by Col (Res.) Dr. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen
A clear look at Uri Avnery and his effect on the Israeli security situation.
Uri Avnery via Wikipedia
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 958, September 24, 2018
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Most
of the articles and statements following the passing of veteran Israeli
journalist and far-left political activist Uri Avnery were of a
glorifying nature, praising his persistent support for a
Palestinian state and the end of the Israeli “occupation.” However, his
misconceived predictions and deeds undermining Israeli sovereign
interests, including during wartime, were intentionally ignored.
The traditional proverb “after death, say holy” (“de mortuis nil nisi bene”
in Latin) means one should say only good things about people after they
die. This tradition provides a kind of “comfort zone” to controversial
figures after their demise.
The recent death of Uri Avnery, the veteran
Israeli journalist, politician, and ultra-left-wing activist, prompted
an unprecedented wave of fawning obituaries, mostly praising his
activities in the journalism domain as well as his allegedly courageous
stand on behalf of the Palestinians.
Special attention was given to his extraordinary
meeting, on July 3, 1982, with PLO leader Yasser Arafat in West Beirut
in the midst of the first Lebanon War. Arafat himself admitted that
Avnery was the first Israeli he had ever met, making him the pioneer who
“broke the dam” for the many Israeli left-wing activists who followed.
The Arafat-Avnery meeting was very important. On
the one hand, it was a tremendous journalistic achievement. On the
other, it was an act of defiance towards the Israeli authorities during
wartime.
The event was utilized by Avnery as an
international scoop as well as an opportunity to show Arafat as a human
being rather than a demonized monster. Notwithstanding the international
response, the meeting outraged the Israeli public, and the government
ordered an investigation into Avnery.
Most of the articles and statements following
Avnery’s death praised his persistent support for an independent
Palestinian state and an end to the Israeli “occupation” (despite the
fact that ideologically, Avnery previously favored a single state,
replacing Israel, as the ultimate framework to end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Though he was a divisive figure in
Israel, even senior Israeli officials – first and foremost President
Reuven Rivlin – paid tribute to him. In Rivlin’s words, his fundamental
disagreements with Avnery “were diminished in light of the ambition to
build a free and strong society here.” Opposition leader Tzipi Livni
described Avnery as “a courageous journalist and a rare, trailblazing
man.” She asserted that he maintained “his principles despite attacks
and planted in the heart of Israelis ideas of peace and moderation, even
when they weren’t in the lexicon.”
While praising Avnery’s meeting with Arafat in
Beirut, his admirers intentionally ignored, or at least omitted, a
striking part of the puzzle, which was the fact that the PLO leader had
been spotted by Israeli intelligence. Ronen Bergman, in his book Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,
reported that – in Avnery’s words – “the Mossad learned that I was
going to meet with Arafat, and its people secretly shadowed me to find
him and kill him.” Avnery told Haaretz (February 4, 2018) that
“having read Ronen Bergman’s report that then-Defense Minister Ariel
Sharon didn’t care if I was killed in an assassination attempt on Yasser Arafat, I’m grateful for the precautions the PLO chief took.”
Avnery claimed that the meeting with Arafat was
spontaneous rather than pre-arranged, but that assertion is dubious. He
had had previous connections to the PLO, and the fact that he was
escorted by two female staff members of his weekly magazine, Ha’olam Haze,
could indicate a pre-planned operation. Further, Avnery’s reputation as
“scoop-hungry” doesn’t correspond to the description of the meeting as
spontaneous.
In one of his last interviews, with the BBC on
March 22, 2018, Avnery downplayed the idea that he had risked his life
when he met with Arafat in Beirut. He claimed to have had “some doubts
about it,” explaining that he made the phone call arranging the meeting
less than 24 hours before it took place. He went on to suggest that “if
they were very efficient they could have listened [to the phone call],
caught me at the point where I crossed the front line and tried to
follow our car. It’s possible.”
Avnery is thus describing a sophisticated
operation in which he acted as a human shield to protect Arafat while
enjoying an international scoop. Though it could in fact have been a
gamble for his life (as well as those of the two female staff members
joining him), Avnery could rely on the restraint of the Israeli military
in such controversial circumstances.
Avnery used a similar tactic when visiting Arafat at his headquarters in Ramallah (the Mukata’a)
in 2003 during the bloodiest phase of the PLO leader’s terror war
(euphemized as the “al-Aqsa Intifada”). Again he operated as a human
shield for Arafat.
Striking evidence of this can be found in Avnery’s
article entitled “Human Shield,” which was published in the Gush Shalom
bulletin on October 14, 2003. He rather astonishingly explained the
logic behind being a human shield: “The moment we heard about the
shocking atrocity in Haifa on Saturday afternoon (a suicide attack) we
understood that we had to hurry to the Mukata’a. Within an
hour, a small group of ten Israeli peace activists was organized. With
us were also some 30 international peace activists from many countries.”
Avnery believed ”the killing of Arafat would be a historic disaster for
the State of Israel, because it would mean the elimination of any
chance for peace for generations to come and the increase of bloodshed
to dimensions unknown until now. Therefore we decided to prevent this
disaster with the paltry resources at our disposal.”
Speaking of Arafat, Avnery wrote, “He received us,
the Israeli peace activists, with much feeling, smiling broadly, with
much shaking of hands and hugging. The fact that in such an emergency
men and women from Israel had come to constitute a ‘human shield’ had
made a deep impression. He spoke about this repeatedly.
“After three days and nights we went home, ready
to go there again if the need arose, in order to do everything possible
to prevent an act that would be a disaster for Israel,” Avnery concluded
his article. “For us, that is the most important, patriotic thing we
can do.”
Avnery’s passing cannot justify ignoring his deeds
against Israeli national interests, especially during wartime. Any
other democracy would have taken a firm stance against his initiatives
undermining sovereign government policy.
It is regrettable that the attorney general
decided not to call Avnery to account after his Beirut meeting with
Arafat. Avnery said the reason for this was twofold: first, that at time
there was no law barring Israelis from meeting with PLO members; and
second, the law forbidding entry to an enemy country didn’t apply as
they had crossed the border at the invitation of the IDF.
But Avnery’s act fell by definition under clause
99 of the Israeli Penal Law (legislated in 1956 and amended in 1979)
entitled “Assisting an enemy at war.”
These events should teach us a lesson about
automatic displays of sympathy towards controversial figures, such as
the late Uri Avnery, while overlooking their detrimental deeds. This
superficial approach is a human failure. One would be wiser to apply the
Jewish proverb, “judge as you would be judged.”
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family
Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/uri-avnery/
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