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Hungry Hungry Hypocrite

Marwan Barghouti declares hunger strike, caught clandestinely noshing in his cell

by
Liel Leibovitz
May 08, 2017
Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images
A Palestinian woman walks past a graffiti-covered section of the controversial Israeli separation wall showing jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti at the Qalandia checkpoint in the Israeli occupied West Bank, April 5, 2014,Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images
Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images
A Palestinian woman walks past a graffiti-covered section of the controversial Israeli separation wall showing jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti at the Qalandia checkpoint in the Israeli occupied West Bank, April 5, 2014,Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images

Marwan Barghouti is hungry no more.

Last month, the Palestinian terrorist currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for his role in planning three attacks that claimed the lives of five civilians, took to the pages of The New York Times to tell the world that he will join with many of his fellow incarcerated terrorists and starve himself in protest for what he described as “Israel’s inhumane system of colonial and military occupation.”

Like so much of Palestinian nationalism, however, Barghouti’s protest turned out to be just a piece of bad theater, lacking any candor, courage, and conviction. Yesterday, Israel’s prison authority released videos that clearly show the allegedly suffering Barghouti enjoying cookies and candy bars in the privacy of his own cell. Talk about a hungry, hungry hypocrite: as soon as he’s done wolfing down the treat, Barghouti rushes to the toilet and flushes away the evidence, like a furtive smoker in an airplane bathroom.

Having gone on a prolonged hunger strike myself some decades ago, I know what forgoing food does to your mind and your body. I know how hard it can be, which is why I’m not at all surprised to learn that Barghouti just didn’t have what it takes to transcend. Men who have no qualms about murdering innocents are not and can never be resilient leaders, just as national movements focused on advertising and exaggerating their victimhood are not and can never be committed to true reconciliation. Barghouti, poetically, is the perfect embodiment of Palestinian officialdom: speaking of virtue to a gullible international audience before retiring to a corner and indulging in vice. Bon appetite, Marwan, and if you’d like some more snacks, Israel’s inhumane system of colonial and military occupation will be happy to provide.

Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.