International Business Development Consultant
9 Days to Elections: Settler Violence Must Be Stopped NOW!
“Settler Violence” must be stopped now. Frankly, I do not want to see another video of a member of the foreign press, or of Palestinians tending to their flocks, or of members of the Arab community trying to go their homes, being attacked and beaten by masked Jewish Israelis. Nine days before our elections here we should let our Knesset members know today that if this is not addressed immediately, we will know what to do next Tuesday.
So much for the concept, now to the details.
First of all, I use the term “settler violence” loosely to identify those young, generally black hooded, Jewish Israelis who we see regularly on video reports of their attacks. We really don’t know exactly who they are. They could be Jews living in settlements in Judea and Samaria, or disaffected young people looking for a cause and joining their ranks, or even outside elements eager to make their point. Regardless of their makeup using the term “settler violence,” while perhaps not 100% accurate clearly identifies the group activity that is under examination and is not a judgement on my part.
Secondly, whatever motivates this group to do what they do, their actions are illegal and should be stopped by our government. It is inconceivable that this type of activity has been allowed to continue for such a long period of time with relatively little action by the government to stop it. The people involved should be rounded up, arrested, charged and tried and, if found guilty, properly sentenced as well. There is simply no logical or legal excuse for doing otherwise even though we hear plenty of opinions that make this challenging.
We hear, for example, that when the IDF troops do show up they are not a police force and, therefore, cannot get involved in rounding up and arresting the perpetrators. If so, why aren’t the police called in at the same time to handle the police related work? And, whether or not the IDF can or should get involved, they certainly should not be joining in prayer with the ones responsible for the violence as happened recently.
We also do not need people like Rabbi Dov Lior, the former chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba issuing halachic rulings, as he did last week, saying that Jews are allowed to harvest olives from Palestinian lands, although his remarks were thankfully condemned by a group of moderate Orthodox rabbis. His ruling declared that “the Jewish people have never given up on the Land of Israel, as we express in our prayers every single day. The Arabs never purchased the land from the Jewish people or from any individual Jew, and therefore it is stolen land in their hands… They never bought it in any way and it remained under the ownership of the Jewish people.” He then added that Jews can harvest olives “in areas far away from Jewish communities to publicly demonstrate our ownership of the land, and in doing so fulfilling the commandment to conquer the land.”
Finally, there are those who believe that our government is failing to act because doing so might put its coalition in danger. I would submit that if this is the case, not acting and allowing the kinds of pictures we have seen recently of foreign press being pummeled by the hooded ones, puts the entire Israeli enterprise in danger. That seems to me to be a greater concern than whether the coalition will fall.
What can we do today? All of us should be contacting as many Knesset members as possible and let them know that if this problem is not “arrested” immediately they will see some unpleasant results in the ballot box next Tuesday. We don’t often have this kind of strength but, 9 days before the election, we do have power and should use it.
Here is the link for the contact information of all Knesset members:
I suggest everyone reading this piece make your voices known….and as loudly as possible. Today is the time to act.