The Ghetto Inside

"It is easier to get the Jews out of the ghetto than to get the ghetto out of theJews!" – this dictum of the early Zionists is now assuming a new meaning. Israel is cutting itself offfrom the world and enclosing itself in a ghetto, and not only physically.

In The Hague, the proceedings of the International Court of Justice on the Separation Wallhave started. Sharon's people understand that they have no chance of winning and have decided, therefore, toboycott the session. Instead of arguing their case before the court, they decided to organize a street event,in the spirit of the classic Israeli maxim: "If your case is weak, raise your voice!"

Inside the courtroom, the legal arguments were made. The representatives of Palestine arguedthat the Wall is unlawful, since it is being erected in the middle of the West Bank. According to them, ifIsrael fears suicide bombings, it is entitled to put up such a wall on its border, but not in the heart of theoccupied territory, where it puts the Palestinian population into prison-like enclaves. Nobody contradictedthis argument inside the court.

Outside, Sharon's people organized a colorful spectacle. As a gimmick for the media, theybrought a bombed-out bus over from Israel, complete with experts on the gathering of body parts. Also, dozensof family-members of victims of attacks were brought over. The Israeli embassy distributed the photos of the900 victims, and Jewish students carried them in procession. The message: the Jews are suffering; in Israel,too, they are the victims of pogroms.

Later in the day, the Palestinians organized a counter-spectacle. There, the 3000 Palestinianvictims of the intifada were lamented, as well as the sufferings of the Palestinian population underoccupation. The residents of The Hague were treated to a kind of World Championship for victims. The worldmedia devoted some minutes to the spectacles, evenly divided between the two parties. But, for them, the mainevent was the proceedings inside the courtroom.

In Israel, an entirely different picture was presented. In a style reminiscent of the SovietUnion, the media enlisted as one man in the service of the brain-washing. All TV networks, all radio stations,all newspapers, without exception, took part in this national effort. From early morning to late at night, allTV and radio stations broadcast continuous coverage from The Hague and created the impression that the wholeworld was glued to the Israeli street spectacle.

The court proceedings themselves were presented as unimportant, a miserable little show ofArabs and other anti-Semites. The Israeli demonstration was turned into a world-shaking event. The bombed-outbus appeared on the screen of all Israeli channels many dozens of times, as did the victims' families. Againand again and again. The corresponding Palestinian event was shown for a few seconds, as were the courtroomproceedings. Just to show how liberal we are, the Palestinian representative was also allowed to say threesentences.

But the message for the Israeli viewer and listener was unequivocal: this was a huge Israelivictory. The whole world now understands that in this story we are the victims, that the Palestinians areterrorists, that the Wall is needed to save our lives, that "the lives of Jews are more important thanthe quality of life of the Palestinians" – a sentence repeated dozens of times during the day. Aphalanx of army officers, Security Service personnel, reporters, commentators and professors talked theirheads off on all stations, and all of them said exactly the same thing: we are being attacked, we are thepersecuted, the Arabs are killers, we are defending ourselves. The occupation was not mentioned at all. Whyshould it be? What has it got to do with this?

While the broadcast was going on, the Israeli peace movements demonstrated against the Wall atthe Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem. The state-owned TV Channel 1 showed it for all of four seconds.Throughout the whole day, not one single Israeli TV channel or radio station allowed anyone to say a wordagainst the Wall or in favor of the International Court.

This is quite frightening, because it is happening in a democracy. No KGB or Gestapo isthreatening the lives of the journalists, no Gulag or concentration camp is awaiting those who deviate fromthe official line. It is all done voluntarily, from inner conviction.

True, the free media in the democratic USA behaved in much the same way during the early daysof the Iraq war. But they, at least, were not afflicted with the syndrome of "All the World is AgainstUs".

The day after the first court session, the Israeli Deputy Minister of Defense, Ze'ev Boim,declared in the Knesset that all Muslims are murderers from birth, that it is in their genes. And a personalfriend of Ariel Sharon disclosed on TV: "Arik has told me that he is deeply worried about the rise ofChristian anti-Semitism. For example in Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ". And now, alarge part of the Muslim world is also infected by anti-Semitism."

This is the mentality of the ghetto. We created the State of Israel in order to become anormal nation, "a people among peoples". The events of this week show that we have not succeeded inthis. The ghetto is deep inside us.

This is also throwing another light on the Separation Wall. It encloses the Palestinians inenclaves, but it also returns us to the reality of the ghetto, and not only physically.

The struggle against the Wall has many aspects. It is not only a struggle to liberate theinhabitants of the West Bank from the monstrous obstacle that turns their life into hell and puts them underpressure to leave "voluntarily". It is not only a struggle to liberate the two peoples of thiscountry from a situation that imposes on them an ever-widening cycle of bloodshed. It is also a struggle toliberate the Israeli nation from the ghetto that is inside our hearts.