Ezra Nawi, Jailed
I have written about Ezra before and have not hidden my admiration. He is a tireless human rights activist, who has established unique connections, and affections, with the villagers in the South Hebron hills. I have often sat in the back of his truck, being ferried to stand watch over fields that would not be plowed were it not for his courage and resourcefulness. I have seen Ezra stand, dignified, against settlers who regard him something the way Klansmen regarded Jewish northerners who came to bear witness against Jim Crow. He has been the subject of a poignant film. He is also my plumber, as it happens, and he does no
t overcharge his customers.
Ezra is now facing jail: "His 'crime,'" writes Neve Gordon, in a comprehensive report, "was trying to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins from Um El Hir in the South Hebron region. These Palestinians have been under Israeli occupation for almost 42 years; they still live without electricity, running water and other basic services and are continuously harassed by Jewish settlers and the military - two groups that have united to expropriate Palestinian land and that clearly have received the government's blessing to do so." You can read and watch what you need to know here, but you can also read more about Nawi from David Shulman here.
Attention Washington press corps: If you do not ask Benjamin Netanyahu about Ezra Nawi when the Prime Minister visits Washington, you are not doing your jobs.
A plumber who charges fairly--that makes him a mensch, irregardless.
If the MSM even knows who this man is, let alone asks an 'important foreign leader,' with an attitude like BB Net about him, it will be a surprise.
May 10, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, how stupid of us to expect them to do their job.
Thank you, Professor Avishai, for this excellent and touching, albeit very sad, article. Let's hope someone in the Washington press corps surprises us all...
May 11, 2009 2:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nawi is a brave and wise man. Thanks for the video link. It will take more than bulldozers for Israel, Jews, and the U.S. Congress be liberated from the settler-terrorists whose absurdly disproportionate and pernicious influence has been winked at for far too long. But protests such as Nawi's are small yet welcome steps towards such sanity.
May 10, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for this post. Hope some one with access to Bibi reads this.
May 11, 2009 12:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
From Neve Gordon's article in the Guardian (linked in Bernard's post):
If truth be told, however, the rise of the extreme right merely reflects the growing presence of proto-fascist elements in Israeli society, elements that have been gaining ground and legitimacy for many years now.
If this is true, what is causing it? And what would you suggest be done to stop it?
May 11, 2009 7:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a brave man Ezra is. This piece really puts the lie to the old canard that the IDF is the "most moral army in the world." I hope as much light shines on this case as on the Iranian case of Roxana Saberi. You would think this would be front-paged everywhere since there is accompanying video.
May 11, 2009 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
"You would think this would be front-paged everywhere since there is accompanying video."
How old are you? I ask because this statement reflects a wonderful, if not naive, sensibility.
May 11, 2009 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the children stood on the hillside chanting “Death to all Arabs”, the Israeli soldiers showed the farmers and human rights observers a military order declaring their farmland to be a “closed military zone”, and forced them off their land at gunpoint. [link]
May 11, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Abbas were a real leader, he would publically demand that the Israel end the incitement against Arabs, particularly the infection of their own children with viralent anti-Arab racism.
Like I said, "if" Abbas were a real leader.
Instead, he just keep on selling cement and providing labor for the Apartheid Wall.
May 11, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink