GUEST BLOG: Lois Griffiths – Make Money Über Alles?

A friend has alerted me to a story that I missed when it was printed in the business section of the Oct 07 Press.

Just when an Arms Fair was being held in Wellington, promoting the latest in weaponry, the Press ran a story ‘Unease at innovation agreement with Israel’. The story reports on NZ and Israel  Governments’   plans for signing  “ an innovation agreement that would see technology firms from both countries fast-tracked to receive funding from their respective government grants agencies”. 

The “unease” referred to in the Press headlines are two concerns raised by the Taxpayers’ Union: that the Government wants  to select companies to prioritise for political reasons and that the Government wants to sign a deal with “a Middle Eastern country whose military continued to engage in conflict.’ 

All this while NZ is in a period of caretaker Government., with media attention focusing on the negotiations. 

The whole story fills me with ‘unease’. 

Yes , the Israeli military , and police, and politicians continue to “engage in conflict”. 

 The “conflict” is the oppression of the indigenous Palestinian people, men, women and children. 

The destruction of Palestinian houses, water sources, olive trees is an ongoing process.  The occasional  bombing, ‘lawn-mowing’ of Gaza attracts media attention for a while. but away from the media, attacks on   Gazans continue, fishermen being shot, farms sprayed , sewage and drinking water facilities left unrepaired because of the siege. In the West Bank, Israel police and IDF demolish houses, schools, religious centres both  Christian and Muslim and violently attack unarmed protestors. The police and IDF , enjoy immunity as do violent heavily-armed  Israeli settlers. Thousands of Palestinians, including women and some 300 children, languish in Israeli prisons. Hundreds are held under ‘administrative detention ‘, meaning no charges, no lawyers.

As for Israel itself, that is the internationally recognized Israel, Palestinian-Israelis, Israeli citizens , are oppressed as well. Whole villages, that existed before Israel was even a country, are declared ‘unrecognzed’. They are denied water,  electricity, schools, clinics. There is an ongoing process to demolish such villages, and  replace them with Jewish-only villages with all amenities. 

The proposal is for an “innovation agreement”. The Israelis excel in innovation, all right, especially in ‘population control’ technology and in weapon development.  Even Orwell would be amazed , if he were alive today, at the degree to which Palestinians are not only physically oppressed but psychologically as well. We all know the phrase ‘preemptive strikes’, something Eisonhower declared immoral , never justified. Ah, but the Israelis have perfected  ‘preemptive policing’. Israeli intelligence has developed a computer algorithm that analyzes social media posts to identify and then arrest Palestinians suspected of showing the potential  of being unhappy with their situation sometime in the future. 

A case that is attracting international attention is that of Dareen Tatour, woman poet, a Palestinian-Israeli (Israelis hate that term, they prefer Arab-Israeli), a citizen of Israel, arrested for a poem she posted on facebook. Big Brother is watching. 

As for the Wellington Arms Fair, whether Israeli corporations took part or not, I don’t know. But I do know that developing and selling weapons is a major part of Israel’s economy. They are major exporters of drones for example. And the Israelis can boast that all of its weapons have been battle tested, with Palestinians as guinea pigs. One of Israel’s customers is the military of Myamnar. 

Do we really have to accept a rationale that morality is ‘quaint’ when there is money to be made? Business Über Alles?

Palestinian NGOs and other civic groups pleaded 12 years ago for non-violent support from people of conscience around the world, support in the form of Boycott, Divest, Sanction. BDS is being debated in many countries around the world but not here.

I was disappointed that during the entire election period , no question was raised about  what New Zealand’s role in the world should be. Decisions, foreign policy really as well as  business ones,   are being made quietly with nobody noticing. 

Lois Griffiths is a human rights activist