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<h1 class="article_page_h1_margin" itemprop="headline"> Israel's
dissidents are saving the country</h1>
<h2 itemprop="description">The dissidents do not need to apologize
for anything. Their country owes them a great deal.</h2>
<div class="authorBar"> <span class="writer"> <big><big>By <a
rel="author"
href="http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/gideon-levy-1.402"><span>Gideon
Levy</span></a> </big></big></span><big><big> | <span
class="date"> Mar. 24, 2011 | 2:53 AM</span> | <img
src="cid:part2.03050402.00060209@comcast.net"> <span
class="commentsCount">43</span> </big></big></div>
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<p><big><big>Imagine a different Israel in the eyes of the world.
There is no B'Tselem, no Breaking the Silence, no Anarchists
Against the Fence, no Gush Shalom. There is no New Israel
Fund and no small band of radical and dissenting
intellectuals and journalists. Imagine a different Israel,
which silences and crushes every such voice. Imagine how it
would look to the world. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>The little sympathy Israel still receives it owes to
these groups. The campaign of delegitimization against it,
the real one and the one we invent, we owe to Avigdor
Lieberman and Israel Beiteinu, to Benjamin Netanyahu and the
flood of anti-democratic laws of his people and of Kadima,
to the unbridled Israel Defense Forces and to the settlers
who know no boundaries. One day of Operation Cast Lead did
Israel more damage than all the critical articles taken
together; the fatal attack on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara
dragged down Israel's image more than all the anti-Israeli
lectures taken together; the "Nakba Law" stank more than all
the petitions. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>The ever-growing initiative to boycott, excoriate and
ostracize Israel was born out of the pictures of Gaza and
the scenes from the Marmara. The fact that there are
Israelis who have joined the criticism can only be chalked
up to Israel's dwindling credit in universities in the
United States, in the academic world of Europe and in
newspapers in both places. Just imagine how Israel would
look without them: North Korea. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>The government's ambassadors and its propagandists
can barely persuade anyone in the world, except themselves.
The destroyers of Israeli democracy can only stoke the fire
higher and higher against it. The critical voices still
being heard, in commendable freedom, arouse the world's
esteem. The dissidents are now the best explainers of
Israel, whose regime is still to its credit. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>About two weeks ago, I was invited to the Jewish Book
Week in London, following the publication in English of my
book "The Punishment of Gaza." The Jewish establishment in
Britain threatened to boycott the event, the organizers
considered hiring security guards, and roughly 500 people,
mainly middle-of-the-road Jews, filled the hall, asked
questions and mainly, in their modest way, expressed great
sympathy. I spoke, as I always do, against the occupation,
the injustices and the damage it does to Israel and to the
Palestinians, against the attacks on Israeli democracy as I
have written in the hundreds of articles that have been
published in Haaretz in Hebrew and in English, and as I did
at the London School of Economics and Trinity University in
Dublin. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>As on previous occasions, a "spy" from the Israeli
Embassy was sent to Trinity - this one, an Israeli student
who was asked to write down what I said and convey it to the
embassy. The embassy quickly dispatched a report to the
Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and the Foreign Ministry
quickly leaked it to a well-known newspaper, which published
only my harshest statements, without context - and there you
have it: the indictment of a dissident. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>One can ignore the way the embassy spies on
journalists, evoking dark regimes. I would be glad to see a
government representative at my lectures who was not under
cover, if they have any interest. But one cannot ignore the
message conveyed by such conduct - that of a witch hunt
against a journalist whose opinions diverge from the party
line. </big></big></p>
<big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>In the new high-tech world, there is no longer a
difference between what is written and what is said from
here or from there. In the new world, which is mainly
hostile to Israel, there is significance to alternative
voices coming out of Israel, voices other than the official,
threatening and harmful. These voices belong to Israel's
true patriots, who fear for its fate and are concerned over
its image much more than the people who are threatening to
silence them. The dissidents do not need to apologize to
their country for anything. Their country owes them a great
deal: They are the force that is saving its image in the
world. "Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall
go forth from thee"? (Isaiah 49:17 ) Indeed, indeed.
Netanyahu and Lieberman, the lawmakers on the right and the
instigators of nationalism and racism, the hilltop youth and
the indifferent of Tel Aviv. Ask (almost ) any European or
American intellectual. </big></big></p>
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