"The Millionaire's Music is Pleasant Though he Plays on a Jawbone" BreughelTHE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ISRAEL'S OCCUPATION by Sher Hever
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay, and we're in Jerusalem. Now joining us is Shir Hever. He's an economist at the Alternative Information Center and author of the upcoming book Political Economy of Israel's Occupation. Thanks for joining us Shir.
SHIR HEVER, ECONOMIST, ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER: Hello.
JAY: So, in talking to people in Israel, one thing I hear constantly is the fight here is about national identity, it's about the defense of the Jewish state. I don't hear very much about economics of Israel or the economics of occupation. So how does national identity relate to the economics here?
HEVER: Well, the economic reality of Israel, of course, plays a part in every aspect of Israel's existence—in the politics, in the society, and, of course, also in identity issues as well. The occupation of the Palestinian territories defines Israel's economy in a large way. About two-thirds of Israel's history, it has been occupying power, controlling Palestinian territories. But even before that occupation, Israel has created a very particular system of economic control, which is designed to promote the idea of a Jewish state. The Jewish state is not merely a cultural idea; it's not merely a symbolic idea; it's a material reality which is designed to redistribute wealth in order to draw as many Jews as possible to this area and to maintain a sustainable control of the Jewish population over a piece of land which is by nature binational.
JAY: Now, in terms of the Israeli economy, what percentile at the top controls the majority of the Israeli economy in terms of ownership?
HEVER: Israel is very centralized in terms of capital, far more than most developed economies in the world. About 18 families in Israel control roughly 60 percent of the equity value of all companies in Israel. So it's concentrated in the hands of 18 families. Of course, there are other rich people in Israel who control some more of that other 40 percent.
JAY: So what are we talking about? What kind of things do they control, in terms of what makes up the bulk of the Israeli economy and the ownership?
HEVER: The Israeli economy has a very strong banking sector and financial sector, which also includes insurance companies, so that's a very big part of the Israeli economy. But Israel's also one of the world's biggest exporter of diamonds, Israel is one of the world's biggest exporters of chemical fertilizer, and there are a lot of high tech industries. Much of that high-tech industry actually ties with a very large and very famous industry in Israel, which is the arms trade, the arms industry. A lot of the high-tech development in Israel is actually for what is known as homeland security technology. And so a lot of companies, especially companies set up by former military officers, specialize in developing homeland security products designed to track individuals and to help governments or corporations—.
JAY: Which we know have been sold in the past to South Africa, to Colombia, to Honduras.
HEVER: Yeah. Well, until the year 2000, Israel was about the tenth biggest arms exporter in the world, but the fourth biggest arms exporter to the developing world, because Israel was willing to sell weapons to clients, to customers which other countries were reluctant to sell to, such as South Africa during the apartheid and so on. But after September 11, after the attacks, there was a famous quote by Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently Israel's prime minister. He said these attacks are good for Israel; they show the world that Israel fighting terrorism—or fighting Islam, basically—is a good thing.
JAY: So these 18 families, we're talking families that are all billionaires, then, in terms of, amongst the families, the wealth that's been accumulated. In terms of the size of the fortunes on a global scale, are they significant fortunes?
HEVER: Well, they are significant in those sectors. In the diamonds sector and the weapons sector and in the fertilizer sector Israel is a global player. In the high-tech sector not so much, but definitely in the homeland security sector.
JAY: So, then, these families, in terms of the Israeli politics, political parties, and the various governments that come and go, are the families split? Or are they involved in all the parties?
HEVER: Well, all the Zionist parties in Israel, starting from the so-called Zionist left or the liberal parties and all the way to the extreme right-wing, almost fascist parties, are almost indistinguishable from each other. And the controlling—the wealthy families, they know that. They contribute about equally to the centrist parties, or the so-called centrist parties, because they know that it doesn't really matter whether it's going to be Likud or Labor or Kadima. These parties have the same agenda, the same strategy, and the same platform.
JAY: Now, to what extent does the struggle with the Palestinians take attention off the 18 families? Or how visible are the 18 families in terms of popular perception?
HEVER: Well, they are visible. I think people know to a certain extent that there are these people who own the companies that they pay money to every day. You know that your cellular phone comes from a very large and powerful company that you see their signs every day. And so they do know about these companies. Many people also know even the names of the owners of these companies. But when you want to tie it to the struggle with the Palestinians, then, of course, that plays a role through different ways. You hinted that perhaps the struggle with the Palestinians helped to draw attention from the centralized capital in the year 2002. The chairman of the Manufacturers Association in Israel said that because of the struggle with the Palestinians, because of the intifada, Israelis have to learn that they cannot expect an increase in the minimum wage, or perhaps even they should expect a decrease in the minimum wage, meaning that the security constraints are used as a justification to stifle social struggle.
JAY: So 18 families, you said, own 60 percent of capitalization in Israel?
HEVER: Yeah.
JAY: Now, in terms of general social programs, social safety net, how much redistribution takes place amongst Israeli citizens?
HEVER: Well, Israel is the most unequal country in the developed world, second only to the United States. In the year 2009, Israel bypassed Mexico for the first time as more unequal than Mexico, making Israel indeed one of the most unequal countries in the world. And that is because while most countries in the developed world spend some of their budgets in redistributive efforts such as health care, unemployment benefits, infrastructure, creating jobs, that sort of thing, Israel actually spends about 75 percent less, in ratio comparisons, with most of these countries, with OECD countries, and that is because Israel spends so much on security, on the military.
JAY: Well, how much is it because they spend so much on security, and how much is it because of the accumulation of the 18 families? I guess, let me ask the question the other way: how taxed are the 18 families?
HEVER: Well, they are slightly less taxed than in most developed countries, mostly because Israel created a system of loopholes which allow, especially, wealthy Jewish people from around the world to bring their property to Israel with no questions asked. So there have been many cases of very wealthy Jews coming to Israel with their property, saying they're doing a Zionist act, but in fact there were standing lawsuits against them in other countries. Israel will not extradite them, stating against the Zionist argument. And that was one of the reasons that Israel was able to draw a lot of capital in the past two decades.
JAY: So if great concentration of ownership and wealth in the top tier, not that much taxation, not very much social safety net—so to what extent is there a social movement demanding more economic justice for Israelis?
HEVER: Well, Israel historically had a very strong social movement and was considered an almost socialist state. In 1965 there was a survey of all countries in the world in terms of equality, and Israel was ranked between the Netherlands and Finland—one of the most equal countries in the world. Today, as I said before, Israel is one of the most unequal countries in the world. So something did happen.
JAY: Okay. So in the next segment of our interview let's find out what happened. Please join us for the next segment of our interview with Shir Hever.
End of Transcript
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The Handstand reports horror of horrors - from Iraq to Honduras...
Political Assassins
from: http://niqnaq.wordpress.com Rowan Berkeley's excellent news blog.
global gangstersAugust 31, 2010CIA in Honduras: the Practice of Selective TerrorNil Nikandrov, Strategic Culture Foundation, Aug 31 2010President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya was displaced slightly over a year ago in a coup staged by the local oligarchy and the US intelligence community. The coup came as a punishment for Zelaya’s alignment with Hugo Chavez and other populist Latin American leaders. Since that time, the news flow from Honduras abounds with stories of political assassinations, the victims being activists of trade unions, peasant and student organizations, and the National Popular Resistance Front opposing the pro-US regime of Porfirio Lobo. Ten journalists who expressed support for the ousted Honduran president have been killed this year alone. The most recent case of the type was the murder of Israel Zelaya, 56, who was kidnapped by an armed group which easily crossed by car numerous police checkpoints set up as a part of the security-tightening campaign. The journalist was taken to a secluded location, tortured, and shot two times in the head and once in the chest. Dozens of similar incidents show that a program of ”political cleansing” is underway in Honduras. Killers selectively target potential leaders capable of galvanizing protesters. Peasant leader Maria Teresa Flores, 50, was the coordinator of the Council of Peasant Organizations of Honduras and a proponent of an agrarian reform including the abolition of latifundias and the establishment of rural cooperatives. She was kidnapped, and a week later her bullet-ridden body with numerous traces of machete strikes and one hand cut off was found by the roadside in the Comayagua department. Only a fraction of the cases of political assassinations in Honduras become widely known. The operations are carried out in secrecy by specially trained and lavishly paid death squads staffed by police agents, bandits, and professional killers of Honduran origin or brought in from Columbia. These days, mass graves of opponents of the current regime are discovered in Honduras increasingly often.It is an established pattern that political murders become widespread wherever the US “helps restore democracy.” Berta Oliva, president of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras, told the media a few days ago about the discovery of another mass grave with the bodies of over 100 people reported missing in Jun-Aug, that is, after the coup that propelled Lobo to power. Leader of the National Popular Resistance Front Reyes charges that the decisions to kill opposition leaders are made at the top level of the Honduran administration with direct involvement of key US embassy officers. It is no overstatement, considering that preemptive terror implemented by the state is a practice openly endorsed by Washington. Invoking cases of assassinations of foes of the US in Asia and Africa, the NYT maintained on Aug 15 that the geography and scale of the CIA secret wars “against terrorists” expanded under Obama compared to what the agency was allowed to do under Bush 43. The article contained no mention of the assassinations in Latin America, but it is an open secret that CIA operations targeting the regimes unfriendly to the US in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador are at full swing. Serious efforts are being made to strengthen the subversive terrorist networks in the above countries, where agents are receiving intense on-site training. Fighting against the Central American insurgencies and guerrilla groups in the 1960s–1980s, the Pentagon and the US intelligence community developed efficient approaches of the “struggle against terror.” Priority used to be given to decapitating the groups and neutralizing their support bases. In that epoch, peasants and Indians were routinely intimidated, forced to flee or even killed en masse in the regions of heightened guerrilla activity. The methods were later borrowed by the Columbian army and applied under the guidance of US advisers in the country’s internal conflict to undermine the potentials of FARC and ELN.So far there are no guerrilla groups in Honduras, and the Honduran administration noiselessly relies on the omnipresent death squads, which act under the US embassy staff’s supervision, to bleed the opposition. The bloated US mission in Tegucigalpa functions as a de facto parallel Honduran government, largely overshadowing the official one. US ambassador Llorens, appointed under Bush 43, is artistically playing the role of an honest diplomat totally uninvolved in the coup that led to the ouster of the legitimate president of Honduras. Llorens can count on Lobo’s understanding, as the new Honduran president is highly receptive to Washington’s initiatives and readily distances himself from the Latin American populist regimes. And, of course, Lobo rejects the ALBA integration project and Chavez’s “21st century socialism,” and for Washington’s peace of mind even shies away from discount energy deals with Venezuela, the resulting damage suffered by the Honduran economy notwithstanding. US military diplomats Defense Attaché Col Swisher, Special Tactics Group commander Col Rodriguez, Palmerola Airbase liaison officer Argenthal, and others are known to contribute a lot to the governance in Honduras. Several dozen US military intelligence officers are spying on the Honduran National Popular Resistance Front jointly with other US intelligence community staff operating under the cover of the US embassy, the Peace Corps, DEA, etc. The CIA station in Honduras headed by US embassy political counselor Eiriz is at the helm of the activity.There are obvious reasons behind Washington’s involvement in the Honduran crisis. Toppling Zelaya stopped the drift of Honduras towards a strategic alliance with the Latin American populist regimes, but the intensifying resistance mounted by the supporters of the ousted president is likely to confront Lobo’s administration with serious problems. Zelaya’s Patriotic Alternative and the threat of nation-wide strikes highlight the ineptitude of the current Honduran government. For Washington, the return of Zelaya would mean a new headache. OAS Sec-Gen Insulza hopes to see Zelaya reinstated, to prevent the emergence of a precedent allowing rightists to throw a legitimate president out of his own country. Zelaya is doing what he can to stage a comeback: he submits appeals to Honduran media nearly on a daily basis calling for unity of protesters and disproving the allegations leveled at him by the US media. At the moment the official and the shadow administrations of Honduras are bombarding Zelaya with charges. Allegedly, he misappropriated millions of dollars handed out to Honduras by Venezuela as economic aid. There is no clarity what happened to his personal presidential Lexus and to portions of the budget of his administration. Zelaya is aware that in the case of his return to Honduras he will have to defend himself in court. The surge of terror in Honduras is also a factor Zelaya has to reckon with. He is the number one target for the death squads, and threats are relayed to him via various channels that going back home would be a major risk.At present, Zelaya has guest status in the Dominican Republic. For Washington, the optimal scenario would be Zelaya’s consent to stay where he is, at the fancy La Romana resort frequented by millionaires and pop idols. Zelaya does not give in, though, keeps in touch with the populist leaders, and ignores Washington’s displeasure. With Chavez’s help, Zelaya became the Petrocaribe coordinator responsible for safeguarding independence and democracy. Holding the post makes it easier for him to travel around the region and to promote the National Popular Resistance Front. CIA agents in the Dominican Republic are watching Zelaya day and night, sending reports with details of his meetings, phone calls, and e-mails to Langley. The US embassy’s political section, Messrs Margulis, Fitzgibbons, and Norman, put collecting information about Zelaya and about his contacts with Chavez high on their agenda. Zelaya is surrounded by CIA agents and sophisticated surveillance systems, and the Dominican police readily shares information with the US. Chief of Dominican police Gen Gusman is regarded by the CIA as a partner and enjoys the agency’s sponsorship. In a couple of decades, journalists will probably unearth facts about the CIA personal donations to Gen Gusman. Some findings are already in the media: the police will get $3m to fight drug trafficking and other types of crime, plus $250,000 to buy computers and various equipment. The CIA would readily dispense even greater sums of money to make sure Zelaya is debarred from Honduras. The US double standards in countering terrorism are common knowledge, and for Washington wars and provocations are acceptable instruments in political games. Chances are Zelaya has already got a Black Spot from the CIA and a team of cleaners is waiting for the moment.
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