Needless to say, I find this analysis absurd. “Good” and “evil” are terms for the synagogue and for discussions of religious faith. <\/p>\n
Aside from such faith, the world consists of different forms of life struggling to survive. Declarations of “good” and “evil” are declarations of faith.<\/p>\n
Israel has always had a narrow band of options for survival. If Israel was 25% more moral, it would be dead as a Jewish state. <\/p>\n
Survival usually depends upon putting the interests of your own group first. <\/p>\n
From Haaretz<\/a>:<\/p>\n Israel may not be Nazi, nor even a fascist state. Yet it is a member of the same terrible family, the family of evil states. Just consider these acts of evil perpetrated by the state…<\/p>\n After we\u2019ve cited nationalism and racism, hatred and contempt for Arab life, the security cult and resistance to the occupation, victimhood and messianism, one more element must be added without which the behavior of the Israeli occupation regime cannot be explained: Evil. Pure evil. Sadistic evil. Evil for its own sake. Sometimes, it\u2019s the only explanation. Needless to say, I find this analysis absurd. “Good” and “evil” are terms for the synagogue and for discussions of religious faith. Aside from such faith, the world consists of different forms of life struggling to survive. Declarations of “good” … Continue reading
\nEva Illouz described its signs (\u201cEvil now,\u201d Haaretz Hebrew edition, July 30). Her essay, which challenges the idea of the banality of evil, considers the national group as the source of the evil. Using philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein\u2019s concept, she finds a \u201cfamily resemblance\u201d between the Israeli occupation and history\u2019s evil regimes. This similarity does not mean that Israel is Nazi, nor even fascist. And yet it is a member of the same terrible family, the family of evil states. It\u2019s a depressing and brilliant analysis.
\nThe evil that Illouz attributes to Israel is not banal, it cannot happen anywhere, and it has political and social roots that are deeply embedded in Israeli society. Thus, Illouz joins Zeev Sternhell, who warned in his impressive and resounding essay about the cultural soil out of which fascism is now growing in Israel (\u201cThe birth of fascism,\u201d Haaretz Hebrew edition, July 7).
\nBut alongside these analyses, we must also present a brief history of evil. We must present the instances that combine to create a great and horrific picture, a picture of Israeli evil in the territories, so as to stand up to those who deny the evil. It is not the case of the individual \u2013 Sgt. Elor Azaria, for example, who is being tried for the death of a subdued Palestinian assailant in Hebron \u2013 but the conduct of the establishment and the occupation regime that proves the evil. In fact, the continuation of the occupation proves the evil. Illouz, Sternhell and others provide debatable analyses on its origins, but whatever they are, it can no longer be denied.
\nOne case is like a thousand witnesses: the case of Bilal Kayed. A young man who completed a prison term of 14.5 years \u2013 his entire sentence \u2013 without a single furlough, without being allowed to at least say goodbye by phone to his dying father; a clear sign of evil.
\nAbout six weeks ago, Kayed was getting ready for his release. A representative of the Shin Bet security service \u2013 one of the greatest agencies of evil in Israel \u2013 even showed him a photograph of the home his family had built for him to stir him up even more ahead of his release. And then, as his family waited impatiently for him at the crossing point and Kayed grew ever more excited in his cell, he was informed that he was being thrown into administrative detention for at least another six months, without trial and without explanation.
\nSince then, he has been on hunger strike. He is cuffed to his bed. His family is not allowed to see him. Prison guards never leave his room and the lights are not turned out for a moment. Evil.
\nOnly evil can explain the state\u2019s conduct toward Kayed \u2013 only an evil state acts this way. The arbitrary announcement, at the last moment, of a senseless detention is abuse, and the way he has been treated since then is also abuse.
\nOnly evil can explain the detention last week of another young man, Hiran Jaradat, whose brother Arif (who had Down syndrome) was killed in June and whose father died two days ago. He is under arrest for \u201cincitement on Facebook\u201d and was not released to attend his father\u2019s funeral. Evil.
\nThe continuation of the detention of poet Darin Tatur \u2013 evil. The destruction of the tiny swimming pool that the residents of Khirbet Tana in the northern West Bank had built for themselves \u2013 evil. The confiscation of water tanks from a community of shepherds in the Jordan Valley in the July heat \u2013 evil. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"