The rulings were that the slogan “No Arabs, no Terror Attacks” is “incitement to racism”, and that the case against Arab MK Taleb a-Sana should be closed. A-Sana had said, in an interview on Abu Dhabi television, that he understands Palestinians carrying out attacks in Tel Aviv if Israelis do so in Nablus.
Of course, A-Sana’s comments, in addition to being incitement to violence and racism on their own, also grant legitimacy loud and clear to the slogan listed above. For if Palestinians carry out attacks against Israel, then it would logically follow that if the Palestinians weren’t here, the attacks would cease as well. It is those very attacks that A-Sana supports that cause the IDF to enter cities like Shchem and Ramallah and carry out protective measures against the terrorist hotbeds these Palestinian-run cities have become. A-Sana inverts the logic nicely, though, claiming that the terrorism is justified since the reprisals take place as well.
These two rulings come after Rubinstein also closed criminal investigations against fifth column MKs Ahmed Tibi, Hashem Mahameed, and Mohammed Barakeh for other statements and activities in support of the PA’s terrorist activities.
The sum total of these rulings is that Rubinstein clearly believes that vocally supporting Arab terrorism against Jews in Israel is legally allowed, while Jews voicing their own opinions on the matter is not. What is, perhaps, even more disturbing, is that Rubinstein applied a blatant double standard in making these rulings.
The law is very clear about supporting terrorism. The relevant ordinance has been on the books since 1940, and provides prison terms of between three and twenty years depending on the type of support given. Even vocal support is liable to a three-year prison term.
For elected members of Knesset, part of the 120-person clique that rules this country, to voice support for enemies of Israel in their unceasing terror attacks against the very citizens who put them in power is simply unconscionable, regardless of the law. These people should be removed from power at the first opportunity and ostracized from the society they purport to represent. While the agenda that Ahmed Tibi brought to the Knesset as a “former” advisor to Yasser Arafat was never any secret, the fact that he and the others have been allowed to voice their undying support for murdering Israelis is a crime that no society based on the rule of law should allow.
The law regarding incitement is not so clear, and is thus quite problematic. It is generally used by the leftist elite in Israel to prevent anyone else from voicing an opposing opinion, particularly when that opinion is in danger of attracting a large number of proponents and seriously harming the leftist elite’s program for liquidating Israel. Rubinstein’s ruling on the slogan is a prime example of how it is used.
The reality is that the slogan is correct, if a bit simplistic. But due to its simplicity, it has attracted a great following. The reality also is that not one single attack by Jew on Arab has resulted from the slogan. Not one single effort has been made, as a result of the slogan, to transfer Arabs out of Israel, to restrict their movements in Israel, or to impose any form of oppressive measures against them anywhere in the country.
But with no empirical proof behind him, no indicative or suggestive tips to cause him concern, and no giant wave of anger directed against Arab life or property by civilians in Israel as a result of the apparently offending slogan, Elyakim Rubinstein has seen fit to once again use the incitement claim to bludgeon Jewish patriots in Israel who are only voicing their legitimate opinions on the current security situation. At the same time, he allows Arab members of Knesset who are clearly and proudly guilty of both incitement and supporting terrorism against Jews in Israel, to walk off free to incite for another day.
The only thing left to assume, then, is that Rubinstein is sufficiently a member of the leftist elite in Israel that he himself can be considered an element of the fifth column. Such rulings as these, coming together as they did last Thursday, show quite plainly that judicial considerations were not the motivating factors, but that something more sinister is at work. Politics and plain old anti-Semitism (or should I say pro-Palestinianism – these days they are generally one and the same) are again allowed free reign in Israel while championing the Jewish cause, the Jewish right to the Jewish homeland, is branded a criminal act.
The government must take notice of this trend. Elyakim Rubinstein long ago forfeited his legitimacy as Attorney General when he refused to represent the Netanyahu government in the lawsuits that resulted from the vote to legalize the Arutz-7 radio station. That he should now so clearly come out in support of Israel’s enemies (even those in the Knesset) and against the right of Jews to express themselves and defend themselves in their own Homeland, indicates that he should be fired forthwith. The Israeli government need not pay the salary of the Palestinian Authority’s Attorney General.
For the time being, if there remain any people who wish to express their feelings that “No Arabs means No Terror Attacks”, let freedom ring from the hilltops. Elyakim Rubinstein’s opinions on the expression of our freedoms should not scare us away from the legitimate freedom to express our opinions.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
