1 thought on “Arab Spy Arrests, ‘Payback’ for Decades-Old Shin Bet Murder Scandal? – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Whenever I hear claims in which it’s one side’s word against the other, I try to figure out who would benefit from the results. Which Arab citizen of Israel would benefit from real collaboration with Hizballah or Syria, and how? And what would be the benefit for the Shabac from convincing Israelis and the world that there are networks of pro-terrorist spies among the Arabs in Israel? And how would the government benefit from the silencing of liberal-nationalist discourse that is not Zionist inside Israel?

    I think the Israeli establishment is threatened by the legitimate and reasoned discourse of Arab-Palestinians who insist on taking Israel’s self-definition as a democracy seriously, by demanding both full civil equality (as Israeli citizens) and the right to collective national self-determination (as Palestinians). The threat stems from the fact that they are engaging in fully kosher legal methods (rallies, court cases, texts) to make their point. In order to silence them it is necessary to invoke ‘terrorism’ or ‘espionage’ which can’t be challenged without implicating the challengers with similar support for terrorism – i.e, ‘espionage for Hizb’allah/Syria’ equals end of argument and debate in Israeli society on the issue of the State’s identity, and intimidation and fearful silence among Arabs/Druse. If you look, you will see that the various Arabs arrested are mainly from Abnaa El Balad/Balad or other known nationalist activists. QED. It is also kept just arbitrary and mysterious enough to be completely scary and incomprehensible and to keep most Arabs in Israel guessing fearfully – most of them will now just keep quiet. So will many NGOs overseas and even in Israel – lest they be accused of supporting Hizb’allah or Syria. Mission accomplished – now who will remember them when they languish in jail.

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