In five years of researching and writing about the International Solidarity Movement I've learned a lot about why Israel's government is so slow to act against this subversive organization on its own soil.

First, it is important to understand Israeli bureaucracy. Each of us sees the world through our own window of
Over 170 IDF soldiers, police and border guards have been injured.
experiences. The bureaucrats in the Interior, Foreign and Defense Ministries don't bother to read reports about the ISM, and when they are told by the group that it consists of "nonviolent peace activists", they take them at their word.

"Nonviolent", my arse.

Over 170 IDF soldiers, police and border guards have been injured in weekly demonstrations in Bil'in. Every Friday, internationals from the ISM go into the mosques and incite the local Arabs to riot at the security fence. In turn, the ISM sends out emails claiming their "nonviolent" demonstration was met by Israeli brutality. One has only to see the number of Arabs throwing stones, using slingshots, or Molotov cocktails at our soldiers to see the reality of what is going on. It would seem the Interior Ministry and IDF believe the purpose of Israeli soldiers is to be used as pawns while the politicians dither with the Arabs over borders.

These boys of ours are human beings, and if an Arab throws a rock at an IDF soldier or border guard there should be a zero tolerance policy: shoot him. It is, in fact, the result of ISM propaganda in the US that when stones are thrown at Jews it is now considered "nonviolent resistance." Try losing an eye sometime to this form of "nonviolence".

Second, the Interior Ministry is concerned about "international incidents." ISM activists from Europe and America, usually drawn from college communist groups, love to come to Israel where they know the police usually will not harm them. The ISM even trains them to confront Israeli soldiers when they are ordered to leave closed military zones and demand to see "written orders." Imagine if one of these ISM tools were to confront a soldier in most of the world with such demands - that person would, at minimum, get the boot, if not be beaten or shot. The difference here is that ISM internationals are told to say they were abused even if they were not. It's always a win-win for the other side. Phony abuse cases against IDF soldiers and settlers is now another ISM tactic.

The Foreign Ministry also wants to avoid international incidents. It cooperates with the US State Department, with whom ISM leaders meet, also convincing them the ISM protesters are "nonviolent peace activists." The ISM also teaches its members if they do get deported from Israel, that they should get another passport under another name, graciously provided by the US State Department, to specifically sneak back into Israel and make more trouble. Yet, when a US national gets arrested over and over again, the Foreign Ministry seldom raises an objection and demands that person be prosecuted in the US for passport fraud. I know this, I've tried.

The ISM was started by the PLO and began working under PFLP guidance. It is "Palestinian-led" and, like the PFLP, Communist-inspired. It is thus able to ally itself with Israeli Communist groups against the Jewish state. Its purpose is to run interference for Arab terrorist groups and engage in propaganda. Imagine if the US were to allow a similar group from Mexico into the US, on its border with Mexico.

Believe it or not, that is one of the goals of the ISM. Israel's border with the Palestinian Authority is just the training ground for that later.

The security services have finally had it with the ISM apparently. They have conducted night raids into Bil'in and arrested some of the Arab leadership that organizes the stone throwing in coordination with the ISM. However, the internationals of the ISM have physically interfered with the IDF soldiers. Below is an account of one police raid in an ISM email:

Bil'in night raid, one arrest 01.09.09

Shortly after 3am, Bil'in was invaded again. 4 Jeeps and a military truck entered the village with over 50 soldiers. The Israeli occupation forces raided three homes simultaneously and arrested Abed Baset Mohammed Abu Rahme (age 19).

In the second house, they tried to arrest Yaseen Mohammed Ali Yaseen (21), but he was not at home. They left a military order for him to turn himself in by 9am the next day. In the third house, they wanted to arrest Mohammed Ahmed Yaseen (age 21), but did not find him at his home either.

The soldiers acted very swiftly. As they encountered many international activists who stood in their way filming and challenging their action as well as following the movement of the jeeps, the soldiers threw tear gas and sound bombs to disperse them and clear the way. They also used a laser beam on some of the activists as a means of intimidation.

Around 4am, all the military vehicles left the village exiting toward the Apartheid Wall

Thank you for you continued support,

Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder  of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin

What country in the entire world allows foreigners onto its soil and lets them get away with interfering with its security services like this? No place. Not even America. Such people would be arrested and prosecuted immediately.

And why is the individual promoting this behavior allowed to own a cell or other phone and act as an interlocutor to run further interference with the IDF? Will they plan an attack on our boys during the next night raid to injure some of them? One thing is clear, the IDF avoided arresting the internationals that night because they are internationals. What should have occurred was their arrest and incarceration, and payment of heavy fines - forget deportation.

This brings us to another reason why the ISM is tolerated. When brought before a magistrate, ISM internationals
The Knesset outlawed the Kach movement, so certainly it can outlaw the ISM.
and Israelis are usually given a slap on the wrist. If they were jailed for a minimum of six months and forced to pay a hefty fine, the fun of carrying on in Bil'in would be removed. Instead, at worst, they are deported, but even then they refuse deportation as part of their ISM "training."

Of course, the Arabs would pay the fines to have them back to make more trouble, so the real solution is at least six months in jail. The fines paid by the Saudis or Palestinians could be put to good use - repairing the security fence - and should still be assessed.

The Knesset outlawed the Kach movement, so certainly it can outlaw the ISM. Had the ISM internationals in Rafah been arrested instead of allowed to interfere with bulldozers demolishing tunnels that fateful day, the little idiot Rachel Corrie would not have been killed. Israel did not murder her, but Israeli tolerance of the ISM certainly contributed to her death.

Shema, Yisrael! It's time to close down this subversive group for good and to jail internationals caught doing its bidding for Arab terror groups. If any one reason is need, it should be to protect our soldiers and border guards.