(Community Matters) completely cut & pasted:
11/1/2010: Why Israel is a Rogue State, Gabriel Latner
The Cambridge Union Society held a debate on the motion that “Israel is a
rogue state” on October 21st. The Balfour Street blog describes what happened:
In the end, the proposition was defeated, but the event didn’t proceed
without an unusual twist. It seems one of the members of the side in favor
of the proposition, a student who was apparently selected at random (or
not at random), decided to argue the point from a decidedly pro-Israel
perspective.
The debater, Gabriel Latner, gave a copy of his speech to Mondoweiss with
the request that it not be edited. I am reproducing it here, only by adding
paragraph spacing and slight grammatical corrections where it seemed
appropriate. The square bracket comments were his written afterwards.
This is a war of ideals, and the other speakers here tonight are rightfully,
idealists. I’m not. I’m a realist. I’m here to win. I have a single goal this
evening – to have at least a plurality of you walk out of the ‘Aye’ door. I face
a singular challenge – most, if not all, of you have already made up your
minds.
This issue is too polarizing for the vast majority of you not to already have a
set opinion. I’d be willing to bet that half of you strongly support the
motion, and half of you strongly oppose it. I want to win, and we’re destined
for a tie. I’m tempted to do what my fellow speakers are going to do –
simply rehash every bad thing the Israeli government has ever done in an
attempt to satisfy those of you who agree with them. And perhaps they’ll
even guilt one of you rare undecided into voting for the proposition, or
more accurately, against Israel. It would be so easy to twist the meaning
and significance of international ‘laws’ to make Israel look like a criminal
state. But that’s been done to death. It would be easier still to play to your
sympathy, with personalised stories of Palestinian suffering. And they can
give very eloquent speeches on those issues. But the truth is, that treating
people badly, whether they’re your citizens or an occupied nation, does not
make a state’ rogue’. If it did, Canada, the US, and Australia would all be
rogue states based on how they treat their indigenous populations. Britain’s
treatment of the Irish would easily qualify them to wear this sobriquet.
These arguments, while emotionally satisfying, lack intellectual rigour.
More importantly, I just don’t think we can win with those arguments. It
won’t change the numbers. Half of you will agree with them, half of you
won’t. So I’m going to try something different, something a little
unorthodox. I’m going to try and convince the die-hard Zionists and Israel
supporters here tonight, to vote for the proposition. By the end of my
speech – I will have presented 5 pro-Israel arguments that show Israel is, if
not a ‘rogue state’ than at least ‘rogueish’.
Let me be clear. I will not be arguing that Israel is ‘bad’. I will not be arguing
that it doesn’t deserve to exist. I won’t be arguing that it behaves worse than
every other country. I will only be arguing that Israel is ‘rogue’.
The word ‘rogue’ has come to have exceptionally damning connotations.
But the word itself is value-neutral. The OED defines rogue as ‘Aberrant,
anomalous; misplaced, occurring (esp. in isolation) at an unexpected place
or time ‘, while a dictionary from a far greater institution gives this
definition ‘behaving in ways that are not expected or not normal, often in a
destructive way ‘. These definitions, and others, centre on the idea of
anomaly – the unexpected or uncommon. Using this definition, a rogue
state is one that acts in an unexpected, uncommon or aberrant manner. A
state that behaves exactly like Israel.
The first argument is statistical. The fact that Israel is a Jewish state alone
makes it anomalous enough to be dubbed a rogue state: There are 195
countries in the world. Some are Christian, some Muslim, some are secular.
Israel is the only country in the world that is Jewish. Or, to speak mathmo
for a moment, the chance of any randomly chosen state being Jewish is
0.0051% . In comparison the chance of a UK lotto ticket winning at least £10
is 0.017% – more than twice as likely. Israel’s Jewishness is a statistical
abberation.
The second argument concerns Israel’s humanitarianism, in
particular,Israel’s response to a refugee crisis. Not the Palestinian refugee
crisis – for I am sure that the other speakers will cover that – but the issue
of Darfurian refugees. Everyone knows that what happened, and is still
happening in Darfur, is genocide, whether or not the UN and the Arab
League will call it such. [I actually hoped that Mr Massih would be able
speak about this – he’s actually somewhat of an expert on the Crisis in
Darfur, in fact it’s his expertise that has called him away to represent the
former Dictator of Sudan while he is being investigated by the ICC.] There
has been a mass exodus from Darfur as the oppressed seek safety. They
have not had much luck. Many have gone north to Egypt – where they are
treated despicably. The brave make a run through the desert in a bid to
make it to Israel. Not only do they face the natural threats of the Sinai, they
are also used for target practice by the Egyptian soldiers patrolling the
border. Why would they take the risk? Because in Israel they are treated
with compassion – they are treated as the refugees that they are – and
perhaps Israel’s cultural memory of genocide is to blame. The Israeli
government has even gone so far as to grant several hundred Darfurian
refugees Citizenship. This alone sets Israel apart from the rest of the world.
But the real point of distinction is this: The IDF sends out soldiers and
medics to patrol the Egyptian border. They are sent looking for refugees
attempting to cross into Israel. Not to send them back into Egypt, but to
save them from dehydration, heat exhaustion, and Egyptian bullets.
Compare that to the US’s reaction to illegal immigration across their border
with Mexico. The American government has arrested private individuals for
giving water to border crossers who were dying of thirst – and here the
Israeli government is sending out its soldiers to save illegal immigrants. To
call that sort of behavior anomalous is an understatement.
My Third argument is that the Israeli government engages in an activity
which the rest of the world shuns — it negotiates with terrorists. Forget the
late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, a man who died with blood all over his
hands – they’re in the process of negotiating with terrorists as we speak.
Yasser Abed Rabbo is one of the lead PLO negotiators that has been sent to
the peace talks with Israel. Abed Rabbo also used to be a leader of the PFLPan
organisation of ‘freedom fighters’ that, under Abed Rabbo’s leadership,
engaged in such freedom promoting activities as killing 22 Israeli high
school students. And the Israeli government is sending delegates to sit at a
table with this man, and talk about peace. And the world applauds. You
would never see the Spanish government in peace talks with the leaders of
the ETA – the British government would never negotiate with Thomas
Murphy. And if President Obama were to sit down and talk about peace
with Osama Bin Laden, the world would view this as insanity. But Israel can
do the exact same thing – and earn international praise in the process. That
is the dictionary definition of rogue – behaving in a way that is unexpected,
or not normal.
Another part of dictionary definition is behaviour or activity ‘occuring at an
unexpected place or time’. When you compare Israel to its regional
neighbours, it becomes clear just how roguish Israel is. And here is the
fourth argument: Israel has a better human rights record than any of its
neighbours. At no point in history, has there ever been a liberal democratic
state in the Middle East- except for Israel. Of all the countries in the Middle
East, Israel is the only one where the LGBT community enjoys even a small
measure of equality. In Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and Syria,
homosexual conduct is punishable by flogging, imprisonment, or both. But
homosexuals there get off pretty lightly compared to their counterparts in
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, who are put to death. Israeli homosexuals
can adopt, openly serve in the army, enter civil unions, and are protected by
exceptionally strongly worded ant-discrimination legislation. Beats a death
sentence. In fact, it beats America.
Israel’s protection of its citizens’ civil liberties has earned international
recognition. Freedom House is an NGO that releases an annual report on
democracy and civil liberties in each of the 195 countries in the world. It
ranks each country as ‘Free’ ‘Partly Free’ or ‘Not Free’. In the Middle East,
Israel is the only country that has earned designation as a ‘free’ country.
Not surprising given the level of freedom afforded to citizens in say,
Lebanon- a country designated ‘partly free’, where there are laws against
reporters criticizing not only the Lebanese government, but the Syrian
regime as well. [I’m hoping Ms Booth will speak about this, given her
experience working as a ‘journalist’ for Iran,] Iran is a country given the
rating of ‘not free’, putting it alongside China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and
Myanmar. In Iran, [as Ms Booth I hoped would have said in her speech],
there is a special ‘Press Court’ which prosecutes journalists for such
heinous offences as criticizing the ayatollah, reporting on stories damaging
the ‘foundations of the Islamic republic’ , using ‘suspicious (i.e. western)
sources’, or insulting islam. Iran is the world leader in terms of jailed
journalists, with 39 reporters (that we know of) in prison as of 2009. They
also kicked out almost every Western journalist during the 2009 election. [I
don’t know if Ms Booth was affected by that] I guess we can’t really expect
more from a theocracy. Which is what most countries in the Middle East
are. Theocracies and Autocracies. But Israel is the sole, the only, the rogue,
democracy. Out of every country in the Middle East, only in Israel do antigovernment protests and reporting go unquashed and uncensored.
I have one final argument – the last nail in the opposition’s coffin- and its
sitting right across the aisle. Mr Ran Gidor’s presence here is the all
evidence any of us should need to confidently call Israel a rogue state. For
those of you who have never heard of him, Mr Gidor is a political counsellor
attached to Israel’s embassy in London. He’s the guy the Israeli government
sent to represent them to the UN. He knows what he’s doing. And he’s here
tonight. And it’s incredible. Consider, for a moment, what his presence here
means. The Israeli government has signed off,to allow one of their senior
diplomatic representatives to participate in a debate on their very
legitimacy. That’s remarkable. Do you think for a minute, that any other
country would do the same? If the Yale University Debating Society were to
have a debate where the motion was ‘This house believes Britain is a racist,
totalitarian state that has done irrevocable harm to the peoples of the
world’, that Britain would allow any of its officials to participate? No.
Would China participate in a debate about the status of Taiwan? Never. And
there is no chance in hell that an American government official would ever
be permitted to argue in a debate concerning its treatment of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay. But Israel has sent Mr Ran Gidor to argue tonight against
[a ‘journalist’ come reality TV star, and myself,] a 19 year old law student
who is entirely unqualified to speak on the issue at hand.
Every government in the world should be laughing at Israel right nowbecause
it forgot rule number one. You never add credence to crackpots by
engaging with them. It’s the same reason you won’t see Stephen Hawking or
Richard Dawkins debate David Icke. But Israel is doing precisely that. Once
again, behaving in a way that is unexpected, or not normal. Behaving like a
rogue state.
That’s five arguments that have been directed at the supporters of Israel.
But I have a minute or two left. And here’s an argument for all of you –
Israel willfully and forcefully disregards international law. In 1981 Israel
destroyed OSIRAK – Sadam Hussein’s nuclear bomb lab. Every government
in the world knew that Hussein was building a bomb. And they did nothing.
Except for Israel. Yes, in doing so they broke international law and custom.
But they also saved us all from a nuclear Iraq. That rogue action should
earn Israel a place of respect in the eyes of all freedom loving peoples. But it
hasn’t. But tonight, while you listen to us prattle on, I want you to
remember something; while you’re here, Khomeini’s Iran is working
towards the Bomb. And if you’re honest with yourself, you know that Israel
is the only country that can, and will, do something about it. Israel will, out
of necessity act in a way that is the not the norm, and you’d better hope that
they do it in a destructive manner. Any sane person would rather a rogue
Israel than a Nuclear Iran. [Except Ms Booth]
Hat Tip: Kirk Rudy
Community Matters 