Dennis Fox’s Weblog

Ha’aretz reports today that the Israeli military is trying to get information from Israeli police about specific Israeli activists who support Palestinian resistance to the Occupation

so it will be easier to issue restraining orders against them…. So far, such orders have only been issued against extreme right-wing activists suspected of subversive activities. This time, the army has focused on a number of activists protesting the security fence, those who help Palestinians harvest their olives, and others. This is apparently the first time left-wing activists have been the possible target of such orders.

It’s hard to take seriously the claim that  Israelis “who help Palestinians harvest their olives” are such a threat that a so-called democracy would issue restraining orders against them.

The only activist named in the story is Jonathan Pollack, who I met two years ago during my last visit and saw again two weeks ago at Gaza’s Erez Crossing. We were both part of the larger crowd peacefully protesting Israel’s refusal to let more than 100 foreign mental health workers, doctors, and academics attend the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme’s conference on SIege and Mental Health. Those of us from abroad were glad to see Israeli supporters join us at the gate.

The police clearly knew who Jonathan was, given his long history of public creative activism.

According to Ha’aretz,

Pollack said he was not surprised the army was seeking a restraining order against him. “On Sunday two weeks ago the Shin Bet called and summoned me to the police station on Dizengoff Street. They said they had had enough of my activities and if I kept it up they would take steps, either criminal or administrative ones. I told them that all my activities were open and if there was anything illegal, they were a matter for the police.”

Pollack also said he presumed that “since there’s a lot of talk now about restraining orders against right-wingers, they would use that against us to show balance, although there has almost never been a case of a left-wing activists suspected of violence and certainly not of violence like that of the right-wing activists.”

I don’t know if Jonathan will show up today here in Bil’in for the weekly nonviolent demonstration that Anarchists Against the Wall and other Israelis and Internationals have participated in for more than three years, at the invitation of the Bil’in village protest committee, or if he’ll go to one of the other regularly occurring protests against the Occupation’s institutionalization. I suspect he won’t just sit at home worrying about the IDF-Shin Bet attempt to shut him up.

Technorati Tags: Anarchists Against the Wall, Bil’in, Gaza, Israel, Palestine

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 10:24 am and is filed under Israel/Palestine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.