Over 300 faxes were sent on Tuesday morning alone to the Defense Ministry offices as part of the “S.O.S. Susya”  campaign launched by several Israeli anti-occupation organizations to raise awareness and actively oppose the planned demolition of the small Palestinian village of Susya, in Area C of the southern West Bank. A simple click on the campaign’s website automatically sends 5 faxes to the relevant authorities. Thus far, 12,500 faxes have been transmitted to the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration, which has apparently severely disrupted both institutions’ ongoing work. (When Haaretz‘s report in Hebrew came out earlier today, they were at 10,000 faxes.)

According to Israeli activist Sahar Vardi, the Defense Ministry is so annoyed by the inpouring of faxes that one of the secretaries there has even threatened to call on the police to intervene and put a stop to it. Vardi sent her fax this morning along with her personal contact information, in case someone at the ministry wanted to consult with her about how to solve the issue in Susya. Ten minutes after she sent the fax, she was surprised to get an email from a secretary asking if they could talk on the phone. She called Vardi and told her that they got over 200 faxes today alone that are jamming their machines and disrupting their work and told her it has to stop.

“I told her that I only sent one fax, and that the demolition of an entire village kind of disrupts people’s lives so maybe the Defense Ministry’s work ought to be disrupted a bit,” Vardi recounted to +972. “She demanded I tell everyone to stop sending faxes or she would involve the police. I asked her if she  was threatening to call the police because I sent a fax in a democratic country. She replied by commenting, ‘Isn’t it a waste of paper?’” Apparently the Israeli military complex does not grasp the notion of the right to grassroots activism and lobbying that are supposed to be granted by liberal democracies.