IASPS Op-Eds
Comments on the Decline of a Nation-State
March 26, 2000
Incitement and the Demise of Truth
by IASPS Staff
Yediot Aharonot reported on March 17, 2000, that Member of Knesset Ophir Pines, the chairman of the governing Labor coalition, has appealed to the attorney general to open a criminal investigation of MK Ariel Sharon on suspicion of incitement. The charge against Sharon is that he said "the Left has always incited."
More specifically, Sharon said last week that "incitement started with the Left. It started in the 1930s with the blood libel about the Arlosorov murder. Thus the Left continued to lead the Zionist movement...." Referring to the Altalena ship of immigrants and arms brought by the Irgun, Sharon said, "We remember the shouts of joy made by Palmach members as they shot injured people who jumped from the burning ship." Sharon also gave other examples of Leftist incitement against the right: "the Season," the war in Lebanon, blaming the entire right for the murder of Prime Minister Rabin.
It is the aim of IASPS to show that socialism, of which Israeli socialism is perhaps among the worst cases, is at war with the principles of Western civilization. The transformation of the political realm into the realm of "right" and "left" or "conservative" and "liberal" has taken hold in our days because socialism sets itself against the fundamental Western principle according to which politics is founded on justice, a concept requiring truth--namely that language refers to something more than directions and historical relativism.
And so the great victory of socialism in our times, and of Israeli socialism particularly, is that one cannot take a side without becoming a supporter of it. In other words, when you take a stand against socialism you are necessarily labelled "right-wing," whether the label or words have any meaning outside of their highly politicized context. What this means in this case of Mr. Pines calling for criminalization of speech as "incitement" is that truth cannot be a defense and that the only defense is how someone may react to it (i.e., how one might feel -- for example, he may be "incited"). Mr. Pines' suggestion that freedom of speech does not protect speech that may elicit a "feeling" is in effect the politicization of all speech as nonsense except that it may incite actions, in which case it is criminal nonsense. We do not wish to defend Mr. Sharon as a political opponent of Mr. Pines. However, Mr. Sharon is right as to the truth of his assertion. Mr. Pines is wrong.
It is politically of the highest relevance in Israel today that truth not feeling, justice not relativism (meaning State power), should govern in matters of speech. Is it true that "incitement," here quoting Mr. Sharon, "started with the Left [socialists]?" In fact this is true. Had Mr. Pines asserted to the contrary with evidence, his assertions would merit more than civil disapprobation. But he only called for his political enemy to be silenced. And this is the habit of socialists. Socialism is a tyrannical form.
It is politically relevant to assert this truth for two reasons. One, truth is the means of justice; two, the truth is needed to show that "incitement," that is political provocation for the sake of obscuring justice, undermines social order. In the name of "democracy," the undermining of justice is a doctrine of raw power; of tyranny. The peace process is the particular public policy that divides Messrs. Pines and Sharon. If it is a policy at all it must submit to the challenge of truth about itself and about the making of policy. Looking at the matter of "incitement" and the charges of Mr. Sharon about the socialists, IASPS hopes this op-ed will open the question of Israeli policy as such and the peace process particularly to the principles of justice and freedom of speech. At this point, the only judgment required is to deplore the petty tyranny of Mr. Pines while urging him to submit his evidence showing that "incitement [was not] started with the Left [sic]."
Mr. Sharon's charge against socialism recalls the important truth of Israel's founding: it was a struggle between socialists and those who opposed them. The socialists in fact committed the crimes against those who opposed them as Mr. Sharon claims.
IASPS presents this point and will in subsequent op-eds and NBNs (related to the present one) list and describe the crimes to which Mr. Sharon referred in the spirit of the principle of justice. The question preceding this presentation, namely if the Zionism of the socialists (socialism without borders) was 'just' in a way to justify what Mr. Ben Gurion called "wiping out the plague" of those who opposed this view, will also be discussed in subsequent op-eds.