Curbing Israel's reign of terror

The video clip says it all. A wild-eyed white middle-aged man hurls racist abuse across the room. His Arab target attempts to reply. He is shouted down. As the clip ends, the slogan appears. "No loyalty - no citizenship. Only Lieberman understands Arabic."

Unbelievably, the setting for this one-sided exchange was the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. The clip was part of far-rightwinger Avigdor Lieberman's election campaign. And it worked.

Running on a ticket of openly racist policies including the forced transfer of Arabs to "solve" the Jewish state's so-called "demographic problem," Lieberman's Yisrael Beteinu gained around 12 per cent of the vote and did enough within Israel's electoral system to muscle in on post-election coalition-building.

Lieberman is now deputy prime minister and foreign minister in Ehud Barak's government.

The rabid video image of Israel's leading far-right figure couldn't stand in starker contrast to Aymen Odeh. This articulate and softly spoken man in his mid-thirties is the general secretary of a party which could fairly claim to be the direct opposite of everything that Lieberman stands for.

The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) is unique in being the only non-zionist Arab-Jewish party with seats in the Knesset.

While this coalition, which includes the Communist Party of Israel, may only have four members in the 120-strong chamber, it frequently represents the main voice of dissent amid increasingly open racial discrimination by legislators.

Speaking over a cup of tea in London, Odeh describes Lieberman as the "godfather" of population transfer and the natural inheritor of far-right rabbi Meir Kahane, a former Israeli MP whose Kach party - of which Lieberman was once a young member - was banned for its racist ideology.

One book by Kahane, They Must Go, begins by asking: "How long can Israel survive its malignant and growing Arab population?"

But while Kahane's speeches in the Knesset used to spark walkouts, the far-right Lieberman now struts the world stage as foreign minister.

And Odeh believes it would be a mistake merely to label the foreign minister as a racist.

"Lieberman is a fascist not just because he is anti-Arab but because he hopes to apply fascist ideology to Israeli society itself," says Odeh. "His whole thinking is fascist."

The key to Lieberman's rise to power has been his relentless vilification of the "enemy within." And this agenda has been aided and abetted by the political establishment.

In January, the only two Arab parties in the Knesset aside from the Jewish-Arab Hadash party were banned from contesting February elections by the parliamentary central elections committee following a request by Lieberman's Yisrael Beteinu party. It had labelled them supporters of terrorism and enemies of the state of Israel. It took a supreme court judgement to overturn the ruling days before the poll.

Then a proposal by Yisrael Beteinu to outlaw commemorations of the 1948 Nakba - the forced expulsion of thousands of Arabs from their land to make way for the creation of a Jewish state - was approved by the cabinet in May. Those breaching the ban would have faced three months imprisonment.

The plan prompted Israeli Civil Rights Association chairman Sammy Michael to warn: "For the past year we have witnessed a worrying deterioration in Israel of the right to expression and other democratic rights.

"Commemoration of the Nakba does not threaten Israel at all. It is a legitimate expression of the feelings of individuals and an entire people."

The initial motion was rejected following a public outcry but the plan was presented again last month in a "watered down" form that would ban public money - including in Arab communities - being spent on Nakba commemorations.

The rise of Yisrael Beteinu has coincided with spiralling unemployment, budget cuts and an ongoing economic crisis.

"The economic crisis has made it easier for them," says Odeh. "The tactic they've adopted is to stir up hate against minorities and ethnic groups - complaining that they're claiming benefits and depicting them as lazy. It's mainly directed at Arabs. Lieberman is playing on his Russian roots too, exploiting a tribalist mentality."

But while Odeh, like his party, is quick to warn of the nature of the threat posed by Lieberman, he nevertheless remains positive that the message of social and racial equality, peace and environmentalism that Hadash promotes can gain ground.

"Voters have become increasingly alienated from zionist parties," he says. "And liberal and left zionist groups no longer present a convincing alternative - they supported war in Gaza and in Lebanon.

"At the elections the front became the focal point for all marginalised groups - not just Arab voters but Jewish voters too," says Odeh.

Hadash gained 112,000 votes or 3.3 per cent of the vote, increasing its Jewish vote by several thousand - enough to boost its representation in parliament from three to four.

And Hadash has also been forging links with other left-wing political forces, with the most spectacular collaboration in the Tel Aviv mayoral elections earlier this year.

Hadash Knesset member Dov Khenin, a Jewish environmentalist, was selected by the City For All coalition as its candidate. It marked a new stage of co-operation that brought together established political groups and a host of grass-roots activists for the first time.

While the wealthy establishment incumbent Ron Huldai ran out as the eventual winner, Khenin received 36 per cent of the vote. Among under-30s it was nearer 70 per cent, says Odeh.

"In the past, we never thought of contesting the Tel Aviv mayoralty," he adds. "The result opened the door to look to broaden the alliance."

With fascists in the government, a militarised society and an established and growing underclass, it couldn't come soon enough.

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