This is why Jackie Mason wanted him off the bill
http://www.hanania.com/columns/dh07192.htm
Israel's policy of assassination undermines peace and violates Democracy
Posted on Friday, July 19, 2002
Government regimes that have their own crimes to hide, often circumvent the Rule of Law in pursuing their opponents. Israel's current government is no exception.
In the past two years, the Israeli Government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has targeted and murdered more than 76 Palestinian political leaders.
The Israelis obviously don't like to refer to these murders as assassination. Instead, they use clever public relations spin to rename it as "extra-judicial" killing. The idea that you can murder someone outside of the judicial process is ludicrous, but has been used by other tyrannical governments in past history.
Evidence and judicial review, which are fundamentals of Democracy, are absent from this practice. None of the victims were engaged in active attacks against Israeli targets. They were merely accused by Israel of such conduct.
Never required to prove its case against the victims, Israel simply commits the crime and then releases a press statement calling the victims either "terrorists" or suspected terrorist planners.
If Israel even had a hint of evidence proving these assertions they have never made them public. I suspect the evidence doesn't exist and is driven by politics.
We're required to just take Israel's word on this, a country that has a history of seizing lands from Christians and Muslims, and putting Christians and Muslims in jail for their political views and their activism.
Worse, in a majority of these assassinations, or murder, Israeli forces have also killed civilians who were not guilty of crimes. These victims include aides to the targeted victims, political allies, and in many more cases, innocent bystanders including women and children. In one instance, a mother and her three children were killed. In others, people were murdered who were victims of mistaken identity.
The policy of "extra-judicial" killings, or murder, is only one part of Israel's crimes against the civilian population it has occupied since 1948. Israel also applies a technique used by the former apartheid regime of South Africa called "Collective Punishment." This was something that African Americans experienced even here in the United States during the turn of the century and through the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s.
Under the policy of "Collective Punishment, " the Israelis don't just hold that person responsible for alleged crimes. Instead, they also punish everyone related to or acquainted with the "suspect." The homes of relatives are destroyed and their land is seized by the government. Many of the family members and friends of the suspect are arrested, jailed and tortured.
Certainly, Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism. But so do the Christian and Muslims of Palestine who are the targets of these illegal policies.
You can see how easily Israel's policies help escalate the violence rather than bring it to an end.
In fact, while the Israelis often cite the murder of Israeli cabinet member Rahavim Ze'evy, they fail to note that his murder was the result of retaliation. Ze'evy was a fanatic, right-wing extremist who urged the expulsion of Christians and Muslims not only from Israel but from the lands occupied in 1967,
Weeks prior to Ze'evy's murder, Israel "assassinated" Abu Ali Mustafa, a political leader for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The alternative would have been to arrest and charge Mustafa with a crime.
In response, Mustafa's followers assassinated Ze'evy.
Ze'evy's assassination led to a dramatic escalation of the conflict and was used by Sharon to justify imposing harsher measures. He used an incident he provoked to justify more violence.
Israel uses assassination and collective punishment to achieve several other goals besides fighting terrorism.
Israel seeks to undermine the Palestinian political leadership, and to confiscate lands that belong to Christian and Muslim Palestinians. Land confiscation has been going on since Israel was established in 1948.
Israelis love to describe themselves as the victims of terrorism. But the truth is they are often the terrorist themselves.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian American author, writer and humorist. His columns are archived on www.hanania.com. He can be reached by email at rayhanania@aol.com)
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[NOTE TO EDITORS: Ray Hanania is former National President of the Palestinian American Congress, an award winning former journalist, an author, humorist and writer based in Chicago. His bio, past columns, and information on no-cost syndication is available on his web page at www.hanania.com. You can reach him via email at rayhanania@aol.com or by telephone at 312-755-3568. This column is published in the Arlington Heights Daily Herald Newspaper. Hanania is the only Palestinian Arab American with a weekly column published in a daily American newspaper.]