No End in Sight
Jon Elmer Interviews Gideon Levy

Elmer: But it does seem to be a discussion that is taking place throughout the whole of Israeli society. In a recent article you site a survey, from Israel's largest daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, saying that a majority of Israelis believe Arafat should be killed, and that a majority also believe that this will not stop terrorism, and may even increase it. What do these figures indicate to you?

Levy: People are brainwashed by the media. Time and again, they are told that Arafat is the only one who is guilty. The other day there was a cartoon in Ha'aretz showing a family stuck in their car, smoke coming out of their engine as they sat on the road, and the father says, "Oh, maybe we should assassinate Arafat." And that’s the idea: instead of [addressing] the real reasons for terror, the government and the media find all kinds of outlets, and one of them is Arafat. When people are so brainwashed, and they think he is the only obstacle to peace, it's very clear that they will be in favour of removing that obstacle.

Elmer: Is talk of assassinating an elected leader while carrying out a brutal occupation not incongruous with being "the only democracy in the middle east"?

Levy: Absolutely. I wrote an article a couple months ago with the title "Half a democracy", claiming that, just as you cannot be half-pregnant - you are either pregnant or you are not - you cannot be half-democratic. You cannot draw a line and say, I'm a democracy on a certain territorial line, and on the other side of this line I'm not democratic; or, I'm democratic only to one people and I'm not democratic to the other people who live in the same land.

It is a myth today [that Israel is a democracy]. Israel is a democracy - a real and liberal and full democracy - only to its Jewish citizens, only within the old Israel, within the 1967 borders. The rest [of Israel], on the other side of the line, is the farthest thing from a democracy. It is one of the most brutal, cruel regimes in the world today.
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