Earlier this week, a mosque in the West Bank was vandalized. This reprehensible attack is believed to be the work of radical Jews who wished to make it plain to Israeli authorities — and not as probably most Westerners think — the Palestinians, that the removal of settlers from housing that was not legally purchased or constructed with the permission of the state will carry with it a “price tag.” These so-called “price tag” attacks have grown in recent years, even though the overwhelming majority of settlers, not to mention the Israeli people, deplore them. But though any such attack on a religious institution is a stain on the honor of the Jewish people and inevitably generates negative coverage of Israel such as this feature published in the New York Times on Tuesday, the bottom line is that in a democracy thugs do not get their way. As the Times reported that same day, the Israeli government has secured agreement from the few inhabitants of Ulpana to leave their homes that were ruled by a court to be built on private Palestinian property in the vicinity of the existing and quite legal Beit El settlement. In doing so, the rule of law has been vindicated.
But amid the general condemnation of the behavior of the extremist settlers that for some calls into question the legitimacy of the entire Zionist enterprise, it is worth noting an element of the story generally missing from most accounts in the Western press of the “price tag” attacks as well as allegations of settler violence toward local Arabs. However wrong the extremists are–and they are dead wrong–their behavior has not occurred in a vacuum. To focus only on settler misbehavior ignores a context in which attacks on Jews in the West Bank is a regular occurrence. And that includes Arab attacks on synagogues. The problem is that the foreign press gives the Jewish violence the sort of “man bites dog” treatment that makes it worthy of notice, whereas Palestinian misbehavior is simply taken for granted. This bigotry of low expectations is at the heart of the problem.
If one reads the Israeli press, you know that a synagogue on a moshav in central Israel was vandalized with Muslim graffiti this week, but you missed it if all you see is the New York Times. Nor was that the first such attack on a synagogue. Similarly, tucked into some but by no means all of the stories about the dismantling of Ulpana is the fact that the houses were built there as a response to the murder 12 years ago of a Jewish mother and child by Arab terrorists.
Mentioning this does not rationalize settler violence, let alone excuse it. But doing so does spoil the prevailing narrative of the West Bank morality play that Israel’s critics promote which portrays the settlers as evil and the Palestinians the innocents. The situation in the West Bank is complex. The Arabs who live there have a right to have their property rights respected and to go about their lives without fear of violence. But the same should apply to the Jews who live nearby. But unfortunately, not only do the Palestinians not respect the right of Jews to live on this land, they also do not respect their right to do so in safety. This position is granted legitimacy of a sort by a foreign press that implicitly accepts the frame of reference that regards all Jews in the West Bank as usurpers or thieves, even if the land they live on is indisputably owned by Jews.
Those who believe Jews have no right to live anywhere in the West Bank or in the parts of Jerusalem that were illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 can only do so by effectively negating the historic and legal rights of the Jewish people. But even those who hold this position must acknowledge that a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict cannot be built on the sort of anti-Jewish violence that is so routine it barely rates any coverage in the West.
More to the point, until Arab violence is treated as being as reprehensible as most Israelis consider the “price tag” attacks, the Palestinians will go on laboring under the misapprehension they can force the Jews out. That bigotry of low expectations directed at the Palestinians is a far greater obstacle to peace than any settlement.
Zionism = Racism
Yitzhak_Shapira = antisemitic moron
No Yitzhak you have stated it incorrectly. nIt should be: n nanti-Zionism = racism.
Ok ok. But before we march up to the windmill with pitchforks and torches and declare Jihad, let's remind ourselves it's vandalism. Even when it happens to Jews, it's still vandalism. No one was raped, set on fire, had acid thrown in their face, was stoned to death or marched to a soccer stadium for mass executions. It's just precious when the haters are foaming at the mouth for Jewish blood so much they can't or won't distinguish vandalism from violent crime. When Arabs, Muslims and Nazis murder Jews, torch shuls, fire missiles at school buses and schools, because they are Jews and for no other reason, no one screams 'racism' do they? That's because they are subhuman monsters and we shouldn't expect that kind of thinking out of them. And we never will. Congratulations, we will never think of you as human, you win.
Per Shakespeare. "Call me dog. Beware my fangs".
I think the double standard isn't low expectations as much as self-delusion in the MSM. People notice what jumps out at them. They pass on what outrages them. On a local level, that might (I think) include all events from kids cow-tipping to terror attacks, but here, particularly, those responsible for scanning international news wires for news items only jump on the events that outrage them personally by their pre-conceived notions. What that means is a Palestinian attack isn't news because it's pre-self-defense against whatever-bad-name-used-to-mean-Israel, but if any Israeli does anything to Palestinians, it becomes proof that Israeli defenders are liars and unjustified and so it's on the news. n nWhen it's a story about Britney not using a seat belt for her kid or Lindsay Lohan may or may not have had an open container in the car she wrecked, we don't realize that's what they're doing — but when it's lies about Romney or covering up for Obama, or Jew hatred, or white guilt, or 1%-ism, or pink slime, and on and on, its … well, America 2012.
there's also this difference: when Jews commit a crime against Arabs, Israeli courts hold them responsible and punish them. when Arabs commit a crime against Jews, the PA/Hamas names a public square after them and they are celebrated as heroes. n nwhere are all the Palestinian peace groups that want everybody to "just all get along"? they don't exist. the so-called peace activists are all guilty liberals who think "getting along" means Israel gives up everything and the Pals don't have to do anything. n nit's a pretty unfair calculus.
actually, there's a fair body of evidence that Israeli courts don't get to rule about the majority of crimes committed by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians, as investigations are lax and arrests rare. n nwould that you were as correct in your assumption about Israeli justice as you are about the lack of it among the Palestinians.
Based upon United Nations resolutions passed in the General Assembly for 65 years, and polls taken around Europe including what is commonly referred to as “The Third World”, any Jewish person residing in Judea, Samaria or Gzaz, of any age, including neonates or gender, deserve to be murdered. In a nutshell, they are on their own, it is ‘the frontier’. If I were living there with my wife and children, I would do whatever was necessary to protect them. I would not permit my community to be picked off like flys as they navigate down inadequately secured highways or worse.
Israel has done a poor job of protecting the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. I do not blame the so called settlers. I say, keep settling land and never give up. Let them realize a true Jewish State and may it live in peace with at least one other state, Israel.
Checkpoints were removed as concessions to The US State Department and The US Executive Branch and security measures remained unfulfilled for absolutely no gain, only demands for further concessions. If there can be two ‘Palestinian’ States in ‘British Mandated Palestine’, then why can there not be two Jewish States. Let a second Jewish State arise in Judea and Samaria and let them independantly look out for their best interests. It will not and cannot happen overnight. One of the first steps is promotion of secular educations for religious Jews. Why can they not train to be professionals. There is plenty of time to daven, get professions and build your state. No one else is going to do it for you. In the meantime, stay your ground or else be Israelis and follow their dictates including their laws and genius leaders, like Tzippy Livni, Ehud Olmret, Yossi Beilin and Meir Shitstreet to name a few of our favorite blokes.
"Those who believe Jews have no right to live anywhere in the West Bank or in the parts of Jerusalem that were illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 can only do so by effectively negating the historic and legal rights of the Jewish people." n nThis comes very close to calling nine US Presidents anti-Semites, as every US president since Lyndon Johnson has opposed Israeli settlements and held the position that they are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, something that the author fails to note. n
The number of West Bank mosques attacked this year and last is 12. The number of prosecutions is zero. So much for Israel's respect for the rule of law. Settlements on occupied territory are in breach of international law. Taking land illegally and holding it by violence is the opposite of seeking peace.