Q&A: Playing Innocent
Playing Innocent
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
Yisrael Beiteinu — we are not against the Haredim; we are against their parties, which exploit them.
Yamina, Yesh Atid, and others — we are not against Arabs; we are against the supporters of terrorism who represent them in the Knesset.
The facts — the ones who choose the representatives are their public (around 90% of Arabs vote for the Arab parties, and a similar percentage among the Haredim for the Haredi parties).
My conclusion — it follows that whoever defines the Arab representatives as supporters of terrorism, or the Haredi representatives as people who sold out the tradition of Israel, is really saying that about the public itself (of course there are individuals who can be exceptions).
My questions —
A) Do you agree with my logic?
B) If you agree with it, then let’s ask a harder question: do you think the Arab public supports terrorism because it chooses representatives who support terrorism?
Thank you.
Answer
A. Absolutely not. It turns out that people choose the lesser evil, and therefore it is incorrect to identify their views with the views of those who represent them.
B. I do agree that a considerable part of the Arab public (not all of it, and I do not know whether most of it) supports terrorism — not necessarily in action, but in thought. These are simple facts, and you do not need their representatives in order to say this. But support for terrorism in thought is not grounds for prosecution, nor for denying basic rights.
Discussion on Answer
Based on what they say and on their behavior (the empathy for terrorists, the concern for them, and the defense of them).
The Arab public numbers nearly 2 million people.
What counts as a considerable part of them — half a million, 750,000, some other number?
And did everyone in the population considered a considerable part explicitly express an opinion supporting terrorists, or did the illustrious Mossad somehow manage to read their minds?
I’m not asking just to needle you, but it bothers me that an opinion (I’m not getting into a debate about it) is presented as a fact, and even as a simple one…
This is not an opinion but a fact. “A considerable part” is something you can see with your own eyes. If you can plainly see that Arab society glorifies terrorists, comes to visit them, supports them, and holds celebrations when they are released from prison, that means there is significant public support among them. As long as I did not make a quantitative claim, my claim is correct as a simple fact. And whoever chooses to deny facts or play innocent with skeptical claims of “Who told you?!” — good for him. If something is red on the inside and green on the outside and has watermelon seeds — then it is a watermelon. If something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and looks like a duck — then it is a duck. You do not need a whole day of study for that, and no illustrious institution either.
Hello Rabbi,
You wrote: “I do agree that a considerable part of the Arab public (not all of it, and I do not know whether most of it) supports terrorism — not necessarily in action, but in thought. These are simple facts, and you do not need their representatives in order to say this.”
Fair enough, if we were talking about support in action — that could be confirmed or refuted through simple observation and statistics.
But how can one determine that it is a simple fact that a considerable part of the Arab public supports terrorism in thought?
Thank you.