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Israel's attacks on the Palestinian Democratic Union are the start of a new phase

September 27, 2016 at 11:25 am

The acts committed by the Israeli police and intelligence agencies against the Palestinian Democratic Union, a legitimate political party represented in the Knesset, are crimes. These unprecedented acts could not be committed without a political decision made at the highest level and they aim to destroy the party and tarnish its image amongst the people.

The dedication of hundreds of members of the police Special Forces unit and the prison authority to arrest dozens of our comrades and question hundreds more, in addition to the manner in which they are arrested and intimidated, exposes the fact that the issue is not a matter simply of financial violations, regardless of their magnitude. Instead, it indicates that the true intention of the authorities is to eliminate the party and its political objectives, which oppose the Zionist colonial project and challenges the Jewish nature of the state.

Hence, this is not merely a campaign of arrests or random investigations and interrogations; it is a dangerous and serious escalation by the Zionist establishment with a clear goal: to crush and destroy the Palestinian Democratic Union. It aims to do so by incriminating the PDU judicially as a political party accused of money laundering and fraud, and causing it to lose its popular bases and support by means of intimidation, threats and defamation. We are now in a completely new phase that began with the decision to ban the Islamic movement by means of an administrative order based on the emergency regulations. This has now been compounded by the rabid and unprecedented attack on the Palestinian Democratic Union.

We have clear evidence that the police and intelligence agencies did not wait for the state comptroller’s report on the elections or leave the comptroller to go to the attorney general in the event that information or evidence that indicates criminal violations was found, as is required by law. Instead, they obtained any related materials immediately after they reached the comptroller in late February 2016. After doing so, the police summoned people for questioning in February and March, and with that grew our suspicions that the “comptroller’s representatives” who visited the party’s offices several times as the financial statements were being prepared included agents from the police or intelligence services.

For example, I found it interesting that while extending the detention of individuals in the Rishon Lezion Magistrates Court, the prosecuting officer stumbled over his words when the defence asked him if the state comptroller was the one who went to the police. First, he answered yes, and then no. This is clear proof that it is not a case of financial violations that came up during a routine audit and investigation that should be carried out by the state comptroller’s office, but rather a political case and the decisions regarding this case were made in the corridors of the political leadership and intelligence agencies, as the matter is of a security and strategic nature. This is the case with every important issue regarding the Palestinian Arabs in Israel.

The other face of the campaign of investigations and arrests that may go on for several years in the courts is the media aspect. They will use this to try to distort the image of the PDU and defame it through accusations that have not been proven in courts and yet they will be stated as facts. Their main concern is to create rumours; they see no need to prove their authenticity, as merely raising such concerns damages the party. As part of their fervent media attack, they will try to reach the party’s Knesset members (MKs) because this is excellent fuel for the Israeli media. We shouldn’t be surprised if the MKs are summoned for questioning. The media is counting on the people’s short-term memory and some convincing rhetoric, but those who use it are a small group on the fringes of society; they are hateful and lack national and moral values, but are being used as partners to help make the official media campaign a success.

The media battle for public opinion is no less important and no less difficult than the task of the legal battle over the criminal case they are trying to build against the political party nowadays. As such, we must take the police accusations seriously and dismantle the foundations of the criminal case they are trying to fabricate.

The main accusation with which they will try to break the back of the party is systematic money laundering and the use of fraudulent documents in the process. This is a violation of the law covering the funding of political parties, as well as a series of other violations. They are referring specifically to the 2013 Knesset elections and the 2013 municipal elections. This case does not involve millions, as the police report states, but rather refers exclusively and specifically to two election battles in that year. Any knowledgeable individual who has an average understanding of national affairs or any political or social activist would immediately realise the triviality of the issue and its insignificance in comparison to the requirements of election campaigns and the tremendous financial violations committed by large political parties that end up with the state comptroller imposing a fine on them. In addition, there are money laundering cases involving hundreds of millions of shekels and they usually end without anyone being arrested and are settled out of court with the tax authorities. The state comptroller wrote a special report in which he included special regulations and protocols that prevent the circumvention of the political party funding law by means of transferring hundreds of millions of shekels or dollars through charities or even companies funding the Zionist parties. All of this still occurs despite all of the supervision and audits.

The Palestinian Democratic Union has recorded every sum of money it has received, including its source, and proves it in all of its papers and bank statements. It has become clear to us now that if we had not done that and left all of the amounts received during the 2013 electoral campaigns with unknown sources or without detailed documentation, we would have not only been targeted by the police but also possibly to what Likud was subject to in 2003 when the state comptroller found nearly two million shekels with an unknown source in the ruling party’s files regarding the municipal elections in Jerusalem, Haifa and Or Akiva. The state comptroller imposed a small fine of approximately $34,000 on Likud. However, since then, the fines imposed by the state comptroller have increased, as large fines were later imposed on a number of political parties due to serious financial violations committed during the 2003 municipal elections; Likud, for example, was forced to pay over $240,000 in fines, while the Labour Party was fined more than $213,000.

During those elections, the Palestinian Democratic Union was one of the few parties that was not fined at all and its financial documents were approved completely by the state comptroller. In other words, if the party had “neglected” its financial records and did not document the sources of its funding, lacking transparency, then it would now only be subject to administrative accountability that would lead to the imposition of a very high fine and the matter would end there.

Of course we have no doubt that the authorities would have found other means to persecute the party politically under a criminal guise, but everything I have stated proves undoubtedly that the financial violations claimed by the police are related to a specific and relatively small amount in the 2013 elections. With most parties, such cases start and end in the state comptroller’s office with the imposition of hefty fines.

Furthermore, the alleged violations are related to the sources of income, the way that they are recorded, and the management of the accounts. All of the money was deposited in the bank account and used to cover the party’s activities during the 2013 elections and there are no claims that the donations were misused by the party or by individuals.

In addition, the prosecution and investigation into the funds has been moved from the state comptroller’s office to the intelligence agencies and elite police units. Hundreds of donors were questioned and dozens of leaders and staff members arrested in a semi-military operation, even before the state comptroller completed the investigation and audit process. This is clear evidence that the goal is the political assassination and criminalisation of the Palestinian Democratic Union as a prelude to its complete exclusion from the political arena.

It is difficult at the current time to assess the results of the investigation and the constant and barbarous arrests. The police are submitting secret reports to the courts that are only seen by the judge. Based on this, we cannot gauge the consequences or details of the case or if the police will succeed in formulating indictments against a large or small number of our colleagues. However, we do know that the only reason they are prosecuting individuals, especially leaders and officials, is to eliminate the PDU as a party, and as a legal and official organisation. They have failed to damage its reputation and influence so far; indeed, support has increased since the campaign began. Regardless of the results of the investigation and trials – if the authorities manage to submit indictments – they will fail miserably in eliminating the party project, for this is the project of our entire nation and it aims to challenge and confront Zionist colonialism and settlements, as well as the Apartheid system imposed by Israel in Palestine. They will also fail to tame the party’s rhetoric or limit its influence on building and entrenching the historical narrative of the indigenous people and the collective memory of the younger generations.

Translated from Arab48, 24 September, 2016

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