effects of climate change increase, almost half a million people flee to this expanding city every year. Currently, 7 million people, representing 40 percent of Dhaka’s population, live in the slums, riverbanks, parks and train stations of the city. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and U.N. Habitat have estimated that 70 percent of these 7 million residents have arrived as a consequence of climate change. As one young government official explained: “They come to Dhaka because they cannot live any longer where they are from. They come because Dhaka is the Change Luck City.” Many of these citizens lack essential access to water, sanitation, education and decent housing. Most are effectively stateless, as regional rights of origin often do not transfer to their new city. They supply the second largest garment industry in the world, and the privately owned $2 billion-a-year plastics recycling industry, with workers, and they and their families live in every available public or abandoned space in Dhaka. A small number of NGOs attempt to meet the pavement dwellers’ basic requirements for sanitation, education and employment training; but with so many people arriving in the city each year, it is almost impossible to adequately address these needs by NGO support alone. There is no official national policy to address the lack of housing in Dhaka. State leaders have recently requested $4 billion from international aid agencies to address climate change mitigation, adaptation and development, but it is
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unclear what percentage, if any, of the funds received might be used for housing and services for the pavement dwellers of Dhaka.
Nellie Le Beau and Hugh Tuckfield live and work in South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific region, photographing humanitarian situations including climate change, refugees, migration and other human rights issues. This article was first published in The Diplomat, Aug. 10, 2016. Copyright © 2016 The Diplomat. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Hungary: Unearthing Suleiman the Magnificent’s Tomb BY DAN MCLAUGHLIN
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zigetvar, Hungary—For as long as anyone in Szigetvar can recall, Turbek Hill on the edge of this town in southern Hungary has been a peaceful tangle of orchards and vineyards. But now, Turbek’s earth is yielding the secrets of a turbulent past, and drawing presidents, professors and, potentially, a lucrative stream of pilgrims and tourists to a place where extraordinary events shaped Europe’s history. Hungarian and Turkish researchers working here believe that they have found the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, the greatest ruler of the Ottoman Empire, who died at Szigetvar in early September 1566—almost 450 years ago.
SULEIMAN’S LAST HAVEN Suleiman succumbed to natural causes two months before his 72nd birthday, and only hours before his vast army finally overcame the Habsburg defenders of Szigetvar castle following a brutal and bloody siege. The victory was pyrrhic, however: So heavy were the Ottoman losses that they abandoned their bid to take ViO THER V OICES
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enna, an outcome that later prompted French diplomat Cardinal Richelieu to call Szigetvar “the battle that saved civilization.” Fearing the reaction of troops to the death of a sultan, who had ruled for four decades, Suleiman’s aides kept his demise secret and smuggled his corpse back to Constantinople for burial at the Suleymaniye Mosque that he had commissioned. But the weather was hot and the road home was long, so Suleiman’s heart and other organs were removed here and, as legend has it, interred in a golden coffin beneath his last encampment. As the Ottomans entrenched their rule here through the 1570s, and a growing number of travelers came to visit Suleiman’s shrine, a mosque, a Dervish cloister and barracks grew up around the site, and it developed into a settlement known as Turbek—derived from the Turkish word “turbe,” which means “tomb.” When the Habsburgs retook the area in the 1680s, however, they razed this symbol of Ottoman conquest to the ground, and over subsequent centuries, the location of Suleiman’s tomb became the stuff of rumor, speculation and legend.
SIGNS OF OTTOMAN RUINS For Norbert Pap, a professor of geography in the nearby university town of Pecs, neither supposed site rang true. One theory holds that the 18th-century Turbek church now occupies the place where the tomb stood, while another puts it close to where a Hungarian-Turkish Friendship Park was established in 1994 to mark the 500th anniversary of Suleiman’s birth. “When we started this work in 2012, we analyzed lots of old sources, looked at land use and local geography, and tried to reconstruct the landscape of that time,” Pap recalled. “We realized the location must be totally different to where the church and the Friendship Park are—we thought the real place must be higher and further away from Szigetvar castle.” Contemporary chroniclers said Suleiman’s imperial tent sat on a rise WASHINGTON R EPORT
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overlooking the battlefield and besieged fortress; the church and park enjoy no such views, and would have been on hotter, marshier ground than Turbek Hill. “People here realized there was something here because when they were planting a tree, they would sometimes hit bricks,” Pap explained, as insects hummed through the flowerstrewn vines and orchards that surround his team’s excavations. “Occasionally, archaeologists worked here. In the early 1970s, they excavated what we now think is a corner of the tomb. They said it was ‘some kind of Ottoman public building—more research needed.’” With state funding from Hungary and Turkey, Pap and his team began digging on the hill, and soon found clear signs of Ottoman ruins. “It was Christmas 2014 when I got the results of the geophysical survey…I was sure this was the right place. It showed big walls under the surface, directed towards Mecca.” Turkish colleagues share Pap’s certainty and excitement about the site. “The findings of the surveys done before the excavations were so clear that it was like cleaning sands over a partially visible subterranean wreck…We were all joyful for sure,” said Ali Uzay Peker, a professor of architectural history at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “Last year, the foundation of a square building was unearthed and identified as the tomb of Suleiman. This year, the mosque and tekke [a Dervish cloister] were excavated,” he explained. “Tools of [16th-century] daily use like coins, knives, potsherds, pipes; architectural fragments…and the layout of the buildings in relation to each other support written and pictorial documentation and technological analyses. So we can say that we unearthed Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent’s tomb.” After taking power in 1520, Suleiman extended Ottoman rule across the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans. By 1566, his dominions stretched from Mecca to Algiers to O CTOBER 2016 OV-15
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most of modern Hungary. At home, his creation of a legal code saw him dubbed “the Lawgiver” or “Legislator.” For Peker, Suleiman is “a symbol of Ottoman magnificence.” “He was a triumphant ruler, and at the same time a great patron of literature, arts and architecture. The age of Suleiman was an apogee in the history of Turkish art. So one can estimate how important this discovery is for the Turks,” he said.
IMPORTANT VISITORS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—who has been dubbed a “neo-Ottoman” due to his reverence for the nation’s imperial past and desire to extend its geopolitical influence—plans to attend a commemoration in Szigetvar on Sept. 7. He will join Hungarian and Croatian leaders—the Habsburg forces who defended Szigetvar to the end were mostly Croats—for the climax of the 450th anniversary events that are both thrilling and daunting for the town of 10,000 people. “Mr. Erdogan came here before and brought three helicopters. And then he was only prime minister and there hadn’t just been an attempted coup,” said Robert Fazekas, the vice president of the local county assembly. The task of hosting three presidents, their aides and security personnel—as well as possibly tens of thousands of other visitors during the anniversary week—is a far cry from Fazekas’ usual work in the struggling backwater that is Baranya county. “We have a lot of joblessness and no big employers in this area. There’s some work in a canning factory, in auto parts and in agriculture, but many young people go to Western Europe to find a job,” he said. “The discovery of Suleiman’s tomb is absolutely positive for us, and I hope it will help Szigetvar and the whole country develop. Tourism could become our main sector, but we need new hotels and other things. And of course, we are absolutely open to Turkish investment.” It is unclear, however, how many Turks or other Muslims would be OV-16 O CTOBER 2016
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happy to invest in, or even visit, a country whose leader is accused of fomenting Islamophobia. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, built fences on its southern borders last year—only 30 kilometers from Szigetvar—to keep out mostly Muslim refugees whom he has repeatedly called a direct threat to Europe’s security, culture and identity. He derides German-led plans to distribute refugees around the European Union and has called a referendum on the issue for October, saying Hungarians have the “right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country.” “I have to say,” Orban declared, “that when it comes to living together with Muslim communities, we are the only ones who have experience because we had the possibility to go through that…for 150 years.”
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Orban’s depiction of Ottoman rule as a national catastrophe reflects the standard Hungarian view, even though his Protestant compatriots of the time lived comfortably under the sultans and saw the Catholic Habsburgs as the main enemy. “In general, from the government side, the Suleiman story is very sensitive. We can feel there are concerns about Turbek becoming a kind of Muslim holy place and pilgrimage center,” said Pap. “At the same time, the government has given lots of money for research and local people are very positive. We Hungarians have 600 years of shared history with the Turks—for the first three centuries we fought, and during the last three we have often been allies. It is not just a history of troubles.” For all their negative associations with the Ottoman period, many Hungarians are still captivated by the sultan’s court as depicted in “Szulejman,” a lavish Turkish soap opera that is wildly popular here. It cannot hurt the profile or popularity of Pap’s research, then, that two real Ottoman “princesses” recently visited Turbek, where the heart of their glorious ancestor was reputedly buried. Kenize Mourad, a French writer who is a great-granddaughter of Sultan Murad V, and her cousin, Mediha, gave hair samples to researchers to allow DNA matching of any human remains found during excavations. “When they showed us the exact place…I could not resist the emotion, nor suppress my tears. I raised my hands and prayed for Sultan Suleiman—the Legislator, the Magnificent—asking God to help Turkey in her difficult situation,” said Mourad. “Of course, there is very little chance that after 450 years there would be any trace of our ancestor,” she acknowledged. “But if, as they say, his heart and internal organs stayed in this place, then maybe…”
This article was first posted on <www.al jazeera.com>, Aug. 17, 2016. Copyright © 2016 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
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THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
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COMPASSION FOR REFUGEES
To The New York Times, Aug. 29, 2016 Re “Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian Girl” (column, Aug. 25): My thanks to Nicholas Kristof for recalling the desperation of European Jews in the years just preceding World War II, and the frustration of the Americans who tried to get their relatives out of Europe before it was too late. I have vivid memories of my father making one phone call after another in his attempts to obtain a visa for his elderly aunt and two cousins who were stranded in France after fleeing their home in Austria. Most of his efforts ended in frustration. His aunt died in Auschwitz. The fact that the United States is again allowing in only a trickle of refugees was made especially painful recently when my Canadian nephew, my father’s grandson, wrote to me from his home in Newfoundland describing the challenges and satisfaction he and his neighbors were experiencing in welcoming several Syrian families into their community. I am ashamed that my own country lacks similar compassion and generosity. Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA
THE HUMANITY OF REFUGEES
To the Missoulian, Aug. 25, 2016 Thank you, Mayor John Engen, for your thoughts on welcoming refugees to Missoula, MT (Aug. 19). This spring, we had the good fortune to work at the Diavatta Refugee Camp outside of Thessaloniki, Greece. The camp housed approximately 2,300 peo48
ple—families from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The families were there en route to Europe, or so they hoped, but this was after many European countries had closed borders, so their lives were in limbo. One family we met escaped from Mosul, Iraq, a place [where] the U.S. spent countless days and lives back in 2004, and the city is under siege again, with ISIS fighting for control. They were happy to have escaped terrifying circumstances, but uncertain as to their future. These are people just like us, who only want what is best: for their families to be free, unafraid and happy. The angry rhetoric from our fellow community members is disheartening to say the least. Even though the U.S. has our share of problems, it remains a place where people can live freely, without fearing for their lives. Please, before you judge, get to know these people and look at their story. Sue and Tim Furey, Missoula, MT
INTERVENTION ALONE WILL NOT WORK IN SYRIA
To The New York Times, Aug. 20, 2016 Syria after five years of civil war (the Lebanese civil war lasted 15 years) is in such horrible shape that one must sympathize with Nicholas Kristof’s cry that something must be done. But “something must be done” is bad counsel in foreign affairs. The record of American (and British) military intervention in the Middle East is dismal. Any proposal for intervention should be subject to three rigorous tests: Is it legal? Will it be effective? What are the likely longterm political consequences? Mr. Kristof’s call for “American leadership” is not enough. There is one thing that President Obama could try for—a deal with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to cut the supply of weapons to both sides. It wouldn’t stop the war, but it would reduce the death rate. Libya is under an international arms embargo, and the death rate there is a fraction of the rate in Syria or Iraq. Of course, it would be a hard sell to the generals and the arms companies. Oliver Miles, Oxford, England. The writer was British ambassador to Libya in 1984 and is editor of the Arab Digest newsletter.
“WAR DOGS”: WHO PROFITS FROM PERPETUAL WAR?
To The Oregonian, Aug. 25, 2016 My wife and I saw the new movie “War Dogs” last night, and we were both struck with the same sad irony.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Almost all politicians claim that we just don’t have enough money to fund health care, education, federal land management, our crumbling infrastructure and a host of other needs that would benefit this and future generations of this country. Many say our budget deficit is out of control. Yet somehow, we must throw vast sums of money at the military to supposedly protect our vital interests. “War Dogs” is a true story of how this country is squandering our wealth on a few war profiteers, without any real oversight or controls. Wasting money on the military and arms producers doesn’t make us safer, it just enriches those who profit from instability in the world. Gary Wade, The Dalles, OR
HUNGER CRISIS IN LIBYA
To The New York Times, Aug. 4, 2016 Re “In Libya, a New Front in the War on ISIS” (editorial, Aug. 3): Winning peace and stability in Libya will require more food for the hungry. The United Nations World Food Program warns that in September its hunger relief operation “will be severely disrupted due to underfunding” unless donations increase. The program is trying to feed more than 200,000 Libyans affected by the conflict. But the food agency depends on voluntary donations from the international community. Tragically, not enough donations have come in for this emergency. We can’t let hunger terrorize Libya’s population, too. More families who have lost their livelihoods will struggle just to find basic food. More Libyan children will become malnourished and stunted for life if we don’t act. The Islamic State can survive only in unstable countries with hunger and desperation. Food offers hope for war victims that they can escape the chaos and lead a better life. We must provide this food to all in need. That is the real road to peace in our world. William Lambers, Cincinnati, OH The writer is an author who partnered with the United Nations World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger.
U.S. DID NOT PAY $400 MILLION RANSOM TO IRAN
To The Washington Post, Aug. 21, 2016 Regarding the Aug. 19 news article “Cash payment to Iran was ‘leverage,’ not ransom, State Department says.” The $400 million that the United States delivered to Iran immediately after the release of several hostages was clearly OCTOBER 2016
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not “ransom.” As explained in Allen S. Weiner and Duncan Pickard’s Aug. 12 op-ed, “Fulfilling a promise to Iran isn’t ‘ransom,’” the $400 million belonged to Iran, and the United States had agreed to return it to Iran. Iran got not a penny more than what was legitimately owed to it. That the United States waited to deliver the money until four detained Americans were in the air was not “ransom” but a prudent move on the part of the United States to ensure that the Americans would be released. Had the money been returned to Iran before the release of the Americans and had Iran then reneged on releasing them, the Obama administration would have been pilloried, rightfully, for not holding back Iran’s money as insurance for the Americans’ return. David Tillotson, Washington, DC
AIPAC IS NOT ISRAEL
To the Gloucester Daily Times, Aug. 1, 2016 Natalie Fishman (“Israel has been a friend to U.S.,” July 25) is concerned that I wrote a letter to the Times that was critical of the views of the right-wing lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The fact that I oppose AIPAC (and I have often done so ever since I began a career promoting arms control and disarmament efforts in Washington in the 1960s) does not mean I am opposed to Israel. I have always supported the nation of Israel and its right to exist in peace with its neighbors, as do most other Americans. But AIPAC isn’t Israel. Since its founding 65 years ago, AIPAC has worked to persuade Americans that peace in the Middle East can only be maintained by unquestioning support for virtually any actions undertaken by Israel, notably its actions to suppress the rights of Palestinians, its disproportionate military response to Palestinian provocations, and its efforts to undermine President Obama’s support for the Iran nuclear deal. That’s reason enough for me to have expressed concern in a letter to the Gloucester Daily Times about an early draft Democratic Party platform plank concerning Israel (since that letter was written, the plank has been considerably modified, dropping many of its more objectionable provisions). Tom Halsted, Gloucester, MA
HILLEL LIMITS SPEECH ON CAMPUS
To The New York Times, Aug. 13, 2016 I am a co-founder of Open Hillel, a movement of Jewish college students OCTOBER 2016
and recent graduates working to promote open discourse on Israel-Palestine in the Jewish community on campus. This article profiles Hillel staff and students doing important work to promote campus dialogue on Israel-Palestine. However, the article does not mention that Hillel International’s “standards of partnership” for Israel activities bar local Hillels from working with anyone deemed too critical of Israel and Israeli policy. Therefore, Hillel cannot formally engage in conversations with pro-Palestinian groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. Furthermore, anti-occupation Jewish student groups are often excluded from Hillel, limiting dialogue within the Jewish community. Jewish college students—like Jews of all ages—hold a wide variety of views on Israel-Palestine. In order to encourage local Hillel staff and students to truly engage in dialogue on these crucial issues, Hillel International must drop its exclusionary standards. Rachel Sandalow-Ash, Brooklyn, NY
SJP MEMBERS ARE NOT “JEW HATERS”
To the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 25, 2016 The appearance of posters financed by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson listing members of the group Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA as “Jew haters” is appalling. (“How a casino tycoon is trying to combat an exploding pro-Palestinian movement on campuses,” Aug. 21.) There is plenty of injustice to protest in Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s treatment of Palestinians. Informed debate is impossible when anyone who criticizes Netanyahu’s policies on settlements, the wall and blocked humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is accused of being a “Jew hater.” The Palestinians’ side of the story has long been suppressed, and those who try to address issues of injustice receive death threats for exercising their right of free speech and advocating for Palestinians. The status quo is unbearable for Palestinians and, in the long run, untenable for Israel. Anyone who loves Israel should encourage meaningful discussion and work for a resolution of the occupation of the Palestinian territories. Anne Hormann, Pasadena, CA
ers. Fegelman writes, “At its core, the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement serves solely to demonize and delegitimize Israel.” Yet if anyone were to look at the core published principles of the BDS movement (http://bds movement.net/call), it is based entirely on international law, and stresses the right of Palestinians to equality. Israel must surely be a precarious state if giving equal rights to all citizens threatens to destroy it. But Fegelman writes that Israel as a Jewish state would be “annihilated” because of a Palestinian “demographic ticking bomb.” I would ask Mr. Fegelman if they consider the Palestinians such an inferior race that their procreation would constitute a “demographic ticking bomb”? A final smear from Fegelman is his attempt to badmouth all supporters of the Boycott Israel movement, accusing them, for instance, of “discourag[ing] dialogue.” In fact, the Boycott Israel movement was launched in 2005, almost 40 years after Israel began its brutal military occupation of the West Bank and other Palestinian territories. Palestinians and those that support their human rights waited a long time before going the boycott route, only after Israel ignored the terms of peace accords, ignored dozens of U.N. resolutions, ignored a scathing decision by the International Court of Justice, and ignored repeated condemnation by international (and Israeli) human rights groups. Thomas Woodley, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ■
FALSE SMEARS ABOUT BDS
To The Record, Aug. 25, 2016 Mike Fegelman’s letter smeared the Boycott Israel movement and its support-
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United Nations Report
The Other 2016 Election: for Next U.N. Secretary-General By Ian Williams EVEN WITH ALL the media attention swallowed by the Trump/Clinton battle, there is amazingly little attention given to the selection of a new secretary-general to replace the retiring Ban Ki-moon. Making it even more remarkable is that, albeit by the opaque standards of previous elections, this is the most transparent in the 70-year history of the U.N., where the selection of the world’s “secular pope” has traditionally been carried out in the proverbial smoke-filled rooms. It is perhaps a blessing that both Trump and Clinton are too preoccupied to pay much attention to the secretary-generalship issue, as their influence on that election is unlikely to be constructive. It was, after all, Clinton’s close comrade-in-arms Madeleine Albright who used American veto power to ensure that Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the only Arab ever to hold the position, was not allowed a second term, and whose imperious attitude to the organization led to perennial tensions with even close U.S. allies. Surprisingly, Trump has been too busy with populist xenophobia about Mexicans to bother about the U.N. It has not been one of his targets so far. It would seem that his supporters were a natural constituency for those who used to believe that UNESCO World Heritage sites in the U.S. were a U.N. land grab and potential bases for black helicopters to take over the country. Maybe looking for Mexicans and Muslims under the bed has diverted their attention—but, in any case, Trump’s nose for business would remind him that much of his shaky real estate empire in Manhattan would be adversely affected if the United Nations and its high rent diplomats were to quit. He built the ugly Trump Tower directly opposite the U.N. to cater to them, after all—and even offered his services as developer to Kofi Annan to refurbish the old U.N. HQ. In any case, another president has intervened in a significant way. Danish Social Democrat leader Mogens Lykketoft was elected last year as president of the General Assembly, and as a few of his predecessors occasionally did, he decided to make his mark since his term coincided with the selection of the secretary-general. Although in practice it is overlooked, under strict diplomatic protocol the U.N. president counts as a head of state, with 21-gun salutes and all that, while the secretary-general of-
ficially is merely ranked as the equivalent of a foreign minister! In the real world, however, the secretary-general is there for at least one, and—except in the case of Boutros-Ghali—for two terms, while the presidency rotates annually. Lykketoft has made his mark on posterity by getting the Security Council to agree to a more transparent secretary-general selection process. With most of the membership backing him, he secured the Security Council’s agreement to make public the names and qualifications of the candidates and to present them to the whole membership of the United Nations. That work was backed up by the various foundations and NGOs around the U.N., and meetings were held in New York and around the world for candidates to strut their stuff in front of diplomats, academics and human rights supporters, while governments and PR firms touted their candidacies. Transparency has its limits, however. The actual power to nominate is still firmly in the hands of the Security Council, and thus subject to the veto power of any or all of the five permanent members. There have been three straw polls, with the last taking place at the end of the August, in which the Council’s 15 members record whether they would “encourage,” “discourage” or have no opinion about the various candidates. Under the official procedure, the president of the Security Council merely informs the General Assembly president that the poll has taken place—without sharing the results. Absurdly, most or all of the Council members immediately rush and tell the press what the voting results are. It is a secret ballot, leaving participants in the dark about whether the “discourage” votes imply a veto coming down the line. Complicating the already arcane process are underlying presumptions, none of which are actual rules. Firstly, the East European group has never had a secretary-general and claims it is their turn. Against that is the reality that the group is a Cold War hangover, most of whose members have either joined or applied to join the European Union. However, Moscow, not traditionally favorable to the rotation principle—or indeed to the often anti-Russian governments of its former clients—has become more sympathetic to the idea, not least since several of the candidates were brought up and groomed in the Communist era and tend to pay attention to what Vladimir Putin would tell them. These are, of course, unlikely to attract enthusiastic support from the Western veto holders. The second principle being invoked is that it is long overdue for a woman to take the position—which is, in abstract, entirely true.
The actual power to nominate is still firmly in the hands of the Security Council.
U.N. correspondent Ian Williams’ book UNtold: the Real Story of the United Nations will be published by Just World Books in Spring 2017. 50
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However, observation of the records of Margaret Thatcher, Albright, Golda Meir or Indira Gandhi in high office leads to questions about whether it follows that having a woman in office is good for women in general or the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which leads to the final, and often overlooked, principle of the candidatesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; competence and integrity. Theoretically, the various hustings have allowed the candidates to demonstrate this to a watching world. The earnest assumption is that the Security Council members will have to take this into account when they make their final choice. But they have their ready-made excuses. A consistently clear front runner was the Portuguese former head of the U.N. refugee program, AntĂłnio Guterres, who has now managed to accrete several â&#x20AC;&#x153;discouragesâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and one can be sure that the excuse is that Portugal is on the wrong end of Europe, and that he is male. On the other hand, one of the stars of the hustings was Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, a star of the Climate Change program, whom the audience clearly rated highly. But she has amassed a surprising number of â&#x20AC;&#x153;discourageâ&#x20AC;? votesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the real reason being that she seems principled and outspoken, not least on issues like Climate Change, on which many member states are still shuffling their feet. And, of course, the excuse will be that while she is a woman, she is not Eastern European. Other candidates have been amassing more and more negatives, and the field seems very volatile. If the Russians nixed Guterres, currently in second place is Slovakian diplomat Miroslav LajÄ?ĂĄk, who has just surged from 10th place, implying some lobbying behind the scenes. A former communist party member now with EU credentials, he might bridge the gap. The runners up are Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian head of UNESCO, who seems to have Moscowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tacit support based on close connections, and Vuk Jeremic of Serbia, whose vociferous opposition to Kosovar independence makes him unlikely to get Western support. Bokova is close to the Russians, by family and upbringing, and has devoted her time at UNESCO to canvassing for the job, but the British and others are very suspicious of her sharp elbows and feel that her ambition led her to neglect her actual duties at UNESCO. But she is a woman, and she is OCTOBER 2016
Eastern European, so the question is how disgruntled they will be about her. She is certainly adroit, getting credit from the NonAligned Movement for allowing Palestinian membership in UNESCO on the agenda, while reassuring the Israelis (and their friends) that it had nothing to do with her! As the process moves on, the polls will reveal whether the opposition to the various candidates goes as far as actual vetoes. Perhaps it is a blessing that so far the election is below the horizon for the various lobbies in Washington, since there are too many factors already complicating this process.
MOROCCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LAME DUCK
In the meantime, Ban Ki-moon is clearly in lame duck mode as far as the Moroccans are concerned. The Moroccans ritually abuse him in every speech, which is one thing. But the French and other Security Council members let them get away with it. Many of the MINURSOâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;staff in Western Sahara have still not been allowed back into the country. The Moroccans and their French allies, with U.S. complicity, continue to fight off any attempts to include a human rights monitoring component in the mission, making it unique among U.N. missions. As we go to press, there are signs that Morocco, emboldened by Franco-American acquiescence, is encroaching beyond the cease-fire line in the south, risking
provocation with both Polisario and Mauritania. In an oblique way it shows the potential power of a secretary-generalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if he (or she) is backed by significant powers. As Boutros-Ghali, exasperated with U.S.backed mandates from the Security Council unaccompanied by any resources, complained, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can do nothing. I have no army. I have no money. I have no experts. I am borrowing everything. If the member states donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want it, what can I do?â&#x20AC;? In his day, the only power in a position to provide support was the U.S., which would lead to palpitations in any secretary-general, whether it were Trump or Clinton in Washington. But the world has changed. Europe, even in its current disheveled state, China, even Russia, might be in a position to back an enterprising incumbent. Certainly Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (and Congressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the Lobbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) effective financial veto is not what it was. But the new secretary-general will immediately cope with the impasse in Syria, where all the talk of a Brave New World of responsibilities to protect, collective concern for humanitarian law, and international action are going up in a firestorm stirred by cynical bystanders who are managing to give Levantine politics a bad time. Everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enemy is someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friend, but the U.N. is supposed to be the enemy of inhumanity. And humanity has few friends in this fight. â&#x2013;
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Talking Turkey
Turkey’s Long Hot Summer
By Jonathan Gorvett
BULENT KILIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
ures—given by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim a month after the coup—some 76,597 civil servants, along with 3,670 judges and prosecutors, had been suspended, 15 universities closed, 90 journalists detained and 16 TV channels shut, along with 29 publishing houses and 15 periodicals. In one government department alone—the Interior Ministry—18,756 employees had been detained and 10,192 arrested. In the military, some 44 percent of all generals and admirals were also in detention, with the Defense Ministry reporting on Aug. 18 that 3,725 personnel of all ranks had been discharged from duty, many of them now also under arrest. Among them are members of elite special forces units, the air force, navy and commandos. A Turkish demonstrator leans against a tree in Istanbul’s Taksim Square during the first crossparty rally to condemn the failed July 15 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, In August, too, the purge widened to July 24, 2016. private sector institutions and even scientific bodies, while brokers warning of the economic consequences of the coup were also detained. IN THE EARLY hours of July 16, a visibly shaken President The numbers arrested had reportedly grown so large that ordiRecep Tayyip Erdogan appeared before the cameras at Istannary criminals were being released from jail early in order to bul’s Ataturk Airport and swore that those responsible for the make room for the new detainees. coup attempt that had just rocked the nation would “pay a With suspicion of involvement or connection with the Guheavy price.” lenists—Erdogan’s former allies—leading to suspension A month and a half later, the full extent of the bill for that exand/or arrest, many government departments are also curtraordinary night is beginning to become clear, although the rently heavy with an atmosphere of mistrust and paranoia. A numbers are still rising daily. deal of score settling that may have little to do with the coup is Some 246 soldiers and civilians were killed back then, in a also now underway, with ministries paralyzed as fingers are botched take-over attempt that saw pro-coup helicopters mapointed. chine gun civilians in Ankara and Istanbul. Rebel air force The treatment of those detained has been condemned by planes dropped bombs on Turkey’s parliament and Erdogan’s such groups as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Internapresidential palace, while armed commandos stormed into TV tional, with evidence of torture and maltreatment visibly evistations and occupied city squares. dent, as beaten detainees—from generals to foot soldiers— Erdogan, who narrowly avoided capture himself, immediare paraded before the cameras. ately blamed the Islamist movement of U.S.-based cleric European governments and the U.S. have also expressed Fethullah Gulen for the astonishing events that had just trantheir concern at the extent of the post-coup purge, warning spired, and launched a nationwide purge of suspected Gulen that due process may be in danger, particularly following the supporters. declaration of nationwide emergency rule on July 21. Under that purge, according to the most recent official figMeanwhile, both Turkish and foreign journalists who have Jonathan Gorvett is a free-lance writer based in Istanbul. voiced concerns have been made the subject of angry ha52
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rangues from government officials, as well as the targets of Internet trolling. Commentators around the world have also warned of a further descent into authoritarianism.
VOX POPULI
Yet amidst all the concern over the purge, some other key developments are often overlooked in global reactions to the coup. First of all, the coup failed because its followers were unable to secure enough support within the military, while they also failed to take account of the growing power of other armed bodies within the state—notably the police and the secret service, MIT. Both of these, now well-armed and equipped and stocked with pro-government supporters, fought and disarmed many of the pro-coup soldiers. Outside the ranks of men with guns, too, for most ordinary Turks a military government was the very last thing the country either needed or wanted. On the night itself, ordinary citizens were thus instrumental in overwhelming the pro-coup soldiers, as civilians turned out onto the streets and stopped the tanks—some paying for this with their lives. Meanwhile, Turkish parliamentarians of all political persuasions remained in the parliament building as the bombs fell, condemning the coup. In the following days there were mass demonstrations of support for civilian rule, addressed by leaders from many different parties—although the pro-Kurdish party continued to be excluded, despite also condemning the coup. This is a long way from the previous occasions when the military has flexed its muscles to overthrow the elected government. On those occasions, the military had acted with complete unity, its General Staff conducting operations in a monolithic fashion. This time, however, the military was fragmented and at odds with itself. If the allegations of Gulenist infiltration are correct—and Gulen continues to deny any involvement—then this would OCTOBER 2016
indicate a growing lack of control and discipline within the military. This is a likely consequence of years of purges within the armed forces, many ironically conducted with Erdogan’s blessing by Gulenist prosecutors, back when Gulen was an ally of Erdogan. On previous occasions too, the military was able to rely on the support of a section of the political establishment. This time, however, the coup was roundly condemned by all political parties— again, showing how far from influence and power the soldiers have now drifted. Popular support was also very limited, even among those with no love for Erdogan, who have grown increasingly frustrated by his continued expansion of personal power. The coup thus seemed like an event out of time, disconnected from the realities of contemporary Turkey.
UNCERTAIN CONSEQUENCES
The consequences of the coup’s failure—an unprecedented event in itself in Turkey—are thus also quite likely to be without precedent. The government—and President Erdogan in particular—are now in a position of enormous power, even as the institutions of the state they rule are being hollowed out by the very purge they are conducting. This raises the prospect of increasing executive action on issues, bypassing ministries and further concen-
trating power at the very top. Meanwhile, the military is perhaps now forever busted as a political player, in much the same way as the failed coup in Spain in 1981 demolished any chances of a Francoist revival. Prior to the coup, Turkey had mended its fences with Israel and begun mending them with Russia and even Egypt, giving Ankara at least some breathing space in foreign relations. Keeping peace abroad will likely be even more of a priority for the government now, given domestic turmoil. For most in Turkey, though, these are times of great uncertainty. Where the government goes from here—and indeed, where the opposition goes—are major unanswered questions. A rallying round the flag continues for now—with increased exclusion of the country’s Kurdish minority in consequence. Yet how much longer emergency rule can continue and how wide the purge will be allowed to go are key to Turkey’s longterm future. The prospect of mass trials, likely often based on scanty evidence, also looms, further deteriorating Turkey’s global position. Many will thus be hoping that the strengthening of Turkish democracy that has occurred since 1997—and which was so dramatically demonstrated in the failure of the tanks this time—will not now be swept away in the aftermath of this failed—and doomed—“hard” coup. ■
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Islam and the Near East in the Far East
Malaysia’s Prime Minister: Challenges Abroad, Consolidation at Home
By John Gee
MOHD RASFAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
On July 18 it was reported that Singapore’s central bank was investigating a number of banks, local and international, for possible breaches of anti-money laundering rules in connection with 1MDB. Days later, the U.S. government seized over $1 billion of assets that the Department of Justice (DoJ) believed to have been purchased with money stolen from 1MDB and moved around the world through shell companies. Much more money was syphoned off: the DoJ named people who it believed had conspired to divert billions from the company in what it described as “an international conspiracy Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks to the media on July 21, 2016, when Singapore to launder money misappropriated from 1MDB.” said it had seized nearly $180 million linked to Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB. One of those people was Riza Aziz, the eldest son of Najib’s wife from a previous marriage. Riza had THE SCANDAL OF sovereign wealth fund 1 Malaysia Develworked as a banker in London before moving to the U.S. and opment Berhad (1MDB), and questions over how deeply inco-founding Red Granite Pictures, which funded the making of volved in it Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak may be, has the film “The Wolf of Wall Street”—a film, incidentally, based on ground on for nearly two years, without resolution (see October the memoirs of a former stockbroker whose firm’s involvement 2015 Washington Report, p. 32). In the past year, Najib has in corruption and fraud led to his ruin. He bought expensive fended off pressure to resign and reinforced his position, but he homes in London and New York, using $94.3 million that the has faced new challenges internationally. DoJ said he claimed he had received as a “gift.” The DoJ Investigations into 1MDB-linked transactions were launched charged that 1MDB money was used to found Red Granite Picin Switzerland, the U.S., Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates tures. and Singapore. The Swiss investigation was launched in AuOthers named by the DoJ included Low Taek Jho, a busigust 2015 and at least four suspects have been indicted, on alnessman close to Najib who the DoJ claimed had acquired a legations that 1MDB had broken Switzerland’s anti-embezzlelarge stake in EMI and bought luxury homes with 1MDB ment laws when it routed a fraudulent deal made with UAE offimoney; Khadem al-Qubaisi, a UAE businessman who headed cials through Swiss banks. Luxembourg and Singapore retwo companies involved in suspect bond deals with 1MDB in sponded to Swiss requests for assistance. In May, Hong 2012, and who bought properties in New York and Beverly Kong’s anti-corruption agency froze the bank accounts of unHills with 1MDB money; and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Alnamed individuals associated with 1MDB. Husseiny, a former chief executive of Aabar Investments PJS Also in May, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shut when it was headed by al-Qubaisi, who had bought a house in down operations in the island state of the Swiss private bank BSI Belgravia, central London. for serious breaches of Singapore’s anti-money laundering rules— In addition, the DoJ referred to an unnamed high official in the first time in 32 years it had taken such a step. MAS made no the Malaysian government “who also held a position of authorstatement pinpointing dealings with 1MDB, but the Swiss Market ity with 1MDB,” who it believed to be the owner of an AmBank Supervisory Authority did. The Swiss authorities seized 95 million account into which $681 million was paid in March 2013. It Swiss francs of BSI’s profits at the same time as MAS acted. was widely speculated that this unnamed individual was Najib John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. himself, but there was no official confirmation that this was so, 54
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despite the fact that the transfer of the sum of $681 million into a personal bank account of Najib had been in the news earlier. When Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail started to investigate this report, he was replaced by another appointee, Mohamed Apandi Ali, who, as expected, found Najib innocent of any crime. All this news of investigations and frozen accounts in other parts of the world did not seem to make much of an impression on Najib, at least publicly. He refused to be moved by protests inside Malaysia, and suggested that those who called for his resignation were foreign-backed and simply interested in overthrowing his government. He played upon communal sentiments to mobilize support from the majority Malay population and present himself as the upholder of its interests. Challenged from within the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Najib successfully rallied most of the party around him. Muhyiddin Yassin, sacked from the cabinet last year for raising awkward questions about 1MDB, was suspended as vice-president of UMNO in February 2016 and thrown out of the party in June, along with Mahathirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son, Mukhriz, who had been ousted from the
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WWW -USLIMLINKPAPER COM post of chief minister of Kedah state four months earlier. The ousted leaders formed a new party under Mahathirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership. Called Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Bersatu (â&#x20AC;&#x153;unitedâ&#x20AC;?) for short, it applied for registration on Aug. 9. Although it identifies itself as â&#x20AC;&#x153;progressive and openminded,â&#x20AC;? it reserves full membership for bumiputeras, a term meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;sons of the soilâ&#x20AC;? and referring to those considered fully indigenous to Malaysiaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in effect excluding Chinese Malaysians, most of whose ancestors migrated to what is now Malaysia in the 19th or first half of the 20th century. Whether Bersatu might contribute to Najibâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downfall depends on its ability to draw the support of a significant section of its Malay voters away from UMNO. If it is unable to do so, and only draws support from those already opposed to Najib, it may simply contribute to the further fragmentation of the opposition, already weakened by the breakdown of the alliance between the Islamist party, PAS, and the two other leading opposition parties. For now, Najibâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position seems relatively secure.
Osman, senior minister of state, Ministry of Defense & Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to an embassy press release the same day. The Israeli release said: HE Ms. Yael Rubinstein, Ambassador of Israel, welcomed the guests to the celebration, thanking them for their support. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel has a tradition of hosting iftars just as we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. These celebrations portray the role of faith in the lives of Israelis. Your being here tonight serves to remind us all just how important and strong our relationships are.â&#x20AC;? Speaking about the harmonious relationship among Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different races and religious minorities, Ambassador Rubinstein highlighted the equal opportunities given to all Singaporeans, saying it â&#x20AC;&#x153;clearly shows us that Singapore is far the most inclusive society in the world.â&#x20AC;? Which would definitely make it a far cry from the state Ambassador Rubinstein represents. â&#x2013; (Advertisement)
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ISRAEL CULTIVATES MUSLIM TIES IN SINGAPORE
The Israeli ambassador in Singapore, Yael Rubinstein, hosted an iftar dinner and reception on June 20 to mark the end of Ramadan. A number of Muslim business and religious figures took part, including Dr. Mohammed Maliki Bin
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MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM KARAMAH, Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, held a spoken word event at the 14th St. Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC on Aug. 3 called “Strong Voices Strong Communities.” KARAMAH’s 14th Law and Leadership Summer Program (LLSP) brought together 18 women from Kenya, Kosovo, Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. The participants were university students, lawyers, activists, researchers and educators who’d just concluded a program in the nation’s capital learning leadership skills, and hearing from Islamic scholars, lawyers and experts on conflict resolution. As each woman stepped onto the Busboys stage she shared her personal story with a room full supporters, past graduates, families and strangers. Some of the stories were painful, and when the teller faltered, listeners began snapping their fingers for encouragement. These KARAMAH graduates taught their audience a thing or two about bravery, determination and standing up to discrimination and abuse. One Muslim, a student from California, described what it’s like to be “an unscarfed sister,” judged as “too Americanized.” She told her audience that, scarfed or unscarfed, Muslim women share a big religion and a big message, and concluded by stating, “We are not opposites, we are sisters.” The applause was deafening. Another woman from Dearborn described losing her identity after becoming a wife and mother. She challenged the audience to “give yourself a second chance to love yourself.” Yet another woman imagined herself as a 10-year-old standing up to her molester and holding him accountable for his crime. Another performed a skit to portray domestic violence and seeking help from an oblivious imam. She urged her community to join hands to talk about—and stop— abuse. Ekram Hussien’s spoken-word poetry was a response to a train passenger in 56
KARAMAH’s Law and Leadership Summer Program’s class of 2016 at Busboys and Poets.
Texas who yelled at her: “If it were left up to me, people like you wouldn’t be in this country.” Hussien, 22, answered, “Well, luckily, it’s not up to you,” and her powerful poetry went on to slam Islamophobia as a money-making industry with politicians cashing in. Some of Hussien’s words addressed a certain presidential candidate who is stirring up hatred. She said, “Your proposed immigration policy is nothing more than misguided fear bottled up and designed to provoke violence with not a whisper of decency.” Hussien and other KARAMAH speakers spoke about Trump’s recent charge that because of her religion, Ghazala Khan, whose U.S. soldier son was killed in Iraq, wasn’t allowed to speak at the Democratic National Convention. “A lot of people are starting to wonder if Muslim women have voices,” said Aisha Rahman, executive director of KARAMAH. Education is the key to ending anti-Muslim attitudes. Non-Muslims need to know what the religion is truly about, Rahman said, while Muslims “need to feel empowered in their faith.” Muslim women have voices. They’ve been speaking up for 1,400 years, Rahman stated. “Do you hear us now?” —Delinda C. Hanley
California Declares August ”Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month”
The month of August was officially proclaimed “Muslim Appreciation and Aware-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
ness Month” following the Aug. 1 introduction of House Resolution 59 on the floor of the California State Assembly by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward). Sixty-two Assembly members co-authored the resolution, which passed unanimously. “I am proud to celebrate the first ever Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month by honoring generations of Muslim Americans for their many social, cultural, and economic contributions to California,” Quirk said. “The rhetoric surrounding this election makes the presentation of this resolution more important for me. It is appropriate to acknowledge and promote awareness of the myriad invaluable contributions of Muslim Americans in California and across the country and extend to them the respect and camaraderie every American deserves.” Prior to the presentation on the Assembly floor, Muslims from Northern California—and even some from the Los Angeles area—celebrated the historic event at a reception hosted by Quirk on his Capitol office patio. Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), addressed the crowd on the findings in CAIR-CA’s recently released Civil Rights Report. “Bias incidents spiked by 58 percent between 2014 and 2015, which is attributed to public hostility generated by international acts of violence and hateful rhetoric,” she explained. “There were more hate crimes and hate attacks in two weeks in November last OCTOBER 2016
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
Muslim Women’s Voices Heard at Busboys & Poets
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
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future for our children and grandchildren.” Surrounded by his wife and four young children, Elkarra was sworn in as a board member on July 7 by Darrell Steinberg, the newly elected mayor of Sacramento. On July 21, Elkarra was one of more than 100 American Muslim leaders, including Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-LA, to attend the White House Eid-al-Fitr celebration hosted by President Barack Obama. —Elaine Pasquini
(L-r) Zahra Billoo, Basim Elkarra, Bill Quirk and Moina Shaiq.
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
year than in any two-week period in the past 15 years. We know that one of the best ways to push back against this is for our leaders to say that hate rhetoric and bigotry is not acceptable in our communities, our cities and in the state of California.” Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR’s Sacramento Valley chapter (CAIRSV), thanked Quirk for authoring the resolution and supporting the Muslim community. “During these times of increased antiMuslim rhetoric and hate incidents, this resolution and recognition of Muslim Americans is uplifting for our community and immensely appreciated,” he stated. “It is truly a historic moment for all Californians.” —Elaine Pasquini
ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM Elkarra Wins School Board Seat, Attends White House Eid Reception
Improving education for all children has been a longtime goal of Basim Elkarra, a popular community leader and the executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). As the newest member of the Twin Rivers Unified School Board, Elkarra will be working to achieve that goal. “Education is my passion,” he said. “I’m honored to have the support of key educators and community leaders from our region, and together we can build a brighter
Basim Elkarra is a new member of the Twin Rivers Unified School Board. OCTOBER 2016
HUMAN RIGHTS Rally for Refugees Held in Washington, DC
Several hundred people gathered in front of the Washington Monument on Aug. 28 (the 53rd anniversary of the March on Washington) to display their solidarity and support for refugees fleeing war and violence around the world. The “DC Rally 4 Refugees”—organized by Americans who have traveled to Greece and volunteered directly with refugees—featured booths where attendees as well as tourists passing by could learn about the global refugee crisis and pledge their support to organizations that assist refugees. Participants also had the opportunity to write postcards to arriving refugees and share on a large chalkboard why they support refugees. Many wore orange to the rally to become part of the #SeaOfOrange or they wore orange “DC Rally 4 Refugees” Tshirts they’d purchased in advance to help fund the rally. The orange life-jacket has become a recognizable symbol of the current refugee crisis. The warm Sunday afternoon also featured testimonials from refugees who have settled in the U.S. The refugees—from Syria, Afghanistan, Darfur, Latin America and elsewhere—shared their stories and thanked Americans for providing them with a warm welcome. Organizers initiated the event to raise awareness about the plight of refugees and to encourage the U.S. to accept more refugees and provide greater support to countries carrying the heaviest burden of
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STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY
ABOVE: Attendees write on a large chalkboard some of the reasons why they welcome refugees. BELOW: People stop to compose messages to refugees on life-jackets.
ric [of their country] and left communities deeply suspicious of each other?” Ambassador McGurk argued that Iraq and its partners need to do more than defeat ISIS—they need to develop a long-term plan for stability. “We’re not just focused on defeating Da’ish,” he pointed out. “We’re focused on what comes after Da’ish.” Al-Jaafari agreed, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the post-liberation era. According to the foreign minister, this entails reconstructing the damage caused by ISIS, helping internally displaced persons return home, and creating economic opportunities. Capturing Mosul—which was seized by ISIS in June 2014—is an important step toward defeating ISIS, McGurk emphasized, as the northern Iraqi city has served as a strategically important stronghold for the group. McGurk cautioned that retaking Mosul will be no easy task, but he nonetheless seemed cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming offensive. “Mosul is one of the most complex challenges ahead of us,” he stated. “I’m encouraged because the military side of this campaign is now coming together: the Iraqis just completed a very impressive offensive, capturing a major airbase just south of Mosul.” Overall, McGurk noted that ISIS has been steadily losing territory in Iraq. “The Iraqi security forces have now liberated 50 percent of the territory Da’ish once controlled,” he said. Al-Jaafari expressed his gratitude for international monetary support, volunteer mercenaries, as well as the Syrian Kurdish
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On July 19, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) hosted Iraq’s Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a discussion on his country’s fight against ISIS. The event also featured USIP President Nancy Lindborg and Ambassador Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS. Lindborg opened the discussion by outlining the regional and global threat posed by ISIS. “We’re gathered here today at a very significant moment for Iraq and the region as a whole,” she said. “The Iraqi government forces and the U.S.-led coalition partners have logged significant military victories in recent months against Da’ish—and hopefully Mosul is on the horizon. The question is how do we help the Iraqi people return home and—more importantly—how do the Iraqi people avoid cycles of violence that could require repeated military operations—especially as they cope with the aftermath of an occupation that has torn apart the social fab-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
PHOTO COURTESY USIP
the global crisis. There are an estimated 65 million refugees and displaced persons across the world. The U.S. has accepted more than 63,000 refugees thus far this year, 22,000 short of the 85,000 ceiling set by President Obama for the 2016 fiscal year. Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Iraq are, respectively, the top four origins of refugees accepted by the U.S. this fiscal year. In late August, the U.S. achieved its goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the 2016 fiscal year. For more information and ways to help, visit <dcrally4refugees.org>. —Dale Sprusansky
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
Iraq’s Foreign Minister on the Fight Against ISIS
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari assesses the future of his country. OCTOBER 2016
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YPG (People’s Protection Units) for helping the Iraqi security forces defeat Da’ish. According to al-Jaafari, the fight against Da’ish is not merely a national struggle, but also an international one. Because terrorism is very much a reality in Europe and the West, he added, the entire world should contribute to Iraq’s liberation. —Gabe Ghostine
Dr. Riyad H. Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N.
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
The Arab Center in Washington, DC launched its “Quarterly Diplomatic Luncheon” series on Aug. 10, featuring Dr. Riyad H. Mansour, ambassador and permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the U.N. Mansour, who is also Palestine’s non-resident ambassador to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, presented a Palestinian perspective on the recent French proposal and previous international Middle East peace initiatives. After the failures of 25 years of U.S.-led peace talks, including Secretary of State John Kerry’s futile nine-month effort that ended in 2014, France attempted to take the lead and revive Palestinian-Israeli talks with a new peace initiative. The Paris initiative, which began circulating in 2015, consists of a draft United Nations Security Council resolution setting forth clear parameters for Israeli-Palestinian peace, along with mechanisms and a timeline for
achieving them. The Arab Center’s executive director, Khalil Jahshan, asked Ambassador Mansour if the French initiative stands a chance for success. Does the initiative meet the basic requirements for realizing the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people? After discussing the historical background—particularly the inaction of the Quartet (the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia)— Mansour agreed that it is time for a new approach. The most important aspect of the French initiative, he said, is that “it is abandoning the traditional European approach of doing nothing until the U.S. acts.” The U.S. election season—when serious debate and action on international issues comes to a screeching halt—may be the ideal time for the EU to push through “an independent initiative to push the U.S., and try to break the deadlock,” Mansour observed. The French proposal is not another bilateral set of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, doomed to fail like all the others, its advocates say. Rather, it takes “a new, collective approach.” The Paris initiative will only succeed if there is actual implementation on the ground, Mansour warned. He called for direct Arab engagement, especially by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The engagement of the P5+1 (the U.N. Security Council’s five per-
Ambassador Riyad H. Mansour (l) and Khalil Jahshan discuss the Paris peace initiative.
OCTOBER 2016
manent members, namely China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S., plus Germany) is crucial as well. Having all parties involved will ensure that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis will “run away from their responsibilities,” Mansour asserted. Ending the growth of illegal settlement activity and the Israeli occupation will help stop fueling extremism in the region, Mansour insisted. The initiative’s failure could lead to more instability across the Arab world. “If people become more frustrated, and lose hope that the occupation will end, then they might take issues in their own hands, and that is the best recipe for extremists,” the ambassador warned. The occupation is enabling extremism in Israeli society and “exposing the ugly face” of the apartheid state. The resolution of the Palestinian issue is the duty of everyone in the international community, not only the Palestinians and the Israelis, Ambassador Mansour concluded. If this “historical opportunity is not utilized, then those who are pushing [both Palestinians and Israelis] in the direction of extremism should bear the responsibility of what will unfold.” —Delinda C. Hanley
Palestinian Knesset Member: Israel is on a Dangerous Path
Dr. Basel Ghattas, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a member of its Knesset, spoke at the Arab Center in Washington, DC on Aug. 25 and warned of an increasingly anti-Arab climate within Israeli politics and society. The lawmaker, one of 13 members of the Joint Arab List party, said several bills recently passed by the Knesset explicitly target Palestinian Israelis and their supporters. One bill, the so-called “expulsion bill,” allows Knesset members to expel fellow lawmakers for incitement to violence or support of armed struggle against the state (see p. 8). Under the law, a lawmaker can be expelled if 90 members of the 120-seat Knesset vote in favor of expulsion. Ghattas charged that this bill is “very clearly designed toward the expulsion of Arab Knesset members.” The “expulsion bill” is an expansion of a previous bill—the “suspension bill”—which
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idea of peace, he will not face inallowed Knesset members to be ternational consequences for his suspended for similar actions. Eardecisions. There is thus a burden lier this year, Ghattas and two on the global community, particuother Joint List members were larly Europe and the U.S.—both of suspended for visiting the families which regularly condemn Israel’s of Palestinians who attacked Jewbehavior—to hold Israel and its ish Israelis in Jerusalem. leaders accountable, the Knesset Another bill, the so-called member stated. “NGO bill,” requires Israeli nonGhattas concluded by offering a profit organizations that receive grim assessment of the future. If more than half their funding from international pressure remains abforeign governments to share this sent, Israeli politics will continue to fact on all publications and upon move to the right, he predicted: entering the Knesset. According Dr. Khalil Jahshan (l), executive director of the Arab Center in “You can expect worse and more to the Mossawa Center, which Washington, DC, listens as Palestinian-Israeli Knesset member advocates for the rights of Israel’s Dr. Basel Ghattas shares his thoughts on recent legislation extreme and fanatical [behavior] in the future.” Arab citizens, the law will impact passed in the Israeli parliament. Should current trends continue, 27 NGOs in Israel, 25 of which are human rights groups sympathetic to come, Ghattas said. As evidence, he Ghattas said, Palestinian Israelis may dethe Palestinian cause. Before the bill was noted that a decade or so ago, Jews who cide to boycott the next election. He hopes passed, Israeli opposition leader Isaac insisted on entering the al-Aqsa mosque this does not become necessary, but said Herzog warned that the law is “indicative, compound to pray constituted a small, Palestinian Israelis fear that their presence more than anything, of the budding fas- marginal group. Today, however, the Tem- in the Knesset allows Israel to make the farple Mount movement has become main- cical claim that all of its citizens enjoy equal cism creeping into Israeli society.” These two laws, Ghattas argued, are in- stream and, he noted, even includes rights. “I think the conditions on the ground are pushing us toward the decision to boydicative of how Prime Minister Binyamin members of the Knesset. This push to the right will continue as cott the Israeli election,” he said, “and say Netanyahu has led Israel throughout his time in office. Netanyahu is not interested long as the international community does to them ‘ok, play alone, this is your democin compromise or human rights, Ghattas not hold Israel accountable for its conduct, racy, not ours, this is your Jewish state, not said, but rather in solidifying his power and Ghattas contended. After decades of occu- ours, go play alone.’” —Dale Sprusansky pation and actions detrimental to peace, he implementing his right-wing agenda. Netanyahu’s tenure shows just how said, Netanyahu has learned that as long WAGING PEACE mainstream the Israeli right-wing has be- as he occasionally pays lip service to the
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Syrian refugees at Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City, CA on Aug.10. (L-r) Mahmoud Ezzidin, Ban, Amjad M. Ezzidin and Najah Mohammad Ezzidin. 60
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STAFF PHOTO SAMIR TWAIR
Experts React to Failed Turkish Coup Attempt
The failed July 15 attempt by members of Turkey’s armed forces to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has left the country, and its relationship with Washington, in a spate of tension and uncertainty. In the weeks following the attempted coup, Erdogan’s triumphant government has detained or fired tens of thousands of civil servants it accuses of having ties to the plotters (see p. 52). Meanwhile, relations between Ankara and Washington have deteriorated, as the Obama administration has resisted Erdogan’s request that the U.S. swiftly extradite Pennsylvania cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Turkish government accuses of plotting OCTOBER 2016
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STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY
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ting the coup. To discuss these pressing issues, the SETA Foundation—which has a close relationship with the Turkish government— hosted an Aug. 17 panel discussion in Washington, DC. Halil Berktay, professor emeritus at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, said the events of July 15 were unprecedented in Turkey’s history. Coups are nothing new for the country, he noted—the military has seized power from four Turkish governments since 1960—but never before have the Turkish people taken to the streets en masse to resist the toppling of a civilian government. Groundbreaking acts of resistance by Turkish civilians took place on the evening of the coup attempt. In large cities, citizens (L-r) Sammy Hajomar, Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) at the took to the streets and surrounded soldiers Syrian American Council-Los Angeles Eid al-Fitr picnic in Irvine, CA’s Mason Park on July 10. and military tanks, effectively demobilizing Sanchez, who is running for California’s open U.S. Senate seat this year, told more than 400 Syrian Americans and their friends at the picnic that she supports resettling more Syrian many elements of the pro-coup forces. In refugees in the state. the countryside, acts of defiance included setting fire to crops near military airbases to Gulen’s movement, known as Hizmet, is two groups emerged and, having consolimake runways inoperable. These defiant actions by the Turkish peo- multi-faceted and somewhat mysterious. In- dated power from the secularists, the AKP ple left the coup plotters paralyzed, Berktay volved in a myriad of areas, such as edu- began to view the Gulenists as schemers noted. Coup soldiers did not want to open cation, businesses and charity work, the re- who wanted to usurp power. In recent years, the AKP has purged perfire on civilians, he said, but at the same ligious movement claims to be apolitical, time found themselves unable to manage but the group certainly has a political ceived Gulenists from positions in the the angry crowds. In essence, the plotters agenda and some of its followers hold po- media, army, police and judiciary, and in 2013 it accused the movement of foment“realized they had no answer to this [popu- sitions within the civil service. Hizmet, ironically, was at one time allied ing a high-level corruption scandal that tarlar resistance],” Berktay said. According to Turkish political scientist with the AKP. Erdogan and Gulen are both geted members of Erdogan’s government. Claims of the Gulenist role in the coup atBurhanettin Duran, those who protested the Islamists—albeit of somewhat different coup attempt were acting out of a sense of stripes—and worked together to rebuff sec- tempt—be they true, untrue, or partly true— patriotism. Regardless of their political ular forces that sought to undermine the are thus an unsurprising progression of the views—even secular parties highly critical AKP when it first came to power in 2002. intense AKP-Gulen feud. Brookings Institution senior fellow Shadi of Erdogan opposed the coup—a majority However, the two became rivals about a of Turks did not want to see their democra- decade later. Disagreements between the Hamid called Erdogan’s response to the coup attempt “disproportionate” tic system collapse and fall yet and extrajudicial, but pointed out again into the hands of the milithat it is justifiable and rational for tary, he said. the president to punish those who Duran expressed confidence were actively involved in the plot. that Gulen, who has lived in selfHamid also noted that the coup imposed exile since 1999, was attempt in many ways justifies the behind the coup attempt. Echoing paranoia about conspirators (both the official line of Erdogan’s govGulenist and secular) Erdogan ernment, he said the cleric and has displayed in recent years. his followers have long been plotOutside observers, he cautioned, ting to undermine the president’s have to better understand where ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and called on the Profs. Halil Berktay (l) and Burhanettin Duran discuss the at- this paranoia comes from. As an U.S. to extradite Gulen to Turkey. tempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. example, he noted that as reOCTOBER 2016
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standard requirements under our law.” The Justice and State Departments are currently reviewing Turkey’s formal extradition request. —Dale Sprusansky
Pax Christi USA Conference: Peace, Justice and BDS
With Baltimore as its backdrop, on Aug. 12-14 Pax Christi USA (PCUSA), the Catholic Church’s national peace movement, held its annual conference, which this year was titled “Building the Beloved Community.” Grounded in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching, PCUSA is a membership organization that rejects war, preparation for war, every form of violence and domination, and personal and systemic racism. Sessions this year focused on a variety of social justice topics, including environmental destruction, the U.S. criminal justice system, militarism, immigration and Islamophobia—all using the lens of racial injustices. The conference also included a community service cleanup project with a local group called “No Boundaries, Inc.” in the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray, Jr. was arrested in 2015, then died in police custody of injuries to the spinal cord. While this year’s conference did not have any workshops focused on the Israeli occupation, outside in the halls the topic
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PHOTO COURTESY SUSAN KERIN
cently as 2008, Turkey’s highest court was one vote away from outlawing the AKP and banning its leading figures from politics. With all this in mind, Hamid encouraged Washington to be even-handed in its dealings with Turkey. The U.S. needs to support democratic principles and be “unequivocal in its condemnation of the coup,” while also being critical of any overreach by Erdogan in his crackdown. The U.S. must also be more consistent in its regional policies, Hamid opined. Washington’s decision to quickly accept the outcome of the 2013 coup in Egypt set a dangerous precedent for the region, he said. In Hamid’s opinion, the coup plotters in Turkey likely took into account Washington’s willingness to acquiesce to Egypt’s then-Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and surmised that the U.S. would similarly acknowledge Turkey’s new military government if the coup succeeded. Regarding the possible extradition of Gulen, Hamid praised the U.S. for telling Turkey it will only extradite the cleric if high evidentiary standards are met. During a visit to Ankara in late August, Vice President Joe Biden explained the U.S. position vis-à -vis Gulen. “We have no, no, no, no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally,” Biden said. “But we need to meet legal
PHOTO AND COMMENTARY COURTESY JEANNE FINLEY
About 100 people, both Muslim and non-Muslim, rally at the Masjid As-Salam on Aug. 4 and march a few blocks to the First Unitarian Society of Albany, NY to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the arrests on Aug. 4, 2004 of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who were later convicted of “terrorism” in an unjust sting operation. Their arrests, and the trial and convictions, shocked and galvanized many in Albany, including the future founders of the Muslim Solidarity Committee and Project SALAM.
was very much on the hearts and minds of participants. In May, three regional Pax Christi councils (Metro WashingtonBaltimore, Michigan and Montreal) had adopted a declaration of support for the “goals of the BDS movement initiated by Palestinian civil society.” The position came in response to a personal request from the Palestinian Christian community represented by Kairos Palestine. It also was in response to chapter members who were engaged in countering anti-BDS legislation in the U.S. and wanted validation and support from their regional councils for their efforts. In addition to support for BDS goals and strategies, the declaration by the three regional councils encourages their membership to study Kairos Palestine’s “A Moment of Truth” document, which has been endorsed by 13 patriarchs and heads of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches in Jerusalem. Members are also charged with promoting this document within their parishes and Catholic community circles. According to Bob Cooke, who serves on
Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak stand in front of a poster showing the cover of their book, Never Can I Write of Damascus: When Syria Became Our Home, published by Just World Books and available from Middle East Books and More, about living and working with college-age Iraqi refugees in Damascus. Their Iraqi Student Project found U.S. university study for 60 Iraqis. OCTOBER 2016
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Pax Christi’s Metro DC-Baltimore Council, this declaration is not merely a statement but is also meant as a call to action. “We invite other organizations and individuals to issue statements of support for BDS and to renew their efforts for a peaceful end to the nearly 50-year occupation of Palestine,” he notes. In response to the announcement by the three regional councils, the leadership of Kairos Palestine wrote to the chapters, saying: Kairos Palestine is thrilled that your small chapter(s) of Pax Christi will be a pioneer in the American Catholic entity to endorse BDS. The Catholic Church that has tremendous clout around the world and is led by a visionary pontiff, Pope Francis, can be a driving model standing for justice, as we have witnessed through efforts of Pax Christi in Germany, Britain and elsewhere. We are counting on you in the USA, to be more vocal and active in translating the prophetic voice of the Church and its related branches into concrete actions. In their declaration, the three councils cite Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” stating that BDS—like all direct action—is not a goal unto itself, but rather “seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” Cooke adds: “While there is still much work to do, this first step reaffirms that we Catholics recognize both the Palestinian and Israeli people as members of our beloved community.” The Regional Councils’ Declaration, as well as letters from Kairos Palestine, can be found at <http://www.paxchristimetrodc .org/2016/08/resources-for-bds-strategies/>. In the hall outside the conference rooms where Pax Christi members gathered were tables displaying the work of various causes and organizations. One table, staffed by Gabe Huck and Theresa Kubasak, sold books and olive oil from Middle East Books and More. They passed out publications (including the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs) OCTOBER 2016
Some of the resources on our table were created when the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. took on the BDS question in 2014 and, after much study and discussion, voted to divest from companies involved with the Israeli occupation. Their excellent resources include a study guide for local congregations, Zionism Unsettled (available from Middle East Books and More). It can be used now by Catholics and others. Where is the Catholic Church on this? Why don’t we want to confront apartheid and injustice in Palestine/Israel, all of it long supported with U.S. policies and dollars? The churches in the U.S. seem to think that speaking out about injustices done to Palestinians would betray their relationship with Jewish communities here in the U.S. In fact, we betray that relationship when we stay silent instead of standing with Jewish Voice for Peace. The Middle East in general is where Muslims, Jews and Christians have indeed lived side-by-side in peace. In Baghdad. In Damascus. Now we hear prayers in our churches on Sunday “for the persecuted Christians in the Middle East.” And from whom in the Middle East have Christians endured such persecution in our lifetime? In the land controlled by the apartheid regime of Israel, where Muslims and Christians suffer as Palestinians whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or within Israel. And we never dare name it. —Gabe Huck and single-issue handouts, vital to understanding and confronting the present situation in Palestine/Israel and the role of the U.S., including the Christian churches. Huck and Kubasak, who lived in Damascus from 2005 to 2012, signed copies of their book Never Can I Write of Damascus: When Syria Became Our Home. They encouraged members of Pax Christi to educate themselves and their communities about the harm done when the apartheid situation is not confronted. The couple spoke to many regional council representatives at the meeting and feel that additional support for BDS within the Pax Christi community is on the horizon. —Susan Kerin
Church Adopts Investment Screen
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) became the latest U.S. Christian denomination to take economic action against the Israeli occupation. At its triennial assembly in New Orleans, LA, the 4-millionmember church voted on two separate resolutions targeting Israel’s occupation and human rights abuses, passing each by a landslide. The first resolution, passed on Aug. 12, called for the U.S. to halt aid to Israel until the latter freezes the construction of settlements built on occupied Palestinian land in violation of longstanding official U.S. policy and international law. The second resolution, passed the following day, called for the creation of a “human rights social criteria investment screen” for its social responsibility funds to ensure the church is not profiting from human rights abuses, including Israel’s nearly half-century-old military occupation of Palestinian lands. Currently, the U.S. gives more than $3 billion in military aid to Israel each year, without which the self-proclaimed Jewish state could not maintain its occupation of Palestinian lands, which entered its 49th year this past June. Isaiah 58, a group of Lutherans working for peace and justice in the Holy Land, welcomed the ELCA’s overwhelming votes. “In our Affirmation of Baptism, one of the five promises we make as Lutherans is to ‘work for justice and peace throughout the earth,’” noted ELCA member Jan Miller, a leader of Isaiah 58 from the Rocky Mountain Synod. “By adopting this investment screen, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is taking an important step to ensure that we are not profiting from, or complicit in, injustice in the Holy Land and elsewhere.” The ELCA has long opposed Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise and supported nonviolent action in support of Palestinian rights. With these votes, the ELCA adds its own voice and approach to the growing number of U.S. churches that have endorsed economic acts of conscience in support of Palestinian freedom and human
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Palestinian Human Rights Are Not For $ale!
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received a bonus greeting as she and some 80 of her supporters neared the gated Beverly Hills estate of major pro-Israel megacontributor Haim Saban for an Aug. 22 fund-raiser. More than 100 protesters held a rally to warn partygoers that Saban opposes Palestinian human rights and carried signs reading, "Palestinian Human Rights Are Not For $ale!" Tickets for the fundraised, which raised a reported $5 million, were $100,000 per couple. Earlier the protesters gathered at historic Will Rogers Memorial Park and marched the half-mile distance to Saban’s mansion. Saban had invited a staggering array of celebrities to his fete. The stars on Saban’s guest list were outshone by the notable local activists who spoke to protesters before the event: emcee James Lafferty, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, Palestinian-American activist Eman Khaleq, and Tony Litwinko
Protesters greet Clinton fund-raisers outside Haim Saban’s Beverly Hills mansion. 64
suppress activism opposing the Israeli government's well-documented abuses, Winograd said. Karen Pomer with Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, one of the protest organizers, announced the formation of a new group, including a Facebook page, called “LA4Palestine.” Estee Chandler of Jewish Voice for Peace circulated a flier with more information to “Help Stop Anti-Free Speech AB 2844.” —Pat and Samir Twair
from Friends of Sabeel-North America. Amani Barakat, chairperson of the AlAwda the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, urged protesters to “say no to hypocrisy...all humans have rights, even Palestinians.” Nana Gyamfi, a human rights attorney and organizer with Justice Warriors for Black Lives, declared, “It was immoral for the U.S. to support apartheid South Africa decades ago, and it is immoral for the U.S. to support apartheid Israel today.” Robert Gardner, an African-American senior at UCLA, where he is a member of Students for Justice in Palestine and a supporter of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, made compelling remarks. He described seeing his name listed on a poster as one of 16 UCLA “Jew haters” and terrorist allies. That poster was part of a multimilliondollar effort to fight BDS, led by Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson. Since then, Gardner said, he has been followed and has received online death threats. Marcy Winograd, a former candidate for Congress, spoke about stopping the California state legislature’s AB 2844, which is actually an anti-free speech bill, proposed by Santa Monica Assemblyman (D) Richard Bloom. The “Anti-BDS Act of 2016” would prohibit the state of California and its counties and cities from contracting with any private company that refuses to do business with Israel, help demolish Palestinian homes or build new settlements in the West Bank. The bill would
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Dr. Maria Filippone Speaks About Gaza Visit
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rights, including the United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and others. Isaiah 58 thanks ELCA voting members for taking a strong, principled stand in support of freedom, justice, and equality in the Holy Land and around the world, and looks forward to continuing our work toward achieving those goals. —Dale Loepp
Dr. Maria Filippone discussed her visit to Gaza before an audience of about 75 at Backstage at Noce on Aug. 16. Filippone, who traveled with 12 other health care professionals to Gaza in mid-January as members of a Physicians for Social Responsibility delegation, has presented her talk, “Eyewitness: Save Gaza Now!” to several Iowa audiences. “The attacks on Gaza since 2009 really piqued my interest, especially the 2014 war in Gaza,” she explained. “That was really heartbreaking and a turning point for me when I realized, ‘these people are just forgotten in the world.’ A large part of why there is so much suffering in that part of the world is because of our U.S. foreign policy,” she added. “We spent 10 days in Gaza and three days in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Gaza Strip is 24 miles long and 4- to 7miles wide with a population of just under 2 million, Dr. Filippone continued. “Rhode Island is 8.7 times larger, with just under one million people. So, Gaza is incredibly densely populated. People are on top of each other. There is no airport, no power plant, no infrastructure, no cinema. They can’t even escape their reality for two hours at a movie.” There is no economy and no freedom of movement, she asserted. Israel controls 100 percent of everything that goes in and out of Gaza, where 96 percent of the water is not fit for human consumption. Almost everyone in Gaza is malnourished. There is an incredible amount of suffering, explained Filippone. Many refer to Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison. This is incorrect, according OCTOBER 2016
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STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE
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are critical of Israel’s illegal oc“I’m marching to make a statement,” cupation of Palestine. said Linda Fisher, an Air Force veteran “Opposition to the policies of and member of VFP Iowa City Chapter a national political entity, or de- 161. “We’ve got to stop the wars. If we siring the social and political haven’t learned in how many thousand transformation of a repressive years, we’ve got to speed up somehow,” regime, is not equivalent to said Fisher, who served in the Women of holding racist beliefs about the the Air Force Band. ethnicity the government claims “We’re not all veterans, but we’re all to represent,” stated Chris- friends of Veterans For Peace marching Dr. Maria Filippone points to a map showing the progrestiansen. Decrying all forms of together for peace,” said Gilbert Landolt, sion of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. ethnic nationalism “that serve VFP Des Moines Chapter 163 president. “I’m focused on working class organizto Filippone, because in prison people get as a vehicle of oppression of the so-called food, water and medical care. Most Gazans other,” Christiansen cited the work of Jewish ing,” said Jack Petsche, a member of the Voice for Peace, Jews for Justice for Pales- Des Moines Catholic Worker and a comdon’t. Israel pumps untreated sewage into tinians, B’Tselem, Tikkun, The International munity organizer but not a veteran himself. “If you look at who is pulled from the Gaza, and when it rains there is human Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Breaking the Siwaste in the streets. “You can smell this be- lence, and “the scholars that were noted be- ranks for war, it’s mostly working class fore,” among Jewish groups that oppose the working poor folks,” explained Petsche, fore you can see it,” recalled Filippone. whose work often involves assistance to “One of my colleagues coined the term Israeli oppression of Palestinians. The event was sponsored by STAR-PAC veterans whose lives have been impacted ‘Gaza Syndrome,’ she added, “because there is no post-traumatic stress syndrome and co-sponsored by the American Friends by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Service Committee Iowa-Middle East homelessness, incarceration and other in Gaza. It’s ongoing. “Our government gives Israel $10 million Peace Education Project; Catholic Peace unanticipated harm following their military per day. We are the reason for the suffer- Ministry; Des Moines Faith Committee for service. “I’ve learned a lot about what combat ing in Gaza. I’m not saying we shouldn’t Peace; Methodist Federation for Social Achelp Israel. I’m saying we should attach tion; and Women’s International League for veterans go through,” said VFP Chapter Peace and Freedom-Des Moines. 163 co-founder, Vietnam-era veteran, and conditions to that aid,” Filippone argued. —Michael Gillespie Des Moines Catholic Worker Ed Bloomer. She specifically lauded MIT linguist “Those guys really go through hell, whether Noam Chomsky, viewed by many as a Veterans For Peace March in Des they were crawling around in rice paddies gatekeeper of the left who effectively igin Vietnam or eating mud in the trenches in nores and limits criticism of the Israel lobby Moines in the United States. Under a beautiful blue late summer sky, WWI. It’s all sad,” he lamented. “The ones coming back from the wars in Isaac Christiansen, a member of Jewish about 30 members of Iowa chapters of VetVoice for Peace, lecturer in sociology at erans For Peace (VFP) and their friends the Middle East are our current casualties. Grand View University and doctoral student marched as a group in the Iowa State Fair Some can’t deal with it at all. Suicide is a big problem,” Bloomer added. at Iowa State University, offered a response Veterans Day Parade on August 15. to Filippone’s presentation titled, “Opposition to Israeli Occupation versus Anti-Semitism: An Examination of Uses and Arguments of a Politically Convenient Conflation.” “It is politically convenient to conflate opposition to the policies of the state with antiSemitism when we want to defend the policies of a state,” explained Christiansen, who noted that he “grew up in Des Moines within a politically and religiously conservative family in a Jewish home. Some of my family is secular, others are Reform, and others are extremely Orthodox.” There followed an exploration and blunt critique of Israeli Jewish nationalism and an at times impassioned defense of those who Veterans For Peace march in the Iowa State Fair Veterans Day Parade. OCTOBER 2016
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The Pentagon reported in April that 265 active duty service members killed themselves in 2015. Published reports say high suicide rates have plagued the U.S. military for nearly a decade. According to the National Alliance to End Veteran Suicide, “the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 20-22 veterans per day die from suicide. This is one loss every 65 minutes, totaling 8,030 deaths per year, nearly 20 percent of all suicides in the United States. The biggest age spikes are around 60 years old (our Vietnam-era veterans) and 18-25 (our recent veterans).” “I’m here to support my group, Bill Bassinger Chapter 163 of Veterans For Peace,” said USMC Vietnam veteran Allen Burney of Des Moines. “We’ve brought some friends with us and we’re here to say that ‘Peace is Possible.’ It costs this country way too much to do war all the time, and we’ve got to do something about it,” said Burney. “I wish we had more people to support the efforts for peace, give our children a better chance at life, and make the world a better place,” Burney said. —Michael Gillespie
CATO Experts Call For a Revised U.S. Foreign Policy
After years of flexing its muscles abroad it is time for the U.S. to reconsider its approach to the world, a group of scholars at the libertarian-leaning CATO Institute believe. In July, the scholars released a policy paper titled "Our Foreign Policy Choices: Rethinking America's Global Role,” outlining their restraint-oriented vision for American foreign policy. On Aug. 24, CATO scholars Emma Ashford, Christopher Preble and Trevor Thrall met with reporters to discuss the 100-page paper, which contains the contributions of a broad array of realist and libertarian thinkers. The paper’s 17 brief 66
chapters address broad strategic questions as well as advance specific recommendations for pressing issues, such the U.S. relationship with Iran, China and Russia, and the war against ISIS. The paper’s recommendations range from minor policy adjustments to major course corrections, Ashford said, arguing that all of the recommendations are feasible. “I think all of the chapters present practical options for something policymakers could do if they wanted to improve U.S. foreign policy,” she said. The paper’s primary argument is that the U.S. would be best served by exercising more restraint in its foreign policy. “America’s global influence is strongest when spread by peaceful rather than military means,” the scholars write in the paper’s introduction. “To conserve American power and security, a strategy of restraint focuses on avoiding distant conflicts that do not threaten American interests,” they write. The status quo of war and intervention must be challenged, the scholars insist. “We’re not having any overarching debate about whether this is really something that the U.S. should be doing,” Ashford noted. “What we tried to do in here was make a contribution to the debate we should be having.” While some believe Donald Trump’s candidacy—particularly his sharp criticism of the Iraq war—has sparked a debate about U.S. grand strategy, the authors reject this notion. Preble dismissed Trump’s legitimacy as a thought leader and instead characterized the Republican nominee as a bumbling blowhard. “On balance, his views are quite inconsistent, there is no underlying approach to global affairs that is discernable from his various pronouncements,” he said. Regarding Hillary Clinton, Preble said the Democratic nominee’s views are much more consistent. “She is one of the more hawkish people in Washington, period,” he said, pointing out that the former secretary of state has supported every U.S. war since her tenure as first lady. The only hope with Clinton, in Preble’s opinion, is that she will be restrained by more dovish members of her party. “She does have a constituency in the Democratic
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Party that is more skeptical of the wars than the Republicans have tended to be, and you might think that that constituency, that base that she has to cater to, would restrain her somewhat,” he said. “Is that enough to counteract her instincts, her hawkish instincts? I doubt it, but it’s possible.” The ingrained bipartisan support for intervention is inconsistent with the much more restrained views of the American people, Thrall argued. “The American public actually opposes most of the planks of the U.S. foreign policy or grand strategy that have been in place since the end of the Cold War,” he said. The problem, Thrall insisted, is that the American people have never been presented with a genuine foreign policy debate. “If we had a more full and free debate about what to do foreign policy-wise, you would see people flocking to candidates who are arguing for more peaceful engagement rather than military force,” he said. Preble, citing the emergence of less hawkish leaders such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), expressed confidence that a paradigm shift will eventually take place within one of the two major parties. However, given Paul’s abandonment of libertarian values during his failed primary campaign (including his rejection of the Iran nuclear deal), the increasing likelihood of a Clinton presidency, and the inability of third parties to gain traction, one has to wonder just how close we are to a dramatic shift in U.S. policy. —Dale Sprusansky
MUSIC & ARTS Hajjaj Artwork on View In Bentonville, AR Hotel Gallery
To the delight of hotel guests and town residents, the artwork of Hassan Hajjaj is on display through November at the 21C Museum Hotel in Bentonville, AR. The hotel’s ground floor galleries are free and open to the public 24/7. Exhibitions change every 8 to 12 months. Known as the “Andy Warhol of Marrakesh,” the Moroccan-born artist divides OCTOBER 2016
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an alternative to U.S. military intervention. Throughout the Fall, expect to see Al Mokha’s Yemeni Coffee featured at Middle East Books and More, and stop by the store or order online to purchase beans to brew at home! Purchasing Al Mokha’s Yemeni Coffee encourages reform in Yemen’s market economy and supports stability, undermining extremism by providing an outlet for sustainable growth. Plus, it’s delicious! —Nathaniel Bailey
Arts, Richmond, VA; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Farjam Collection, Dubai; Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris; and the Kamel Lazaar Foundation in Tunisia. —Elaine Pasquini
”Blaize” (2010) photographic metallic lambda print on dibond of a man sporting one of Hassan Hajjaj’s original clothing designs. The handmade frame features boxes of Dia brand paprika popular in Portuguese supermarkets.
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his time between London and Marrakesh. In addition to his passion for photography, the self-taught and versatile artist designs furniture, clothing, interior spaces and record covers. While heavily influenced by his North African heritage, his art also reflects the eclectic influences of fashion photography, pop culture, reggae and the hip-hop scene in London. Hajjaj’s works are displayed around the world, including at the Brooklyn Museum; the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC; the Newark Museum, NJ; the Virginia Museum of Fine
One Saturday morning in early August, Middle East Books and More partnered with Al Mokha to hold a pop-up café outside its store in Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, offering samples and opportunities to purchase Yemeni coffee to passersby. Al Mokha’s coffee comes from Yemen, the home of the world’s first coffee. The beans are terrace-grown and sun-dried before being roasted to three varieties—dark, medium, and light. Al Mokha’s founder, Anda Greeney, a graduate of Wesleyan University who served in Air Force military intelligence, has recently become an entrepreneur and international development expert. His Al Mokha is a startup aimed at promoting growth and stability in Yemen by providing a market for Yemeni coffee in the United States. He works with Yemeni agronomists, graphic designers, photographers and videographers to purchase and promote Yemeni coffee at a fair price. Unlike many NGOs working in the region, Greeney is providing real, tangible jobs, not job training, for Yemenis. Greeney believes economic growth in Yemen will create stability and security. Thus, coffee is
Anda Greeney (c) serves coffee at his pop up Yemeni café. OCTOBER 2016
ACCC Hosts Dima Khatib
PHOTO COURTESY M. RICHEY
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
Al Mokha’s Yemeni Coffee a Hit at Pop-Up Café
A violinist accompanies Palestinian Dima Khatib as she reads her poetry.
Syrian-Palestinian Dima Khatib read her poetry at the Arab American Community and Cultural Center (ACCC) in San Francisco, CA on Aug. 14. Some 50 people—that is to say, the seating capacity at the ACCC— gave her a warm and heartfelt reception. Khatib was accompanied on the violin, and seconded by local poets who presented their works, often for the first time in public. Khatib, the longtime Latin America correspondent for Al Jazeera and now managing director of Al Jazeera's digital service AJ+, shared selections from her book of poetry, Love Refugee (currently in Arabic only). Born in Syria, she has refused to seek citizenship elsewhere, and carries only her Palestinian identification documents. Khatib’s poetry includes both topical political themes, such as “I am an Arab child,” as well as love poetry—groundbreaking, she explained, since for an Arab woman to talk about her feelings for a man is something “we are not used to hearing,” as she put it. Decidedly, she seems influenced by her long residence in Venezuela.
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Franciscans Hold Third Holy Land Festival
The Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC held its third annual Holy Land Festival on July 16. At least 500 visitors braved the brutal heat that day to learn about the vibrant culture and life of Palestinians. Neighbors, tourists and visitors coming from nearby Maryland and Virginia sampled delicious Middle Eastern food, including kebabs and hummus from the Jerusalem Restaurant and Rose City Petra Middle Eastern Food—as well as beat-the-heat favorites like the Ramos Brothers snow cones and water from St. Anthony’s School. Throughout the day, audiences watched and cheered the pintsized Kufiyah Dabke Troupe as they performed traditional Palestinian dances. People also took advantage of the free hourly tours to explore the Franciscan Monastery’s Holy Land shrines, catacombs and gardens. Attendees learned about the vital work of the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation and the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. Folks browsed and shopped at booths, including the Washington Report’s Middle East Books and More, where they got to meet a featured writer, Rosemarie Esber, and purchase signed copies of her book, Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians. In addition to the latest books, they purchased solidarity items like T-shirts, sweatshirts, soap and olive oil (see middleeastbooks.com for a complete list of all our products). Samira Hussein’s booth featured embroidery by Palestinian refugee women. When it got too hot to shop, people sat in the airconditioned indoors to hear panel discussions designed to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians living under occupation. One of the panelists showed 68
Washington Report assistant editor Dale Sprusansky at Middle East Books and More’s booth.
up late for the Skype talk “Testimonies of Palestinian Christians: Live from Bethlehem” because he had been detained at an Israeli checkpoint. Another panel discussed “Modern Day Saints of Palestine: Women of Bethlehem,” including the recently canonized Maryam Bouardi. Father Sean McManus, president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus and Holy Land Principles, laid out his 8-point corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Israel/Palestine (see the Jan./Feb. 2014 Washington Report, pp. 20-21, or visit <www.holylandprinciples.org> for more information). A high point of the day was an exciting Powerpoint presentation by Dr. Melanie Holcomb and Dr. Barbara Boehm, the cocurators of an upcoming exhibit, “Every People Under Heaven: The Many Voices of Medieval Jerusalem from 1000-1400,” which will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from Sept. 26, 2016 to Jan. 8, 2017. The exhibition illuminates the key role that the Holy City played in shaping the art of the period. More than 200 works of art, many of them gathered from 60 lenders around the world who have never shared their works, show that while Jerusalem is often described as a city of three faiths, the city was home to multiple vibrant cultures, faiths, and languages. Each year Father Jim Gardiner, a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement, and member of the Holy Land Committee of the Archdiocese of Washington, which organizes the festival, accomplishes a little miracle. He introduces everyday Americans to an ancient, vibrant Palestinian culture that somehow survives and thrives despite living under a catastrophic occupation. —Delinda C. Hanley
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Darzah Designs Makes Palestinian Solidarity Chic
If you’re looking for a lovely, high-fashion way to express your solidarity for Palestine—look no more! We’d like to introduce you to Darzah, a project of Child's Cup Full, a non-profit social enterprise based in the West Bank (see August 2015 Washington Report, p. 60). Just as Child’s Cup produces exquisite handmade children’s toys (on sale at this magazine’s Middle East Books and More), Darzah designers have created lovely handbags, shoes, jewelry, scarves and pillows for grown-ups. Darzah’s Fall collection includes Palestinian tatreez (intricate embroidered crossstitched patterns). Each piece is made to order for delivery in 4 to 6 weeks. Darzah artisans in the Jenin region collaborate with a highly skilled shoe manufacturer in Nablus to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind shoes with embroidered motifs that are 100 percent made in the West Bank. Visit Darzah.org and take advantage of an exclusive 15 percent discount during their launch. As you enjoy your purchase you’ll be connecting with women around the world who appreciate Palestinian traditions and support fair trade efforts that make a difference. You’ll be helping to cre-
The Eanab leather tote is hand stitched with a traditional “eanab” motif, which means grape.
OCTOBER 2016
PHOTO COURTESY CHILD’S CUP FULL
Translation was provided extemporaneously by community members to people in the audience not fluent in Arabic...with some nervousness, given the tone of her love poetry! The new leadership of ACCC is to be congratulated for organizing this afternoon of authentic Palestine diaspora poetry, with its sad and celebratory aspects. —Mark Richey
STAFF PHOTOS D. HANLEY
activisms_56-69_Activisms 8/31/16 10:42 AM Page 68
activisms_56-69_Activisms 8/31/16 10:42 AM Page 69
Turkish Americans Celebrate in Monterey
While Turkey struggles with a downturn in tourism after a recent coup attempt and two bombings in Istanbul in June, Turkish Americans in Northern California celebrated their homeland and heritage at the 19th Annual Turkish Arts and Culture Festival in Monterey’s Custom House Plaza. The Turkish American Association of California hosted the Aug. 6 and 7 event which drew some 2,000 people to the popular festival. Attendees welcomed back Murat Saraç —former deputy mayor of Monterey’s sister city Kusadasi who first visited Monterey in 2012—and enjoyed his display of photographs of Turkey’s many beautiful sites. Saraç’s wife and children enjoyed the music, dancing and camaraderie of the celebration during their first visit to California’s spectacular central coast. Traditional Turkish folk dancers, along with belly dancers and musicians, entertained the crowd, which also browsed the outdoor bazaar featuring Anatolian jewelry, textiles and clothing. Copies of From Kusadasi With Love, a thriller by the popular author Sadik Yemni of Izmir, were also available. —Elaine Pasquini
STAFF PHOTO E. PASQUINI
ate jobs for talented refugee women artists in the West Bank and showing that fine Palestinian embroidery is a work of art. —Delinda C. Hanley
dinners, a banquet and—as part of an “open mic” evening organized by Herman Lammerts—a reunion choir led by ACS choir director Carol Schaub. Former ACS principals gathered to update alumni—as well as Greg MacGilpin, Jr., the new headmaster who would be moving to Beirut with his family the following week. “Beirut is a wonderful place to be,” departing headmaster Hamilton Clark told the audience. “I never had concerns about security. The only issue we have is with global events we can’t control. At any moment anything could happen.” Clark recalled getting a call just after the previous reunion, in San Diego in 2013. His contact said the U.S. might start dropping bombs on Hezbollah in Syria, and Americans in Lebanon could be in danger. “I’d been there one week, and one week later the faculty was coming,” Clark recalled. “What was I supposed to do?” Luckily President Barack Obama didn’t bomb Syria, but the one and a half million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and two years with no presidential elections, are causing instability, Clark said. Today there are 1,100 students attending ACS, but no longer many Americans, since U.S. Embassy staff members may not bring their families to Beirut. In addition to attending to academics, arts and athlet-
OCTOBER 2016
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
American Community School– Beirut Triennial Reunion
The American Community School (ACS) at Beirut held its triennial reunion Aug. 11 to 14 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Founded in 1905, ACS is an independent, co-educational day school serving students of all nationalities, from nursery school to 12th grade. When many of the 318 alumni and teachers at the reunion were in school—before Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war—ACS also had a dormitory housing students from across the Middle East and North Africa. Reunion attendees came from as far away as Hawaii, Norway and Saudi Arabia. Donna Harms Hansen and her tireless reunion committee organized Duckboat tours, a meet-and-greet networking mezza, class
Belly dancers entertain the crowd at Monterey’s Turkish Festival.
ics, ACS students are encouraged to understand and learn to serve the world with compassion, and perform hours of community service projects. ACS teachers teach other teachers in the community through professional development programs, while student teachers from universities train at ACS. Clark asked alumni to continue funding scholarships and improving ACS facilties. Boston Red Sox President/CEO Emeritus Larry Lucchino, who taught history 1967-’68, told the audience, “My year in Beirut was as formative a year as I can remember.” Before going to ACS the only traveling he’d done was going to an “away game” in Charlotte, NC, he joked. “Traveling the world opened my eyes and made me more of a global citizen,” Lucchino said. He described his work for the Jimmy Fund, which supports Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. On the last day of the reunion, a group attending a Boston Red Sox game (and alumni across the country) were delighted to see the scoreboard message, “The Red Sox Welcome American Community School Beirut Alumni.” Many longtime Washington Report subscribers and their parents (who include cofounders Andrew Killgore and Richard Curtiss) are ACSers—which means that at every reunion we pick up more readers! —Delinda C. Hanley
(L-r) Principals George Damon (2003-2013), new headmaster Greg MacGilpin, Jr., Elsa Turmelle (who arrived in the ’50s, worked for 30 years with her husband,Wilfred, and became de facto principal in 1979) and Hamilton Clark (2013-2016) answer alumni questions. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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bookreview_70_Book Review 9/1/16 10:19 AM Page 70
B •O •O •K •S The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer
by James M. Dorsey, Oxford University Press, 2016, hardcover, 256 pp. List: $24.95; MEB: $24.
IN HIS original and informative book, author James Dorsey examines the politics of the region through the lens of soccer. Soccer fans in some countries have mobilized in support of popular causes, he points out. In Turkey, fans of clubs that were traditional rivals joined forces with protesters against government plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park as a shopping mall. Egyptian fans of leading Cairo clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek played a key role in the protests in Tahrir Square that resulted in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. In years of clashes with Egyptian police, they had honed skills that were brought into play when police and thugs mobilized by the regime attacked the protesters gathered in the city center. They succeeded in containing and repelling the assaults.
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Reviewed by John Gee Soccer has provided a channel through which protest could be expressed and identity asserted, Dorsey notes. In 1958, 10 Algerian soccer players left France to form a team aligned with the Algerian independence movement FLN. They traveled to sympathetic countries, playing friendly matches which they usually won, and publicizing the nationalist cause. In Turkey, Kurdish players have been a focal point for expressions both of hostility toward and support of Kurdish rights. During the years of the British Mandate, soccer gained a popular following in Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities alike. Soccer was a way for Palestinians to assert their sense of national identity. In the Jewish sector of the population, while most teams were aligned with the Zionist left, the Jerusalem club Beitar supported the Revisionist movement that wanted to establish a Jewish state including both Palestine and what is today Jordan. Since 1948, Beitar has taken pride in being the only major Israeli soccer club not to take on Israeli Palestinian players. Beitar fans are known for their racism toward Palestinians, which has been expressed very strongly when the team has played against another leading Israeli team, Bnei Sakhnin. That rival club, based in Sakhnin, a Palestinian town in central Galilee, includes Jewish players but is regarded as a Palestinian club. When the team won the Israeli State Cup in 2004, Beitar fans declared a day of mourning. It was a
WashIngTon RePoRT on MIddle easT affaIRs
Sakhnin player named Abbas Suan who gained an equalizer in the match with Ireland that qualifed Israel for the World Cup for the first time in 2005. He briefly became an Israeli national hero as a result, but when Suan took part in a match against Beitar the following week, he was greeted with a banner reading, “Suan, you don’t represent us” and booed every time he touched the ball. Among Islamists, there has been controversy over football. Ismail Haniyeh, who became Palestinian prime minister after Hamas won the 2006 legislative council elections, used to play for a team in Gaza and remains a football enthusiast. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah helped secure sponsorship of a popular Lebanese club by al-Manar, the Hezbollah-run television station. Among Salafists, opinion tends to be more hostile towards soccer. While Osama bin Laden played soccer in his youth and apparently sustained an interest in the game, others hold views like those of Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, leader of a Somali group that joined the AlShabaab movement. He marked the start of the 2010 World Cup by warning “all Somali youth not to dare to watch these World Cup matches…They will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching semi-nude madmen jumping up and down and chasing an inflated object…” The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer is likely to come as something of a revelation, particularly for anyone who has not followed Dorsey’s blog, <http://mideastsoc cer.blogspot.com>. It has quite a few “Aha” moments when, through an incident or a move connected to soccer, readers can find themselves feeling that they suddenly understand something that has been in the news a lot better. ■
John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. oCTobeR 2016
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MIDDLE • EAST • BOOKS • AND • MORE
Literature
*
Films
*
Pottery
*
Solidarity Items
FALL 2016
*
More
Sowing Chaos: Libya in the Wake of Humanitarian Intervention by Paolo Sensini, Clarity Press, 2016, paperback, 284 pp. List: $23.95; MEB: $20. Sensini toured Libya immediately after the NATO intervention in 2011, giving him an indepth and unique insight into the impact of this intervention and of life on the ground. From history to current events, he explores Western strategies of intervention and the realities that they create.
Obstacle to Peace: The U.S. Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Jeremy R. Hammond, Worldview Publications, 2016, paperback, 514 pp. List: $22.99; MEB: $20. If there were a simple answer to peace in the Holy Land, we would have it by now. In this book, Hammond examines the U.S. role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, debunking myths and common narratives with a thorough analysis to provide a groundwork toward creating lasting justice and peace in the region.
Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz, Virago Press, 2016, paperback, 221 pp. List: $18.99; MEB: $16. This book brings new light and humor to what it is like to be a practicing Muslim in a Western society. Zarqa Nawaz, known for creating the first sitcom about a Muslim family living in the West, shows us some of the intricacies of Western life—with plenty of comedy.
How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon by Rosa Brooks, Simon and Shuster, 2016, hardcover, 440 pp. List: $29.95; MEB: $24: Brooks traces the ancient boundaries between war and peace that are quickly becoming erased, as the military adopts more elaborate tactics to confront the security challenges of a new world. Touching on many different sides of the military complex in U.S. society, she shows us how some of the ideas that have been around for years are disappearing, and that what is replacing them is changing our world beyond recognition.
Crude Strategy: Rethinking the U.S. Military Commitment to Defend Persian Gulf Oil by Charles L. Glaser and Rosemary A. Kelanic, Georgetown University Press, 2016, paperback, 300 pp. List: $32.95; MEB: $32. After years of continued U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, many are looking at how and where this can change. A collection of essays from a diverse team of political scientists, historians and economists dive into the many questions concerning how to reset U.S. foreign policy with regard to the region’s oil.
Libya’s Displacement Crisis: Uprooted by Revolution and Civil War by Megan Bradley, Ibrahim Fraihat and Houda Mzioudet, Georgetown University Press, 2016, paperback, 64 pp. List: $12.95; MEB: $12. Beyond addressing what has happened since the 2011 revolution and subsequent NATO intervention?, this book aims to lay the groundwork for what will come next for Libya and its displaced people. Drawing from parallel conflicts in the region, the authors provide a brief but thorough assessment of the many dynamics facing Libyan citizens both inside and outside their country, and what the future might hold.
Activism in Jordan by Penelope Larzilliere, Zed Books, 2016, paperback, 238 pp. List: $24.95; MEB: $24. This unique book looks into one of the hidden aspects of the Arab Spring—youth activism. Focusing on Jordan, Larzilliere charts the paths of activists and opposition movements as they develop and grow, shifting from the underground to the public spheres, and what motivates their actions and ideologies.
The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism by Cihan Tugal, Verso, 2016, paperback, 296 pp. List: $29.95; MEB: $25. A timely book following the recent events in Turkey that made global headlines, Tugal tackles the facets of Islamic liberalism with an historical structural analysis. The author seeks to explain these current trends, and how countries in the Middle East that were recently expected to take up these ideas are heading in other directions.
The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984: A Graphic Memoir by Riad Sattouf, Metropolitan Books, 2015, paperback, 155 pp. List: $26; MEB: $22. Visually striking drawings bring to life aspects of growing up in the Arab world that are difficult to do using only words. Sattouf’s story follows a young family as it moves through Libya, Syria and France in the early 1980s, and captures what it is like for a young boy to grow up and interact with these changing dynamics.
SHIPPING RATES Most items are discounted and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders accepted by mail, phone (800-368-5788 ext. 2), or Web (www.middleeastbooks.com). All payments in U.S. funds. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. Please send mail orders to Middle East Books and More, 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009, with checks and money orders made out to “AET.” U.S. Shipping Rates: Please add $5 for the first item and $2.50 for each additional item. Canada & Mexico shipping charges: Please add $15 for the first item and $3.50 for each additional item. International shipping charges: Please add $15 for the first item and $6 for each additional item. We ship by USPS Priority unless otherwise requested. OCTOBER 2016
Library packages (list value over $240) are available for $29 if donated to a library, or free if requested with a library’s paid subscription or renewal. Call Middle East Books and More at 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. Our policy is to identify donors unless anonymity is specifically requested.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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obituaries_72_Obituaries 9/1/16 3:52 PM Page 72
Oâ&#x20AC;˘ B â&#x20AC;˘ I â&#x20AC;˘ T â&#x20AC;˘ U â&#x20AC;˘ A â&#x20AC;˘ R â&#x20AC;˘ I â&#x20AC;˘ E â&#x20AC;˘ S Mary Anne (Sarkis) Hazo, 89, died July 7 of natural causes at her home in Upper St. Clair, PA. Originally from Millvale, PA, she was named one of the top three legal secretaries in the United States as an Executive Secretary of the Allegheny Bar Association. Throughout her life she was a dedicated member of her community, serving on the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Boards of Duquesne University and The Holy Family Institute. She is survived by her husband, poet Samuel Hazo, their son and daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. Abdul Sattar Edhi, 88, a Pakistani philanthropist, died July 8 of kidney ailments at a hospital in Karachi. Known across Pakistan as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;angel of mercyâ&#x20AC;? for his social work and welfare programs, he founded and (Advertisement)
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Compiled by Nathaniel Bailey
owned a foundation that runs Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest ambulance service, as well as nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shelters and rehabilitation centers. He was born in 1928 in then-British-ruled India, and migrated to Pakistan in 1947, when India was partitioned, and began his charity work. He and his wife, Bilquis Bano, lived modestly and humbly throughout their marriage in a two-room apartment next to his foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headquarters. Edhi received numerous international awards, including the Gandhi Peace Award, the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize and the London Peace Award. He is survived by his wife and their four children.
Robert Carswell, 87, died July 22 at his home in Great Barrington, MA, of complications from dementia. Born in Brooklyn, NY, he graduated from Harvard University with a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in government and economics. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1952, he worked for more than 40 years at the New York-based law firm of Shearman and Sterling. He was known in Washington for his negotiating skills, serving under three Democratic presidents. He was part of the negotiating team seeking the release of more than 60 American hostages who had been taken captive following the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy by Iranian students in Tehran and held in Iran for more than a year. He is survived by his wife, Mary Wilde, two children and two grandsons. Dr. Thomas Sutherland, 85, who was held captive by Hezbollah in Lebanon for more than six years, died July 22, 2016 of natural causes. Born in Scotland, he received a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree from the University of Glasgow in 1953, and a doctorate in animal science from Iowa State University in 1958. After spending much of his early career as a professor at Colorado State University, he joined the faculty of the American University of Beirut in 1983. On June
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
9, 1985, gunmen attacked his car, taking him and a number of Americans hostage. While in captivity, Dr. Sutherland became close to his fellow hostage Terry Anderson, then Beirut bureau chief for the Associated Press. The two spent much of their captivity together, comforting and encouraging each other through their ordeal. After his release, Dr. Sutherland returned to Colorado and spent his time acting and supporting local arts organizations. In 1996, he and his wife, Jean, completed a book about the Middle East and their experiences titled At Your Own Risk. Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail, 70, the first Arab and Egyptian to win a Nobel Prize in science, died Aug. 2 of cancer. He grew up in Damanhur, a city northwest of Cairo on the banks of the Nile River. He graduated from Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alexandria University in 1967 and two years later earned a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in chemistry. After completing a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 1974, Dr. Zewail continued his research at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976, he joined the California Institute of Technology as an assistant professor, later becoming the first holder of a chair named for Linus C. Pauling, one of the few winners of two Nobel Prizes. Dr. Zewail received his Nobel in 1999 for his work using lasers to study chemical reactions as they occurred over almost infinitesimal intervals of time, giving science new insights into how chemical reactions proceed. This permitted unprecedented understanding of chemical behavior at its most detailed level. A dual Egyptian-American citizen, Dr. Zewail served as a member of President Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s science and technology advisory panel from 2009-2013 and as the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special envoy for science to the Middle East. Over the years, Dr. Zewail worked to generate political interest in and raise money to create a science-based university in Cairo. He is survived by his wife, Dema Faham, and their four children. â&#x2013; OCTOBER 2016
angels_list_73-74_2016 Choir of Angels 9/1/16 5:53 PM Page 73
AET’s 2016 Choir of Angels
Following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1, 2016 and Aug. 15, 2016 is making possible activities of the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment (federal ID #52-1460362) and the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Some Angels helped us co-sponsor the March 18 conference, “Israel’s Influence: Good or Bad for America?” We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.
HUMMERS ($100 or more)
Anonymous, Dearborn Heights, MI Anonymous, Largo, FL Annonymous, Oyster Bay, NY Anonymous, San Diego, CA Anonymous, Somerset, NJ Jeff Abood, Silver Lake, OH Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, Atlanta, GA Shukri Abu-Baker, Beaumont, TX Rizek & Alice Abusharr, Claremont, CA Michael & Jane Adas, Highland Park, NJ Diane Adkin, Camas, WA Frank Afranji, Tigard, OR Aglaia & Mumtaz Ahmed, Buda, TX Dr. M.Y. Ahmed, Waterville, OH Emeel & Elizabeth Ajluni, Farmington Hills, MI Dr. & Mrs. Salah Al-Askari, Leonia, NJ Amin Almuti, Orinda, CA Arthur Alter, Goleta, CA Hamid & Kim Alwan, Milwaukee, WI Hanaa Al-Wardi, Alhambra, CA Nabil & Judy Amarah, Danbury, CT Edwin Amidon, Charlotte, VT Anace Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Robert Ashmore, Mequon, WI Mr. & Mrs. Sultan Aslam, Plainsboro, NJ Zaira Baker, Garland, TX Sami Baraka, Wyandotte, MI Robert E. Barber, Parrish, FL Peter Beck, Accokeek, MD Mohammed & Wendy Bendebba, Baltimore, MD Syed & Rubia Bokhari, Bourbonnais, IL Dr. Andrew Borland, Seattle, WA Kathy Brandt, Laurel, MD Carole Brown, Stamford, CT Lynn & Aletha Carlton, Norwalk, CT Jean K. Cassill, Bellingham, WA William Cavness, Falls Church, VA Ouahib Chalbi, Coon Rapids, MN Patricia Christensen, Poulsbo, WA Robert & Joyce Covey, La Cañada, CA Mrs. Walter Cox, Monroe, GA A.L. Cummings, Owings Mills, MD M.O. Dagstani, Redington Beach, FL Khalid Darwish, San Jose, CA Ray Doherty, Houston, TX David Dunning, Lake Oswego, OR Bernie Eisenberg, Los Angeles, CA
ocToBEr 2016
Kassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TX Mansour El-Kikhia, San Antonio, TX Dr. Mohamed Elsamahi, Marion, IL Hassan Eltaher, Ottawa, Canada Albert E. Fairchild, Bethesda, MD Family Practice & Surgery LLC, Eatonton, GA Yusif Farsakh, Arlington, VA Franciscan Monastery of The Holy Land, Washington, DC Joseph & Angela Gauci, Whittier, CA Michael Gillespie, Maxwell, IA Nabil Haddad, North Wales, PA Halal Transactions, Omaha, NE Dixiane Hallaj, Purcellville, VA Delinda C. Hanley, Kensington, MD*,*** Susan Haragely, Livonia, MI Walid Harb, Dearborn Heights, MI Robert & Helen Harold, West Salem, WI Brice Harris, Pasadena, CA Angelica Harter, N. Branford, CT Steven Harvey, Manchester, NH Sameer Hassan, Quaker Hill, CT Mr. & Mrs. John Hendrickson, Albuquerque, NM George High, Woodbridge, VA Jonathan Hill, Northfield, MN Emmett Holman, Fairfax, VA Dr. Marwan Hujeij, Cincinnati, OH William C. Hunt, Somerset, WI Zafer & Juhayna Husseini, Dallas, TX Ejaz Hyder, Somerset, NJ George Jabbour, Sterling Hts., MI Rafeeq Jaber, Palos Hills, IL Bilquis Jaweed, West Chester, OH Anthony Jones, Jasper, Canada Mohamad Kamal, North York, Canada Charles Kennedy, Newbury, NH Akbar Khan, Princeton, NJ M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI M. Yousuf Khan, Scottsdale, AZ Fouad Khatib, San Jose, CA Dr. Mohayya Khilfeh, Chicago, IL Eugene Khorey, West Mifflin, PA Tony & Anne Khoury, Sedona, AZ Paul N. Kirk, Baton Rouge, LA Mr. & Mrs. Khalil Kishawi, Chicago, IL Loretta Krause, Little Egg Harbor Twp., NJ Ronald Kunde, Skokie, IL Matt Labadie, Portland, OR Sandra La Framboise, Oakland, CA
Darryl Landis, Winston-Salem, NC John Lankenau, Tivoli, NY William Lawand, Mount Royal, Canada Marilyn Sutton Loos, Haverford, PA J. Robert Lunney, Bronxville, NY Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Allen J. MacDonald, Washington, DC Donald MacLay, Springfield, PA Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA Ramy & Cynthia Mahmoud, Skillman, NJ Gabriel Makhlouf, Richmond, VA Dr. Asad Malik, Bloomfield Hills, MI Tahera Mamdani, Fridley, MN Bill & Jean Mansour, Corvallis, OR Ted Marczak, Toms River, NJ Joseph A. Mark, Carmel, CA Amal Marks, Altadena, CA Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA Carol Mazzia, Santa Rosa, CA Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ Shirl McArthur, Reston, VA William McAuley, Chicago, IL Gwendolyn McEwen, Bellingham, WA Gerald & Judith Merrill, Oakland, CA Tom Mickelson, Neshkoro, WI Lynn Miller, Amherst, MA Yehia Mishriki, Emmaus, PA John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Mr. & Mrs. Jan Moreb, Gainesville, FL Joseph Najemy, Worcester, MA Sara Najjar-Wilson, Reston, VA Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Doris Norrito, Largo, FL Kamal Obeid, Fremont, CA Nancy Orr, Portland, OR Dr. Bashar Pharoan, Timonium, MD Bill & Kay Plitt, Arlington, VA Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Philip Portlock, Washington, DC Barry Preisler, Albany, CA Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ Bassam Rammaha, Corona, CA Marjorie Ransom, Washington, DC**** Oostur Raza, Gilroy, CA Edward Reilly, Rocky Point, NY Paul Richards, Salem, OR Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Rose Foundations/Makdisi-Wheeler Fund, Berkeley, CA Ambassador Chris Ross, Washington, DC
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Brynhild Rowberg, Northfield, MN Edward & Alice Saad, Cheshire, CT Bryan Saario, Edmonds, WA Mohammed Sabbagh, Grand Blanc, MI Denis Sabourin, Ste-Adele, Canada Antone L. Sacker, Houston, TX Dr. Ahmed M. Sakkal, Charleston, WV Betty Sams, Washington, DC Babak Sani, Berkeley, CA Irmgard Scherer, Fairfax, VA Lisa Schiltz, Barbar, Bahrain Henry Schubert, Damascus, OR Tariq Shah, Mississauga, Canada Rifqa Shahin, Apple Valley, CA Richard Shaker, Annapolis, MD Thomas Shaker, Poughkeepsie, NY Aziz Shalaby, Vancouver, WA Lewis Shapiro, White Plains, NY Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Zac Sidawi, Costa Mesa, CA Teofilo Siman, Miami, FL Donald & Gretel Smith, Garrett, IN David J. Snider, Bolton, MA Yasser Soliman, Hamilton Township, NJ William R. Stanley, Lexington, SC Peter & Joyce Starks, Greensboro, NC Abdalla Suleiman, Denver, CO Mushtaq Syed, Santa Clara, CA Ghada Talhmi, Evanston, IL Doris Taweel, Laurel, MD Charles Thomas, La Conner, WA Robert Thomas, Fredericksburg, VA Michael Tomlin, New York, NY Charles & Letitia Ufford, Hanover, NH Voices for Justice in Palestine, Walnut Creek, CA Tom Veblen, Washington, DC V.R. Vitolins, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Robin & Nancy Wainwright, Severna Park, MD Sally Wallace, Waverly, VA Hermann Weinlick, Minneapolis, MN Thomas C. Welch, Cambridge, MA Jeannie K. Williams, Minneapolis, MN Raymond Younes, Oxnard, CA Bernice Youtz, Tacoma, WA John Zacharia, Vienna, VA Mohammed Ziaullah, Montclair, CA Elia K. Zughaib, Alexandria, VA
ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more)
Robert Akras, North Bay Village, FL Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NY Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Dr. & Mrs. Roger Bagshaw, Big Sur, CA Joe Chamy, Colleyville, TX Duncan Clark, Rockville, MD Joseph Daruty, Newport Beach, CA Gregory De Sylva, Rhinebeck, NY Mustafa Elayan, Decatur, AL 74
Majed Faruki, Albuquerque, NM Dr. Jamil Fayez, Oakton, VA Elisabeth Fitzhugh, Mitchellville, MD Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO Malcolm Fleming, Bloomington, IN William Fuller, Valdosta, GA Ray Gordon, Bel Air, MD Erin K. Hankir, Nepean, Canada Masood Hassan, Calabasas, CA Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Ms. Nazik Kazimi, Newton, MA Kendall Landis, Wallingford, PA Barbara LeClerq, Overland Park, KS Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA Ms. Jean Mayer, Bethesda, MD Dr. Charles W. McCutchen, Bethesda, MD Stanley McGinley, The Woodlands, TX Charles Murphy, Upper Falls, MD William & Nancy Nadeau, San Diego, CA Mary Norton, Austin, TX Amb. Edward & Ann Peck, Chevy Chase, MD Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Sean P. Roach, Washington, DC Noel Sanborn & Virginia Lee, Palo Alto, CA Abid Shah, Sarasota, FL Dr. Ajazuddin Shaikh, Granger, IN John Stanford, Santa Fe, NM Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Michel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI Eddy Tamura, Moraga, CA John & Dariel Van Wagoner, McLane, VA James Wall, Elmhurst, IL Mahmoud Zawawi, Amman, Jordan
TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more)
Michael Ameri, Calabasas, CA Anace Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Lois Aroian, East Jordan, MI Dr. & Mrs. Issa J. Boullata, Montreal, Canada Mr. & Mrs. John Crawford, Boulder, CO Lois Critchfield, Williamsburg, VA Krista and Andrew Curtiss, Herndon, VA**, *** Richard Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL Edouard C. Emmet, Paris, France Dr. Jamil Fayez, Oakton, VA Claire Bradley Feder, Atherton, CA Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO Joseph & Angela Gauci, Whittier, CA Wasif Hafeez, W. Bloomfield, MI Sam Holland, North Eastham, MA Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Tony Litwinko, Los Angeles, CA Georgianna McGuire, Silver Spring, MD Henry Norr, Berkeley, CA Mary & Daniel Norton, Austin, TX Mary H. Regier, El Cerrito, CA
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Henry Schubert, Damascus, OR Mr. & Mrs. Yasir Shallal, McLean, VA Dr. William Strange, Bandera, TX Texas Cardiac Center, Lubbock, TX Lorie & Wilbur Wood, Vancouver, WA
BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more)
Anonymous, Washington, DC Zainab Abbas, London, UK Paula Allen, Naples, FL Asha A. Anand, Bethesda, MD Karen Ray Bossmeyer, Louisville, KY G. Edward, Jr. & Ruth Brooking, Wilmington, DE Rev. Ronald Chochol, St. Louis, MO Forrest Cioppa, Moraga, CA Tom D'Albani & Dr. Jane Killgore, Bemidji, MN Linda Emmet, Paris, France Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris West Linn, OR** Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA John Gareeb, Atlanta, GA Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD R. Jacob Hikmat, Columbia, MD Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Judith Howard, Norwood, MA Mary Ann Hrankowski, Rochester, NY† Muhammad Khan & Fatimunnisa Begum, Jersey City, NJ William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA Dr. and Mrs. George Longstreth, San Diego, CA Jack Love, San Diego, CA John Mahoney, AMEU, New York, NY Audrey Olson, Saint Paul, MN M.F. Shoukfeh, Lubbock, TX Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD
CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more)
Patricia Ann Abraham, Charleston, SC Henry Clifford, Essex, CT Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MD*, ** Estate of Rafeek Farah, Trenton, MI John & Henrietta Goelet, New York, NY Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC Vincent & Louise Larsen, Louvin Foundation, Billings, MT Ahmad Salhut, Englewood Cliffs, NJ *In Memory of Ambassador Clovis Maksoud **In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss ***In Memory of Joe Lill ****In Memory of David Ransom †In Memory of the USS Liberty
OCTOBER 2016
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American Educational Trust Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009
October 2016 Vol. XXXV, No. 6
Kashmiri women and girls shout anti-India and pro-freedom slogans at an Aug. 10 protest against a police officer who shot and killed a teenager, allegedly inside his home compound. Much of Indian-administered Kashmir has been under a curfew since protests broke out over the death on July 8 of a popular young rebel leader in a gunfight with security forces. See story p. OV-8. TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images