The dangers of exceptionalism: Israel , the USA and others

The UN’s Human Rights Commission says that the Australian government’s 2007 Intervention in the Northern Territory and its subsequent Stronger Futures legislation has undermined the key principles of self determination contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, which Australia endorsed in 2004.  The persistence of Australia’s mandatory detention for refugees is accompanied by legislation which exempts the secret service ASIO from appraisal of its practices, including the entitlement to keep secret the grounds on which certain refugees are deemed a ‘security risk’. Exceptionalism also infects Australia.   

As each day passes, the details of human rights abuses accumulate and attentive observers  will have recognized my failure to mention Palestinians’ violence towards Israelis let alone the brutalities dispensed by Middle East neighbours Saudi Arabia and the repressive, Sunni dominated Bahrein.

This acknowledgment about omissions from the list of exceptional abusers shows how unrealistic is the demand that advocacy of the rights of Palestinians must be preceded by an inventory of others’ indifference to international law. But such a demand remains a convenient means of deflecting attention from Israel, or the USA, and permanently postponing justice for the Palestinians.

If Palestinian independence is to be realized, the political and diplomatic dam which protects Israeli  governments’ assumptions that they are exceptional, will have to be broken.  Many Israelis do not like particular groups, such as students involved in Talmudic studies, being entitled to exemptions to military service.  In consequence, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he would cease the entitlement of  ultra Orthodox Jews and Arab citizens not to serve in the Israeli military.  ‘We are citizens of one state,’ he said, ‘and we must all participate in bearing the burden of service to the state.’  At that point the right wing religious parties protested, Netanyahu gave way and a small chance of lessening exceptionalism within Israel disappeared.

Many countries disregard the principles of self determination and when criticized they make the cornered schoolboy’s plea, ‘Others are as bad or worse, so why pick on me ?’ If that plea is accepted,  dangerous consequences  follow: the powerful stay unaccountable, destruction is claimed to be a form of freedom, principles of humanity are depicted as only for the faint hearted and human rights are ignored.  

Challenging the American Government’s collusion with Israel’s exceptionalism  may provoke the usual derision from those who say ‘anti Semite, clean up your own act, they’ve suffered more than others so that entitles them to special treatment.’ Such time worn remarks may follow this article, or, maybe, the derision will be less than the last time I wrote about Israeli killings, stealing of land and water and the well practiced thumbing a nose at international law or UN resolutions.  

An exceptional child, scientist, musician or athlete might merit special treatment but arguments about individual entitlement are different from those principles which stress State responsibility and accountability.  In an interdependent world where international law sets standards, countries  should not be able to claim to be exceptional.