Is Shahar Peer just another tennis player?

[Middle East News Service comments: The decision by Australians For Palestine to demonstrate against Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe’er has raised a few eyebrows. Of course the AfP demonstrated in a peaceful manner that earned praise from the Herald-Sun and the Australian Jewish News noted their “corporate” attire. But he question of the individual-player focus remains. Even Antony Loewenstein , who cannot be accused of being too soft on Israel, has questioned whether all Israelis are a legitimate target for protest. I most certainly don’t agree that anybody from Israel who doesn’t come out publicly and challenge the state’s crimes should be targeted as such.

What is important is an informed decision. The particular case of Shahar Pe’er is far from being a cut and dry one. I am circulating the following blog-type piece with the aim of ensuring that people attitude to the demonstration is based on facts and not pre-set notions which are far too prevalent on BOTH sides of the conflict. On balance I will personally not participate in the demonstration but I reiterate that the most important aspect is an informed view.

Politics and sport were unhappy mix for the organisers of the Australian Open on Monday when Croatian supporters were thrown out for giving a fascist salute. And then there is Israel’s Shahar Pe’er [Pe-her is a close approximation] ranked 28 by the WTA ranking. Pe’er has just had a baptism of fire in Auckland where according to the Sydney Morning Herald’s Will Swanton she was subject to “a torrid time for supposedly failing to denounce her country's policies towards Palestinians.” Her other “crime” was serving in the Israeli army. There are posters over Melbourne CBD accusing her of playing for Israeli Apartheid and calling for demonstrations against her.

Pe’er protests her innocence saying that she is being picked on just because of her she comes from. She’s here to play tennis, not politics.

But is Pe’er just another ordinary citizen as she claims? For a start she could have easily avoided military service. For celebrity recruits like soccer players and singers, service is just about optional and avoidance is rife. But Pe’er actually insisted on enlisting. As Ynet (Hebrew) reported on 30 October 2005 Pe’er said on her induction: “From the beginning I wanted to serve in the army... I have already encountered Maria Sharapova on the tennis courts, but going into the IDF is a once-in-a- lifetime experience.”

Pe’er became a poster girl for IDF recruiting. She could have insisted a more private enlistment but instead she basked in the publicity of dozens of photographers and journalists taking in her special moment. An even bigger crowd accompanied her discharge. Her quid pro quo deal with the IDF was obvious. She spent most of her service either abroad playing or locally training. She made up for it by talking up recruitment. Asked about those who evade military duty she told Ynet (Heb) “Everyone has their reason and each case stands alone. In my case the army did not hurt me, and I do recommend people do enlist. Each person does what is good for their career.”

Pe’er two-year service coincided with both the Lebanon war and the Summer Rains operation that followed the capture of Gilad Shalit. It is hard to describe someone who acts as an unofficial recruiting officer for the country’s armed forces under those circumstances as person who has nothing to do with politics.

But Pe’er occasionally does talk politics. She was given an opportunity to write a personal column in the local supplement (mekomon) of Yediot Acharonot for her region. She took the opportunity to express her sympathy for the children of the nearby illegal settlement of Hasmonaim. You see about 200 children in the township suffer from respiratory difficulties and illnesses. Why? Because the teargas from the weekly demonstration against the impact of the Separation Wall on the Palestinian village of Na’alin drifts across. Pe’er concedes that the children of Na’alin also suffer but her key concern are the children of Hashmonaim. She does not ask why the Palestinians and their Israeli supporters demonstrate (they stand to lose about one third of their land), she just want it to stop. Apolitical? I don’t think so.

Whether Pe’er is just an ordinary tennis player or a supporter of the Israeli status quo and the settlements may be a moot point. Her views and attitudes are in line with the vast majority of her countrypeople. To that extent she is an ordinary Israeli. I certainly won’t be demonstrating against her. But the facts may not matter to some people. In a recent flyer Students for Palestine had the Jordan River changing its course and running south to north. And they topped that by stating that the West Bank is composed of the Galilee and the Negev which in Australian terms is equivalent to saying that the Northern Territory is composed of Western Australia and NSW.

Sol Salbe is a fulltime monitor of the Israeli and international media.

[The independent Middle East News Service concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly from Israeli sources. It is sponsored by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AJDS. These are expressed in its own statements]

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