EDITORIAL COMMENT

But who is Ahmad Tibi?

Ahmad Tibi, former advisor to the president of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat, has been member of the Palestinian delegation who negotiated the Wye Plantation Agreement in 1998. He resigned in 1999 to run for the Knesset where he was elected to the Arab Union List for the Ta'al (Arab Movement for Renewal) Party.

Questions ?

To read this preamble, a plethora of questions are obvious. How? Yes how ? In a country normally constituted a citizen passed to the enemy can he not only circulate freely but, in addition, to stand for elections with the mission to destroy the state he is supposed to represent and defend!

Indeed, any state normally constituted condemns for treason a citizen who behaves like Mr. Ahmad Tibi. In France, Article 411 of the Penal Code punishes intelligence with the enemy.

So, Ahmad Tibi is not in a good position to criticize the recent Knesset law on the nation-state, he is also in no position to denounce Israeli democracy, which benefits from the laxity of Israeli democracy which has not not believe it would be good to punish his behavior when it would be the case in any other democracy. Worse, in the Palestine he defends and which he de facto represents, he would probably be punishable by death!

On his diatribe on the passing of the law on the nation-state

Mr. Ahmad Tibi's excessive terms discredit him especially when he speaks of the "survivors of the Nakba" because on the one hand the Palestinians who left the territory in 1948 are made in the hope of a "final solution". for the territory's Jews even though there were no "Jewish survivors" in all of the Arab states and in most of these countries they were not only stripped of all their basic rights but also hunted manu militari. He forgets that the Jews were settled in the Arab States long before the Muslims who acted on these territories to the faith as colonizers, as the inquisition and also according to the principles of ethnic cleansing!

It is the Israeli democracy, the Supreme Court, which allowed him to run as a deputy despite his serious failures in the duties of any Israeli citizen. It certainly would not have been possible in any other country!

To return to what Mr. Ahmad Tibi said. Where does he see a "Institutional discrimination against non-Jewish citizens"? Moreover, if this were the case, with his perfect knowledge of the powers attributed to him, he would have seized the Israeli Supreme Court, and besides, he has used and abused it several times and with a lot of Israeli citizens!

He speaks of the Nakba as a national drama while he is an Israeli citizen. One can easily imagine what would happen to a black foot left in Algeria (but this is pure fantasy since it is forbidden) and that would have been so virulent about crimes related to the war of independence. And I do not even speak of Jews living in Palestinian territory who would be lynched on the spot as has happened many times.

And what about the outrageously anti-Semitic remarks of Mahmoud Abbas who declared that even after a peace treaty, he will not want to see a single Jew in his own territory as part of an international peacekeeping force.

No, Mr. Tibi, Israel is not a theocracy (as are all Muslim countries) but a democracy, and first and foremost for the Arabs, since they can, like you, plot with the enemy without to be incarcerated as they would be in any other country.

Besides, is it not strange that an Israeli citizen, in addition to a deputy, could be in the delegation of the designated enemy!

Mr. Tibi wants only rights and never duty to the state he represents! In doing so, it does not work for the benefit of those it is supposed to represent.

To come back to the bottom, and without hysteria the text of the law, it removes absolutely no rights to anyone in Israel. This law is a declarative law as is Article 1 of the French Constitution.

This text recalls, as the Balfour Declaration and then the United Nations in 1947 intended, that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. And when Mr. Tibi declares that "The nation-state law of the Jewish people deprives all Palestinians of the right to self-determination, that is, the" non-Jewish population "living in the historic territory of Palestine, which includes Israel. and the occupied territories of Palestine " it simply denies Israel's right to be a sovereign state since it claims the right to self-determination within Israel's borders!

And if we had any doubt about the necessity of this law, then the statements of Mr. Tibi are there to demonstrate the necessity.

Yes, Mr. Tibi, and do not mind, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people in accordance with the UN decision of 1947!

Yes, Mr Tibi, is a true democracy that allows even people like you who make a deal with the enemy to express themselves and even to be elected.

No, Mr. Tibi, the 70 Muslim countries are not democratic and give no rights to minorities!

Yes, Mr Tibi, as an Israeli citizen and as a deputy you owe allegiance to Israel and not to its enemies. You must sing the Hativka and stand at attention in front of the flag of your country!

If you do not do it, it is because you are not worthy of being a citizen of this country and still of being a member of Parliament. And in this case, your best interest, like Israel's, would be that you give up Israeli citizenship to become a Palestinian citizen and take your full place in the government. "UndemocraticFrom the Palestinian Authority.

And since Israel is a true democracy, you could still reside in Israel

Richard C.ABITBOL

President

Below is the fallacious article by Ahmad Tibi, published in "Le Monde"

Ahmad Tibi: "Israel is a democracy for the Jews, and a Jewish country for the Arabs"

In a tribune to the "World", Ahmad Tibi, vice-president of the Knesset, believes that Israel has become an apartheid regime with the adoption of the law defining the country as the "nation-state of the Jewish people"

Tribune. Despite the fact that we have lived here for centuries, Israel has, since its founding in 1948, tried to ensure that its Palestinian citizens, the survivors of the Nakba, feel like strangers in their own homeland. While the Israelis instituted a system of institutional discrimination against non-Jewish citizens, they made sure to preserve appearances by repeating that Israel was "The only democracy in the Middle East".

But, in reality, Israel is a democracy for the Jews, and a Jewish country for the Arabs. It is a theocracy that has built a state with two separate systems: one for the privileged population, the Jews, and one for the second class Palestinian Arab citizens. Now things are clearer: By approving the law on the "nation-state of the Jewish people," Israel has officially become an apartheid regime based on Jewish supremacy.

Read also:   Draft Basic Law worries minorities in Israel

Even before the passing of this law, which grants full political and national rights to the Jewish population alone, there already existed in Israel more than fifty legislative provisions which only discriminated against its non-Jewish citizens. But the significance of the new legislation goes beyond the immediate discrimination that Palestinian citizens of Israel suffer in their access to services. By reaffirming the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and validating the continuation of Jewish settlement, it aims to reinforce Israel's political project of burying the two-state solution within the 1967 borders, making it virtually impossible to the existence of two independent States living side by side in peace and security, a solution approved by the international community, and in particular Europe.

International support

The Israeli government felt able to pass this text because it enjoys the full support of the Trump administration. The "three Zionist Musketeers", as I call President Trump's team for the Middle East - Greenblatt, Kushner and Friedman - share the same radical Zionist ideology as the current Israeli government. They do not consider Palestinians to be equal in law and are not even able to pronounce words like "Palestinian rights" or "Palestinian state". In addition to the US position, the European Union has assured Israel, on several occasions, that it will not impose any sanctions on it for its systematic violations of international law and UN resolutions, thus reinforcing Israel's culture of impunity. And the EU ambassador in Tel Aviv keeps repeating that the European Union and Israel "Share the values ​​of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights".

Today, the European Union must act according to its own principles. The EU-Israel Association Agreement states in its Article 2 that "The relations between the parties, like the clauses of the agreement itself, will be based on respect for human rights and the democratic principles that guide their national and international policies and constitute an essential element of this agreement".

The nation-state law of the Jewish people deprives all Palestinians of the right to self-determination, that is, the right to self-determination. "Non-Jewish population" living in the historical territory of Palestine, which includes Israel and the occupied territories of Palestine: Christians, Muslims and Druze, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean and from Galilee to the desert areas of the Naqab / Negev. This represents more than 50% of the total population living under Israeli control. Is the European Union prepared to accept the reality of this apartheid as part of the so-called "shared values" between Israel and the EU? Who is the European representative who will dare to declare that this situation falls within the "democratic principles" which condition the EU-Israel Association Agreement?

"Israel can no longer claim the status of democracy"

The defenders of Israel, especially those who practice hasbara [propaganda], will not fail to emphasize that the presence of some Palestinian citizens in the Israeli Knesset is proof that the country remains a democracy. However, the new law does not mention this term once. What matters is that democracy goes well beyond our presence in Parliament, and today Israel can no longer claim the status of democracy. Indeed, the Knesset systematically refuses to discuss any bill that demands full equality for all citizens of the state, without religious or national distinction. The bill that I submit every year asking that an equal amount of land be allocated to all citizens is rejected each time. Israel's first trading partner, Europe has enough means to stop this extremist Zionist madness

The Israeli ethnocracy has officially transformed itself into an apartheid regime. This situation will not change until Israel pays the price for its racism, arrogance and violations of international law. The European Union and its Member States can choose to continue to encourage this systematic policy by turning a blind eye to reality, or they can act to preserve the possibility of a just and lasting peace that guarantees the rights of all: Israelis and Palestinians, Christians, Druze, Muslims and Jews. As Israel's first trading partner, Europe has enough means to stop this extremist Zionist folly encouraged by the Trump administration. We respect European history and values. We look forward to seeing these values ​​at work and experiencing the effects.

Translated from English by Gilles Berton

Ahmad Tibi is a former advisor to the president of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat. He was member of the Palestinian delegation who negotiated the Wye Plantation Agreement in 1998. He resigned in 1999 to run for the Knesset. He is elected on the Arab Union list for the Ta'al party (Arab Movement for Renewal)

Source: © Ahmad Tibi: "Israel is a democracy for the Jews, and a Jewish country for the Arabs"

Réplique aux propos insultants et fallacieux de Ahmad Tibi dans «Le Monde» added by RichardA on 3 August 2018
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