Golden Eagles and Goldfinches

Zooish Conspiracies V

(Note - If you are, or would like to become, a museum supporter, and would like to attend a parlor meeting in Teaneck next Sunday at which I am giving a presentation, please write to Ellen at advancement@biblicalnaturalhistory.org. There might also be one in the Five Towns on the following Sunday.)

In Part I of this series, I began to address extensive anti-Israel claims relating to the animal kingdom made by Irus Braverman, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo, in her article “Wild Legalities: Animals and Settler Colonialism in Palestine/Israel” from Political and Legal Anthropology Review, subsequently incorporated into her book Settling Nature: The Conservation Regime in Palestine-Israel. In Part II and Part III, I addressed her claims about Israel’s reintroduction of Mesopotamian fallow deer being an act of “violent settler colonialism.” In Part IV, I addressed her claims about camels. This post continues the critique. I would like to thank Dr. Simon Nemtzov, Wildlife Ecologist & Head of International Relations at the Israel Nature & Parks Authority, for his assistance.

Eagle Evils

Braverman turns to the story of two golden eagles which were injured and poisoned by lead bullets and captured near Nablus, and brought to a Palestinian biologist, Mazin Qumsiyeh, with whom she was meeting. (While she does not say who shot the eagles, the hunting of wild animals is, as Braverman acknowledges, fundamental to Arab culture; both this and the location in which they were captured indicates that they were likely shot by Palestinians.) Braverman relates why these rare birds were not going to receiving the professional veterinary care that they needed:

“There were highly trained Israeli veterinarians at the Biblical Zoo, not even one kilometer away as the crow flies. But this distance was made vast by human politics—Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian, explained that he would not consider asking for help from Zionist colonizers.”

Yet if this was the reason for the eagles not receiving the medical attention that they needed, then surely it is an example of a Palestinian bringing harm to entirely innocent rare birds due to his personal animosity (whether justified or not) towards Israelis. If there is somebody at fault for the eagles’ plight here, it’s not the Israelis.

Fortunately for the eagles, Braverman decided to take them to the Jerusalem zoo, and discusses border crossings in order to insinuate further Zionist crimes:

“while on the books it was illegal for me to enter Area A^[1], my privileged status gave me some confidence that even if caught, I would not suffer more than a short detention. However, if Qumsiyeh were to attempt to cross the same border, the story could end with a much longer and perhaps more consequential detention. As for the eagles, they would likely receive an expedited border experience with a fast lane to the zoo.”

Well, yes. Since eagles pose no threat to anyone, they would get the fastest border crossing. Braverman, as an Israeli citizen who broke the law, would have a harder time. And Qumsiyeh, as a non-citizen from a community that sometimes engages in terrorist attacks, would have an even harder time. The same disparities between treatment of animals vs. lawbreaking citizens vs. people from hostile countries would be true in any country in the world.

“This is yet another example for how, at the end of the day, wildlife and the natural environment are not separate from human regimes but are instead both instruments for furthering these regimes as well as victims of their colonial violence.”

It is not an example of anything of the sort. The eagles were not instruments for anything at all, they were wild animals caught in an illegal shooting. And they were not victims of “colonial violence,” but rather of Palestinian Arab hunting.

Note Braverman’s hypocrisy. Elsewhere, she condemns Israel for taking a stand against Palestinian Arab hunting. Now she blames Israel for creatures that suffer and die as a result of such hunting!

Goldfinch Trapping

The next creature that Braverman highlights as an alleged example of “colonial violence” is the goldfinch, a colorful songbird. The European goldfinch is trapped throughout the Middle East in order to be cross-bred with canaries. This is done in order to produce the hybrid "banduk", desired for its especially beautiful song.

Like many uses of wildlife by people throughout the world, over-exploitation too often leads to decimation of the native populations. The small population size of the wild goldfinches in Israel has led to them being declared as a protected species that may not be harmed, captured or kept. For Braverman, this is an example of evil settler colonialism:

“My study of the goldfinches has further complicated the understanding of the more-than-human dynamics that occur in this place. Specifically, it has introduced the settler colonial disdain toward local Palestinian hunting practices and the prioritization of wild versus captive-bred songbirds… The biopolitical hierarchy established through INPA's categorization of bird bodies-and then the application of legal protections to some of these bodies but not to others-is arguably part and parcel of Israel's broader settler colonial project, which simultaneously uses scientific and ecological logics to undermine and discredit native practices.”

Braverman proceeds to describe how the Palestinians resort to smuggling wild goldfinches from Jordan, showing clearly how many of them are mistreated and die in the process.  But she seems to have little compassion for the birds, and blames the wrong side by expressing rancor for the INPA's enforcement efforts: "In the name of bird protection, then, Israel’s nature authority generates disrespect and mistrust toward what are configured as the inhumane practices of Palestinians."

Yet almost all the wild birds in Israel are protected by law and this has nothing to do with cultural or ethnic prejudices. All Israelis are expected not to harm or capture any wild birds, notwithstanding ancient Jewish practices of falconry^[2] and of capturing wild birds for food. Times change, populations of wildlife have shrunk, and the natural world can no longer sustain such exploitation.

Furthermore, why aren’t Palestinians who are taking goldfinches from the wild and driving the native population to extinction seen as an example of Palestinian settler-colonial violence against wildlife? After all, the more-than-human goldfinches were here before the Palestinians!

But the biggest problem with Braverman’s claim of how goldfinch conservation reflects Zionist settler-colonialist violence is that Palestinian law, and Palestinian and Arab conservationists, are also in favor of such conservation laws!

Palestinian law, as per Jordanian law, forbids the trapping of wild birds, though it is rarely enforced.^[3] Abdel Fattah Nazmi Abd Rabou, a biologist at the Islamic University of Gaza, has published “The Goldfinch in Palestine: An Appreciated Bird and A Threatened Species.”^[4] He bemoans how it has been hunted by Palestinians to near extinction in Palestine. He also notes that Arab countries such as Morocco have adopted legislation to protect goldfinches and launch regular operations to combat the trafficking of protected species. And notwithstanding his explicit background position that Israel is a settler-colonial state, he wants Palestinian territories to also take action against Palestinian exploitation of goldfinches:

“Many measures can be taken in the Palestinian territories to protect and preserve Goldfinches and other wild birds:

1. It is necessary for the Palestinian authorities to intervene immediately to stop the extensive and intensive poaching and the illegal trade of Goldfinches and others, as failure to do so will lead to the continued exploitation of Goldfinches and other resident and migratory songbirds to the extent that they may reach extinction.

2. The necessity of educating the local population about the ecological consequences of species extinction and its potential impacts on the local economy and human health.

3. The need to encourage artificial breeding of Goldfinches as this provides a self-sustaining solution. It is important to combat the smuggling of Goldfinch across the border in order to preserve this rare bird with a regional and global thinking.”

Abdel Fattah Nazmi Abd Rabou is using, in Braverman’s words, scientific and ecological logic to undermine and discredit native practice. It has nothing to do with “settler-colonialism” – it is about advances in understanding how growing human exploitation of wildlife threatens it, and seeking to protect the natural world.

   

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^[1] Area A, as designated by the Oslo Accords, constitutes those parts of the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority administers both civil and security matters; Israelis are prohibited from entering Area A.

^[2] https://www.biblicalnaturalhistory.org/post/falconry.

^[3] As per the Jordanian Environmental Law, which was implemented in Palestinian Territories since 1963.

^[4]  Abdel Fattah N Abd Rabou. “The Goldfinch (Carduelis Carduelis Linnaeus, 1758) in Palestine: An Appreciated Bird and A Threatened Species.” Biomed J Sci & Tech Res 47(1)-2022. BJSTR. MS.ID.007437