Photo courtesy of AP
There has been growing public concern over the recent weeks about happenings in Arugam Bay. This analysis adds to the discourse.
Democratic states are obliged to protect all people within its borders whether citizens or non-citizens. Non-citizens include tourists on short stays subject to the law of the land they visit.
Informed sources report that Jewish places of prayer have been set up for Israeli tourists in Arugam Bay. Although few would object to people at prayer, this raises a concern. Why would tourists on short stays want this when they can pray in their rooms?
A likely answer links two possibilities. Some of these tourists are here to stay longer and have been permitted to do so and the authorities have turned a blind eye to the construction or designation of a Jewish place of prayer for Israelis. The stringent regulations governing the establishment of new places of prayer or worship for our own citizens makes this favour even more puzzling.
If the law has been bent to confer some Israelis with undisclosed, preferential treatment new questions surface. Was this due to corruption in our system or external political pressure?
Corruption is no doubt endemic in the system but US reaction to two recent global initiatives by Sri Lanka tips the balance towards the latter. The shocking entitlement to interfere in our affairs, repeatedly demonstrated by the current US Ambassador and the indissoluble marriage between the US and her proxy Israel, add weight to the swing.
A sudden, even controversial, travel advisory issued to her citizens by the US (promptly repeated by some of its allies) came soon after Sri Lanka signed a UN resolution along with 123 other nations, demanding that Israel end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory within 12 months. Sri Lanka had also around this time applied for and gained a level of interim membership with BRICS, not the best friend of the US and her allies. Given the sequence of these incidents, the travel advisory could be seen as a warning; a nudge. Unless we behave – cooperate with US foreign policy, which coddles Israel – our gradually improving tourist industry will suffer another setback.
There is a lesson here. Nations hit by economic bankruptcy such as Sri Lanka are prone to sell their sovereignty in exchange for pseudo, dressed up, stability. If any, tasked to protect our own sovereignty, have been part of such hidden currents we will have to deal with not one but two sets of predators to regain our independence.
Some reports that Israeli Defence Force personnel who have been active agents of genocide in Gaza are among the Arugam Bay “tourists” could turn the Israeli presence into a time bomb. Wherever and in whatever condition segments of the Israeli fighting machine are present, there the Mossad will be, gathering and hunting.
One of the former governments is claimed to have bought arms from Israel and invited its personnel to train the forces during the protracted ethnic war. The Israeli agents invited over then had ample opportunity to study our fractious ethno-political relations and explore the strategic locations on our coasts, not the least Arugam Bay. This ethnic war brought death and untold suffering to thousands of civilians, especially Tamils. Today our hurt and humiliated Tamil community still waits for closure. But for this to happen, the protective cordon of racist patriotism will have to be dismantled.
Caught up today with a much more mysterious Israeli presence in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka should note what the whole world knows: anyone who stand in the way of Israel’s policy of occupation is punished harshly. This explains ongoing genocide in Gaza, how the Secretary General of the UN was swiftly deemed persona-non grata and why the life sustaining UN agency, UNRWA, currently faces shut down.
While our impending geo-political crisis is hugely complicated, an immediate step in this tough task is to review all preferential treatment of Israelis on our soil. The commendable political will demonstrated in signing the UN resolution on Israel’s occupation of Palestine has a moral sequel. Until the genocide of the Palestinians ends, Israelis who have played a part in the genocide should be on notice for prosecution wherever they go, including Sri Lanka.
Drawn into deep and dangerous currents, by design or default, our best chance for a dignified nation is to look beyond party politics to our wisest legal and diplomatic minds. In the meantime we are to beware those who fly over, with bag loads of smiles, gifts and advice. They are far from the angels they pretend to be.
With peace and blessings to all.