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From the ridiculous to the outrageous

By Bren Carlill - posted Monday, 30 March 2009


Halper quickly descended into conspiracy theories. His explanation of why more than 90 per cent of Jewish Israelis supported the recent operation against Hamas in Gaza is that "there are some pretty powerful forces" in Israel "limiting criticism of the government". This is ironic, coming from an Israeli whose full time occupation is criticising the Israeli government!

Maybe, just maybe, 90 per cent of Jewish Israelis saw that diplomacy, ceasefires and voluntary withdrawal from Gaza didn't stop rockets. (Rockets from Gaza actually increased seven-fold after Israel's 2005 withdrawal.) Maybe these Israelis realised that a million of their fellow citizens living under daily, indiscriminate attack was an outrage, and something had to be done. Maybe, but Halper refuses to see that. In his lecture, he mentioned the rockets just once, and that as a punch line in a joke.

The central thesis of his lecture was that Israel is attempting to make the occupation of the West Bank permanent. He presented a map he claimed was Israel's plan to establish three separate self-ruling Palestinian "cantons," but deny Palestinians independent statehood. These allegations are provably false. Israel has offered the Palestinians a state in more than 90 per cent of a contiguous West Bank, plus Gaza (an offer confirmed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Washington Post). Presumably Abbas knows more about Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations than Halper.

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But beyond Halper's false allegations, the issue that he never addressed is this: what's in it for Israel? If Israel does want to make the occupation permanent, it must surely have a reason. Israel's control of the West Bank costs Israel money, lives and reputation. Does Halper think Israel obtains some sort of monetary advantage by occupying Palestinians? There is no mineral resource to be had in the West Bank or Gaza. The cheap labour argument doesn't work, since few Palestinians work in Israel. Is it the “Greater Israel” issue? In this year's election, less than 6 per cent of Israelis voted for parties that categorically reject the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

The majority of Israelis do not want to retain control of the West Bank. The only reason Israeli troops are still there is because there is no Palestinian leadership willing and/or able to take control and prevent rocket and other terrorist attacks from the West Bank into Israel. But Halper didn't address that; he can't address that, because that simple fact drains the rest of his argument of what little credibility his falsehoods leave.

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First published on ABC's Unleashed on March 25, 2009.



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About the Author

Bren Carlill worked at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council between 2006 and 2011.

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