Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

UPDATE: AP’s Diaa Hadid just published a more detailed story on this subject that is worth reading.

Israel Defense, the publication which covers the Israeli defense industry, reports that when Avigdor Lieberman was Minister for Strategic Affairs, in an earlier iteration of the Netnayahu government, the Shin Bet, which reviews and approves security clearances, refused to approve access to some of the nation’s secret information about Iran.  In contrast, the current minister filling that portfolio, Moshe Yaalon, has full access.

If true, this report raises all sorts of questions and red flags.  One has to wonder why he would be deprived of such information.  The mind immediately turns to Lieberman’s close ties to Russia, where he is on especially good terms with the leadership and makes frequent visits to Moscow.  Of course, Russia is one of Iran’s leading trading partners, is building the Bushehr nuclear plant, and provides Iran some of the most advanced anti-aircraft missile technology.  Russia would be very interested to know what Israel knows about its affairs in Iran.  In fact, much of the information provided on this subject that made it into the IAEA report seems to have derived from Israeli intelligence.  This may be one reason why the Shin Bet would worry about allowing Lieberman access.

A senior Israeli source with high-level political and military experience tells me that there have been rumors for years that Lieberman was sent to Israel by the KGB as a young immigrant in order to make his mark and rise upward in Israeli politics. To anyone who argues that such rumors are unsubstantiated, I would remind them that there were unsubstantiated rumors for years about Moshe Katsav’s sexual predatory habits. He’s about to spend seven years in prison. Since the end of Ben Gurion’s reign, the Shin Bet has been prohibited from monitoring Israeli (Jewish politicians), so no one can determine whether the rumor is true.

Broadside flyer displayed in Jerusalem last month accusing Avigdor Lieberman of being head of Russian spy ring

An anonymous flyer (in Hebrew, a pashkevil or “broadside”) oddly titled, “I Think Therefore I Am,” was posted in Jerusalem last month, which accused Lieberman of being the head of a Russian spy ring inside Israel:

The State of Israel is powerless in the face of Russian spy services, directed by the chair of Yisrael Beitenu, Avigdor Lieberman and his partners in the Party.  Some of the Israeli media has offered less than candid or even misleading information on this subject.

We demand the foreign minister be investigated according to the evidence and gravity of his deeds.  We announce to the weak ones who stand at the head of this nation, that the people dwelling in Zion will not allow those entrusted with its secrets to leak them to a state [Russia] which enjoys close intelligence relations with Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.

When I first received the flyer I didn’t know what to make of it: was it authentic?  Did the writer know what he was talking about or was it a smear without foundation?  Who would have the motive to do this?  And why would they put up a flyer rather than leak it to the Israeli media?

The Israel Defense story is the first indication that Lieberman really is considered a security risk by Israel’s intelligence services.  Which means that whoever wrote the flyer knew this.  Either the author had connections with intelligence or somehow became aware of the issue through second-hand sources.  I still can’t figure out why someone posts a flyer on the street with such information rather than leak it to the media–unless they’d tried and failed to interest a reporter in the story.

A 2009 U.S. embassy cable published by Wikileaks (be sure to click tiny red box with an “x” to remove donation pop up) reports the following:

Israeli FM Lieberman’s June 2-3 visit to Russia appears…to have…cemented Moscow’s impression that the Russian-speaking Lieberman is one of their own.

…[Israeli deputy chief of mission] Fuchs explained that Lieberman conducted his meetings in Russian, shared stories about Moscow, and smoked, creating a comfortable atmosphere with his Russian interlocutors. The Israeli FM “behaved like an old friend” commented Fuchs, who thought that the Russians acted as if they already knew him.

So much “one of their own” that he’d spy on their behalf?

At any rate, we now know that not only is the former Moldovan nightclub bouncer and convicted child-beater corrupt, but he’s also accused of being a Russian mole.

Uri Blau: shining a lens on Israeli society

Haaretz’ Uri Blau, one of Israel’s finest investigative journalists, faces seven years in prison for doing nothing more than practicing his craft in a country that upholds the values of a national security state above those of press freedom.  Blau has published some of the most hard-hitting exposes involving the IDF and human rights violations over the past few years.  Among them was the two reports he wrote based on top-secret documents leaked to him by Anat Kamm.  These were memos from the headquarters of IDF general Yair Naveh, revealing that he approved assassinations of unarmed Palestinian suspects in contravention of Israeli Supreme Court rulings.  Of course, when given a chance to support these ruling in practice, the Court refused to do so as is often the case with security matters in which it is loath to second guess the military-intelligence apparatus.

Reporters Without Borders recently wrote in protest to the Israeli Attorney General demanding that it drop the prosecution.  It pointed out that the law under which Blau was being prosecuted had never been used against a journalist in the past 50 years:

…Ms. Kam['s]…four and a half year…sentence…[is a] very severe punishment [that] constitutes a clear warning to all journalists who use confidential documents as a basis for their reporting. It sends a disturbing signal for media freedom in Israel.

…All journalists receive and use classified documents. It is the basis of investigative reporting. Countless scandals and revelations of impropriety have come to light thanks to documents obtained without permission. In this case, only one question matters: was the information obtained in this manner of general interest? If it was, then media freedom takes precedence and the justice system must recognize the nature of the journalist’s work and refrain from prosecuting him.

In this case, the documents involved shed a vital light on the way the IDF was operating and, in particular, its targeted killings of Palestinian militants who could have been arrested. This violated a Supreme Court order…

This is not about endangering the country’s security. It is just a question of exercising one’s right to information about a state entity. Journalists are not above the law and army generals are not, either.

Reporters Without Borders would like to point out that article 113-c of the criminal code, under which Mr. Blau is charged, has never previously been used against a journalist at any time during the past 50 years. Convicting Mr. Blau would have very negative consequences for the image of Israel and would result in its being added to the list of countries that imprison journalists just for doing their work.

We therefore urge you to withdraw the charges against Mr. Blau. Investigative journalists are the cornerstone of transparency, which is essential if a society is to function in a democratic manner. They provide a vital service. Convicting him would do grave harm to the free flow of news and information.

I regret to have to add the addendum that in many cases Israeli generals are indeed above the law.  The fact that the Supreme Court refused to disqualify Naveh from a promotion to deputy chief of staff confirms this sad fact.

I call upon the Israeli press to publicize this travesty and American Jewish organizations to let the Israeli government know that this trial is a travesty and impermissible as far as Jews are concerned who live in Diaspora nations with a truly free press and who hold that Israeli democracy is a sacred value.