What good is a law if the courts do not uphold it? Who gets hurt by that?
The NGO Regavim has submitted a request to the Attorney General to open criminal investigations against former MK Mohammad Barakeh. The crime? In the words of Regavim’s letter:
Mr. Barakeh is allegedly acting as an agent of the Intifada, supporting a terrorist organization and terrorist acts, inciting Israeli Arabs to fight against the State of Israel and its citizens…
Israel’s Anti-Terrorism Law defines such speech as a crime. After all, freedom of speech does not include freedom to threaten the security of the state or its citizens.
What is the evidence for this crime? Most recently, at the beginning of December, Barakeh, chairman of the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Israeli Arabs, joined other Arab leaders from Israel and around the Arab world at a conference in support of Palestine. In a recorded radio interview, he praised armed resistance against Israel and encouraged Israeli Arabs to take part in fighting ‘the occupation,’ a term that, for Palestinian Arabs, generally refers to the entirety of Israel.
In May last year, with Israel still reeling from Oct 7th and fighting in Gaza against Hamas, Amit Segal posted a video on “X” in which Barakeh is seen marching alongside Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the militant northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. The crowd was singing about “kidnapping a soldier and freeing prisoners,” “crushing the collaborator and the spy,” and sending greetings to “noble Gaza that is full of lions.”
אירוע שהתקיים אתמול בלילה בעראבה על ידי ועדת המעקב, בראשה עמדו השייח’ המורשע ראאד סלאח, לצידו חכ”ל מוחמד בראכה יו”ר ועדת המעקב.
“הו אסיר, תקוף שוב, חטוף חייל ושחרר אסירים”
“הו עזתי תרמוס תרמוס את המשתפ ואת המרגל”
“מעראבה ברכות לעזה שלנו אצילת הנפש”
“הו גוב שכולו אריות, הנה העם… pic.twitter.com/HqYRUSUPHe— עמית סגל (@amit_segal) May 11, 2023
In the year 2000, while he served as a Knesset member, Barakeh made comments at a Birzeit University conference stating that Israeli Arabs should be part of the Palestinian struggle against ‘the occupation.’ Despite this, and in spite of the law prohibiting MKs from supporting terrorism, he was not prohibited from holding a seat in the Knesset.
Similarly, other blatant expressions of support for terrorism on the part of other MKs have been dismissed by the Supreme Court, and MKs disqualified by the Knesset elections committee were reinstated upon appeal to the court. For example, there were no repercussions when Ahmed Tibi eulogized terrorists from the Knesset podium; there were no repercussions when Heba Yazbak praised the murderer Samir Kuntar; there were no repercussions when Haneen Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka visited the mourning tents of the families of Palestinian terrorists in the PA (not even Israeli citizens, not even members of the electorate that voted them into office); there were no repercussions when Sami Abu Shehada celebrated mothers of martyrs.
When will the courts finally wake up and realize that upholding Israel’s Anti-Terrorism Law and the section of the law that defines the conditions under which a candidate for the Knesset can be disqualified is good, not only for the country as a whole, but for the Arab citizens of Israel themselves?
Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes that the anti-Israeli actions of these Arab leaders are a betrayal of their own community. He wrote that in 2016 when criticizing the MKs who visited the mourning families and used that opportunity to honor the terrorists rather than using it to call for an end to terror attacks. He wrote that again, on 26 December, in connection with Barakeh’s statements in Jordan.
Abu Toameh argues that these Arab leaders, who support terrorism more than they support working toward alleviating the very real problems of the Arab citizens of Israel, betray the opportunities afforded by being in the legislature. More than that, they drive a wedge between Jewish and Arab citizens, making it difficult for Jews to “see a difference between an Arab citizen who is loyal to Israel and a radical Palestinian from the Gaza Strip or West Bank who seeks to destroy Israel.”
Abu Toameh asks Israeli Arabs not to rely on the government or court to “get rid of extremist Arab leaders who speak and act against the interests of the Arab community inside Israel.” However, I suggest that, given my understanding of Arab collectivist culture (and I may be wrong about this), it is too difficult for individual Arabs to stand up against the flow and criticize these prominent figures, especially when the Israeli government and court does nothing to censure their illegal behaviors. After Oct 7th, it has begun, but:
I believe that only with the power of the law, with Jews standing up for ourselves against those who incite against us, only when we act with respect toward ourselves, can we expect our Arab fellow citizens to do the same. I believe that when Israel finally prosecutes terror-mongers in the courts, gets them out of the Knesset, only then will there be room for, and motivation for, another kind of Arab leadership to emerge.
Will Regavim’s request for a criminal investigation against Barakeh finally make that happen?
I think you’re right about how Jews should respond.
It’s still interesting to ask why an Arab politician must express nationalist ideas to be successful. We do have a secret ballot, so a pro-coexistence Arab party could succeed if enough Arabs agreed with its principles.
I know that the Palestinian narrative of dispossession and occupation is almost universally believed by Arab citizens, and I speculate that this belief causes them to think that they are traitors to their people if they don’t take a nationalist position. Unless they begin to accept a historical narrative that is closer to the truth, they will always want to reverse what they see as the injustice done to them.