Ezra Nawi

rdf:langString Ezra Nawi

rdf:langString InternetArchiveBot

rdf:langString March 2022

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rdf:langString Ezra Yitzhak Nawi (Hebrew: עזרא יצחק נאווי; 1951 – 9 January 2021) was an Israeli Mizrahi Jew, left-wing, human rights activist and pacifist. He was particularly active among the Bedouin herders and farmers of the South Hebron Hills and against the establishment of Israeli settlements there, in what Uri Avnery described as a protracted effort by settlers to cleanse the area of Arab villagers, in the prevention of which he played a key role. He was described as a "Ta'ayush nudnik (nuisance)", and "a working-class, liberal gay version of Joe the Plumber". He was regarded by some as an extreme leftist activist and troublemaker.He was charged with numerous infractions of the law, with convictions ranging from statutory rape, illegal use of a weapon and possession of drugs to assaulting two policemen, In addition, he also served several short stints in prison as a consequence of his activism. Defenders claimed that many of the prosecutions were politically motivated. David Shulman regarded him as a major obstacle to the theft of Palestinian land, and considered him an Israeli exponent of Gandhian civil disobedience. Nawi once said that he would strike back when attacked. He came to international attention after being convicted in 2007 of participating in a riot and assaulting two police officers in connection with the demolition of Bedouin homes in the West Bank by Israeli border policemen. His trial and imprisonment spurred a worldwide protest against his treatment that elicited 20,000 signatures. In 2008, Nissim Mossek produced a film on his life, private and public, which had mixed reviews. In 2015, an undercover pro-settler group taped him bragging that he had identified Palestinian land brokers willing to sell land to Israeli or Jewish brokers to the PA security services. Under Palestinian law, such sales are a capital offence, and Nawi claimed they would be tortured and killed. The case triggered a political backlash in Israel and there were calls for England and France to stop foreign funding of two Israeli civil rights NGOs, Ta'ayush and B'Tselem, whose members were involved in the incident. Nawi and two others were arrested, and then released and banned from the West Bank for two weeks.