Last week I reported on an Israeli law that lacked forethought. Since then PM Ariel Sharon has demanded that the Attorney General immediately review this law. Other Members of the Knesset have issued requests for the amendment of the law.
The Israeli terror compensation recognises terror victims as people that have suffered an attack by enemy forces hostile to Israel. In Shfaram, and Israeli terrorist murdered 4 innocent Israeli Arabs. Under the current law these Arabs cannot be compensated as victims of terror, but were to receive a one-time lump sum payment based on what victims of terror receive over a gradual period. Here was my criticism and explanation of the law.
Last week the Mail and Guardian carried a Guardian article by Chris McGreal criticising the law. Whilst I commend their criticism of the law, McGreal was as hyperbolic and exaggerated as ever.
| The decision raises a strong scent of racism, which distinguishes between a Jewish terrorist and an Arab terrorist. |
The law doesn’t segregate based on race. It segregates based on the motivation of the perpetrator. Nonetheless, the law in its implementation is unfair and unjust and it needs to be changed. I didn’t blog about the M&G article (though I did criticise the law and call for its change) because the matter was one that did need to be brought to the attention of the public.
Today however I am going to criticise the M&G. The motivation for the M&G article should have been to inform readers that there is a law in Israel that needs to be changed. But that obviously was not their motivation; their motivation was rather to bash Israel. I know this because on Wednesday this week Ariel Sharon demanded that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz immediately review this law. Had the M&G intended to inform readers about a law that should be changed then they would no doubt have wanted to inform readers that the PM’s office has demanded that the said law be changed. Quite predictably this week the M&G failed to report on this development. They did however manage to run a biting attack on Israel by a miniscule group of Israeli ex-soldiers who claim that in 2002 soldiers fired on unarmed Palestinians in ‘revenge’ attacks.
The stench of duplicity is almost unbearable.
Here's some info on Sharon's request:
Compensation law to be amended to include all victims of terror Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in communication with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Haaretz, 6/9): "You must work urgently to amend this law in a manner that will allow [the state] to recognize the families of the victims of the terror attack in Shfaram as victims of terror." Nazia Khayek, sister of a man killed in Shfaram terror attack (Haaretz, 6/9): "We certainly welcome this decision. A statement of this kind conveys a sense of belonging and not a sense of alienation and being a second-class victim. I hope the law will be amended quickly…This is not a matter of bargaining over price and money; it is an issue of significant principle." Residents of the Arab community of Shfaram in northern Israel, and representatives of Israel’s Arab citizens yesterday, welcomed PM Sharon's instruction to Justice Minister Tzipi Livni to prepare for Knesset approval, in the shortest possible time, an amendment to the law on compensation for victims of terror. The amendment will enable the families of the four Arab citizens of Israel killed in the recent terror attack in Shfaram to receive full compensation from the National Insurance Institute. Yigal Ben-Shalom, Director of the National Insurance Institute, also welcomed the Prime Minister’s initiative. |
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