EDITOR: Surprise, surprise…
For years now, the settlers are making the life of Palestinians utter hell. They murder people, terrorise them, attack little children on the way to school, stone Palestinians in Hebron and elsewhere, block roads at will, burn mosques and desecrate them – the list goes on (though mosques are burnt now regularly all inside Israel… see item below). All this was more or less disregarded by the IDF and the legal system in Israel – after all, the criminals are Jewish, aren’t they? They only attack Arabs, so what the problem?
As Gideon Levy notes below, it all changed when they managed to take over an army base and hurt a high ranking officer. They have been attacking army units for some time, but again their actions, until now, were treated as ‘in the family’ – everyone knows the husband beats his wife, but it stays in the family.
Now, it seems this all different. The attacks of army units, were they carried out by Palestinians, would carry a prison sentence of few decades. The settlers until now got no punishment, not even a court invite. This is how racism operates. The law is directed at one group, disregarding the larger crimes of another group, because they are part of the ‘self’ the entity for the protection of which laws are enacted and enforced. There is no citizenship – there are only tribes – ours and theirs.
Israel, wake up and smell the coffee: Haaretz
Years of rioting against Palestinians, uprooting of trees, vandalism, arson, destruction, dispossession, theft, rocks and axes didn’t cause a ripple, but one rock to the head of a deputy brigade commander made all the difference.
By Gideon Levy
If I could, I’d send a modest bouquet of flowers as a gesture of thanks for the work of the rioters – the ones who infiltrated the Ephraim Brigade base in the West Bank last week. They achieved, at least for a moment, what others had failed to do: stir Israeli public opinion and maybe even the army and government against the West Bank settlers.
Good morning, Israel. You’ve woken up? Years of rioting against Palestinians, uprooting of trees, vandalism, arson, destruction, dispossession, theft, rocks and axes didn’t cause a ripple here. But one rock to the head of a deputy brigade commander, Lt. Col. Tzur Harpaz, made all the difference.
An all-out riot. Jewish terrorism. There are militias in the West Bank, settler-terrorists in a no-man’s-land. And all this due to a rock that drew a few drops of sacred Jewish blood.
Here they are again: arrogance and nationalist ideology. How is it possible that terrorism has arisen from the Chosen People? How could a few drops of blood from one person shock more than streams of other people’s blood? How did the rock that scratched Harpaz’s forehead reverberate immeasurably more than the teargas canister that ripped through the forehead of Palestinian Mustafa Tamimi, killed four days earlier by soldiers from the army Harpaz serves in?
No, the right wing’s hilltop youth haven’t endangered the State of Israel. They haven’t even distorted its image, as it’s now popular to proclaim. What do you want from them? They’ve been made accustomed to think that anything goes. Enough with the self-righteous clucking of tongues. Enough with the “condemnations” and expressions of bogus and belated shock. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the settlers. It’s not a “new level” of activity, and it doesn’t involve the crossing of “red lines.” The only line that has been crossed, perhaps, is the line of apathy.
We’ve been reporting for years about the settlers’ misdeeds, week after week. We’ve recounted how they have threatened Palestinians, hit their children on their way to school, thrown garbage at their mothers, turned dogs on elderly Palestinians, abducted shepherds, stolen livestock, embittered their lives day and night, hill and vale, invading and taking over. And it never touched a soul.
Now all of a sudden there is shock. Good morning, Israel. Why? What happened? You can’t chastise those young people after years of not only apathy toward their parents’ misdeeds but also the warm embrace of most of society and sweeping support from the IDF and every Israeli government. You can’t speak about them as brother-pioneers, give them huge budget allocations, promise they’ll be allowed to remain where they are forever, view them as a legitimate, not to say principled, segment of society, and then suddenly turn your back on them, condemning and attacking them. And all due to a rock.
You can’t change the rules that way, one fine day. And the rules were set long ago: It’s their land, the land of the settlers; they’re the masters of it and can do anything there. Only a distorted double standard would permit a change in the rules due to a minor injury to the Israel Defense Forces. Only in the name of a distorted double standard could you be shocked about the recent acts, which were by no means the most serious or cruel.
Of course Israel has the right (and duty ) to change the rules, but such a change must be revolutionary and be carried out across the settlement enterprise, halting it entirely and changing the illegal, unethical and intolerable reality that exists in our backyard. The government isn’t interested in such a change. The IDF isn’t either, and it’s doubtful most Israelis want such a change. But anything less than that is hollow lip service, nothing more than a small wave on the hull of this decades-long enterprise.
Until that happens, let’s leave them alone. There’s no point evacuating a chicken coop at the Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost while the settlement of Efrat is lapping at the edge of Bethlehem. There’s no point waging war against the “illegal” outposts while the “legal” settlement of Ofra has been built on stolen land. And there’s no point issuing restraining orders to keep out a clutch of rioters while it never occurs to Israel to issue similar orders against all their brethren.
The violent demonstrators at the Ephraim Brigade base are the opposite of anarchists, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called them. They just want to preserve the existing order, just as most Israelis, led by the prime minister, do. Flowers for the rioters? On second thought, they haven’t done a thing.
Netanyahu’s crackdown on Jewish extremists unlikely to change West Bank status quo, IDF officials say: Haaretz
Prime minister approved measures including issuing administrative detention orders for Jewish extremists responsible for recent attacks on IDF soldiers, other targets.
IDF officials said Wednesday that there is only a small chance that the steps taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to crack down on Jewish extremists responsible for recent violent attacks on IDF soldiers and other targets would change law enforcement in the West Bank.
Netanyahu approved measures on Wednesday including issuing administrative detention orders for the Jewish extremists, as is usually done with Palestinians suspected of being a security risk.
Moreover, the prime minister approved trying the Jewish activists in military courts, which would effectively expedite their sentencing and make their punishment more severe.
Public opinion has had its effect. Netanyahu appears to have acted following the extensive media coverage of violence and inaction by the army and police.
To some extent, the public reaction is also linked to the atmosphere created by right-wing MKs’ legislative rampage over the past two months. Netanyahu also acted against the backdrop of what was perceived as a problem of governance. When soldiers are attacked and don’t respond, the government looks bad, too. Neither the prime minister nor the press acted when those same right-wingers threw stones at Palestinian cars and burned homes and vehicles.
But there were still major skeptics in the army and police on Wednesday over the effectiveness of the steps approved by an impressive margin. Officers said there is only a small chance the latest steps will fundamentally change the state of law enforcement in the territories.
A system established over decades in the West Bank and the mutual dependence between the settlers, the politicians and the security forces is too strong to be reversed in one fell swoop. The measures approved yesterday include steps in the right direction, but it appears they don’t amount to more than a band-aid.
It was announced that soldiers would be given arrest authority – this power has existed in practice for some time. Arrest and exclusion orders also existed in the past, albeit on a smaller scale, while the addition of personnel will be examined over time.
The truth is, the Israeli government missed plenty of chances to deal with this problem in the past – after the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994, after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and amid acts by the Jewish terrorist organization that operated in the territories at the beginning of the last decade. Its members have never been prosecuted.
Even if these steps bear fruit, there are many other obstacles. Netanyahu, for example, approved the decision to have the rioters stand trial in military courts, but it’s by no means clear that these courts can handle the cases. It’s not clear whether they will be stricter than civilian courts, which have displayed a frightening leniency against ideologically motivated right-wingers.
The Israel Police’s West Bank district has been suffering from inadequate staffing, and it’s no secret that it can’t handle all its tasks. Meanwhile, the Shin Bet security service division in charge of investigating Jews frequently can’t meet the burden of proof required in court when it comes to Jewish defendants.
There is no choice but to ask Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues why it only occurred to them to act now after “price tag” hooligans have run wild in the territories for nearly two years. It will also be hard for the army to switch gears regarding the right wing, because it has gotten used to viewing the Israeli citizen, any Israeli citizen, as an ally who has to be protected. It’s hard to explain that at a given moment, a small percentage of those citizens have become the enemy.
Significant results in the battle against extreme right-wing lawbreakers will only be achieved if the approach is changed from the top down. The police have chalked up successes in fighting organized crime. But crime families, unlike right-wing rioters, lack a support base in the Knesset.
It could be that a better comparison to Netanyahu’s steps on Wednesday is the Trajtenberg report on social issues that was issued after the summer of social protest. It involved public pressure, a lot of good intentions and a few cosmetic changes, but no major transformation as of yet.
The media’s agenda is liable to change soon. It’s hard to imagine that the latest measures, justified as they may be, will reverse a major trend that has been in place for many years.
Mosque set alight in suspected ‘price tag’ attack in Upper Galilee: Haaretz
Graffiti with the words ‘price tag’ found on wall of the mosque in northern Israel; Northern District Police Commander describe incident as ‘very serious.’
One of three mosques in the village of Tuba-Zangariyye in the Upper Galilee was set on fire overnight Sunday in a suspected “price tag” attack.
It is thought that the attackers arrived at the mosque at approximately 1.30 A.M. and set it alight.
The entire interior of the mosque went up in flames, causing heavy damage. Holy books inside the mosque were burned.
Graffiti with the words “price tag” was found on the wall of the mosque.
Northern District Police Commander Major-General Roni Atia who was on the scene described the incident as “very serious in the context of ‘price tag’ attacks.” Atia has set up a special team to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Residents of the village also described the attack as “very serious.”
“It is obvious that Jewish extremists did this; despite the internal divisions we have, no one here would dare harm the mosque,” one of the residents said.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni commented on the incident, saying that if it was indeed a “price tag” act, then it must be condemned.
“Burning mosques contradicts Israel’s values as a Jewish state,” she said. “Such serious incidents obligate us to conduct a national self-examination.”
Hezbollah accuses ‘Zionist settlers’ of attack on Israel mosque: Haaretz
Lebanese militant group claim ‘Zionists expanding their attacks on Christian and Islamic shrines in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Hezbollah on Monday slammed the torching of a mosque in northern Israel and accused “Zionist settlers of attacking religious shrines.”
“The Zionists are expanding their attacks on Christian and Islamic shrines in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the Lebanese Shiite movement said in a statement.
Hezbollah also warned that the incident “is a danger that targets religious shrines.”
Vandals torched a mosque in northern Israel in a suspected revenge attack by right-wing extremists.
The mosque, located in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zanghariyya in the northern Galilee region, sustained heavy damage in the overnight attack.
The assailants entered the village overnight, lit fires in the mosque, took copies of the Koran and burnt them outside and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on the walls, with the words “Price Tag” and “Revenge.”
EDITOR: From the horse’s mouth…
Peres, hypocrite number ONE in the middle East, long time supporter of crimes against Palestine and other Arab countries, as well as supporter of the settlements, most of which were emerging under his regime or while serving in governments he was a senior minister in, is speaking in his ‘voice of peace’ imitation, supposedly shocked by the deeds of those snakes he has nurtured when they were much smaller.
Peres: Galilee mosque arson shameful for the State of Israel: Haaretz
The President stresses the importance of the time in which mosque attack took place – the Ten Days of Atonement.
President Shimon Peres on Monday condemned an arson attack on a mosque in the Upper Galilee village of Tuba the night before, branding it an immoral and illegal act that contradicts Jewish values and is a source of shame for the State of Israel.
“This is a difficult day for the entire Israeli society, not only the Arab sector,” Peres said.
The president noted the importance of the time in which the attack took place, the Ten Days of Atonement between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
“This is a time for reflection, in which we should condemn such acts among us,” Peres said. “Acts that sabotage our relationship between us and our neighbors and between the different religions living in Israel.”
Peres warned that Israel would not allow extremists and lawbreakers to undermine the need to live together and with mutual respect.
“I am convinced that the police and security forces will apprehend the criminals and bring them to justice, but it is up to all of us to uphold the law and stand against those who break it,” Peres said.
The mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangariyya was set on fire in a suspected “price tag” attack by settlers angry at Israeli policy. The entire interior of the mosque went up in flames, causing heavy damage, and holy books inside the mosque were burned. Graffiti with the words “price tag” was found on the wall of the mosque.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also expressed outrage over the arson, instructing the head of the Shin Bet security service to quickly locate those responsible, his office said in a statement.
“The prime minister was furious when he saw the pictures, and said that the incident contradicts the values of the State of Israel – such as freedom of religion and freedom of worship,” the statement said. “The pictures are horrifying and have no place in Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.