People in Illegal Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones
Trying to remove three families from an illegally occupied home in Hebron, Israeli police faced yet more settler violence
One of the injured officers sustained head wounds after being hit by a paint-filled bottle. Another officer sustained eye wounds after being hit by an egg. Later in the evening, settlers began hurling stones at the troops.Israeli settlers behave like an organized crime ring. And like other organized crime, they don't shirk from the use of force. The injuries sustained by dozens of border police at Amona are testimony to the sad fact that a significant faction of the Israeli settlement movement rejects the rule of law as an organizing force in civil society, and believes only in the code of violence.
- sheikh X at 9:45 AM
7 Comments:
that is a warped and twisted view of the police riot at Amona and the ongoing tyranny of the majority in israel. a simple review of the facts easily defuses this propaganda. to those who are credulous and easily swayed by second rate propaganda i humbly suggest a cursory review of facts.
Tyranny of the majority?! The Israeli polity treats settlers with kid gloves. Sure a small number of border police were provoked into unnecessary violence at Amona. But several dozen were seriously wounded by a much larger number of ruthlessly violent settlers who seem to believe they are acting from a mandate higher than the Israeli state.
the israeli government has undertaken to callously dismantle these people's entire society and culture- not to mention their homes. what happened at amona was an attempt by the israeli police to show their strength- against their own citizens. it is to the credit of the israeli government that despite their ill will and malice towards the settlers they couldn't stomach such flagrant abuse of police power and that further sadistic demonstrations were curbed. to characterize the orgy of police violence at amona as an attack on the police by mostly unarmed and peaceful settlers is at best naive and at worst cynical.
there are a lot of bad things that can be said about the behavior of the settlers and their leaders in recent months. it bears mentioning that they have been driven past desperation by an indifferent and undemocratic regime. so far ruthless violence, however, seems to be the exclusive province of the police- notwithstanding the stigmatization of The Settler in the domestic and international press.
There is little doubt that there are criminal and anarchist elements at play. That the police out crime the criminals and further alienate the disenfranchised is not a blow for "law as an organizing force" nor does it lend much moral force to impugnment of the settlers.
i know it's israel and that these are Settlers, but somebody ought to try compassion and mutual respect before it is too late.
The Israeli government has *not* undertaken to dismantle these peoples entire society and culture. The Israeli government would be delighted if these people would simply shift their society and culture to a venue inside the borders of the State of Israel.
The Israeli right loves a good conspiracy theory - this one is absurd. The police responded with violence because they were viciously attacked at Amona, just as they were attacked in Hebron a couple of days ago.
The meme that is spreading on the right that 'Amona' is synonymous with persecution of religious Jews by a secular government is grotesquely self-serving and blatantly dishonest It is lashon hara and deeply damaging to Israeli society.
I sincerely doubt that settlers are disgruntled because the Israeli 'regime' is undemocratic. These are people who have no respect for their fellow citizens. Indeed, democracy should not be the tyranny of the majority - but it shouldn't be the tryanny of a minority either.
The shame of the Israeli government is that it has only become concerned about settler violence now that it is directed against Israeli policement. The phenomenon should have been nipped in the bud when settlers were 'merely' beating up Palestinian farmers.
First, I can't believe you quote lies about the beating of Palestinians by settlers - libel from fifth column organizations as B'Tselem! What's next, the Fatah newsletter?
Second, the assertion that settlers are gansters with no respect for the law of Israel and a love of violence is false. I have met many settlers while in the army and I have been in their homes as Shabbat guest. I can say that I do not believe a word of what you say about settlers and their alleged love of violence.
The settlers were sent to the disputed territories by many successive governments, starting with Labor ones. Shimon Peres was a major figure in the mid-seventies in the settlement movement.
The political reality is that the vast majority of them will have to leave and undergo a dramatic expulsion.
I believe that is for the greater good of the state. Since Israel is not going to expel Palestinians from the territories, I prefer a Jewish democratic state with no disputed territories to a non-democratic state with teritories.
I also believe settlers are my brothers who ar idealistic, Zionist and serving in the army. I never met in the settlements any of those lowlife types, the yeshiva boys who don't go to the army.
So I think they should be treated with respect as they were by and large treated.
Moreove, we are relinquishing territories of profound national significance, unlike in Gaza. This should not be taken lightly. It IS a great sacrifice and sould be touted as such.
If we are to ask the Pals to renounce to Jaffa and Lod and Ramle and Haifa -or pound them with confidece when they attack Israel for that reason- , we must make it clear that we too are making a great sacrifice relinquishing Nablus/Shechem and Hebron, which are places of tremendous historical importance to the Jewish people. That means treating the settlers of such places with respect, even when convincing or forcing them to resettle.
Lets be clear on the meaning of 'respect'. There's respect for a person's civil rights, and respect for their ideology.
Does anybody ever *really* respect the belief system of a party they are actively in opposition to? No, and thats fine.
However, in a democracy, respect for the Rules is important, otherwise society is ruled by whoever can intimidate the other side with the most violence.
At Amona, 5000 settlers demonstrated a lack of respect for these rules by illegally opposing the demolition of the settlement. Nevertheless, all but about 150 of them - about 97% - were treated with 'respect'.
Others showed a profound lack of respect, not only for the rule of law, but for the border police whose job it was to clear the settlement. That lack of respect was made clear in the large number of injuries sustained by the police.
You can't seriously deny that a nucleus of settlers engages in hardcore violence. This threat was triggered by an instance of Hebron settlers throwing rocks at soldiers.
If Betselem, Haaretz and now the Jerusalem Post are prejudiced sources of information, are you suggesting that we ignore them and turn to Arutz Sheva for well-rounded unbiased information?
B'Tselem is a lovely organization. It is known to have prodded Palestinian farmers to lodge false complaints.
I remember an interesting incident from when I was in Ma'aleh Michmash as a soldier. As I was patrolling in the outskirts of the settlement, an Arab shepherd allowed his two massive dogs to charge towards me. I shouted - no avail, he pretended he didn't hear. I threw rocks against the fast approaching dogs - that didn't stop them. So I armed and pointed my gun towards the dogs. Now, amazingly, that little sound of cocking the gun, that the shepherd (who was situated down in the valley, at least three hundred meters away from me) did hear. He shouted a single word and the running dogs froze (at twenty meters from me!) and then quickly returned to him. My point: only when he understood I would kill his dogs did he stop them from attacking me. He did it very effectively (clearly the dogs were well trained) which makes me think their attacking wasn't random either. So much for your beloved innocent Palestinian farmers.
I don't think you should lump Jerusalem Post (or Yediot, or Maariv) with Ha'aretz - a journal which employs journalists who are openly against the very existence of the state of Israel (Amira Hass, Meron Benvenisti) and convicted criminals (Amira Hass, Uri Benziman).
Getting your information from the Mapam quislings is not a good idea. Not if you are a Zionist. Who knows, tomorrow you'll give news from the Islamic Movement's webpage, or from Shas.
Anyway, getting to the point: beating teenagers is pretty stupid. That's what the police did. Some of them also explained to those teenagers they are Jewish bitches and put a searching hand to their breasts. Fine police, eh? Do they ever do that to the B'Tselem crowd that go to the separation fence? I don't think so.
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