Gambling with Conflict: How a neocon casino king from California funds the Israeli settler movement

Max Blumenthal | Mondoweiss

2 June 2009

The Israeli government has repeatedly announced plans to forge ahead with plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank in direct opposition to President Barack Obama’s demand for an absolute settlement freeze. On May 27, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leveled strong criticism at Israeli policy, telling reporters that President Barack Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements – not some settlements, not outposts, not ‘natural growth’ exceptions.” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev responded by declaring that “normal life” in the settlements would continue, using a phrase that is code for continued construction.

With neither side exhibiting willingness to back down, the stage is set for a contentious clash between Israel and the U.S. over settlement policy. At the center of the maelstrom is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the hawkish Likud Party, who has highlighted his unique understanding of the United States – he is Yale educated and speaks flawless English. Supporters of the settlement movement are an integral part of his governing coalition. How Netanyahu navigates between his far-right constituency and increasingly insistent demands from Obama will not only determine the fate of his government, but also the fate of Israel’s “special relationship” with Washington.

A gathering of the settlement movement’s leading figures in Jerusalem on May 22, documented in this exclusive Mondoweiss report, revealed the unprecedented influence of the settlers on Israeli policy. The event, a ceremony for the presentation of the Moskowitz Foundation Prize for Zionism, was organized and bankrolled by one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants and backers, the American casino tycoon Irving Moskowitz. For over a decade, Moskowitz has funneled millions in profits from his California-based Hawaiian Gardens casino, where he has been sued for exploiting undocumented workers, into settlement construction projects in the West Bank, including Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. He has also funded several neoconservative think tanks including a research center named after Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan, who was killed while leading the Entebbe rescue raid in 1976. Moskowitz and Netanyahu have remained close since he established the center.

In 1996, Moskowitz convinced Netanyahu, in his first round as prime minister, to open a tunnel adjacent to the Temple Mount, a controversial act that led to several days of rioting and 70 deaths. Four years later, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the tunnel set off the so-called Al-Aqsa uprising, the opening salvo of the Second Intifada. Now, Moskowitz’s imprint on the West Bank’s landscape is most clearly reflected in the expansion of the settlement called Kiryat Arba, a hotbed of Orthodox Jewish radicalism located high above the occupied city of Hebron.

Kiryat Arba founder Noam Arnon is the recipient of the 2009 Moskowitz Prize, an honor that included $50,000 in cash. After receiving his prize before a cheering crowd of two thousand settlers, Arnon complained to me, “We think that somehow the Arabs have taken over the international media and the international mood, and they convinced the world to believe that there is a Palestinian people and these people deserve to have a Palestinian state — which is totally untrue.”

Despite the fanaticism of Arnon and his followers, who routinely rampage through Hebron, vandalizing Palestinian homes and attacking local residents (often under the watch of the Israeli army), they are not isolated as a rogue element in Netanyahu’s political world. Indeed, several of notables stood on stage to present Arnon with his prize. They included Professor Moshe Aumann, who won the Nobel Prize in 2005 for his work on understanding conflict through game theory, and Uzi Landau, the Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure. (Landau’s party, Yisrael Beiteynu, has introduced bills that would compel Arab citizens of Israel to take loyalty oaths and which would criminalize open discussion of what the Palestinians call “Nakbah,” or “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding). Also in attendance was Benny Begin, a leading Likud member of Knesset and the son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the first Likud prime minister.

After the ceremony, Landau mingled easily with settlement leaders, who beseeched him for support. Though Landau’s bodyguard attempted to prevent journalists from approaching him, my journalistic colleague Jesse Rosenfeld managed to ask him about Obama’s call for freeze on settlement construction. Visibly irritated by the mention of Obama’s demand, Landau issued an unequivocal statement. “Those who say, or are trying to suggest that Arabs can build anywhere and everywhere, and Jews can’t –it’s something that should be totally rejected.”

Since arriving in Israel, I have observed the battle over settlement expansion from an on-the-ground perspective. On May 16, I traveled with the Israeli peace group Ta’ayush to Hilltop 26, an illegal hilltop outpost constructed by settlers from Kiryat Arba – not an aspect of “natural growth.” Four angry settler youths confronted us upon our arrival; within minutes, a squadron of Israeli border police officers, soldiers and a Kiryat Arba security team were on the scene. The army swiftly issued a “closed military zone order,” ordering us to leave within five minutes or be arrested. While the soldiers initially allowed the settler youth to stay, the presence of international media apparently prompted them to briefly remove the teenagers while allowing their outpost to remain – an act that underscored the army’s collaboration with settlers to stifle the activities of peace groups. (See the confrontation in my exclusive Daily Beast video report here.)

On May 25, Ta’ayush member Joseph Dana detailed to me the continued development of Hilltop 26. Since I visited the outpost, Kiryat Arba settlers had wired it with electricity and established a security perimeter. Two days before, Dana and two other Ta’ayush activists were arrested by Israeli army officers for returning to the area to document conditions and not leaving rapidly enough. After interrogating the activists in Kiryat Arba police stations – “Why are you always creating chaos here?” Dana said the army commander angrily asked him – the commander ignored two calls from left-wing members of Knesset for the activists’ immediate release. In the end, Dana and his colleagues were released under the condition that they not return to the West Bank for two months.

Two days after I listened to Dana’s story, he called me with unexpected news: the army had dismantled Hilltop 26. Netanyahu had issued a list of 26 illegal outposts he planned to demolish — an unsuccessful tactic to mollify the Obama administration — but Hilltop 26 was not among them. Dana attributed the sudden demolition to intense coverage of the controversy, particularly my video for the Daily Beast and an editorial he authored for the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. “It seems like the government was so embarrassed by all the media coverage, and even though they tried to prevent us from even going to Hilltop 26 to document what was happening there, they decided they had to take action,” Dana told me.

The demolition, however, has sparked a furious backlash from the fanatics of Kiryat Arba. According to Dana, the settlers have initiated a new round of violence inside Hebron – already, an elderly Palestinian man has been beaten. And while the settlers hatched plans to rebuild the outpost, the following call for retribution appeared on a Kiryat Arba web forum: “The destruction of outposts and their surrender is the first step in the bigger scheme… we will not be silent any longer! We will not silently abided by false declarations, promises and temptations… Bribes blind the eyes of the righteous. We will stop the cleansing at the source.” The battle over Hilltop 26 appears to be just beginning. So does the struggle between Obama and Netanyahu.

Health Day for Gazan fishermen

ISM Gaza | Fishing Under Fire

3 June 2009

The Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, has organized a day of free medical treatment for the Gazan fishermen at the offices of the Tawfiq Cooperative of Fishermen – Gaza Strip. The Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) provided the doctors, nurses and the medicines.

The situation of Palestinian fishermen is critical because of the siege imposed by Israel and Egypt. According to the Oslo accords the Palestinian fishermen were allowed to fish up to 20 n. miles from the coast, but these limits were gradually reduced by the Israeli Navy to 12, then 6 and now after the recent massacres, to 3 n. miles. In fact the Palestinian fishermen are facing attacks by the Israeli Navy even a few meters from the coast. Since the declaration of the “ceasefire” there has been at least 5 fishermen wounded in the sea, 5 more reportedly injured on the shore, 40 abductions of fishermen, 17 “confiscations” of fishing boats, dozens of fishing boats damaged, fishing equipment stolen, lost during the attacks, or damaged. So practically the Palestinian fishermen are not allowed to practice their profession. In the meantime the price of fuel is getting higher every day, because of the siege. Subsequently the Palestinian fishermen are financially ruined and cannot afford to pay for their health care and have to wait for initiatives like the one organized by the Palestinian International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza and the UPMRC. `

Soldier who killed UK peace activist deemed ineligible for parole

Hanan Greenberg | YNet News

2 June 2009

Israel Defense Forces soldier Taysir Hayb, who was convicted of the manslaughter of British peace activist Tom Hurndall in Gaza in 2003, will remain in jail despite having served two-thirds of his sentence, which should have made him eligible for parole.

Hurndall was shot in the head during a demonstration in Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Military Prosecution stated Tuesday that it objected to Hayb’s early release for fears it might exacerbate tensions between Israel’s and the UK.

After serving five-and-a-half years of his sentence, Hayb told a committee headed by Jaffa Military Court President Colonel Rachel Tevet-Vizel that “I did not come from a criminal organization; I came from a military background. I am not a criminal and I want to complete my jail term, get engaged and build a home and a future.”

During the hearing Hayb’s attorney, Idan Pesach, presented the rehabilitation regimen his client followed in prison. “The convict has made significant progress,” the lawyer told the committee. “He has undergone a major change in the way he talks and in how he handles different situations. I am certain he will be able to become an upstanding citizen once he’s released.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Sharon Zgagi-Pinchas, for the prosecution, told the committee she was opposed to releasing Hayb at this juncture. “We are talking about a prisoner who opened fire on a peace activist despite being in no danger,” she said, adding that the soldier’s early release may exacerbate tentions between Jerusalem and London.

The committee members determined that Hayb will serve the remainder of his sentence, particularly due to the severity of the offenses he was convicted of. They said they also based the decision on the IDF’s values and moral code, with the purpose of conveying a message to Israeli soldiers regarding “lines that cannot be crossed.”

Palestinian village sends pair to sue Quebec companies

CBC Canada

2 June 2009

Two representatives of a small West Bank Palestinian village will tour Canada this month, as they prepare a lawsuit against two Quebec-based companies for allegedly violating international law by building Israeli settlements on occupied territory.

Mohammed Khatib is a member of the Popular Committee Against the Wall in the town of Bil’in, west of Ramallah. He will hold a news conference on June 4 at Quebec Superior Court, along with Israeli lawyer Emily Schaeffer, who represents Bil’in.

The town’s claim was filed July 9 against sister companies Green Park International and Green Mount International. It also asks the Quebec Superior Court for an injunction to stop further construction and demolish apartment buildings already erected in Moddin Illit, a Jewish settlement northwest of Ramallah.

Bil’in alleges both companies committed war crimes by building housing in the settlement, Israel’s largest in the West Bank. The lawsuit also names Annette Laroche, who is named as the director of both companies.

The apartment buildings are built on land that was part of a Palestinian village until Israel seized the West Bank from Jordanian control in the Six-Day War in 1967.

The village is home to about 1,700 people.

In the lawsuit, the village’s municipal council and chief Ahmed Issa Abdallah Yassin allege Green Park and Green Mount acted as “agents of Israel” by building the housing.

The lawsuit asks the court to rule whether the construction violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians in times of war and occupation; Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act; the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms; and the Civil Code of Quebec.

The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids an occupying power from transferring its own civilians into occupied territory.

In a news release Tuesday, Lynn Worrell, a spokeswoman for the town of Bil’in, said preliminary court proceedings are scheduled to be held in Montreal June 22.

Open letter from Gaza to the government and people of Spain

30 May 2009

We write to you as Palestinians from Gaza to express our dismay at the proposal of the Spanish parliament to restrict the universal jurisdiction of Spain, particularly with regard to breaches of international humanitarian law. The proposal called for the existing legislation to be modified so that cases may only be pursued if they involve Spanish victims or if the accused is present on Spanish soil.

At approximately midnight on 22 July 2002, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet dropped a 2,000 lb bomb on the densely populated Daraj neighborhood of Gaza city. The main target of the attack was the family home of Salah Shehada, Commander of the military wing of Hamas. The bomb killed Shehada and an additional seventeen civilians, including his wife, his daughter, eight children (including a 2-month old baby), two elderly men, and two women. In addition, seventy seven people were injured, eleven houses were completely destroyed and thirty two houses damaged, leaving many families homeless.

The Government of the State of Israel confirmed that it was fully aware that Shehada’s wife and daughter “[w]ere close to him during the implementation of the assassination … and there was no way out of conducting the operation despite their presence1.” The practice of wanton willful killing of civilians exemplified in this extra-judicial assassination is not an isolated incident. It is one instance in an ongoing, comprehensive policy targeting us the civilian Palestinians of the Gaza strip and systematically denying us our rights to movement, work, medical care, study, livelihood and increasingly life itself.

In spite of Israel’s alleged unilateral withdrawal from the Strip, it still maintains a permanent military presence in Gaza’s territorial waters and controls the movement of people and goods onto the strip by land, air or water in addition to movement within the strip through targeting anyone entering the “no go” zone designated by the Israeli military. Israel also continues to control Gaza’s population registry. Yet, Israel claims that it is no longer the occupying power in the Gaza strip and uses this excuse in addition to the results of 2006 democratic election to intensify it’s policy of siege and lethal attacks on us, Gaza’s civilians.

On the 29th of February 2008 Matan Vilnai, Deputy Defense Minister of the State of Israel, threatened us with a bigger Shoah (holocaust) and lived up to his word. During the following Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip conducted in February 2008 dubbed as “Operation Hot Winter” The Israeli Occupation Forces killed 107 Palestinians including 64 children. The European Union, including Spain, not only refrained from taking action against the State of Israel for its policy of systematic mass murder, but announced its intent to upgrade its relations with the State of Israel. This announcement was the green light Israel needed to continue and escalate its policies, resulting in January 2009 assault on besieged Gaza.

The 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, 80 per cent of whom are refugees expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948, were subjected to 22 days of relentless Israeli state terror, whereby Israeli warplanes, in a repeat of what happened at Al-Darraj on 22.July.2002, systematically targeted civilian areas, reducing whole neighborhoods and vital civilian infrastructure to rubble, including several run by the UN, where civilians were taking shelter. International human rights organizations are now calling for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s military assault on Gaza in which the Israeli Occupation Forces killed 1,440 Palestinians of whom 431 were children, and injured 5380.

One ray of hope for us in this time was the decision of Judge Fernando Andreu of the Spanish Audencia Nacional (National Court) to continue the investigation into the events surrounding the al-Daraj bombing of July 2002. We consider this decision a manifestation of Europe’s promise and commitment to the principle of “never again” to stand by in silence while ethnic cleansing is taking place. We have hope that it will serve as a deterrent to other would be war criminals.

If the Spanish parliament’s resolution calling on the government to limit Spain’s universal jurisdiction mechanisms is accepted, it will lead to continued impunity for war criminals and complicity with future war crimes including the ongoing collective punishment and genocide directed against us, the civilian population of the Gaza strip.

Signed by:

-The One Democratic State Group – Gaza
-University Teachers’ Association in Palestine – Gaza
-Palestinian Student’s Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
-Arab Cultural Forum – Gaza
-Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society
-Society Friends for Rehabilitation of Visually Impaired

Spanish translation:

Carta abierta desde Gaza al gobierno y la población de España,

Os escribimos con consternación debido a la propuesta del Congreso de los diputados para restringir vuestra jurisdicción universal. En particular en lo que se refiere a las violaciones del Derecho Internacional Humanitario. La propuesta de modificación pretende conseguir que se actúe solo en casos en los que haya víctimas españolas o los acusados se encuentren en suelo español.

En la medianoche del 22 de Julio de 2002, un caza de combate de la Fuerza Aérea Israelí lanzó una bomba de casi dos toneladas sobre el barrio de Al Daraj, en la ciudad de Gaza. El objetivo principal de dicho ataque era la casa de Salah Sehadeh, Comandante del brazo armado de Hamas. La bomba le asesinó a él, a su guardaespaldas y a 14 civiles, incluyendo a su mujer, ocho niños (uno de ellos era un bebé de dos meses), dos ancianos y dos mujeres. Además alrededor de 150 civiles resultaron heridos, ocho casas fueron destruidas, nueve más resultaron dañadas y otras 21 sufrieron daños considerables, lo que derivó en dejar a decenas de familias sin hogar.

Los oficiales del ejército de ocupación israelí han reconocido que decidieron lanzar la bomba a sabiendas de que Sehadeh se encontraba junto a su mujer y su familia, asesinándola intencionalmente. La decisión de atacar fue tomada asumiendo que al menos 10 civiles morirían junto a él. La práctica de asesinatos selectivos, ejemplificada a través de este caso de ejecución extrajudicial no es de ninguna manera una práctica aislada. Es parte de una política en marcha que señala como objetivo al conjunto de los civiles de Gaza y niega sistemáticamente el derecho a la libertad de movimientos, trabajo, tratamiento medico, estudio, vida digna y, cada vez más, el derecho a la vida en su conjunto.

Pese a la supuesta retirada unilateral israelí de la Franja de Gaza, aún se mantiene una presencia militar constante en sus aguas territoriales, se restringe el movimiento de ciudadanos y bienes desde y hacia la Franja. También existe una zona de no-acceso dentro del territorio, decidida por el ejército israelí. Israel controla el censo de población. Y aún así Israel asegura que no es la potencia ocupante y utiliza esta excusa, junto al resultado de las elecciones de 2006 para mantener su bloqueo y ataque continuado contra nosotros, los civiles de Gaza.
El 29 de Febrero de 2008, Matan Vilnai, Vice-Ministro de Defensa del Estado de Israel nos amenazó con un “holocausto” aún mayor y cumplió su palabra. A lo largo del siguiente ataque militar contra la Franja de Gaza, desarrollado el mismo 2008, bajo la denominación “invierno caliente”, el ejército israelí asesino a 107 palestinos, entre ellos 64 niños. La Unión Europea, incluyendo a España, no solo no movió un dedo contra las actividades de Israel y su política de asesinatos masivos sino que anunció que elevaría sus relaciones con el Estado de Israel. Este anuncio constituyó la luz verde que Israel buscaba para continuar e incrementar su castigo contra Gaza, como pudimos observar los pasados meses de diciembre y enero

El millón y medio de palestinos de la Gaza asediada, el 80% de los cuales son refugiados expulsados de sus hogares por las milicias sionistas en 1948, han sido sometidos a 22 días de terror ininterrumpido en los que los aviones y tanques israelíes repitiendo a escala masiva lo que ya había sucedido en Julio de 2002 en el barrio de Al Darraj. Destruyeron sistemáticamente todo tipo de instalaciones civiles, reduciendo a escombros barrios enteros e incluso instalaciones de la Media Luna Roja y las Naciones Unidas donde miles de civiles buscaban refugio. Diversas organizaciones internacionales investigan la comisión de crímenes de Guerra durante un ataque que ha asesinado a 1440 palestinos, entre los cuales había 431 niños, y ha herido a otros 5380.

La decisión del Juez Andreu, miembro de la Audiencia Nacional, de continuar con la investigación de los hechos alrededor del bombardeo de Al-Darraj en Julio de 2002 era para nosotros un rayo de esperanza. La considerábamos una manifestación europea del “nunca más” al silencio frente a la limpieza étnica. Esperábamos que esto sirviera para evitar que los crímenes de Guerra se repitan y continúen impunes.

Si la resolución del Congreso de los Diputados que le pide al Gobierno que limite la jurisdicción universal se aprueba finalmente, incrementará la impunidad de los criminales de Guerra y cubrirá de complicidad con los crímenes de guerra a quienes la han impulsado y la aprueben

Firmado por:

-Grupo para un Estado único y democrático. Franja de Gaza.
– Asociación de Profesores de Universidad de Palestina. Franja de Gaza.
-Campaña de Estudiantes Universitarios por el Boicot académico al Estado de Israel.
– Forum Cultural árabe – Gaza
– Banco Al-Qud para la cultura y la información.
-Sociedad de rehabilitación de los deficientes visuales de la Franja de Gaza.