Open Letter to Josep Borrell and to the Governments of the E.U countries :
High Time to Punish the Treacherous Israelis !!!
I think it is high time to amend the Criminal Code of Israel to create new offences under the headings of “treachery”; “disloyalty”; ”betrayal:, and /or breach of allegiance to the State. The need arises in order to prosecute prosecute Israelis who engage in behaviour that matches these terms and hopefully deter others who may be inclined to follow suit.
During last week, 20 former members of the Knesset and seven former Israeli diplomats, who describe themselves as supporters of peace sent a letter to the Commission of the Democratic Party of the U.S., charged with the drafting of the election platform of the party in the forthcoming presidential elections.
The signatories wrote: “We turn to our friends in the Democratic Party and we ask you to insure that your platform explicitly rejects the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, the Trump Plan as well as the annexation of any part of the occupied territories;” and “We call upon you to express your support for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state next to Israel with Jerusalem as their respective shared capitals, in which our two peoples will live in peace and security.”
(Translated by the writer from a news report in French)
“Occupied” territories ? Occupation of “Palestinians by Israelis ?” Palestinians and Israelis living in “peace and security ?”
To think that seven of these folks were at one time tasked to represent, defend and advance Israel’s foreign policy and policy objectives, makes me wonder about the selection criteria used to appoint them to the country’s foreign service and then to assign many of them to ambassadorial positions.
How can these folks be so ignorant of international law and so blind to the facts on the ground concerning the way the P.A. thinks and has acted since 1993, not to mention Hamas?
It is one thing to write or say these things in Israel, under the protection of freedom of speech. It is quite something else to make representations to the platform Commission of a foreign political party with respect to the foreign policy they propose to adopt concerning Israel.
To make matters worse,
First, Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate has never been known as Israel’s friend. For example, who can forget the ugly scene he made in the days when he chaired the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee by the vulgar way in which he treated and threatened Prime Minister Menachem Begin appearing before the Committee?
The Democratic Party nowadays provides a political outlet for rabid antisemites, anti-Israelis and the so-called “liberal” and “progressive” Jews, not to mention the self-hating ones.
Second, the 27 sent their letter to the Commission after it was self-evident that the Commission would incorporate what I consider to be some unfriendly planks concerning Israel.
Third, in the event Biden gets elected, with former President Obama, aided and abetted by Susan Rice, pulling the foreign policy strings of a President who is not always all there, the policy concerning Israel is likely to make way for new Obamaesque anti-Israeli maneuvers such as his failure to veto a Security Council Resolution hostile to Israel in the dying days of his administration and his plan to do another dirty deed which was thwarted by President Putin.
Israel has always been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future in a tough spot.
Needless to say, Israel does not expect anything positive from the P.A. which prefers the current status quo, while praying for the day it hopes Israel will be overwhelmed and destroyed by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the other Gaza terrorist group, acting together so it can fulfill its aim to establish a free Palestine from “the river to the coast”.
Israel is also being treated as the Jew of nations by the Foreign Secretary of the European Union and about 15 of its member states; in the United Nations, its General Assembly as well as by its various emanations.
In the circumstances, I consider the behaviour of the 27 to be more than merely odious.
I verily believe that no self -respecting country and its government continuously negotiating through the rough and hostile waters of international politics ought to be burdened by or tolerate its own, citizen groups and organisations, to speak to or to communicate directly with foreign political bodies to criticise, bad- mouth their own country’s foreign (or for that matter domestic) policies and/or to request that they adopt policies that are hostile or inimical to the best interests of Israel as determined by its democratically elected Knesset and by its government.
My submission equally applies to any other Israeli citizen, Israeli groups and organisations, including ones representing academics, who engage abroad or through direct communication with foreign political bodies in this or other kinds of behaviour which are treacherous , disloyal, amounts to the betrayal and/or breach of allegiance to the State and to its people.
The rights and freedoms enjoyed by Israelis or for that matter by the inhabitants of any other democratic country are not absolute. Enough is enough.
I submit that it is high time that this be reflected in the Criminal Code of Israel.
AUG 5, 2020, 10:40 PM
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
This letter addresses the objective and related policies and behavioural patterns of the European Union and of a number of its member states to secure a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the two-state solution.
This solution has been around for 83 years; having been first proposed by the United Kingdom’s Peel Commission in 1937 and then again ten years later in 1947 by the partition Plan devised by the United Nations. In both instances, the Arabs rejected the proposals.
Instead, a number of Arab nations they declared war in 1948, again in 1967 and yet again in 1973 to destroy Israel. This goal is still the order of the day in the south, for Hamas and other terrorist organisations operating out of Gaza; in the north for the Hezbollah and to the east in the terrorist state of Iran.
The European Union and a number of its member countries continue to advocate the two-state solution as the only one that can resolve the Palestinian –Israeli conflict.
In 1993, after nearly a half-century of Arab hostility against Israel (save for Egypt after 1977), the late Prime Minister Rabin of Israel and his government decided to take a leap of faith on the possibility of working progressively towards a two-state solution and initiated the process that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords with the PLO, which in turn established the Palestinian Authority.
Given the spirit and intent of this initiative and its potential adverse implications, Jordan followed Egypt’s example and made peace with Israel in 1994.
I think you will agree with me that the Oslo Accords turned out to be a major and very bloody disappointment for Israel as the Palestinian Authority engaged in intifadas, and continued to terrorise, injure and kill a substantial number of innocent Israeli civilians and tourists whenever and wherever they had, have or could create the opportunity to do so.
Since the War of 1967, some of your countries became hostile to Israel and shifted their political sympathies to the Palestinian people while some others followed suit in a less partisan manner. And after its establishment of the E.U. through its successive Chiefs of Foreign Affairs focused on badgering Israel and assumed to have the authority to dictate to the successive governments of Israel the manner in which it was to conduct its foreign policy vis-a vis the P.A.
In the process the E.U and a number of your countries in clear violation of the well-established international law governing the territorial rights of Israel, confectioned a Palestinian territory over which the Palestinians and the P.A. never had, let alone exercised, historical sovereign rights.
And based on an altogether phony international law invented for the occasion, you began to harass Israel about her so-called unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory and her mostly fictitious alleged breaches of the civil and human rights of the Palestinians by reference to “international law” that is irrelevant to the facts at hand.
Yet, despite all your fervent advocacy and parti-pris in favour of the P.A. for nearly three decades, to date, the E.U or any one or group of your countries utterly failed to convince the P.A. of the alleged virtues of the two-state plan, let alone bring it to the negotiation table despite the major Israeli initiative of 1993 and the two concrete peace
The fact of the matter is that, while you view the two-state solution as the only viable solution, it is incontrovertibly clear by now that the Arab political leadership followed by the PLO and its creation the P.A, all aimed and continue to aim to secure a judenrein Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the sea.
And to make matters worse, you have not only consistently ignored this long and well-established objective; you also collectively shut your eyes to the criminal mischief and misfeasance of the Palestinian Authority against Israel and the Israelis.
And worse still, you have done nothing about Hamas or the other the terrorist groups in Gaza, Hezbollah and the terrorist state of Iran while claiming that in all of this, Israel’s security is of paramount importance to you while knowing full well that, let alone Iran, so long as Israel is surrounded by well financed terrorist organizations, the two-state solution remains an irrational pipe-dream.
And in pursuit of this 83 year old hopeless two-state solution, you provided and continue to provide the Palestinian Authority with generous financial knowing full well that some of it financed the pay for slay program and other wrongdoings against Israel the net effect of which is to defeat the two state solution.
To put it bluntly, in the wake of the War of 1967 and especially since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the European Union and a number of your states have in effect, by omission or aided and abetted the Palestinian Authority in its evil schemes against Israel.
The question is what motivates you to behave in this irrational fashion year after year for nearly 30 years insist on defeating your formula for peace–making at every opportunity.
In the circumstances, if you still believe in your solution for peace, despite all the adverse evidence generated by the P.A. and Hamas that has been militating against it, I suggest that it is about time to call the Palestinian Authority to task and giving it a reality check on what it must do in order to become a credible partner to a viable peace accord.
More importantly, I think it is high time for you, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to take yourselves to task and to give yourselves a personal and collective reality check as to what you must do in order to help get the Palestinian Authority to the negotiating table in good faith ready to make a reliable and viable peace treaty that will fully satisfy Israel’s security requirements.
- In order to have a credible peace process, the Palestinian Authority must be required to attend to and complete the following tasks prior to entering into peace negotiations with Israel:
The current Palestinian government and its parliament are illicit; and at all events not a democratically elected one. As such any peace treaty it may sign can be subsequently challenged on this ground. Accordingly, the P.A. must hold internationally supervised free elections for President, and Parliament as well as at all existing levels of government by or before the end of 2021. During the interim period, the inhabitants of the P.A. within the currently existing post-1967 boundaries and of Gaza must be afforded the full rights and freedoms to engage in the process of electioneering, including the freedoms of speech, opinion, belief and assembly; and the right to criticise and demonstrate against the current government, its members and the various emanations of the government and the PLO.
Persons leading and those associated with Hamas and other terrorist groups whose goal is to destroy the State of Israel, and in the meantime to terrorise it, must be disqualified from voting and standing for office.
The newly elected P.A. government and Parliament must enact a new constitution that incorporates all the key provisions that sustains and protects a democratic society.
Publicly admit the Palestinian Authority’s failure to honour the late President Arafat’s written admissions, undertakings and assurances to the late Prime Minister Rabin in a letter dated September 9, 1993 which, inter-alia, reads:
“The P.L.O recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security…and commits itself…to a peaceful resolution between the two sides…The P.L.O renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence… the P.L.O affirms that those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist…are now inoperative and no longer valid.”
Issue a solemn declaration, before the UNGA and the UNSC that the Palestinian Authority and its successor state are morally and legally bound by the terms of said letter by making specific reference to said admissions, undertakings, assurances, and representations.
Amend the Palestinian Covenant by removing the articles which deny Israel’s right to exist and those which are fundamentally and in effect hostile to Israel and prejudicial to the peace process.
Abolish the PLO.
De-Nazify all the P.A political parties and factions, the P.A. government and its various emanations;
Forbid any and all formal and informal private institutions, organizations, groups and individuals from engaging in neo-Nazi activities.
Stop financing directly or indirectly any and all neo-Nazi activities.
Publicly admit the existence, object and outcome of the Shoah in a factually accurate manner; publish it as an official statement and distribute it widely through all the educational institutions, libraries, the government and the civil service and public buildings.
Stop naming schools and any other place after terrorists and Arabs who collaborated with the Nazis prior to and during World War II and remove their names from schools and places named after them.
Stop describing terrorists as martyrs.
Discontinue retroactively the “pay for slay” program.
Publicly commit itself
Not to demand the insertion of a clause in the peace treaty that would provide for the re-settlement in Israel of all or most of the refugees, as defined by UNWRA, who choose to do so.
To agree to the insertion of a clause in the treaty that provides for the “mutual end of claims”, i.e. the mutual extinguishment of any and all the outstanding claims the contracting parties had prior to the signing of the treaty as well as for the extinguishment of any and all of the rights and claims the P.A. and the P.L.O. had or may have had prior to the execution of the treaty that are adverse to the State of Israel”.
Before the commencement of the 2022-2023 school year remove and destroy all the school books and educational materials in the schools and in all the programs of UNWRA and of the Palestinian Authority that currently violate the UNESCO Principles of Education for Peace and Tolerance by containing hateful material designed to incite religious radicalisation and intolerance, and indoctrinate Palestinian students with a visceral hatred of Israel and of Jews so as to condition them to grow up to engage in violence against the Jews.
Remove all such books and books of similar nature from the libraries and prohibit the sale or circulation of such books.
Attend to the plight of the refugees under the jurisdiction of UNWRA by supporting their transfer to the UNHCR for resettlement, subject to the number of the original refugees which Israel would be prepared to take under a peace treaty, and limit the jurisdiction of UNWRA to servicing those who fled during the 1948-1949 war from the territory delineated by the 1949 armistice lines and do not wish to be re-settled in a third country.
Publicly repudiate
The legitimacy of all terrorist organisations, including the Palestinian ones who aim to destroy Israel, and
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
- In order to show your good faith to Israel in the peace process, you must:
Acknowledge Israel’s sincere desire to live peacefully with the Palestinian people.
Demand and impose greater transparency and accountability for the financial assistance provided to the P.A. considering the incontrovertible facts that the citizens of P.A. are deprived of or denied, the full benefits of foreign financial assistance due to large scale corruption.
Force the Palestinian politicians and officials who engaged in corrupt financial activities by embezzling large sums, currently estimated to amount to multiple hundreds of millions of dollars, from the foreign financial assistance programs, to disgorge their illicit profits by returning them to the Public Treasury of the P.A for the benefit of the Palestinians.
Stop financing the cost of writing and producing P.A. school books and materials no later than the 2022-2023 school years and in the meantime provide such funding provided the segments that breach the UNESCO Principles of Education for Peace and Tolerance.
Stop voting for or abstaining from voting against motions of the UNGA and in its various emanations that are anti-Israeli and/or antisemitic.
Veto UNSC resolutions prejudicial to Israel until the conclusion of the peace treaty.
Demand the Secretary-General of the U.N. take all necessary steps to cleanse the organization and its various emanations from the stench of both systemic and systematic antisemitism and anti-Israeli pronouncements and hold him accountable for the failure to secure this goal.
Stop financing directly or indirectly NGOs or other programs that are hostile to the peace process, to Israel or to the Palestinians.
I verily believe and submit to you that failure to bring about these changes will make it impossible to resolve the conflict so long as the present conditions and circumstances prevail.
In case you object to the proposed steps as being unduly demanding, my answer is that the demands are realistic and based on the cumulative behavior of the PLO and P.A who over the years chose to follow the rejectionist violent behaviour of the Arab states.
On the other hand, the foregoing steps are very beneficial to the Palestinians living under the authoritarian punitive rule of the Palestinian Authority and to the so- called refugees who are severely oppressed by Hamas, in Lebanon and Syria.
The proposed course of action will
– First, progressively liberate these Palestinians from their economic and political hardships and inability to secure justice, and
– Second, free the refugees from being used as political pawns by affording them the opportunity to seek and secure a fulfilling life through resettlement in another, preferably, wealthy Muslim country.
I invite you to reconsider your approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the light of the foregoing facts because your utter failure to date to make your proposed solution work and provided, you still verily believe in good faith that it is still worth pursuing it.
In the meantime, I invite the heads of the governments of the E.U. member states who adopted to the IHRA definition of antisemitism to ask themselves whether
First, they have been treating Israel as they would treat any other country in similar circumstances?
Second, their handling of the conflict to date feeds and foments antisemitism in their respective countries?
Intellectual honesty and moral integrity will surely require them to answer the first question in the negative and the second question in the affirmative.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doğan Akman was born and schooled in Istanbul, Turkey. Upon his graduation from Lycee St. Michel, he immigrated to Canada with his family. In Canada, he taught university in sociology-criminology and social welfare policy and published articles in criminology journals.
After a stint as a Judge of the Provincial Court (criminal and family divisions) of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, he joined the Federal Department of Justice working first as a Crown prosecutor, and then switching to civil litigation and specialising in aboriginal law.
Since his retirement he has published articles in Sephardic Horizons and e-Sefarad and in an anthology edited by Rifat Bali titled This is My New Homeland and published in Istanbul.
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EXCELLENT PAPER I advise everybody to read it and….
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