A look at the riots of 1911 (column 388)

With God’s help

This column is dedicated to my beloved son Shlomi,

And no less so for the naturalistic fallacy and the failure to distinguish between values and facts that emerged in my argument with you.

In the previous column, I dealt with the Meron disaster and its implications, but I did not touch on the question of responsibility. I could now refer to our absentee police minister (who knows where he is? Has anyone heard anything?) and our prime minister, who has been awarded another citation in two weeks (who remembers Meron today?): the riots of 1971. It is true that there are currently both active coalition negotiations and the ongoing confrontation with Hamas, missiles flying over Jerusalem and the Dan Bloc for the first time (crossing a red line?), but none of that is really the important thing these days. This is just a return to routine after the Corona. What is really new is the internal disturbances that are currently taking place within the country, mainly in the mixed cities and not only in them, without anyone doing anything here. The State of Israel is on fire and the government and the police are not with us. Last night we witnessed mutual lynchings of Jews and Arabs, all of this together with the (relatively) powerful and (as usual) futile bombings in Gaza, and of course with rocket barrages and the confinement of civilians in protected areas all over the country (at least as far as Netanya and the Jezreel Valley). This is a situation like no other, and the feeling is of an earthquake that overshadows the Corona virus (although the time frame is much shorter). All of this is signed with both hands by the collection of corrupt and dwarfs who are currently at the helm of power. They have built themselves a dysfunctional platform (and are currently working on another one) that gives us the situation I described here. I have postponed the next columns I was thinking of writing a bit, since current events require some kind of reference. But I will not address the question of responsibility directly here, since these guys are the last ones who are interested in responsibility (and my columns are not really either). Here I would like to present eight insights that occurred to me during the events. Of course, we are still in the midst of the events and they can still develop. There has not yet been enough time to think and process the events, and therefore there is still no perspective. Still, exemption from nothing is impossible. So everything is as of now (at most).

Background: The victims and the victims of Lod

As a background, I will try to describe to you, as a resident of Lod, one of the main centers of disturbances, some outlines of the situation. In recent evenings, battles and civil wars have been taking place here in the streets. Firearms are currently only on the fringes (although they are also starting to appear on the scene), but we have plenty of cold weapons and arson. Groups of people are roaming the streets armed with cold and hot weapons and striving for contact. Hundreds of cars, several synagogues and the pre-military preparatory school have already been burned. The street is full of smoke and fire everywhere and sometimes it is a bit difficult to breathe. Needless to say, various outsiders, Jews and Arabs, are arriving and participating in the party and even stirring it up. Arabs from Jaffa and East Jerusalem on the one hand, and elements from Yitzhar and Mela-Familia on the Jewish side, are enjoying participating and stirring up what is happening. The business looks like gang wars and gunmen in the no man's land of the Wild West, except that unlike there, I don't see the Texas Rangers here, who in the movies always come at the end and restore order. This doesn't exist here. So far, there are mostly wounded and a few dead (as far as I know at the time of writing, one Arab was killed in Lod), but I estimate that if the vacuum continues, this too is going to change in the not-too-distant future. I pinch myself to believe that such a thing is indeed happening in the State of Israel in the 21st century. Until now, I have lived with the feeling that the left's warnings about the collapse of the regime and democracy are baseless hysteria. After all, it won't happen here and can't happen. So there you have it. These days, not much is missing for it to happen (although not necessarily for their reasons. Perhaps for the opposite reasons).

This is a colossal failure that, in my opinion, has never been the same, and it has clear responsibilities and culprits. This time, even Ohana, the Minister of Public Security, the demagogue and the absentee, will not be able to exercise his well-known erudition and distinguish between responsibility and blame, as he has done.He did In such an elegant way with regard to the Meron events. Here it is his direct fault and not just ministerial responsibility. But as I said, I am not dealing here with that collection of imbeciles. I presented the matter only as a general description of the failure, which will serve as a background for several fundamental points worth considering (some of which I have already discussed in the past).

A. The wonders of the social network

First of all, I'm going back to the column. 335The token fell to me following an argument I had the other day with my son, Shlomi, about the events. I describe to him with enthusiasm and complete confidence everything that happened around the event that ignited the bonfire in Lod (the shooting in the evening on Jerusalem Day), and he repeatedly asks me, and rightly so, how I know these details. Until in the end I thought that I really don't know, and then I understood something important about such turbulent situations.

In these troubling days, people around me (including myself of course) are all living in movies. WhatsApp and social networks are an arena that creates feelings and ways of thinking in us that affect our entire perception of reality. We can all say that we are intelligent media consumers and know how to make a selection and pick out the best from the worst, but that is not entirely true. Even skilled media consumers inevitably fall into the traps of the social network here. Every WhatsApp group (I am only exposed to this social network, and even that to a limited extent) is naturally made up of people who think the same thing and belong to the same milieu. Therefore, the militant right (which is expanding around us) is fed and fueled by 'facts' that all point to Arab riots and pogroms against Jews who are just trying to defend themselves, and of course the evil police only arrest them (not a single Arab is arrested!! So says WhatsApp). The militant left and the Arabs, of course, feed on the same WhatsApp and display the same biased blindness, but they belong to a different milieu. Therefore, the picture that emerges there is of course completely opposite: the settlers are rampaging with weapons on innocent Arab passersby and there is no stopping them. And the police, how could they not?!, cooperate with them and harm the Arabs.

So who is right? I suppose both are to some extent. The police really don't do anything, but I get the impression that they don't act fairly equitably. They mostly try to do the bare minimum and gain a few minutes of peace along the way (for themselves, not for others). They tend to use force on the weak, but do nothing in places where they are really needed. It's not just that the police aren't fixing the situation, but they are the ones who are mostly responsible (mostly through outrageous negligence) for the chaos that is happening here. Did you hear me, Ohana? (I don't know if my words reach the bunker where he is hiding these days.)

In the world of WhatsApp, every small event becomes a global picture and a general natural phenomenon. A picture of a destroyed house (you know if it is not a fake itself) becomes a general claim that every house abandoned by Jews was destroyed by Arab invaders (so let's all fight for the house! We will not go like sheep to the slaughter again!). We see a picture of the police evicting Jews from houses shared with Arabs, which, quite rightly, arouses frustration and irritation, and this immediately becomes a general picture of the situation: this is what they are doing in Lod. They evict Jews and help the Arabs. Literally the British Mandate police. As you remember, one picture is worth a thousand words, and one vociferous slogan that accompanies the interpretation of the picture is worth a thousand arguments.

In short, I suddenly noticed that I was enthusiastically describing to my son Shlomi what happened around the shooting in which the Arab was killed the day before yesterday, as if everything was clear to me. I explained to him passionately that the police had once again arrested people who were only defending themselves. Don't tell anyone, but I even found myself, contrary to my usual policy, going to the courthouse in Rishon LeZion to show sympathy for the detainees who were brought in for an extended detention. I still feel sympathy for them and understand their actions, but I am less sure about what happened there factually. Needless to say, when Ben Gvir and his colleagues took control of the incident there, I clearly felt that I had made a mistake.

When I come to my senses and try to dig a little deeper, I usually discover that the picture is a little more complex. Indeed, the Arabs are rioting and inciting, and indeed this has no connection to the facts (e.g. Al-Aqsa is in danger), and indeed various factors are stirring the pot and fanning the flames, and indeed the police are not functioning at all, but phenomena not too far removed also occur on the Jewish side. We too have racists and rioters, violent nihilists who just plain harm innocent people (e.g. The shocking lynching that happened tonight in Bat Yam), or just normative people who make mistakes due to pressure and fear. Suddenly it turns out that it is not so clear what is really happening in each such event, even though everyone is very confident and knows the facts for sure. The agenda mixes with the facts, and the mutual reinforcement that the members of the group receive from each other causes them a dangerous sense of certainty, and dangerous frustrations that are not always built on a solid factual basis (see the column above). Both sides are driven by feelings of absolute justice and tangible danger, and then the clash is inevitable.

From the Jewish side, the facts are unequivocal: the Arabs are rioters and the Jews are simply arrested. The Jews are going out to defend their lives, which are in tangible danger, against an incited crowd of masked rioters, and it is they who are arrested by the police, and peace to the Arabs. Ukraine and the British Mandate are here. But I am sure that this is also the case with the Arabs (as mentioned, I am not in their WhatsApp groups), just replace 'Jews' with 'Arabs' in the previous sentences.

Clarification: The principled relationship to such shooting

To sharpen the message, I will clarify my principled position. You may be surprised to hear this, but I am completely in favor of shooting rioters, even before there is a tangible danger to life. Rioters who attack me and do not heed warnings, even if they are only threatening property, can and should pay with their lives. I wrote Similar things happened around the Shai Dromi affair, and I argued there that this is also the law (contrary to the common interpretation regarding "came underground"). Therefore, I have no moral complaints against those who shot that Arab, even if the danger he posed to them was not unequivocal, and even if it was a danger to property and not to life. I have no empathy for rioters, neither Arabs nor Jews, and I really feel no sorrow for the life of such a rioter that was taken (if he was indeed a rioter. I don't know). Thank goodness we were fired. My argument here is not about justifying the act, or whether it was appropriate or not, but solely about looking at the facts that led to it and occurred within its framework. I want to emphasize to you and to myself again and again that the descriptions of reality that are circulated online are not reality itself. My sympathy for the shooters is still in place, but now I understand that the knowledge about what happened does not really exist in me. It seems to me that not many understand, and even fewer internalize it.

Although despite my basic sympathy and fundamental militant approach, it is important to say that in my opinion there is also a problem with anarchy (which is why my anarchist tendencies are usually not expressed in practice). In principle, the police should have done this (shooting rioters, Jews or Arabs), but when there is a police vacuum, as in the riots of 1941 or with Shai Dromi, then in my opinion the private individual can take the law into his own hands. The police should have used firearms against Jewish or Arab rioters a long time ago. Yes, yes, I am talking about shooting in order to kill rioters, even if it is not about saving lives but only about imposing discipline. Let them hand over the authority to do this to a senior officer, but it must be done. Anarchy is a huge danger to human life and our existence (see my articles here here, in which I show that undermining the political framework and its ability to function has a fence of life-saving even if no one dies in the end). As in many cases in the past (e.g. the intifada), here too the excessive caution that supposedly spares human life, and in fact stems mainly from cowardice, can cost us the loss of many more lives. A king can and should kill when there is a threat to his rule and authority, since without him, everyone would swallow each other alive. Today we see this with our own eyes. It is not for nothing that a rebel in a monarchy is sentenced to death. If we are told that even a democratic government has a king's law, we must draw the conclusions from this for the subject of the debate.

But, again, the problem I'm dealing with here is solely the description of reality. Suddenly I realized that I, the rational and critical Michael Avraham, who is not so involved in the mind with the real and virtual environment, am becoming brainwashed by the heat of the events. I realized that I have strong positions about the events, when in fact I have no real idea about what really happened there. So I took a step back, I'm recalculating my course, and among other things, I'm writing these things to you.

This is the first insight: Don't believe any story you hear or see until you've thoroughly investigated and heard from more sources (and preferably from the other side as well). And certainly don't draw general conclusions from this particular event, even if you're convinced about it. This is doubly true in times of unrest and disorder like these days. The virtual madness has lost the few brakes it once had. People spread fabrications, and sometimes it's done with good intentions (usually to provoke private and institutional elements to action).

B. The governmental and enforcement vacuum

One thing is absolutely clear: the whole thing starts from a governmental and enforcement vacuum. The justification I find for the shooting of Shai Dromi or those involved in the riots here in Lod is solely because of this vacuum. When there is no police, you have to be your own police. There is no one else here to do the work for you. And the farmers, like Shai Dromi, who are losing all their life's work because of this governmental incompetence - will testify.

At the root of the police abolition is a governmental abolition. There should be someone who runs our wretched police and outlines policy for them. So there is none. The government is dysfunctional and has no idea what to do, in most areas. It does not want to and is unable to do anything. Add to that a police force that, in the absence of instructions, only wants an easy life and a few days of peace, and unsurprisingly displays complete dysfunction, and you have a proven recipe for riots.

The story in Lod became complicated following a shooting incident that occurred the day before yesterday (which I mentioned above), in which a young Arab was killed by a gun fired by a Jew in Lod. I heard from friends that there was a confrontation there between a group of Jews and Arabs, dozens on each side. There were blocks there and at the end there was also a Molotov cocktail. All along the way, people called the police, some literally on the verge of tears, and asked and begged them to come (there are recordings of the conversations that are being shared on WhatsApp). One of my acquaintances called the police and told them that the Jews intended to shoot and demanded that they come immediately. But the police did not arrive even after an hour and a quarter of begging, even when they were explicitly told that they were going to shoot there. After that, I heard the excuses about tense personnel throughout the country. I don't buy it. And the evidence is that after the shooting, they arrived immediately en masse, and arrested, how could they not?!, three Jews on suspicion of murder.

It goes without saying that the Jewish narrative that was created around the case is that these are people who bravely went out to stop Arab rioters in the absence of police, to protect their lives and the lives of their friends and property, and when they had no choice, they shot (in the air). After a while, it became clear to me that at least partially that is not exactly the story. They first came out with flags to express sovereignty and governance (I can already imagine the atmosphere that prevailed there), and I don't know how clear and unequivocal the danger was at the shooting stage (I really don't know). The claim was that the shooter felt a tangible danger and shot in the air, but for some reason the Arab was hit and died. But I have already talked about my perception of the facts and disillusionment. I am just saying that from here, especially after the Arab's funeral, the riots in Lod escalated into the madness that we are experiencing now. Civil wars like in the Wild West, where there is a lot of fighting. The vacuum leads us straight from Lodz and Blue Ridge to Lod.

Such a situation causes frustrations to arise and weapons and tensions to accumulate, and thus disturbances become inevitable. Shootings by Arabs, almost always on a criminal basis, are daily occurrences in Lod. The police threaten but do nothing ("We will act with full force and zero tolerance, at the time and place we deem appropriate." Sound familiar?). The Arabs themselves complain that the police are not interested because the weapons do not harm Jews, and there is certainly something to that. But when they are required to cooperate and certainly when they are required to pay some price (for example, to give information to the police), you will always find them on the other side. Of course, they do not cooperate and even fight with their "persecuted brothers" (the criminals who own weapons) against the occupying and hostile Zionist police. Enlisting in the police, of course, is not worth mentioning (also here, of course. If you didn't know, I didn't enlist there either). But of course, they claim that the police are to blame for everything. They must save them from themselves (a typical Palestinian claim).[1]But it is impossible to deny that they are right. Despite all my justifications and criticism of the Arabs' attitude, the police still had to act, since the expected results are already here, and the Mishkan is just around the corner.

C. The vacuum does not remain empty: Between Lod and the hills of Olam

Into this vacuum, of course, enter all the provocateurs in the world, from all sides. Ben Gvir and his friends live from these classes. Who came to the aforementioned demonstration in Rishon LeZion? Ben Gvir, of course. Who spoke and set the tone there? Ben Gvir, of course. But he is right, because truly the lack of governance here is disgraceful. I have not seen the Meretz people entering to manage this vacuum, nor even Bennett. Although there is justice in their claim that someone needs to act instead of the police, I would very much not like it to be the Ben Gvirs and the Yitzhar people.

This is how the Yitzhar and La Familia rioters arrive in Lod and other cities across the country, and anyone who observes them can see that they are enjoying every moment. Anarchy animates them, and they are truly experts and experienced in these situations. The curses heard from these righteous people when they come to the aid of God in the heroic battles in Lod and elsewhere would not put the last of the animals in the pigsty to shame. They fight fiercely against two Arab boys who are throwing stones, and to my astonished ears I heard them in the process uttering military orders to each other, as well as to Sancho Penza, the Ludi, who is trying to accompany them and learn from their holy ways, such as: "straighten the line" and the like. The feeling they and those around them have is that this is a desperate heroic battle on the ammunition hill.

Needless to say, the enthusiasm from the city's residents (the Sanchos in question) is also overflowing. Everyone is cheering for the heroes of Yitzhar who came to our aid and are filling the void. Heroic stories are immediately spread about how the police don't dare move here and are waiting for the escort of the Yitzharites and their cars. Needless to say, everyone is citing this urban legend (at least that's what I think it is) as pure factual truth, and the feeling is that the Yitzharites sorted things out for us here, and kudos to them. True, all of this was the day before yesterday (Monday). Tonight (Tuesday), the saints of La Familia have also joined in, and this parade of beasts presents the people of Yitzhar as knights of the rule of law and morality. Everything is relative. I have the impression that at this point, quite a few Luddites have also sobered up a bit. Everyone now sees that these are bipedal beasts by all accounts, and that they have no protection but a knife (again, a long-standing police and government failure).

The mechanism is like this. The bourgeois in Lod don't know how to handle such situations. They are accountants and lawyers who live in their comfortable homes (like me), and are not used to street fights and riots. They are even a little afraid of getting into trouble with the police, not us (because they do operate with us and against us). Therefore, it is convenient for them to hand over the task to the Yitzhak gangs and be led by them (the aforementioned Sencho syndrome). In the absence of police, when a feeling of helplessness is created in the face of Arab rioters (who sometimes exist and sometimes are imagined), what is required is for the wild men from Yitzhak to take care of all this. These people are experienced, and they provide a sense of security on the streets because they are ours, even if it comes with a completely unnecessary enthusiasm that adds nothing to anyone (not even to security), and even if it is clear that they are enjoying every moment. Nevertheless, it certainly gives a good feeling, and thus helps and is beneficial for them to accept the leadership position of a new and proud Jewish model that does not go like sheep to the slaughter. From their point of view, it helps them to identify with the battles they have been waging on the hills all these years against the establishment, against the army and against the Arabs. Now the bourgeois here will also understand that they are right and that this is the only way it can work. So it is no wonder that they quickly arrive in Lod, assume a leadership position and start working, and then This is how stories of heroism are spread on social media. I'm not saying they don't have good intentions, but they are accompanied by a very problematic agenda and an equally problematic exploitation of opportunity.

It should be understood that this rampage in the streets gives many people here a sense of Jewish pride. Especially against the backdrop of the frustration they have created due to the ongoing humiliation. People feel like victims of a pogrom, just as helpless as our ancestors in Ukraine, except that this is happening in the sovereign State of Israel. The local Indians are rioting against us, those in Gaza and at the same time those in Lod, while the institutions and security forces do nothing. Is this what we established a state for? Are we going like sheep to the slaughter? That is why a natural sympathy is created for these savages, and people who are settled in their minds become, before my eyes, a slightly milder type of rabid anarchists.

From the pictures of the lynching yesterday in Bat Yam, I get the feeling that the Ludi phenomenon I described here is more general and widespread. There, too, the La Familia beasts drew in another local public who joined in their actions and carried out a shocking lynching of an Arab who had gotten there (by mistake, I understand) in his car. The governmental and enforcement vacuum gives a place of leadership to any entity that enters it with sufficient firmness. The instigators of the riots, in addition to the sheer pleasure they derive from the situation, also know that they will profit from it, and therefore contribute their share to the riots with joy and great enthusiasm. The Sanshou, that is, us, come right after them.

D. What is the alternative?

In the margins of my remarks, I must make a factual comment, beyond the value claims. In my opinion, if these guys hadn't come, even on a factual level, the situation would have been much better, at least in the long run. Again, I really don't spare rioters, and I have no left-wing qualms about a forceful and aggressive response by citizens, certainly when there is a governmental and enforcement vacuum. But even if in the short term these savages do it more sharply and quickly and even if they achieve any achievements (and I doubt even that, certainly not as she screams), in the long run it mainly brings harm. In my opinion, their absence would have forced us, the bourgeois of Lod, to organize and handle the situation with our own hands. This has already started to happen in practice. If we had done it and not them, I assume it would have been done in a slightly more balanced and considered manner, and perhaps it wouldn't have become as heated as it is today.

Therefore, with all due respect to their rescue and idealism, I am not at all enthusiastic about the help of those righteous people who came here. I must say that it is certainly possible, and even probable, that there are indeed good motives and dedication there, by the way, also in their activities in Yitzhar. It is clear to me that part of the matter is a genuine desire to come to the aid of people (sorry, Jews) in distress and to fulfill the commandment of settling and conquering the land. But this is accompanied by very problematic motives and conduct, and the expected results are disastrous. Therefore, I would forgive their kindness.

E. A Look at Sovereignty: The Process of Ideology in Israel

It is worth remembering that these pogroms and events began on Jerusalem Day. This is the day when national/nationalist sentiment bursts out with pride over our (non-existent) sovereignty in Jerusalem. It is true that Jerusalem Day is an almost general consensus in religious society, as opposed to Independence Day, which is controversial with the Haredim. As you can understand, for me Jerusalem Day is meaningless, unlike Independence Day. On Independence Day we gained a state and independence, certainly a reason to party. But on Jerusalem Day we gained theoretical (and not really realized) sovereignty in Jerusalem. In my opinion, theoretical sovereignty over a place is not a reason to party, certainly not if we are talking about the sovereignty of the State of Israel, which is a secular state that has no religious significance (in my opinion, it is not a Jewish state in the essential sense). But all of this is true even if we had sovereignty in Jerusalem. When this sovereignty is not realized, things are even more meaningless. At most, the victory granted us limited access to the Western Wall and permission from the Waqf to ascend the Temple Mount to those interested (without praying or muttering, God forbid). So what is there to celebrate here? The theoretical sovereignty of the State of Israel, the beginning of the growth of our confusion, over Jerusalem? I wrote to people two days ago that I don't understand the point of celebrating Jerusalem Day if we haven't yet conquered it. Why put the horse before the cart?!

But in the wake of the recent riots, I am beginning to doubt, for the same reasons, the value and meaning of Independence Day. It seems to me that sovereignty does not really exist in the entire country, not just in Jerusalem. I must admit, and I am ashamed, that after describing the spiritual movements I am presenting here, I am beginning to feel that these words of mine are my version of the updated "faith of our time."

I have said and written more than once that in my eyes, flag dances are not really a celebration and joy, but a demonstration of national sovereignty. The more the understanding that we do not really have sovereignty and that we have not really returned to Jerusalem penetrates people's consciousness, the more their frustration increases, and it is no wonder that it breaks out in the form of nationalist rants along the lines of "We will show them who is the boss of the house" (if the police and the government do not do this, we are here. The eternal people are not afraid, etc., etc.). Now it is easy to see the meaning of these words regarding the riots of 1941.

The riots across the country and in Lod broke out on Jerusalem Day itself following Hamas' rocket fire on Jerusalem (which also led to the cancellation of the flag parade). In my opinion, frustration has once again arisen here following an attack on our sense of sovereignty. It's okay to shell the residents of the Gaza Strip and kill a few unfortunate people who don't really interest anyone. But to send a missile into a supermarket or a public park in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv? That's really crossing a red line. And if they ruin the dance that came to express our frustration over the lack of sovereignty, then these frustrations increase sevenfold. We don't even have the sovereignty to express our frustration over the lack of sovereignty. The usual frustrations over the non-existent sovereignty in Jerusalem have naturally expanded to the rest of the country and have become very intertwined. People are going to demonstrations with flags to express sovereignty, and this is met with appropriate Arab reactions from the opposing nationalist side. The events we are experiencing are the result of this frustration. It is a desire to demonstrate sovereignty and express frustration at its absence in a place where government does not exist, and this vacuum creates everything I described above, and thus the sovereignty we have already achieved to a certain extent goes to ruin.

F. The futility

In truth, the hardest feeling these days, beyond the colossal lack of governance and control, is the futility, both internally and externally. Citizens are willing to tolerate protected spaces, damage to property, suffering, and even loss of life, if it is clear to them that there is a purpose for all of this. If it were clear to them that there is a government here that knows what to do and is acting in the direction it has decided on, and after a day, week, or year, there is a chance that we will see the fruits of our labor. But it is clear to everyone that everything that is happening now is futile. Not that we may not see the fruits. People can make mistakes in their assessments, expectations, and plans. This is completely forgivable. Here, there are simply no expectations and plans, and therefore nothing will come true. What is happening today in Gaza is another round in a long series of rounds that have brought us nothing beyond the cost in the lives of civilians and soldiers, in property, for the most part, that puts people in dire straits. And at the end of each such round, we end up paying taxes and bribes to Hamas, which further improves their situation, so that they can give us a little peace of mind. The purpose of dumping tons of metal on Gaza is nothing more than an outlet for frustrations, not policy (as you may recall, war is the continuation of policy through forceful means). It is clear to everyone that this is being done to give the citizens a sense of satisfaction from revenge for the harm they and the state's sovereignty have suffered, and also to divert the citizens' attention and provide catharsis for their frustrations. None of this serves any practical purpose. We won't even achieve peace there (unless the Palestinians need a break and additional funding to strengthen).

All of this is about Gaza and Hamas. With regard to the internal disturbances that are currently taking place, this is doubly clear. The context is clear. The complete helplessness of the government and the army, which stand helpless in the face of quite weak elements and are unable to move anything in this situation. They do not even have any goals or expectations for anything to happen, so how exactly should they act to realize these goals? There is a connection between the events in Gaza and the 1971 pogrom, and not just the closeness of time between them. Both are the result of the same helplessness and annihilation, and therefore they influence and feed each other. I have already stated this in the past (see, for example, in the column 149) That the Israeli governments have no policy and no real goal in any area, except for a heartbreaking and compassionate desire to achieve a few more days of peace. But our sages, who have the theory of games, have already taught us that those who seek peace will never get it. Or in other words: those who want peace will prepare for war. Helplessness creates feelings of frustration, and the vacuum calls for external forces to enter it, and this is a proven recipe for the disintegration that is currently taking place.

G. The Events of 1941 and the Joker

At the end of a column 258 I was referring to the movie. Joker, which was an instructive experience for me to watch. It provoked in me quite a few sad reflections on human society, and in particular on the bubbling lava beneath the organized and orderly outer shell that characterizes modern society. I thought to myself that within every human society there are so many different tensions and forces, crazy people, psychopaths, determined and rigid ideological forces, enemies from outside and inside, just plain evil people and more, so it is a wonder that at least in general the various democratic societies function quite normally. We have rules and institutions that organize our lives, and the feeling is that all these hidden threats do not exist. Who even thinks about them? But in MayJoker He probably did think about it. He shows us how one small, accidental spark, a simple person on the fringes of society, can bring out all that bubbling lava, and suddenly the peaceful and orderly fabric of our lives turns into complete chaos, with violent street battles between groups of rioters and government annihilation. The only thing I'm describing here is what happened in the film, not what's happening now on our streets. You'll admit that it's very difficult to tell the difference.

As citizens of a modern democratic country, it is very difficult for us to digest that in the past, diseases and epidemics would kill people and children who stood helpless in the face of them. It is incomprehensible to us that violent people could attack you back then and you could not really call the police to arrive within a few minutes (?). At most, you could mobilize a militia, build a coalition of cronies or mercenaries, and try to defend yourself. In the case of my illness, you could perhaps pray and use grandmother's remedies, and that was it. Infant mortality and a life expectancy of thirty to forty years were part of life. In the case of trouble, you could perhaps raise donations to save yourself from it, if you were successful in doing so. And if not, you have a problem. Is it any wonder that everyone back then was religious?! We have nothing but our Father in heaven. In contrast, today we have insurance and/or national insurance that helps us in case of need, an army and police that come to our aid in an orderly and organized manner, courts, laws and a centralized and sophisticated government, a distributed food supply that functions in an astonishing way (the wonders of the free market), organized welfare and education, technology and transportation in the world that allows us to go to another place when needed. Communication and an overflow of information and so on. It seems that we can deal with any trouble that comes our way and our fate is completely in our hands. Today we have technology, advanced medicine, an organized government and mechanisms of power and power control that control all of this, and therefore a sense of peace and calm is created within us that accompanies us in our daily lives.

This is the meaning of the distress that the Corona has aroused in so many of us. Suddenly we returned to the Middle Ages, and to strange and foreign concepts that we had already forgotten, such as epidemics and mass deaths over which we have no control. Even the all-knowing scientists stood helpless in the face of the phenomenon, and were not always able to even analyze what was, let alone predict what will be. I feel that the events that are happening these days, arouse similar feelings in us. They are the result of a small spark and a lack of attention, which, like in the movie Joker We are being exposed to lava deposits that were hidden under the calm that previously enveloped us. We have suddenly returned from the mid-21st century in an orderly country to the depths of the Middle Ages of street riots, insecurity, pogroms against Jews (and Arabs as well), loss of livelihood, loss of control and lack of central government, and so on. Nothing is as certain as it was two days ago, including our very existence here. Our fate is no longer really in our hands. It is no wonder that people feel that the time has come to take it back into our own hands. If it is the Middle Ages, then act like the Middle Ages. In Rome, like a Roman. I have noticed that I am so used to the previous envelope and order that these descriptions do not even make me feel afraid. I am just as peaceful now as I was three days ago, and the descriptions I presented above come from my mind and not from my heart. I do not really believe that all of this can fall apart.

H. So who is to blame?

In my opinion, this failure completely dwarfs the failure of the Yom Kippur War. They are not in the same league at all. These days, I think there is some concern (although for now, there is not a high chance) that the State of Israel will not survive these events, but even if so, it is not clear what will really happen here. It is clear to everyone that the State of Israel currently has no government, and it is in a crisis it has not known before. The street battles that are breaking out all over the country before the weary eyes of our helpless and clueless police officers are the result of the ongoing lack of governance over the years, in which every governing, political, legal or media force does whatever is right in its eyes. From constitutional disintegration, we have reached complete disintegration. What we need now is for the weapons that have accumulated in the Arab population to come out and be used for change on the nationalist level, not just the criminal one, and if Hezbollah also joins the celebration with its missiles, I really don't know what will be left of us here.

But don't worry, no one here will be held accountable for this oversight, as well as for his predecessors. Not the corrupt person at the head of the system, not the missing Minister of Public Security, nor the rest of the dwarves and impersonal people who surround him and do nothing, who put us in this situation. It's hard for me to imagine a collection of creatures more miserable than them, except perhaps the citizens who vote for them again and again and don't let this debacle affect them. In the end, the blame always lies with us, the citizens. We are the ones who let this reality happen and for La Familia to control what is happening, and do nothing. We are the ones who vote again and again for those impersonal and corrupt people and those squinty-eyed dwarves without paying attention to the costs and the results. So don't let me complain, we eat what we cooked with our own hands.

[1] Just today I heard Arab voices in Lod claiming that the two Arabs killed by the Gaza rocket that landed in Lod yesterday are directly to blame for the Zionist and occupying Jewish government and police. Why? Because they didn't build shelters for them. How is it possible that we let their brothers, those who have their support and sympathy in terrorist acts and rocket fire against us, kill them too and not just us?! We are truly to blame. We should have protected them well to allow them to encourage the rocket fire against us and rejoice over every one of our dead. Poya.