Translated into English with the help of Google
זיו מוסקוביץ
ד' באלול תשפ"ג
https://www.inn.co.il/news/611431 (Hebrew)
August 21, 2023
The Israeli Version of the Dreyfus Affair by Ziv Moskowitz
What do the crime reporters in the press and security commentators in the mobilized media think to themselves instead of shouting and warning about the terrible injustice?
By Ziv Moskowitz
Jonathan Pollard and Ron Arad, for example, represent and reflects the distress of the people of Israel who are in captivity.
I will focus on one example from the past. In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, an officer in the French General Staff, was accused of espionage. The only evidence against him was a note seized by secret French security forces containing classified information sent to representatives of a foreign country. There was no significant finding that would link the note to Dreyfus beyond the fact that such information could also be known to him.
On the contrary, the note states that the spy giving the information participated in "maneuvering" which did not match with Dreyfus, and he had to explain that it was a nickname for a trip he had made several months before. The handwriting that was similar but different also led to a dispute between graphologists. So why did they choose to blame him? Apparently, quite a bit of weight was probably given to the fact that he is a Jew who is easy to blame. This was not about Dreyfus' individual woes. The woes of people of Israel were expressed through him.
Joseph Reinach - one of the important documentor's of the Dreyfus affair writes that from the moment Dreyfus was marked as guilty, "a phenomenon occured that weakened his whole case...it wasn't the carefully examined facts on the ground that was the foundation upon which the guilt charges were based.
The opposite. The predetermined accusation, which couldn't be refuted or disputed, distorted the facts and misrepresented them."
The path to conviction was predetermined. When it was necessary to create a theory about the changes between the handwriting on the note and Dreyfus's handwriting, a theory was built. "The theory of self-falsification", when it was necessary to trample the law and the rules of the French judicial system - this was also done, the head of the secret security service did not resort to perjury, in order to advance the case, but when it was necessary to thicken evidence, the secret security forces forged another note that was supposedly found and this time without question was the same writing as Dreyfus's handwriting, (- this note was only shown to the judges in a highly confidential manner and was not given to the defense attorney for examination so as not to harm the security of the state of course)
And if all these were not enough, then there were explicit threats from the heads of the security system towards the jury, that they would need to judge correctly and give complete trust to the security system. The Chief of Staff knew how to threaten a military catastrophe.
Dreyfus was convicted based on shaky evidence. And it was not just his individual hardship. He was exiled to Devil's Island for solitary confinement, and it was not just his hardship, even in the retrial held for him after almost 5 years, at a time when it was quite clear who the real spy was, and yet, Dreyfus was convicted a second time, it was not just his personal hardship.
When the riots spilled from the entrance to the courthouse all over the city, reaching the point of smashing shop windows of Jewish-owned stores and vandalizing Jewish property, the riots were described in the local press as "an expression of the noble anger of the people." It was not merely one individual's problem.
A brave writer named Emile Zola published a 40-page article that is worded as an open letter to the president in which he writes, among other things: "The image of France as a whole has been tarnished by this filth, and in the pages of history it will be recorded that this crime against society happened during your presidency..."
I accuse General Billot, says Zola, of having in his hands solid evidence of Dreyfus's innocence, and he concealed it. He is guilty of this crime against humanity and righteousness...
I accuse General Pellieux and Major Ravari of conducting a vicious, monstrously biased investigation,
I accuse the War Office of using the press...to champion a despicable campaign (designed) to mislead the general public and cover up their wrongdoings.
etc...etc...
Let's go back to the present day. Without a doubt, the conviction of Amiram Ben Uliel, which is not even based on a note, is more serious than the Dreyfus affair. Amiram was convicted without any evidence linking him to the act of arson in Duma. There in France, a confession based on torture alone probably would not have been accepted, therefore the secret forces there at least tried to lie in other ways.
Amiram was convicted without any evidence and this is not just his problem.
Being in solitary confinement for almost eight years in the harshest conditions of confinement in the State of Israel, is not just his problem.
The rejection of the appeal after 6 years from the first trial - it is also not just his problem.
The practice of administrative arrests against settlers employed by the Shin Bet:
Arresting a person without any evidence against him, which has gained momentum since they succeeded in convicting a person without any evidence in the Duma incident - are not just the detainees problem.
There is no doubt that this conviction is a stain on the entire State of Israel, a mark of disgrace on the Shin Bet, the press, and the judicial system, and the pages of history will record that this crime against society happened and continues to happen during the time of the Supreme Court of Naor, and Hayat, while the heads of the Shin Bet, Cohen, Vargman, at the time of Prime Ministers' Netanyahu, and Bennett at the time of Presidents' Rivlin and Herzog.
I am asking. How does a Shin Bet investigator who helped commit this crime sleep at night? Miguel, you can tell us that you acted for the security of Israel, but if one day you face yourself and at least to yourself you don't want to lie, what will you do with the disgrace you bear? Where will you run away from yourself? Just asking.
I don't blame. I am asking. Just asking.
I am asking. What do the crime reporters in the press and the security commentators in the mobilized media think of themselves that instead of crying out and warning about the terrible injustice that is taking place, about the false conviction that is being fabricated, about the crimes that are being committed and the law that is being trampled, they have become the spokesmen for the Shin Bet.
I am asking. Suppose the judges are not afraid to make a mistake and throw someone in prison for the rest of their life, after all they don't pay for their own mistakes. Let's also assume that they are not afraid to make mistakes on purpose in order to continue to advance in the system and the like, because they don't pay for such mistakes either. But how is it possible for celebrated judges to lose all self-respect in a judgment that is disconnected from common sense? In a verdict that screams distortion and sewing a case? After all, this is a ruling that will be taught in law faculties. Parshat Duma will still be taught in schools. Do you think you wont be judged? This may be true at the moment, but history will surely judge you wrong. Just asking, Esther Hayut, not accusing, just asking.
I am asking. How can a judge not be ashamed to rule that 36 hours after being tortured for 21 days, when the one tortured is still in the basements of the Shin Bet without seeing a lawyer when the main torturer is standing in front of him, the confession was given voluntarily? The reasoning is that this is a smart person who is not at risk for giving a false confession! This is an insult to human intelligence and especially an insult to the judges themselves. Say Ruth Lorch, didn't you think someone would read into your wisdom? Just asking.
In the Dreyfus affair there was another brave man, from among the ranks of the secret security, Georges Picard, who investigated and found out who the real spy was. Here in Israel, we have yet to find anyone from the security forces who will investigate the series of fires in the Dawabshe clan that continued even after Amiram's arrest, and will try to find out who is really responsible for the arsons in that village.
I will return to Dreyfus again and add another somewhat comforting piece of information, that in the end due to the public uproar caused by the affair and the discomfort felt by a large public in the face of the injustices of the ruling system, Dreyfus received a pardon, and 9 years later, in 1906, the charge against him was even dropped in the Supreme Court.
A young journalist named Theodore Herzl who covered the event at the Dreyfus trial, and was outraged by the injustice, the blatant distortion of justice, and the cooperation of the press and the provoked crowd, did not see it as an isolated problem either. That is why he dreamed of a country where justice would be served. In which Jews will not be persecuted because of their Jewishness, by secret security forces and the courts will not serve as a rubber stamp for them.
The fact that precisely here, in the Jewish state, a man will be marked by the secret security forces as guilty and tortured when the only thing that ties him to the charge is that he has Peyot, that he is observant keeping the Mitzvoth, and that he lives on a hilltop in Judea and Samaria, and that precisely in a Jerusalem court they will convict a man only on the basis of an extracted confession from torture, this Israeli version, he did not foresee.
Like Dreyfus who was finally acquitted after years of suffering, like Zdorov and Amos Baranes, Amiram will also finally gets justice.
original article on Arutz7
זיו מוסקוביץ
ד' באלול תשפ"ג
אני שואל. הגרסה הישראלית של פרשת דרייפוס
מה חושבים לעצמם כתבי הפלילים בעיתונות והפרשנים הביטחוניים בתקשורת המגויסת שבמקום לזעוק ולהתריע על העוול הנורא?
https://www.inn.co.il/news/611431
Related:
J'Accuse Parshat Duma
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Campaign to Divide and Conquer Yesha. Duma Suspects get Guilty Verdict! Condemned in the Media. Verdict is decided before the Trial has begun...
