There is a more urgent priority for Israel than reaching a deal with the Palestinians and Syrians and that is remaining a state that is governed by laws and democratic institutions. The principle threat to Israel’s democratic institutions doesn’t come from Tehran, or Damascus or Gaza. It comes from the religiofascist settler hordes that have been long coddled by the very state whose institutions they hold in contempt.
And now, at last, a tiny bit of good news. After much dithering, the security forces have this morning finally dragged the settlers out of the house in Hebron that they were occupying in defiance of a court order. Yes, I know, all the settlements are probably illegal but let’s focus on things in the order of their importance. If the Israeli state can’t enforce court orders on settlers then there is no chance of a deal being reached with the Palestinians and, should one ever be reached, of it being implemented.
You think I’m being a bit hard on the settlers by calling them religiofascists? Well, of course, they are not all religiofascists, there are plenty of people living on the West Bank who were attracted by the cheap housing and probably don’t want anything more than to be left where they are. They are not the problem, when the state tells them to go, they’ll leave.
The scum who attack the very security forces who have risked their lives night and day to protect them are the problem. A police officer was moderately hurt this morning when a settler threw acid on him. Think about that for a moment; think about being a police officer enforcing a court order and having enough acid thrown on you to cause you “moderate” injuries. Think about the person who inflicted your “moderate” injuries on you claiming to have divine justification for his action. And think about what the future holds for Israel if the power of people like your attacker continues to grow.
They are the same scum who spit racist insults at Druze and Ethiopian members of the security forces. The story says that they have been trained to deal with these insults in professional manner. That’s great, but boys, please don’t overdo the professionalism.
” A nigger does not expel a Jew!”
You know what? Words like “scum” seem like a woefully inadequate description of these vulgar brutes. I don’t know who or what they think they are. Acid?? Bloody unbelievable.
Come to think of it, why am I even surprised? People in the throes of religious fervour, whichever direction it takes, seem to share in this type of moral depravity in their thinking.
Anecdotal experience:
“The March to Jerusalem”, a traditional way of celebrating Israel’s Independence Day in Montreal, takes place along a 10 km route. Last May, we participated in the “march”. A group of Naturei Karta was standing in demonstration mode, holding signs that denounced Israel and Zionists as the great heretics against Hashem.
As my eight-year old daughter and I were walking by this pathetically ridiculous parade, I heard them yelling in our direction: Pritzes! (whores).
The difference being that these religious fanatics would never upgrade this invective to a violent phase. Which may make them repulsive and quaint, but not dangerous.
Those Hebronites are armed to the teeth. There is no telling where they can go next.
Here is an article by Ami Isseroff in which he makes very much the same point that Eamonn does.
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000601.html