Israel’s New Justice Minister Expressed Hatred Against All Palestinians

Eric Zuesse

A few days ago, on May 14th, Ms. Ayelet Shaked (pictured here), who has no training in the law, took office as the new Minister of Justice in Israel, after having been appointed to this high post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 6th. 

Among other things, the Ministry of Justice’s responsibilities include legal advice and legislation, the Office of the State Attorney, Civilian Legal Aid, and the Public Defender. The Minister of Justice has considerable discretionary authority, especially because, unlike most nations, Israel has no written constitution. (Orthodox Jews wanted it to be the Torah, so instead there is no constitution at all.)

On 1 July 2014, Ms. Shaked posted an article to facebook, with the following in it, arguing why all Palestinians, including all who live in Israel (she made no distinction as to where a “Palestinian” lives), are members of “the Palestinian people” and that “the Palestinian people” are enemies of the State of Israel, and must therefore be destroyed. In her own words (as Bing autotranslated and accepted by her):

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[She concurs with, and then she expands upon, the statement by a former Netanyahu official, that] ‘The Palestinian people has declared war on us, and we need to fight back.’ … This is a war between the two Nations. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. … All the Palestinian people is the enemy. All war is between two peoples. … It is impossible not to harm the citizens of the enemy. … The war has to be correct in principle, not just politically, [like] what America did in Afghanistan, including bombs of populated localities, including the creation of refugees of hundreds of thousands of people who fled the fighting. … Enemy soldiers are hiding within the population, and only because of the [public’s] support they can fight. … All the enemy fighters and bleeding in the head. It’s also the mothers of the martyrs, that send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They need to follow them [to die], there’s nothing in it. They need to go [be destroyed], and the physical House [in] which they raised the snake. Other small snakes grow more [if the whole family isn’t destroyed]. … The two houses [both generations] need to [be] bomb[ed] from the air, to destroy and to kill. And we have to explain that from now on every home of a martyr [will be destroyed]. There is nothing right and probably not even that useful [achieved by not bombing]. Each bomber should have known he was taking with him both his parents and his home and neighbors. All UM Jihad hero that sends her son to hell needs to know that she’s going with him. Along with the House and all that. The list cannot be focused. That’s war.

——

Subsequently, in interviews after her facebook posting became controversial, she has denied that she meant that every Palestinian is at war against Israel. However, instead of her defending what she had written at that facebook posting, she simply removed it altogether. Fortunately, however, I had directly copied the original before it was removed; and all of that original Hebrew, plus a translation that she provided there along with it, which was an auto-translation by Bing, and which is especially valuable here since there can be no prejudices in an autotranslation. Her accepted translation will be followed by one provided anonymously at a different website, that of GWU law professor Jonathan Turley, and which is a bit clearer at a few points. But first here, the above highlights from the autotranslation have already been given, since this sequence of highlights presents the core of her argument. That was done in order to facilitate the reader’s quicker comprehension of the full versions, which might otherwise appear to be so mush-headed as to seem shocking for the sheer stupidity of her essay. It was almost incoherent. (Some people refer to her as “Israel’s Sarah Palin.”) But she has risen to be Israel’s equivalent of America’s Attorney General. And Israel is ‘America’s ally.’ (Polls do show that Americans overwhelmingly support Israel’s Jews against Palestinians.)

Here, then, is her complete statement, first as it was posted to facebook, in Hebrew (subsequently withdrawn by her because of its having become the focus of controversy); and, then, as it was autotranslated by Bing and accepted by her; and, then, finally, as translated by some anonymous person at the site of GWU professor Jonathan Turley. The passages that were just given, above, of excerpts, are among the portions from the autotranslation that I have highlighted below by boldfacing:

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https://www.facebook.com/ayelet.benshaul.shaked/posts/596568183794945

איילת שקד

July 1 2014 at 2:59am ·

מאמר של אורי אליצור זל שנגנז, נכתב לפני 12 שנה :

העם הפלשתיני הכריז עלינו מלחמה, ואנחנו צריכים להשיב מלחמה.

לא מבצע, ולא מתגלגל, ולא עצימות נמוכה, ולא הסלמה מבוקרת, ולא הריסת תשתיות הטרור, ולא סיכול ממוקד. מספיק להמציא כינויים עמומים. זו מלחמה. יש משמעות למילים. זו מלחמה. ולא מלחמה בטרור, ולא מלחמה בקיצוניים, ואפילו לא מלחמה נגד הרשות הפלשתינית. גם אלה צורות של התחמקות מהמציאות. זו מלחמה בין שני עמים. מי האוייב? העם הפלשתיני. למה? תשאלו אותו, הוא התחיל.

אני לא יודע למה כל כך קשה לנו להגדיר את המציאות במילים הפשוטות שהשפה העמידה לרשותנו. למה צריך להמציא כל שבועיים שם חדש למלחמה הזאת , ורק לא לקרוא לה בשמה. מה כל כך מזעזע בהבנה שהעם הפלשתיני כולו הוא האוייב. כל מלחמה היא בין שני עמים, ובכל מלחמה העם שפתח במלחמה, כולו, הוא האוייב. הכרזת מלחמה איננה פשע מלחמה. בוודאי לא השבת מלחמה. ולא שימוש במילהמלחמה“, ולא הגדרה ברורה של האוייב. להיפך. מוסר המלחמה (ויש דבר כזה) מבוסס על ההנחה שיש מלחמות בעולם, ומלחמה איננה מצב רגיל, ובמלחמות בדרך כלל האוייב הוא עם שלם, על זקניו ונשיו, עריו וכפריו, רכושו ותשתיותיו.

ומוסר המלחמה יודע שאי אפשר שלא לפגוע באזרחי האוייב. הוא לא מגנה את חיל האוויר הבריטי שהפציץ והרס לחלוטין את דרזדן הגרמנית, ואת מטוסי ארהב שהרסו את ערי פולין והחריבו את מחצית בודפשט, מקומות שתושביהם האומללים מעולם לא עשו רעה לאמריקה, אבל צריך היה להרוס אותם כדי לנצח במלחמה נגד הרשע. מוסר המלחמה לא קורא להעמיד לדין את רוסיה שמפציצה והורסת עיירות ושכונות בצצניה. הוא לא מוקיע את כוחות השלום של האום על הרג של מאות אזרחים באנגולה, ולא את כוח נאטו שהפציץ את בלגרד של מילושביץ, עיר מיליון אזרחים, זקנים ותינוקות נשים וילדים. מוסר המלחמה מקבל כנכון עקרונית, ולא רק פוליטית, את מה שעשתה אמריקה באפגניסטן, כולל הפצצות מסיביות של יישובים מאוכלסים, כולל יצירת תנועת פליטים של מאות אלפי בני אדם שנמלטו מאימת המלחמה, ולאלפים מהם לא נשאר בית לשוב אליו.

ובמלחמה שלנו זה נכון שבעתיים, כי חיילי האוייב מסתתרים בתוך האוכלוסיה ורק בגלל תמיכתה הם יכולים להלחם. מאחורי כל מחבל עומדים עשרות אנשים ונשים, שבלעדיהם הוא לא היה יכול לחבל. משתתפים בלחימה המסיתים במסגדים, כותבי תוכניות הלימודים הרצחניות, נותני המחסה, מספקי הרכב, וכל מעניקי הכבוד והתמיכה המורלית. כולם לוחמי האוייב וכולם דמם בראשם. עכשיו זה כבר כולל גם את האמהות של השאהידים, ששולחות אותם לגיהינום בפרחים ונשיקות. הן צריכות ללכת בעקבות בניהן, אין דבר צודק מזה. הן צריכות ללכת, וגם הבית הפיזי שבו הן גידלו את הנחש. אחרת יגדלו שם נחשים קטנים נוספים.

השבוע יש חגיגות אבל וכבוד בשני בתים של שני רוצחים נתעבים. אני מניח שפתחו שם סוכות אבלים, וכל נכבדי העיר באים לתת כבוד לאימא ולאבא שגידלו את השטן. את שני הבתים האלה צריך להפציץ מן האוויר, על מנת להרוס ועל מנת להרוג. וצריך להודיע שכך נעשה מכאן ואילך לכל בית של כל שאהיד. אין דבר צודק מזה, וכנראה שאין גם דבר יעיל מזה. כל מתאבד צריך לדעת שהוא לוקח איתו גם את ההורים שלו ואת הבית שלו וחלק מהשכנים. כל אוםגיהאד גיבורה ששולחת את הבן שלה לגיהינום צריכה לדעת שהיא הולכת איתו. יחד עם הבית וכל אשר בו.

הסיכול לא יכול להיות ממוקד. ככה זה במלחמות. מה שממוקד לא מסכל ומה שמסכל לא ממוקד. לא אנחנו פתחנו במלחמה הניבזית הזאת ולא אנחנו יכולים לסיים אותה. המפתחות להפס

קת אש בידיים של בני העם הפלשתיני. אנחנו יכולים רק לחרוך להם את האצבעות עד שירצו להשתמש בהם“.

[on her own site, as autotranslated directly from the Hebrew, by bing at http://www.bing.com/translator/ and accepted by her, as constituting an adequate translation:]

An article by URI elitzur [Uri Elitzur [[died 22 May 2014]] who was Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau chief during the his first tenure as prime minister. Elitzur, a resident of Ofrah, was the deputy editor of the popular Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon.], a shelved late written 12 years ago. [She added here to the bing version the sentence “Relevant today as it was then.”]

                  “the Palestinian people has declared war on us, and we need to fight back.”

                  No operation, no rolling, and low intensity and controlled escalation, rather than destroying the terrorist infrastructure, and Israeli targeted killings. Enough to Dim up the names. This is a war. Words have meaning. This is a war. Rather than counter-terrorism and war on extremists, and not even a war against the Palestinian Authority. Both these forms of evasion from reality. This is a war between the two Nations. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? You ask him, he started.

                  I don’t know why is it so hard for us to set the simple words in the language to put at our disposal. Why do we have to invent every two weeks a new name for this war, and not to call her by name. What’s so shocking in understanding that all the Palestinian people is the enemy. All war is between two peoples and the people who launched war on war, in its entirety, is the enemy. Declaration of war is not a war crime. Certainly not a war. Rather than using the word “war” and a clear definition of the enemy. Vice versa. Morality of war (and this) is based on the assumption that the world wars, and war is not normal, and usually fights with the enemy who disobeys the orders of his elders and pay its way, and its fruit, and tshtiotav property.

                  And morality of war know it is impossible not to harm the citizens of the enemy. He condemns the British air force bombed and destroyed completely the German Dresden and u.s. jets destroyed the cities of Poland and ravaged half of Budapest residents, miserable places that never were bad for America, but had to destroy them in order to win the war against evil. Morality of war don’t read prosecute Russia explosion and destroys the towns and neighborhoods in Chile. He denounced the peace forces or killed hundreds of civilians in Angola, and the NATO bombing of Belgrade, Milosevic’s City million Iranians, old men and women and infant children. The war has to be correct in principle, not just politically, what America did in Afghanistan, including bombs of populated localities, including the creation of refugees of hundreds of thousands of people who fled the fighting, and thousands of them left home to return to.

                  And it’s true that our battle is that enemy soldiers are hiding within the population, and only because of the support they can fight. Behind a dozen men and women, standing, without which he could not have been too bad. Participants in the programs in mosques, authors of the murderous plans, sponsors, suppliers, car shelter, and give due respect and support morlit. All the enemy fighters and bleeding in the head. It’s also the mothers of the martyrs, that send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They need to follow them, there’s nothing in it. They need to go, and the physical House which they raised the snake. Other small snakes grow more.

                  But the week’s festivities and respect both houses of two murderers vile. I guess they where mourning tents, and the city come to pay my respects to my mom and dad raised the devil. The two houses need to bomb from the air, to destroy and to kill. And we have to explain that from now on every home of a martyr. There is nothing right and probably not even that useful. Each bomber should have known he was taking with him both his parents and his home and neighbors. All UM Jihad hero that sends her son to hell needs to know that she’s going with him. Along with the House and all that.

                  The list cannot be focused. That’s war. What is thwart focused preventive and unfocused. We opened this naughty war we could not finish it. The key to a ceasefire in the hands of the Palestinian people. We can only burn their fingers until you want to use them. “(Translated by Bing)

http://jonathanturley.org/2014/07/17/they-have-to-die-israeli-politicians-comments-calling-for-killing-of-mothers-of-palestinians-trigger-international-backlash/

Here is what has been posted as a full translation of Shaked’s statement:

                  The Palestinian people has declared war on us, and we must respond with war. Not an operation, not a slow-moving one, not low-intensity, not controlled escalation, no destruction of terror infrastructure, no targeted killings. Enough with the oblique references. This is a war. Words have meanings. This is a war. It is not a war against terror, and not a war against extremists, and not even a war against the Palestinian Authority. These too are forms of avoiding reality. This is a war between two people. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? Ask them, they started.

                  I don’t know why it’s so hard for us to define reality with the simple words that language puts at our disposal. Why do we have to make up a new name for the war every other week, just to avoid calling it by its name. What’s so horrifying about understanding that the entire Palestinian people is the enemy? Every war is between two peoples, and in every war the people who started the war, that whole people, is the enemy. A declaration of war is not a war crime. Responding with war certainly is not. Nor is the use of the word “war”, nor a clear definition who the enemy is. Au contraire: the morality of war (yes, there is such a thing) is founded on the assumption that there are wars in this world, and that war is not the normal state of things, and that in wars the enemy is usually an entire people, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.

                  And the morality of war knows that it is not possible to refrain from hurting enemy civilians. It does not condemn the British air force, which bombed and totally destroyed the German city of Dresden, or the US planes that destroyed the cities of Poland and wrecked half of Budapest, places whose wretched residents had never done a thing to America, but which had to be destroyed in order to win the war against evil. The morals of war do not require that Russia be brought to trial, though it bombs and destroys towns and neighborhoods in Chechnya. It does not denounce the UN Peacekeeping Forces for killing hundreds of civilians in Angola, nor the NATO forces who bombed Milosevic’s Belgrade, a city with a million civilians, elderly, babies, women, and children. The morals of war accept as correct in principle, not only politically, [like] what America has done in Afghanistan, including the massive bombing of populated places, including the creation of a refugee stream of hundreds of thousands of people who escaped the horrors of war, for thousands of whom there is no home to return to.

                  And in our war this is sevenfold more correct, because the enemy soldiers hide out among the population, and it is only through its support that they can fight. Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. Actors in the war are those who incite in mosques, who write the murderous curricula for schools, who give shelter, who provide vehicles, and all those who honor and give them their moral support. They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.

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CLOSING OBSERVATIONS, by Eric Zuesse: To anyone who has studied the writings of Adolf Hitler, as I have, the similarity between the way that he viewed “Jews” (which he clearly defined), and the way that she views “Palestinians” (which she does not clearly define), is remarkable, even down to the usage of the concept “snakes” and the intense focus upon heredity as determining whom the “snakes” are, and what they are like — their supposed hereditary evil nature. That’s what racism is. And so the fact that a person like this can become the Minister of Justice in something that calls itself “the Jewish State” doesn’t reflect much intelligence among the supporters of whatever that is. But even bigger than this sheer intellectual failure is the stunning moral failure. And yet Americans support this, as if today’s Israelis are to be compared to the Jews that Hitler tried to destroy, instead of (though far more internally conflicted about themselves than Germans were about themselves during at least the first years of Hitler’s reign) to the Nazis who tried to destroy the Jews during that earlier time. Is this like Daniel Goldhagen’s attribution of collective guilt to “the Germans”? But Palestinians didn’t do the Holocaust. Must everything be personal, and hereditary, or “nationalistic”? Hereditary guilt, or else hereditary privilege? But is there really any such thing? Or are virtue and vice instead attributes attachable only to individuals, and only on the basis of what they have, in fact, done, and not done? If that’s the case, then “a good people” and “a bad people” are invalid attributions. Such generalizations are only stupidities, which, moreover, become outright moral failings whenever they are instituted into a nation’s laws and thus imposed to punish “a bad people,” and to grant privilege to “a good people.” Cannot individuals see at least a bit beyond their merely personal prejudices? Or is that asking too much of the human intellect, and of individuals’ characters? Whatever it is, extends to Americans if Americans are making it possible in this case — if it could not exist without American support. However, not only the American Government supports it, but a majority of the American people also do. What Ayelet Shaked will be doing as Israel’s Minister of Justice will thus be a reflection of the American Government, and of a majority of the American people, and not merely of the Israeli Government, and of a majority of the Israeli people. Ayelet Shaked is an American news story, and not merely an Israeli one.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity, and of  Feudalism, Fascism, Libertarianism and Economics.