The defendant is charged with links to a hostile organization and with providing services, allegedly in October 2007. The incident in question took place in Jordan and involved a third person who implicated Jumaa. The claim is that the defendant met with a certain Hassan Jaja who tried to recruit him to the Hizbullah. Since the defendant’s computer contains a correspondence with Hassan Jaja, lasting until 2009, he is charged with links to the organization.
Given that Machsom Watch was transcribing oral arguments and may’ve written the name ‘Jaja’ as the transcriber heard it, Disk Missing thinks it’s very likely that this could be the same Hassan Jaja whom the security services have dusted off as a “Hezbollah agent” in an attempt to implicate Makhoul and Said. Well, well, well. All I can say if this is true is that it proves even more convincingly that the Shin Bet has nothing on the current victims. And it all gets so old, so fast. The agency recycles the same ploys, the same charges, the same scenarios over and over again never achieving the effect they desire of criminalizing Palestinian nationalism and breaking the movement.
Hassan Jaja founded a Jordanian NGO whose mission is to repair environmental damage from Israel’s invasions of Lebanon and Gaza. According to a political statement he signed sponsored by the Lebanese civil society movement, he supports non-interference in the affairs of Lebanon, where he now lives. Doesn’t sound like a position supported by Hezbollah, which is heavily supported by Syria. Rechavia Berman has done further online research and discovers some of Jaja’s other interests are gardening, food independence, and Arab traditional medicine. For God’s sake, the guy likes growing food and collecting herbs. All I can say to the S.B. is: is that all you’ve got??
I note that Juma’a was released from detention after several weeks under arrest. No charges were ever filed. What do you think the odds will be of a similar outcome in this case?
Another interesting piece of evidence in the Machsom Watch report is that the S.B. apparently has an informant who it claims is cooperating with it in implicating Juma’a. It could be true or it could be a ploy to sow mistrust among the Israeli Palestinian activist community.
Dr. Stephen Fulder, Anglo-Israeli folk medicine practitioner, colleague of Omar Said (R. Hertzberg)
Lately, I have written extensively about Ameer Makhoul, whose arrest by the Shin Bet was placed under seal and broken by Israeli and American bloggers and journalists (including me). But I haven’t written at all about Makhoul’s colleague, Omar Said, who was also arrested. I just discovered a moving statement of appreciation circulated by Dr. Stephen Fulder, an Oxford-educated Anglo-Israeli Buddhist peace activist, biochemist, and practitioner of herbal and folk medicine. Fulder has published many academic papers with Said in this field and they are close friends and colleagues:
Dr. Omar Said, my long time friend, co-worker, peace and ecological activist, and fellow academic, was arrested and accused of spying for Hizbollah. The newspapers have given him all kinds of damaging and untrue labels. I want to correct these impressions.
1. Dr. Omar Said is an important international intellectual figure, a scientist, pharmacologist and one of the world’s top experts on traditional Arabic medicine, medical history and medicinal plants. He has written many scientific papers, some of which I have written with him. He is the author of a forthcoming academic text which will be the most authoritative text on Arabic medicine in the world. He is the founder and director of the largest botanical garden of medicinal plants in the Middle East. This subject is his passion and his main activity in life. Many years ago he was active politically, and he has been the deputy head of his village of Kfar Kanna in the Galilee. Now his passion is his professional subject, and his social activity is mostly within an NGO in education, ecology and co-existence.
2. Dr. Said has never shown, in the 15 years I have worked closely with him both as a co-worker and as a close friend, any hate or tendency to conflict. He is a peace worker who longs for peaceful co-existence. He has taken many actions in his life to bring healing to his community and to the relationships between Jews and Arabs. He works with and is close to both Jews and Arabs in daily life, in work and in the intellectual community. The herbal projects he is involved with are examples of peace projects in which both Jews and Arabs participate. For example he has invited and given classes to many thousands of Arab and Jewish children at the botanical garden, bringing them together to study something of interest to all communities. All those who have worked with him on a daily basis and know him, including many Jewish colleagues, know him to be a friend, a warm partner, a lover of peace and a great man with a big heart.
3. Dr. Said is constantly travelling throughout the world, in particular Jordan, where he buys herbs, carries out research, and meets experts from Arab countries. It is shameful that this activity is the reason for the suspicion of the Israeli security apparatus. I am completely convinced that a great mistake and a serious injustice is happening right now. Omar is still in prison on remand.
What becomes clear from Fulder’s statement is that the Shin Bet has labeled a man, whose most dangerous activity was collecting plants in the hills of the West Bank for preparation of his herbal remedies, as a Hezbollah spy seeking the destruction of the State of Israel. Oh, and yes, it’s true, Said is a leader of the Arab nationalist political party, Balad. Last I checked, membership in Balad was entirely legal. So what precisely has he done wrong and when will the Shin Bet stop the shell game and reveal its charges?
Yesterday, I revealed that the alleged ‘Hezbollah agent’ with whom Makhoul and Said met is none other than the founder of a Jordanian NGO whose mission is to repair the environmental damage caused to Lebanon and Gaza by Israel’s wars there. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Rechavia Berman jokes that he half expects the security services to trot out Nasrallah’s cousin who, like the Hamas Green Prince agent, will attest to the crimes committed by the pair on Hezbollah’s behalf. Barring that, this case is a disgrace and makes both the Shin Bet and Israel (or whoever in the government thought this prosecution was a crackerjack idea) into a laughingstock among nations.
Yesterday, I reported that Haaretz had inadvertently published secret information revealing that Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said met with a Lebanese, Hassan Jaja, who the Shin Bet claimed was a Hezbollah agent. Based on his family name Rechavia Berman and I assumed Hassan was a Maronite Christian and a family relation of Samir Geagea. Through the assistance of a friend of this blog, I’ve been able to ascertain why Hassan Jaja is considered a forbidden person for Israeli Palestinian citizens to contact.
First, let me correct the record: Hassan Jaja is not related to Samir Geagea. While I do not yet know Jaja’s political orientation within Lebanese politics, it’s highly unlikely his Shin Bet status has anything to do with Hezbollah. Rather, Jaja is married to the daughter of noted Palestinian historian Akram Zaitar. Together, they founded a Jordanian environmental NGO, the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), whose mission is to repair environmental damage caused by the Israel’s wars in Lebanon and Gaza. APN has signed an agreement to develop strategies to develop indigenous Palestinian farming. Further, Geagea provided funding for Ittijah to buy the Haifa building which houses the organization’s offices. He is also a noted human rights activist.
So there you have it: yet another attempt by the Israeli security services to drive a wedge between Israeli Palestinians and Palestinians outside Israel. The Shin Bet seems to be frightened of indigenous leaders like Makhoul becoming too chummy with, and developing political alliances with external NGOs that might advance pan-Palestinianism, the notion that Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line may have common interests.
An Ittijah activist noted in Ynetnews that Makhoul’s arrest may have had something to do with his fundraising activities on behalf of the group. So the fact that Jaja helped arrange for the funding to buy the Ittijah building is enough to make him an enemy of the State and Hezbollah agent.
When I found out Jaja was essentially an environmentalist I thought: “What possible danger could this man pose to Israeli security?” But I guess if Spanish clowns and coriander can endanger the security of the State, why not a Lebanese environmentalist and food activist?
After you read this statement by Israel’s foreign minister, you tell me who is more of a danger to Israeli democracy (such as it is) Ameer Makhoul or Yvet Lieberman:
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday commented on the arrest of two Arab public figures suspected of spying for Hezbollah. “There is far more than decisive evidence,” he said of the Shin Bet investigation of Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said.
“Our intelligence services are of the best in the world and are also very, very responsible people,” Lieberman said during a visit to Japan.
“Without serious, decisive evidence, they would not have taken such a step. I suggest all those countries and people who accuse us take a look in the mirror and a look at the norms of democracy in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and all the other countries. No one can preach morals to us.”
He added, “There is far more than general suspicions, and I suggest we really understand that there are quite a few people even here among us with the same values and world view as Iran, Hezbollah, and North Korea. They are much closer to the values of these countries that the values of a free democratic state like Israel. These people should be isolated from society.”
I hereby throw down the gauntlet to the foreign minister and security spooks and their supporters: provide a shred of evidence to support this lunacy or the claim that Hassan Jaja is affiliated with Hezbollah. I’ll be waiting.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday commented on the arrest of two Arab public figures suspected of spying for Hezbollah. “There is far more than decisive evidence,” he said of the Shin Bet investigation of Ameer Makhoul and Omar Said.
“Our intelligence services are of the best in the world and are also very, very responsible people,” Lieberman said during a visit to Japan.
Espionage Case
Village backs spy suspect / Hagai Einav
Espionage charges against Omar Said constitute political persecution, his wife says
“Without serious, decisive evidence, they would not have taken such a step. I suggest all those countries and people who accuse us take a look in the mirror and a look at the norms of democracy in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and all the other countries. No one can preach morals to us.”
He added, “There is far more than general suspicions, and I suggest we really understand that there are quite a few people even here among us with the same values and world view as Iran, Hezbollah, and North Korea. They are much closer to the values of these countries that the values of a free democratic state like Israel. These people should be isolated from society.”
Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to end their harassment of a human rights activist whose week-long detention by the Israeli authorities was extended today.
…”Ameer Makhoul is a key human rights defender, well-known for his civil society activism on behalf of the Palestinian citizens of Israel,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“His arrest and continued detention smacks of pure harassment, designed to hinder his human rights work. If this is the case, we would regard him as a prisoner of conscience call for his immediate and unconditional release.”
Supporters of Makhoul Petah Tikva court
This is precisely the type of outside pressure which may get the bullies in the Shin Bet to back off. The other type of pressure is exposing as much of the so-called secret evidence that is still under wraps. I welcome any sources coming forward with tips or credible information about what is still under seal in this case. As I noted earlier today, Haaretz apparently inadvertently broke the gag by revealing that at least one of the “forbidden” contacts Makhoul and Said had was with Hassan Jaja, who the S.B. strangely claims is a Hezbollah agent despite the fact that he lives in Amman and has no affiliation with the group. So much for the S.B. creating a credible narrative for Makhoul’s alleged spying.
An Ittijah staff member told Ynetnews how the Shin Bet develops and administers its list of forbidden contacts. And it’s a wonder of authoritarian caprice:
Ittijah (the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations) – an umbrella group for Arab NGOs in Israel which Makhoul heads – explained Monday that as part of his job description the writer met with many officials…
“Ittijah holds a list composed by the State of Israel, of which organizations are permitted for contact and which constitute breaking the law,” said Wakim Salame, a member of the organization’s managing committee.
She said it was “absurd”, however, that at times Israel lit upon an organization head whose views were not in line with the state’s, and suddenly changed his status to “hostile”.
“Suddenly, when you meet him at a convention, it becomes a meeting with a foreign agent and espionage. From time to time it changes. Once it was the PLO and then the Popular Front – now it’s a trend to say an agent from Hezbollah,” she said.
“The conferences he attends around the world are not like the Israeli ghetto,” said Jafar Farah, who heads the Mossawa Center, an Israeli-Arab NGO. “There are also Iranian, Lebanese, and Iraqi lobbyists present there. Naturally conversations are started and even friendships. No one checks whether the people we speak to are on some Israeli blacklist.”
Apparently, what Israeli Palestinians need to do is carry this list of forbidden interlocutors with them whenever they leave the country and before they so much as nod hello to anyone they should consult the list to determine their status. That is, if they even know the name of the individual to whom they’re waving. Otherwise, nodding hello can become a costly act of human concourse.
Today, the Israeli court approved Makhoul’s incarceration for another five days prolonging the prohibition from consulting his attorney (national security suspects can be denied counsel for up to 21 days under Israeli law). At today’s demonstration of Jews and Palestinian Israelis outside the court, Ynetnews quoted this disgruntled passerby who was nettled by any expression of solidarity between Jews and Arabs:
“I don’t have a problem with the Arabs, it is their right to protest, but what bothers me is that Jews are protesting with them. They should be locked in a dungeon for life,” one bystander said.
Here’s the latest from Dershowitz Watch: not content to label Goldstone an “evil, evil man,” and to claim his UN report on the Gaza massacre was a “blood libel,” and that the eminent jurist is a moser (betrayer of Jews), Dersh has now likened the him to Josef Mengele. The context for the charge is a new line of attack which the hasbarists have developed which charges Goldstone with being an “apartheid judge” who “just followed orders” in personally hanging innocent South African blacks.
Let’s put this in context: in a country like, say the U.S., in which capital punishment is the law of the land, it is very difficult for a judge to single-handedly overrule a law that others have deemed constitutional, and which perhaps is even commonly accepted and popular among citizens. Imagine, for example, Elena Kagan in her confirmation hearings saying she finds executions morally repugnant and will do everything in her power to render them unconstitutional. Would she end up on the Supreme Court? No.
Judge Goldstone was an appeals court judge who ruled on 28 capital cases in which he upheld the punishment. Only in two cases, did he himself render the first judgment of death (in the other cases he upheld an earlier sentence). Alan Dershowitz is a criminal lawyer. Never been a judge (and likely never will be after this outburst). Likely knows next to nothing about South African law. Easy for him to say what Judge Goldstone should’ve done 20 years ago during the apartheid era.
Of course, Dershowitz, being the intellectual slimeball that he is, omits the fact that Judge Goldstone delivered the critical legal ruling that began the undermining of the apartheid system. No mention of the bravery it took for a single judge to write a ruling that he knew would be detested by the entire white power structure which had appointed him. No mention of the fear he might’ve felt from the security services who were known to deal with the regime’s enemies rather harshly.
For this disgusting excuse for a human being and Jew to compare Richard Goldstone to Josef Mengele is a new, all-time low. In this interview, he says that Goldstone’s defense of his actions regarding capital cases is like “Josef Mengele” saying “he was just following orders.” As Israeli blogger Yossi Gurvitz noted to me in considerably saltier language, Mengele never gave such an excuse since he escaped from Europe and was never captured or tried for his crimes. Dershowitz really means the Nazis brought before the Nuremberg tribunal or Adolf Eichmann. But hey, why let a few facts stand in Dersh’s way? At long last, does this man have no dignity, no shame, not an ounce of human decency left in him?
This is the very man who Tel Aviv University honored with a doctorate last week, thanking him for his outstanding work on behalf of human rights. Thank God, 33 members of the history faculty took exception to the award. This is man welcome in the pages of the Jerusalem Post and websites like Huffington Post. A man lionized in synagogues and on the Jewish lecture circuit. Welcome at academic conferences. Finally, a man who likens one of most distinguished international jurists in the field of human rights and the laws of war to the Nazi “Angel of Death.”
Will a Jewish leader not finally take a stand and say enough, he is not welcome in my synagogue or before my organization. If some other Jewish group wants to honor him be my guest. But not here.
I can understand some Israel lobby groups saying we can’t choose our friends since we don’t have enough of them. That sort of embrace of Dershowitz I find repugnant, but at least I can understand it. However, for truly liberal groups like a university or websites like Huffington Post to lap up the slime that oozes out of his mouth is truly repellant to me.
Rechavia Berman has done it again. He was the first journalist/blogger to break the story of the Ameer Makhoul arrest and his secret detention. Now, he’s broken the gag again by revealing the identity of the alleged Hezbollah agent (per the Shin Bet) with whom Makhoul and Omer Said met. It is this meeting that the security services is using as a pretext to charge them with grave espionage offenses. UPDATE: It appears that Haaretz either intentionally or unintentionally first let the cat out of the bag on this one when it published this:
Unofficial sources say Makhoul was in contact with a number of foreign activists, some with links to groups classified by the government as terror organizations. These include a Lebanese citizen, Hassan Geagea, who is married to the daughter of Palestinian writer and historian Akram Zaitar.
They immediately removed this paragraph, but not before Marcia Cohen, being the crackerjack researcher she is, noted and quoted it at Antiwar.com. This passage also indicates that there may be other alleged foreign agents with whom Makhoul and Said consorted.
Correction: Subsequent research confirms that Hassan Jaja (not Geagea) is a Muslim, not a Maronite Christian and not related to Samir Geagea.
Hassan Jaja, a Maronite Christian and likely a relation of Samir Geagea, the feared militia general and fierce Hezbollah opponent who leads the Lebanese Forces, was the ‘Hezbolla operative’ with whom they met. The former Jaja is a known opponent of Syrian political involvement in Lebanon, which would make him an opponent of Hezbollah as well since the latter relies on Syrian support (and arms). As Rechavia writes so memorably:
So this is Yuval Diskin’s smoking gun, the mountain that gave birth to a mouse!
…This information renders ludicrous the Shin Bet claim that Makhoul and Omer had contact with a Hezbollah agent…Anyone who opposes Syrian interference in Lebanon will perforce be an enemy of Hezbollah.
…Thus it becomes clearer why the security services wish to conceal the identity of this individual, because this would cut the legs out from under their baseless theory of the case.
Berman notes the cry for blood emanating from the Israeli body politic when they are thrown red meat slogans by the Shin Bet like “grave espionage, “Hezbollah agent,” and the like. He further notes that the accused have not only not been convicted, they haven’t even been indicted or tried. But this doesn’t stop the baying of the hounds on the scent of prey.
He further notes how problematic Israeli law is regarding the charge of espionage:
You traveled to an international conference and shared a few words with a Lebanese professional colleague? If Yuval Diskin wishes, you are a traitor and spy.
The Israeli journalist further notes a distinction between Israeli and western law regarding real espionage. In most western democracies it isn’t enough that you had a conversation with an agent of a foreign power. You have to prove that you had a conversation that contained information that injured the security of your country.
And when you come down to it, what super secret information could Makhoul and Said have provided to this foreign power? Makhoul is a community activist and Said a naturopathic pharmacist. Where and how would they amass such knowledge? The Shin Bet’s claim simply doesn’t pass the smell test. The entire episode is an exercise in ludicrousness. However, it is not so ludicrous to Makhoul, Said and their children, who stand to lose the company of their respective fathers for many years if the Shin Bet and Einat “Hang ‘Em High” Ron have their way.
Thanks to some sterling unnamed Israeli sources, I’m displaying both the original April 22nd gag order signed by Judge Einat Ron against Ameer Makhoul and the May 10th decision (pdf) partially lifting the gag order. As far as I know these documents have not yet been published in Israel [correction: the May 10th decision is not secret and has been published at 7th Eye & quoted in several Israeli papers; the April 22nd gag order has not been published and was secret till now]. I hope they now will be by courageous journalists (perhaps unlikely) and bloggers (more likely). Discussion has begun within the Israeli press about the efficacy of such use of secret proceedings. I hope these documents may contribute to that process. There is absolutely no justification in this case or so many like them for using such draconian measures against citizens exercising their legal rights to express their political views within an alleged democracy.
I thank Dena Shunra and Moshe Neeman (Israeli Occupation Archive) for their help in translating the following documents. First is the April 22nd gag order submitted by the police to Judge Ron and excerpted:
1. The Israel Police is conducting an investigation which involved suspicions of security crimes regarding contact with a foreign agent and espionage, under titles 114(i), 112(i) of the Penal Code 5737-1977 are being investigated.
2. Any publication about the investigation or any detail being investigated could harm the security of the state, the investigation, obstruct and prevent the discovery of evidence for the proof of criminal offenses and establishing the facts.
In light of all of the above, we ask the Court to hold the hearing behind closed doors and that an order prohibiting publicasion be given for a period of 90 days, which would prohibit any publication about the investigation…as well as any of the details of the investigation or the fact of its existence and any hearing and court decisions heard in the past or to be heard in the future about the subject being investigated.
Additionally, we ask that the order direct a ban on publicizing the fact that this petition was filed, the content thereof, the fact of the existence of the order, and any other publication which could lead to the identification of the respondent, witnesses, and additional suspects and persons involved…to the publication of their pictures, their addresses, or any other identifying detail.
In order to permit the enforcement of the order we ask for authorization to make known the fact of its existence to the various media, as necessary, for their information only (without publication by the media that there is an order banning the publication of a security affair.)
Signed,
[Police] Superintendent Saar Shapira
Judge Ron notes her approval of the order at the bottom of the document. By the way, it was submitted the same day she approved it. If you’re a lawyer you’ve never heard of such expeditiousness in a court, where cases normally take months or even years before decisions are rendered. She interestingly approves the order for 30 days rather than the 90 requested by the police. I presume even she feels she has to show a measure of “toughness” so as not to appear the pushover she is.
Here is Judge Ron’s approval:
Having heard the representatives of the petitioner and been persuaded that publication of the affair at this stage could materially harm the security of the state and of the investigation, I find that [it is appropriate to] grant the petition – as made.
Note that the document does not offer any specific evidence to the judge nor do her notes indicate that she has seen any. In other words, she has either granted the request without proof; or she has seen proof but declined to even indicate she has. Since she does not say the latter we can only assume she hasn’t seen any evidence. So how can she justify the claim that the suspects damaged the security of the state or that suppression of news about their case can be justified on such grounds?
Here are excerpts from the May 10th decision partially lifting the gag order. Note a few things. First, she clearly confirms that the exposure of the gag here, in Facebook, and other websites renders the gag obsolete. Second, she lifts the gag only partially and in a very limited way. Signficant details are still under wraps. For example, Haaretz for a few minutes published on its website the name of the Lebanese individual Makhoul and Said met with who is alleged to belong to Hezbollah. That information is still under seal along with much else:
…Significant developments have occurred in this case: suspects were arrested and apparently, as often happens in such cases, there were repercussions, and as the gag order does not apply outside of Israel, most of the repercussions of this case were heard in foreign sources and publications abroad.
It will be stressed here that the reasons for handing down a gag order or reducing or removing such an order do not take into account the foreign publications, abroad. As is well known, with the development of technology nowadays such publication cannot be prevented, despite the existence of the order prohibiting them – and especially, such publications cannot be prevented outside of the State of Israel. However, simultaneously, it is clear that this cannot lead to a condition where no gag orders would be issued at all when there is great risk of both damage to the security of the state and material damage to the needs of the investigation, which is sensitive, complex, and has many ramifications.
The considerations for issuing the order will always reflect the issue specifically, and due to those tests mentioned and stated above, taking into consideration the limitation mentioned and knowing that publication in foreign sources does not necessarily verify the information published and cannot confirm that such information is true.
[…] In light of these developments it is possible to narrow the gag order handed down in this case as follows:
Ameer Makhoul of Haifa, born in 1958, was arrested on 6 May 2010 on suspicions of having had contact with a foreign agent […] and espionage [penal code titles omitted]
Omar Said of Kafr Kana, born in 1960, was arrested on 24 April 2010 [same suspicions, code refs]
Under the suspicions mentioned above, the alleged crimes of both suspects were carried out with the Hizballah organization.
The gag remains in force on all details excepting the above until 21 May 2010.
I would very much like to know who they met with and what, if any, connection to Hezbollah this individual has. Of course, I’d also like to know specifically what they discussed. The Shin Bet knows all this and until they provide any supporting evidence their case remains suspect.
I’m also featuring above the first TV news coverage of the Makhoul-Said arrest which includes excellent and disturbing interviews with Makhoul’s wife describing the abuse to which she was subjected by Israel’s intrepid secret police.
Judge Einat Ron, never met a Shin Bat gag order she didn't like
A few of my Israeli friends have sent me a link to a Yediot interview with Judge Einat Ron, who I disparagingly call the “Shin Bet judge” in my post title, even though she formally isn’t. She’s a real judge who might just as well work directly for the Shin Bet since, as with all Israeli courts, she is at the beck and call of the security services. If they want a gag order they get one. If they’re ready to remove it, it will be removed. I don’t think I’ve ever, except in the relatively rare case of the Supreme Court, heard of a lower court judge actually bucking the Shin Bet and acting independently.
In any case, I had a feeling that was alternately strange and gratifying when the judge, who I’ve criticized harshly for the similar role she played in the Anat Kamm case and coaching the IDF to wiggle out of culpability in the wanton killing of an 11-year old Palestinian boy, seemingly addressed me indirectly in her interview. She was asked about approving gag orders and whether she factors into her decisions the coverage that such orders receive in foreign media (a story in Ynet yesterday credited Tikun Olam with playing a leading role in breaking the story outside Israel):
Judge Ron, who restricted her gag order regarding the latest spying case at whose center stand Ameer Makhoul and Omer Said, explained that she isn’t influenced by foreign publications, but that gag orders are judged in a matter-of-fact manner…She enumerated [one reason for gag orders] “a pronounced fear regarding potential damage to the security of the State.”
She also commented on the fact that the case has been covered abroad, as Ynet reported yesterday, “As sometimes happens with in such situations there can be repercussions since gag order have no effect outside Israel. The repercussions of this case were felt in foreign sources and publications outside Israel. The reasons for approving, limiting or lifting a gag order do not take foreign media into account. However, it is known that with technological innovations you cannot prevent such publications.
Along with this, the judge pointed out that foreign news coverage “doesn’t justify creating a situation in which no gag orders are issued at all, since there remains considerable fear of harming the state’s security and harming an investigation…” if gag orders did not exist.
Haifa rally supporting Shin Bet victims Omer Said and Ameer Makhoul (Avishag Shear-Yeshuv)
To which I say, spoken like a true lawyer. An excess of verbiage and a deficit of sense. This is clearly an intelligent lawyer in service of a deformed system. And she’s whistling in the wind. Clearly, a judge would have to deny that media coverage plays any role in her decisions. But it does. And even if it doesn’t, Ron’s decisions are guided by the ‘seen hand’ of the Shin Bet, and the security agency is clearly influenced by external factors like media coverage. Not to mention the outrage against this campaign from the Israeli Palestinian community, which clearly played a factor in partially lifting the gag today.
Earlier today, Ynet reported that 300 protestors gathered in Haifa to express their support for Ameer Makhoul and Omer Said, the victims of the latest Shin Bet machinations. An Israeli Arab MK expressed outrage at the security assault:
MK El-Sana added, “Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin should not be the one handling the government’s policy regarding the Arab minority. It’s not a crime to be a Palestinian in Israel.”
Makhoul’s brother threw the charges of spying back at the government:
“Ameer is strong,” he continued. “He will face this onslaught head-on, and at the end of the day, those facing justice would be the authorities…not him”
This reminded me of the Dylan song:
The loser now will be later to win…
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
To some, depending on their political orientation, this may sound like either bluster or vain hope. But the great Mandala will turn and someday it will be the Makhouls and Saids of the world who will be lionized, while the Diskins will be spurned for their vain effort to stave off the inevitable transformation of Israel into a multi-ethnic state affirming the equal rights of all groups with none holding supremacy.
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