Two foreign anarchists who were agitating in the area south of Mount Hebron and entered a closed military area several times were deported from Israel this week and their entry visas were denied for the foreseeable future, HaKol HaYehudi reported on Thursday.
The two anarchists, an Englishman and a French woman, were arrested a few days ago after they had entered the security area of the Mitzpe Yair settlement in the south of Mount Hebron, which was closed to civilians as a designated military zone.
The two activists confronted a military force from the Yehuda Brigade that arrived at the scene and prevented the soldiers from carrying out their assignment. The two anarchists were arrested by the army and taken to the Hebron police station for questioning.
At the end of their interrogation, it was decided to hand them over to the Population and Immigration Authority to initiate a deportation procedure against them. Following a hearing during which the suspects were given the opportunity to defend themselves against the charges, it was decided to deport them from Israel and cancel their entry visa permanently. The two were transferred to the detention facility of the Immigration Directorate and put on flights back to their countries.
Unlike Israeli anarchists, who are usually banned for only a few days from entering the area where they violated the law, foreign anarchists can lose their residence permit and deported. In the past, the immigration authority was reluctant to use this procedure out of concern for Israel’s relations with the anarchists’ home countries. This week’s deportation was a step in the right direction, but not necessarily a change of policy.
In early November 2023, Israel Hayom reported that “While the State of Israel is engaged in a multi-front war, left-wing activists from Israel and abroad are currently working to further agitate Judea and Samaria. These days, ISM activists, along with other left-wing activists, are roaming around Mount Hebron, disrupting the activities of the soldiers operating there.”
“In recent days, reservists serving in the Mount Hebron area have been reporting that left-wing activists are coming to the area and preventing them from carrying out their assignments. The activists go up to the soldiers’ positions, taunt them, and when the fighters try to repel them, they pull out cameras and accuse them of violence. Jewish residents say that ISM activists are spreading the fake videos around the world, thus fueling the false campaign about settler violence.”
THE NON-VIOLENT VIOLENT ISM
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded in 2001 by PA Arab Ghassan Andoni, Israeli anarchist Neta Golan, Arab American Huwaida Arraf, PA Arab George N. Rishmawi, American Jew Adam Shapiro, and filmmaker Osama Qashoo.
ISM’s leader is Paul Larudee, 77, a Bay area Iranian American anarchist who is a major figure in the pro-Hamas movement. Larudee shared his support for the October 7 Hamas massacre in a video in which he bragged: “Our Palestinian brothers and sisters taught the Zionists a lesson.”
In 2004, The Telegraph’s Toby Harnden published a report about ISM headlined, “The ‘peace’ group that embraces violence.” Harden cited a 2002 article in which the group’s co-founders Shapiro and Arraf urged: “The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent.”
Harden continued: “Mr. Shapiro and Miss Arraf predicted that ‘yes, people will get killed and injured’ and suggested that the casualties ‘would be considered shaheed,’ using the Arabic term for martyrs applied to suicide bombers.
“In its mission statement, the movement says that, for Palestinians, ‘armed struggle’ is ‘their right.’ Activists have shown their hatred for the Jewish state. ‘Israel’ is an illegal entity that should not exist,’ wrote Flo Rosovski, an ISM ‘media coordinator’ who was deported last year.”
Lee Kaplan reported in The Jewish Press in 2012 (ISM Exposed: How the ISM Sucker-Punched the IDF Again): “Brian Malovany trains new ISM recruits on how to harass IDF soldiers. His father told me ISM is a cult. Brian managed to reenter Israel by obtaining an Irish passport. ISM encourages obtaining multiple passports and identities so as to be able to reenter Israel and continue the harassment of the IDF and support for the terrorist groups in their ‘resistance.’”
ISM was nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize by Svend Robinson, a former New Democratic Party Member of the Parliament of Canada.
