Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Targeted Arson

Reuven Moskovitz | 26.07.2006 12:13 | Anti-militarism | World

The dominant policy only knows the language of violence. Whoever tries solving problems with violence only produces more violence.. A world that tolerates what happens with us is broken and blinded.. A war against terror is not waged. This is a war against a whole people.

“TARGETED ARSON’

Israeli Historian Denounces Israeli Military Offensive

Interview with Reuven Moskovitz

[This Israeli historian, recipient of the 2003 Aachen peace prize and one of the founders of the “Neve Shalom” peace village, Reuven Moskovitz criticizes the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon. The following excerpts from a July 15 interview on German radio (Deutschlandfunke) are translated from the German on the World Wide Web,  http://www.zeit-fragen.ch/index.php?id=917&type=98.]


Q: Israel speaks of defense. The Lebanese government sees itself as a victim of an aggression. For the people, it is a catastrophe. In northern Israel, Israelis seek protective bunkers out of fear of the rockets of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. In Lebanon, most of the victims are civilians. Panic broke out in one hospital after an Israeli rocket landed nearby. Fear of a new war grows in the Middle East. How can this war be stopped or prevented?

On the telephone is Reuven Moskovitz, a member of the Israeli peace movement who was awarded the 2003 Aachen peace prize and is now in Germany. […] The Israeli government says: We are only defending the land. We have withdrawn from Gaza. We have withdrawn from southern Lebanon. As gratitude, we are pounded with the rockets of Hezbollah. What do you say to this argument?

Moskovitz: I must honestly say this is a colossal lie concerning Israeli policy. […] We are not defending [today]. […] We are waging an aggressive war that can only lead us to ruin. […] The dominant policy only knows the language of violence. Whoever tries solving problems with viole3nce only produces more violence. […]

I have letters from Hannah Arendt from 1955. At that time, she, Hannah Arendt, even speaks of the Germanization of Israeli policy. […] I am a moderate person; I am not a radical. I am peaceable. I try to solve problems with peace alone. But people think I am radical be3cause I dare to say the truth. 32 years ago I came to Germany to show there are similarities between German and Jewish history. My book is titled “Germans and Jews between Power of the Spirit and Powerlessness of Violence.” In Germany, Goethe, Mozart, Lessing and all the great minds relied on the power of the spirit. Then people were tempted with power and ruined Germany.

Q: The German chancellor first backed Israel when US president George Bush visited Stralsund. Israel defends herself. The attack came from Hezbollah, from others. What do you expect from Germans?

Moskovitz: A world that tolerates what happens with us is broken and blinded. Israel’s aggression or collective punishment is an absolutely excessive reaction. In Germany we have kidnapped sheiks and others who then sat in prisons from 16 years. We did this because we were always the victims. I am against kidnappings, war and violence. We must not whip up a horrific war in response to a minor thing. I have great respect for ms. Merkel. I shed a few tears for her because she lived behind the wall. I was glad when she was freed. But today she embraces the arsonist of Iraq, the man who set Iraq on fire. A few months ago, she was embraced by Ehud Olmert who now sets this fire. This is a targeted arson, not a moderate reaction to the kidnapping of one or two soldiers.

Q: In Israel and elsewhere, the argument is made, Mr. Moskovitz, that the Palestinians elected Hamas as their government after Israel withdrew again from Gaza and southern Lebanon. Are you disappointed with the Palestinian side?

Moskovitz: Yes, that is a long history that cannot be co0mpressed in a few minutes… Most Palestinians did not vote for Hamas. Hamas is also our enemy. Peace is only made with enemies. Whoever wants peace must be ready to speak with enemies. When one says “I don’t speak with enemies,” this means “We don’t want peace.” […]

We must be ready to speak with everyone open for coexistence between a Jewish state and a Palestinian state.

Q: You have tried to promote coexistence and reconciliation for a long time and founded a peace village, Neve Shalom, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the 1970s. Israelis and Palestinians lived together in the 1970s. How is life together functioning now?

Moskovitz: Life together is a reality. Even in strained situations, stones are not thrown at others. Jewish voters elected an Arab mayor for Neve Shalom and so on. […] This is a hopeful model. However such models in war situations are obviously only drops on a hot stone. The situation must be resolved politically. I must say, I grieve that the supposedly civilized and democratic world silently allows this to happen. This is not a war against terror but a war against a whole people. The most vulnerable people of history, the Jewish people, are endangered. An outcry is long overdue in Germany. But Germany hides behind its guilt feelings. This is disastrous. An overzealous friend can be more dangerous than an enemy. One can protect oneself from enemies. I don’t know what to do with such friends.

Reuven Moskovitz
- e-mail: mbatko@lycos.com
- Homepage: http://www.mbtranslations.com

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech