THE HANDSTAND

august 2005

                         

      Watching a National Geographic documentary called The Truth About Killing, I learned that during WW2, the American army was distressed to learn that only 2% of its combat soldiers shot to kill. This statistic was confirmed in numerous studies after the war. Even in combat, 98% of humanity is not capable of killing their fellow man. The 2% who are capable, are clinical sociopaths.
       Half of these sociopaths will only kill if convinced they are doing the right thing. The other half kill for the love of it. Ariel Sharon falls into the second category. A sociopath is defined as someone without empathy for humanity, who has no concept of inflicting misery. Sociopaths are society's violent criminal class and are only admired in wartime.
       Sharon's whole life has been sociopathic. A leader of Unit 101 in the 1950s, his task was to lead retaliatory raids after Arab terror attacks. He was severely reprimanded for leading a massacre of a Jordanian village, during which, legend tells, he personally slaughtered over 50 villagers. 
       During the Lebanon War, Defence Minister Sharon permitted a force of Christian militia to run amok in Sabra and Shatilla from Friday to Monday morning. He knew exactly what the force would do, knew when they were doing it and permitted 800 people to be slaughtered.
       There isn't an Israeli who doesn't suspect the deaths of his first wife and his son. The sociopath desired to marry his first wife's sister, so she had to go. Those who don't suspect foul play simply believe, "He drove her to suicide."
       Of his total lack of empathy, in 1982 the IDF needed the cruelest general it had to remove the unwilling residents of Yamit from their homes in the Sinai. Apparently he was more than merely the first choice. No one else was even considered for the task.
       Certain characteristics pervade all sociopaths. First, they lie without conscience. In fact, they cannot tell the difference between truth and lies. Sharon's long history of lying can be summed up in Menachem Begin's famous observation of Sharon's leadership during the Lebanon War:
       "If I want to know what Sharon is really doing, I have to read it in tomorrow's papers."
        Even Sharon's allies in the rape of Gush Katif know he is a pathological liar:    

Extreme left-wing MK Zahava Gal'on (Meretz-Yachad): "There is no
better guarantee that we will leave a certain place than when Sharon
says that we will remain there forever. He also said that about
Netzarim, when he said that Netzarim's future is like that of Tel
Aviv."

        Another characteristic of sociopaths is that they are bullies. Here is A Portrait Of The Young Sociopath:

MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union), a resident of Gush Katif and one of Sharon's most bitter opponents, said, "Sharon is a liar. He knows that the only one who can lead to a civil war is he himself."

Hendel's words received strong backing this week - from a man who himself suffered from Sharon's ideological-based violence. It occurred during the period known as the Saison of the mid-1940's, when left-wing Haganah activists pursued and beat up nationalist Etzel and Lechi activists, and others even turned them over to the hated ruling British forces.

Speaking with Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen, Ben-Ami Zamir, who is today a member of the Likud Party Bureau, gave the following harrowing account:

"I was given the mission of establishing an Etzel cell in our moshavah [townlet] of Magdiel, and I did so. I gathered some youths in our cafe, and I would often give shelter to Etzel men who needed to hide from the British police. Everyone knew everyone, and it was known that I was an Etzel man, as were all my neighbors; residents of the surrounding moshavim were rival Haganah people."

One of these towns was Kfar Malal, home to young Ariel "Arik" Sharon. "One Motzaei Shabbat [Saturday night], a truck arrived at the cafe, and out of it jumped a group of uniformed Haganah men, led by Ariel Sharon holding a hoe-handle. We knew him in the area as someone who always holds a hoe-handle to catch Etzel and Lechi people. They tried to break into the cafe, which was still closed because of the Sabbath. I came close to him, and he said, 'Give me some soda,' and pointed to a box of drinks on the ground. I bent down to the bottles, and then he picked up his arm and smashed me with all his might with the hoe-handle. My head was covered in blood, which dripped down all over me."

Zamir said that a fight ensued, and "for ten minutes, they destroyed everything they could... The next morning, I went to the Sharon home... His mother came out, saw me all bandaged up and immediately realized what was going on. I asked where Arik was, and she said he wasn't home. I said that if I would see him, I would get him. Later people in Kfar Malal told me that he was afraid to go home. We didn't see him again in Magdiel."

Zamir said that this was not the only violent incident against Etzel people in which Sharon was involved. He noted specifically the case of someone named Hayuma, who died six months ago, whose arm was broken by Sharon's gang.

Zamir's story was publicized 15 years ago by Yediot Acharonot reporter Shlomo Nakdimon. That article also quoted similar testimony by Etzel member Daniel Basamnik. "

      Now what happens when a sociopath is used by much bigger sociopaths ruling Europe and America? He gets to wreck the foundations of his nation.
      Let's look at some highlights of just the last five days (July 22- 27/05):
      Friday, July 22 - Banner headline in the country's biggest-circulation paper, Yediot Ahronot. Youth Oppose Disengagement. A survey conducted by the paper discovered that almost 80% of Israelis between the ages of 15-18 are in favor of soldiers disobeying orders to evacuate Gush Katif.
      Within three years, almost all of these youths will be in the IDF, a tremendous formula for military chaos.
      The next night, a Jerusalem couple were murdered by Arabs at Kissufim Junction, the entrance to Gush Katif. Immediately the country was asking how that could have happened in the most tightly guarded post in the land. If Jews can't get through to their friends in Gush Katif, how did Arabs successfully infiltrate?
       The next day, on the evening news, the IDF's commander of the southern Region, one of the highest-ranking generals in the land, visited the scene of the crime. He was surrounded by a mob accusing him of deliberately letting the Arabs do the killing. That is how IDF generals are treated today.
       The next item on the news was a brave lieutenant at Kissufim who refused to obey IDF orders, telling the nation they are immoral.
       And the nation rooted for him.
       The week before, I was among the crowd at Kfar Maimon surrounded by thousands of soldiers. For the first time ever, I viewed those wearing the IDF uniform as my enemy. I had served 13 years of regular and reserve service in that uniform but I wouldn't talk with anyone wearing it that day.
       Sharon is planning to use 55,000 IDF soldiers to drag Jews in Gush Katif by their hair onto trucks. When that day comes, my children will never serve in the IDF. My son is just three years away from the draft, and we are discussing the strategies we will use to keep him from ever wearing the sullied uniform of an enemy army. And that is what the IDF will become; an enemy of the Jews. Throughout the country, fathers are having the same discussion with their children. The sociopath Sharon has torn the fabric of the country into shreds and will wreck the army without remorse.
        When the pillage of Gush Katif ends, families throughout the land will decide that they'd rather be overrun by the Arabs than have their children disgrace themselves by being seen in an IDF uniform.
        Twice a day, people write me asking if they should make aliyah to Israel. I answer simply: If Gush Katif survives, come and build our future. If our own army destroys the lives of the Jews who call it home, stay away. Israel is now poison to the Jews.

A correspondent tells me:07:10) New open-fire rules for disengagement
Israel Police Sunday approved new open-fire rules for use during this summer's planned evacuation of Jewish residents from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria, Israel Radio reported. Police officers will now be allowed to open fire on settlers they feel are endangering their lives.
[from Jerusalem News Wire WebSite www.jnewswire.com ]

Former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni blasts ‘megalomaniac’ Prime Minister Sharon in interview with Arab-Israeli newspaper, says he should face justice. Aloni also charges Israel a racist state that commits war crimes
By Roee Nahmias
19:04 , 07.29.05 Yediot Ahronot Arab-Israeli Newspaper

TEL AVIV – Israel is a racist state that commits war crimes and resorts to terrorism worse than that employed by the Palestinians, former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni charged in an unusually scathing interview with Nazareth-based Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab.

Other highlights from the interview include “(Prime Minister) Sharon should face justice,” “Israel is following Mussolini’s way,” and “some soldiers behave like animals.”

When asked how she characterizes the prime minister, Aloni responded: “Sharon is a big, arrogant nationalist. He suffers from megalomania and doesn’t mind sacrificing the lives of others, as happened in the invasion of Lebanon.”

“Sharon and the Israeli leadership always try to make Israelis believe the lie that the Palestinians want to throw us to the sea,” the former minister charged. “In fact, we are the ones who commit war crimes against humanity, and I hope Sharon will face justice.”

‘Government, settlers coordinate anti-pullout campaign’

Turning her attention to the disengagement plan, Aloni leveled more charges, saying she fears the evacuation from Gaza will turn Palestinian life in the West Bank “into hell.”

“I want to note that National Union Knesset Member Benny Elon recently said that settlers intend to embitter the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, until they emigrate from here,” she said. “I see testament to that in the existence of an IDF unit comprising radical religious soldiers, who are no different than animals in their daily behavior.”

Aloni also expressed her surprise that Israelis continue to play the “role of victims” and the American President accepts that image while declaring that “Israel has the right to defend itself, while ignoring the fact we have one of the most powerful armies in the Middle East.”

The former minister also resorted to apparent conspiracy theories, claiming the government and settlers were “secretly coordinating” anti-pullout resistance in order to create a “national shock” and convince the world of the difficulties inherent in withdrawing from the West Bank.

‘Israel no different than South Africa’

Turning her attention to the Palestinians, Aloni said had she been a Palestinian she would have called for the cessation of suicide bombings and the adoption of the non-violent approach of Mahatma Ghandi.

“It’s true that the terror utilized by Israel in the territories is worse than Palestinian terrorism, but the Hamas movement gives the occupation the opportunity and means to deepen,” she said.

When asked about how she views Israel’s future, Aloni responded: “I can show you Mussolini’s books about fascism . If you read them you’ll reach the unequivocal conclusion that ministers in the current Israeli government are walking on the same path.”

“Only in a country like this can a murderer…reach the post of Defense Minister,” she charged. “Israel, in fact, is no different than racist South Africa as long as it presents itself as Jewish state instead of a state of all its citizens.”

However, when asked about the chances of a leftist revival in Israel, Aloni was pessimistic, and chose to level some more charges. “If you look for the Left, you won’t find it,” she said. “Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak killed it. The Left’s collapse resulted from several reasons, including the Labor party’s participation in Sharon’s former government.”

The Case of Ariel Sharon and the Fate of Universal Jurisdiction
http://www.princeton.edu/~piirs/borneman/



Edited by John Borneman, including essays by John Borneman, Chibli Mallat, Luc Walleyn, Laurie King-Irani, Dan Rabinowitz, Sally Falk Moore, Paul W. Kahn, and Reed Brody

Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies Monograph Series,
Number 2, Princeton University , 2004


In June 2001 a criminal complaint on behalf of twenty-eight witnesses and survivors of the 1982 massacre at the the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut was brought before a Belgium court. For their roles in the massacre, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, Army Major General Amos Yaron, and several members of the the Lebanese Christian militia were charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The entire proceeding immediately became known as the "case of Ariel Sharon."

This book is a series of essays about the case of Ariel Sharon, its meaning and consequences for the fate of universal jurisdiction. It includes analyses by human rights advocates, legal scholars, and anthropologists, some of whom were participants in this legal intervention, others of whom were independent experts with different experiences and disciplinary perspectives. . . . [T]he contributors to this book are interested less in establishing the guilt of the perpetrators, balancing Palestinian and Israeli accounts, or arguing about the
immediate legal merits of the Sharon case than in considering its general social theoretical significance for the doctrine of universal jurisdiction.
(Introduction)


Price: $18 per book (paperback) US domestic postage: $1.50 each; $2.75 for
3 copies; $3.25 for 5 copies Foreign postage: to be billed accordingly

Orders: Orders should be addressed by e-mail or post to

Ms. Patricia Zimmer ( pzimmer@princeton.edu )
at PIIRS

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