A Look at the 5781 Riots (Column 388)
This column is dedicated to my dear son, Shlomi,
and no less to the naturalistic fallacy and the failure to distinguish between values and facts that surfaced for me in our debate.
In the previous column I discussed the Meron disaster and its implications, but I didn’t touch on the question of responsibility. I could now address our present-absent Minister of Public Security (who knows where he is? Has anyone heard anything?) and our Prime Minister—both of whom get to sign off on another fiasco within two weeks (who today even remembers Meron?): the 5781 riots. True, at the same time there are currently intense coalition negotiations as well as the latest round with Hamas, rockets flying at Jerusalem and the Dan region for the first time (a red line crossed?), but none of that is actually the important issue these days. That’s just a return to routine after COVID. What is truly new are the internal riots now raging inside the country, mainly in the mixed cities and not only there, while no one is doing anything. The State of Israel is on fire and the government and police are not with us. Last night we witnessed mutual lynchings of Jews and Arabs, together with heavy (relatively) and futile (as usual) bombings in Gaza, and of course barrages of rockets and civilians confined to shelters across the country (at least up to Netanya and the Jezreel Valley). This is an unprecedented situation, and it feels like an earthquake that puts COVID in the shade (though the time scale is much shorter). Signed with both hands on all this is the collection of the corrupt and the dwarfs currently at the helm. They built themselves a non-functioning platform (and are, these days, working on another one) that carries us on its palms to the situation I described here. I postponed some columns I planned to write, since the current events demand some response. But I won’t address responsibility directly here, since those fellows are the last people interested in responsibility (and my columns don’t really interest them either). Here I wish to present eight insights that arose in me during these events. Of course, we are still in the thick of it and things may yet develop. There hasn’t been enough time to think and process, thus no perspective. Still, I can’t let this pass in silence. So everything here is true as of now (at most).
Background: The Dead and the Killers of Lod
By way of background, as a resident of Lod—one of the main hotspots—I’ll try to sketch the situation. In recent evenings, battles and civil wars have raged in the streets. Firearms so far only at the margins (though they’re starting to appear), but there’s plenty of cold weapons and arson. Groups of people roam the streets armed with cold and hot weapons, seeking contact. Hundreds of cars have already been burned, several synagogues and the pre-military academy. The streets are full of smoke and fire everywhere and sometimes it’s hard to breathe. Needless to say, various outside actors, Jews and Arabs, arrive and join the party and even fan the flames. Arabs from Jaffa and East Jerusalem on the one hand, and elements from Yitzhar and La Familia on the Jewish side, are very happy to participate and stoke what’s happening. The scene looks like gang and gunslinger wars in a lawless Wild West, only unlike there I don’t see the Texas Rangers who, in the movies, always come at the end to restore order. Here they don’t exist. For now there are mostly injured and few dead (as far as I know while writing, one Arab killed in Lod), but in my estimation if the vacuum continues, that too will change before long. I pinch myself to believe this is happening in the State of Israel in the 21st century. Until now I lived with the feeling that left-wing warnings about regime and democracy collapse were baseless hysteria. Here this won’t happen, cannot happen. Well—turns out it can. These days we’re not far off from it (though not necessarily for their reasons—perhaps for the opposite ones).
This is a colossal failure unlike anything we’ve seen, with clear parties responsible and to blame. This time even Ohana, the Minister of Public Security, the demagogue and the present-absent man, won’t be able to deploy his well-known erudition and distinguish between responsibility and blame, as he did so elegantly with respect to the Meron event. Here the blame is directly his, not merely ministerial responsibility. But as noted, I’m not dealing here with that collection of incompetents. I presented the situation only as a general description of the failure, to serve as background for several principled points worth noting (some I’ve addressed before).
A. The Wonders of Social Media
First I return to column 335. The penny dropped for me after a debate I had the day before yesterday with my son, Shlomi, about the events. I described to him, with excitement and full confidence, everything that happened around the incident that ignited the blaze in Lod (the shooting of an Arab on Jerusalem Day), and he kept asking me, rightly, how I knew those details. Until finally I realized I actually didn’t know, and then I understood something important about turbulent situations like these.
In these frantic days, people around me (including myself, of course) are all living in movies. WhatsApp and the social networks are arenas that generate feelings and modes of thinking that affect our entire perception of reality. We can all claim to be savvy media consumers who know how to sift wheat from chaff, but that’s not entirely true. Even experienced consumers inevitably fall into the traps of social media. Every WhatsApp group (I’m exposed only to that network, and even that in limited fashion) is naturally made up of people who think alike and belong to the same milieu. Thus the militant right (which is expanding around us) is fueled by “facts” all pointing to Arab rioting and pogroms against Jews who are merely trying to defend themselves, and of course the evil police arrest only them (there isn’t a single Arab detainee!! so WhatsApp says). The militant left and the Arabs also feed off WhatsApp and present the same tendentious blindness, only they belong to a different milieu. There, the picture that forms is the exact opposite: settlers rampage with weapons against innocent Arab passers-by and there is no one to stop them. And the police—surprise!—collaborate with them and harm Arabs.
So who’s right? I assume both, to a degree. The police truly do nothing, but I gather they don’t act very evenly. They mainly try to do the bare minimum and on the way buy a few minutes of quiet (for themselves, not for others). They tend to use force against the weak but do nothing where they’re truly needed. It’s not just that the police don’t fix the situation; they are primarily responsible (mainly by scandalous neglect) for the chaos raging here. Hear me, Ohana? (I don’t know if my words reach the bunker where he’s hiding these days.)
In WhatsApp-world, every small incident becomes a worldview and a general natural phenomenon. A picture of a destroyed house (who knows if it itself isn’t fake) becomes a sweeping claim that every home abandoned by Jews is destroyed by Arab invaders (so everyone—come fight for the house! We will not go like sheep to the slaughter!). You see a photo of police evacuating Jews from mixed buildings with Arabs, which naturally arouses great frustration and anger, and this immediately turns into a general picture: this is what’s done in Lod. Evacuating Jews, aiding Arabs. Practically the British Mandate police. As is known, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a rousing slogan that accompanies the picture’s “analysis” is worth a thousand arguments.
In short, I suddenly noticed I was describing to my son Shlomi, with excitement, what happened around the shooting in which the Arab was killed the day before yesterday, as if everything were crystal clear. I passionately explained that the police again arrested people who were merely defending themselves. Don’t tell anyone, but I even found myself—contrary to my usual policy—driving to the Rishon LeZion courthouse to show support for the detainees brought for remand. I still feel sympathy for them and understand their actions, but I’m less sure now about what in fact happened. Needless to say, when Ben-Gvir and his colleagues took command of the scene there, I felt clearly I’d made a mistake.
When I pull myself together and try to dig deeper, I usually discover the picture is a bit more complex. Indeed, Arabs are rioting and incited, indeed this doesn’t necessarily relate to facts (see: “Al-Aqsa is in danger”), indeed different players stir the pot and fan the flames, and indeed the police are utterly non-functional—but not very different phenomena occur on the Jewish side too. We also have racists and rioters, violent nihilists who harm innocents for no reason (see the shocking lynch that happened this evening in Bat Yam), or just normal people making mistakes under pressure and fear. It turns out it’s not so clear what really happens in each such event, even though everyone is so certain and knows the facts for sure. Agenda gets mixed with facts, and the mutual reinforcement group members get from each other generates a dangerous sense of certainty and dangerous frustrations not always built on a solid factual basis (see that column). Both sides are driven by feelings of absolute justice and palpable danger, and then a collision is inevitable.
From the Jewish side, the facts are unequivocal: Arabs are rioters and Jews are arrested for nothing. Jews go out to defend their lives, in real danger from a mob of incited, masked rioters, and they are the ones the police arrest, while Arabs go free. Ukraine and the British Mandate are here. But I’m sure that among the Arabs, that is precisely the picture (as noted, I’m not in their WhatsApp groups); just swap “Jews” and “Arabs” in the previous sentences.
Clarification: My principled position on such shooting
To sharpen the message, I’ll clarify my principled stance. You may be surprised, but I’m entirely in favor of shooting rioters, even before there is a concrete danger to life. Rioters who attack me and do not heed warnings, even if they threaten only property, can and should pay with their lives. I wrote similar things around the Shai Dromi affair, and argued there this is also the halakhah (contrary to popular interpretation of “ba ba-machteret”). Therefore I have no moral claims against those who shot that Arab, even if the danger he posed wasn’t unequivocal, and even if it was property rather than life at stake. I have no empathy for rioters—neither Arabs nor Jews—and I truly do not feel sorrow for the life of such a rioter taken (if indeed he was a rioter; I don’t know). Good riddance. My claim here is not about justifying the act or whether it is worthy or not, but solely about examining the facts that led to it and occurred within it. I want to remind you and myself, again and again, that the descriptions of reality circulating on social networks are not reality itself. My sympathy for the shooters still stands, but now I realize the knowledge of what happened doesn’t really exist for me. I suspect not many understand this—and even fewer internalize it.
Yet despite my basic sympathy and my fundamentally militant approach, it’s important to say I also think anarchy is a problem (which is why my anarchist tendencies usually don’t find practical expression). In principle, the police should have done this (shot rioters, Jews or Arabs), but when there’s a police vacuum, as in the 5781 riots or in Shai Dromi’s case, then in my view a private individual can take the law into his own hands. The police should long since have used live fire against rioters—Jewish or Arab. Yes, I’m talking about shooting to kill rioters, even if it’s not to save lives but to impose discipline. Entrust that authority to a senior officer, but it must be done. Anarchy is a tremendous danger to human life and to our existence here (see my essay here, where I show that undermining the state framework and its functioning has the status of pikuach nefesh, even if no one ultimately dies). As in many cases in the past (see: Intifada), so here, the excessive caution that allegedly spares human life—but mainly stems from cowardice—can cost us many more lives. A king can and must kill when his authority and rule are threatened, for without him, people devour one another. Today we see this with our own eyes. Not for nothing, a rebel against the monarchy is liable to death. If we’re told that a democratic government has the status of a king, we should draw the conclusions here as well.
But again, the problem I’m dealing with here is solely the description of reality. I suddenly understood that I, Michael Avraham—the rational and critical one who isn’t so immersed in the immediate and virtual environment—am becoming brainwashed in the heat of events. I realized I had adamant positions about the events when, in truth, I had no real clue about what actually happened. So I took a step back, I’m recalculating, and among other things, writing you these lines.
This is the first insight: Don’t believe any story you hear or see until you’ve checked well and heard from additional sources (preferably also from the other side). And certainly don’t draw general conclusions from that specific event, even if you’ve become convinced about it. This applies all the more in times of unrest and riots like these days. The virtual madness has lost what few brakes it had. People spread fabrications, sometimes even with good intentions (usually to spur private and institutional actors to act).
B. The Governmental and Enforcement Vacuum
One thing is crystal clear: it all begins with a governmental and enforcement vacuum. The justification I find for the shooting by Shai Dromi or by those involved in the riots here in Lod is solely because of this vacuum. When there’s no police, you have to be your own police. There’s no one else to do the job for you. Farmers like Shai Dromi, who lose the labor of their lives because of this governmental fecklessness—will testify.
At the root of police failure is governmental failure. There’s supposed to be someone running our abysmal police and setting its policy. There isn’t. The government doesn’t function and has no clue what to do, in almost every field. It doesn’t want to and cannot do anything. Add to that a police force that, in the absence of orders, only wants an easy life and a few quiet days, and unsurprisingly shows total dysfunction—and you have a proven recipe for riots.
The story in Lod escalated following a shooting incident the day before yesterday (mentioned above) where a young Arab was killed by a Jew’s pistol in Lod. I heard from friends that there was a confrontation between a group of Jews and Arabs, dozens on each side. There were cinder blocks and finally a Molotov cocktail. All along people were calling the police—some practically in tears—asking and begging them to come (recordings of the calls are circulating on WhatsApp). One acquaintance called the police and told them the Jews intended to shoot and demanded they come immediately. But the police didn’t arrive even after an hour and a quarter of pleading, even when told explicitly that shots were imminent. Afterwards I heard the excuses about stretched manpower across the country. Not buying it. Proof: after the shooting they arrived en masse right away, and arrested—surprise!—three Jews on suspicion of manslaughter.
Naturally, the Jewish narrative formed around the case is that these were people who bravely went out to stop Arab rioters in the absence of police, to defend their lives, their friends’ lives, and property—and when they had no choice they fired (into the air). Later I learned that at least partially this isn’t exactly the story. They first went out with flags to express sovereignty and governance (I can imagine the atmosphere), and I don’t know how clear and unequivocal the danger was at the moment of shooting (I truly don’t know). The claim was that the shooter felt a palpable danger and fired into the air, but somehow the Arab was hit and died. But I’ve already spoken about my grasp of the facts and my sobering up. I’ll only say that from there—especially after the Arab’s funeral—the Lod riots snowballed into the madness we’re now experiencing. Civil wars like the Wild West, where there is no law and no judge. The vacuum leads us straight from Lodz and Blue Ridge to Lod.
Such a situation causes frustrations to build and weapons and tensions to accumulate, making riots inevitable. Arab gunfire, almost always on a criminal background, is an everyday thing in Lod. The police threaten but do nothing (“We’ll operate with full force and zero tolerance, at the time and place we deem appropriate.” Sound familiar?). Arabs themselves complain the police don’t care because the weapons aren’t harming Jews—and there’s some truth to that. But when they’re required to cooperate, and certainly when required to pay any price (e.g., provide information to the police), you’ll always find them on the other side. They of course refuse to cooperate and even fight alongside their “persecuted brothers” (the criminal gun-holders) against the Zionist, occupying, hostile police. Enlisting in the police? Don’t even mention it (same on our side, of course; if you didn’t know—I didn’t enlist there either). But of course, in their view, the police are to blame for everything. The police must save them from themselves (a typical Palestinian claim)[1]. But we can’t deny they’re right. Despite all my justifications and critique of the Arabs’ stance, the police still should have acted—because the foreseeable results are already almost here, and worse lies just around the corner.
C. The Vacuum Doesn’t Stay Empty: Between Lod and Giv’ot Olam
Into this vacuum, of course, step all the world’s provocateurs, from all sides. Ben-Gvir and his fellows live off such scenes. Who came to that demonstration in Rishon LeZion? Ben-Gvir, of course. Who spoke and set the tone there? Ben-Gvir, of course. But he’s right, since the lack of governance here is indeed disgraceful. I didn’t see Meretz people step in to manage the vacuum, nor even Bennett. Although there’s merit to the claim that someone needs to act in place of the police, I’d very much prefer that that “someone” not be the Ben-Gvirs and the Yitzhar folk.
Thus, Yitzhar hooligans and La Familia arrive in Lod and other cities across the country, and anyone observing them can see they’re enjoying every moment. Anarchy gives them life, and they’re experts with experience in such situations. The curses those “righteous ones” hurl when they come to help God’s warriors in Lod and elsewhere would not shame the last of the beasts in a pigsty. They fight valiantly against two young Arabs throwing stones, and with my astonished ears I heard them, while doing so, bark to one another—as well as to the local Sancho Panza seeking to tag along and learn their holy ways—military commands like: “Align the line,” and so on. Their feeling (and that of their surroundings) is that this is a desperate battle of heroism on Ammunition Hill.
Needless to say, enthusiasm among city residents (those Sanchos) overflows. Everyone cheers the Yitzhar heroes who came to our aid and fill the void. Stories spread immediately of how the police don’t dare budge here and wait for Yitzhar escort vehicles. Needless to say, everyone quotes this urban legend (at least that’s my assessment) as pure fact, and the feeling is that the Yitzharites arranged matters for us here—kudos to them. True, all that was the day before yesterday (Monday). Last night (Tuesday), La Familia’s saints joined in, and this parade of beasts makes the Yitzhar people look like knights of law and morality. Everything is relative. I sense that at this stage quite a few Lod residents sobered up. Everyone now sees these are bipedal beasts by all accounts, lacking restraint but not knives (once again, a long-standing police and governmental failure).
The mechanism goes like this. Lod’s bourgeois don’t know how to handle such situations. They’re accountants and lawyers living in comfortable homes (like me), unaccustomed to street battles and riots. They’re even a little afraid of tangling with the police, heaven forbid (since when it comes to us and against us, the police do act). So it’s convenient to hand the task to the Yitzhar gangs and be led by them (Sancho syndrome). In the absence of police, when a sense of helplessness forms vis-à-vis Arab rioters (sometimes real, sometimes imagined), it’s natural for those savages from Yitzhar to “handle it.” They have experience, and they give a sense of security in the streets because they’re “ours,” even if that comes along with completely unnecessary incitement that doesn’t add anything for anyone (not even to security), and even if it’s clear they’re relishing every moment. Still, it gives a good feeling, and thus helps them secure a leadership status as a new, proud Jewish model that won’t go like sheep to the slaughter. For them, it helps create identification with the battles they wage on the hilltops over the years against the establishment, the army, and the Arabs. Now the bourgeois here will understand they are right and that only this way can it work. So no wonder they quickly arrive in Lod, seize leadership positions, and get to work, and later spread tales of heroism on social networks. I’m not claiming they lack good intentions, only that these are accompanied by a very problematic agenda and by an equally problematic exploitation of the opportunity.
We must understand that this rampage in the streets gives many here a sense of Jewish pride—especially against the backdrop of the accumulating frustration from ongoing humiliation. People feel like victims of a pogrom, helpless like our forefathers in Ukraine—only this is happening in sovereign Israel. Our local “Indians” riot against us—those in Gaza and, in parallel, those in Lod—while the institutions and security forces do nothing. Is this why we established a state? Shall we go like sheep to the slaughter? Hence a natural sympathy develops for these savages, and level-headed people turn before my eyes into a slightly milder type of hilltop anarchist.
From last night’s lynch images in Bat Yam, I sense the Lod phenomenon I described is broader and more general. There too, La Familia’s beasts dragged additional locals who joined and carried out a shocking lynch on an Arab who (apparently by mistake) drove into the area. The governmental and enforcement vacuum grants leadership space to any actor who enters forcefully enough. The riot-instigators, aside from the pure enjoyment they derive from the situation, know they’ll profit from it—and so they happily and zealously contribute their part. The Sanchos—meaning us—arrive right after.
D. What’s the Alternative?
At the margins I must add a factual note, beyond value claims. In my estimation, had these guys not come, even factually things would be much better—at least in the long term. Again, I don’t pity rioters, and I have no leftist pangs of conscience about a forceful, assertive civilian response—certainly when a governmental and enforcement vacuum reigns. But even if in the short term these savages act more sharply and quickly and even if they achieve some results (I doubt even that—certainly not as claimed), in the long term it brings mainly harm. In my view, their absence would have forced us—Lod’s bourgeois—to organize and handle matters with our own hands. That had already begun. If we had done it and not they, I suppose it would have been carried out a bit more balanced and measured, and perhaps wouldn’t have inflamed as it has now.
Therefore, with all due respect to their mobilization and idealism, I’m really not thrilled by the help of those “righteous” who came here. I must say it’s entirely possible, even likely, that there are truly good motives and devotion there—also in their Yitzhar activity. I’m sure part of it is a genuine desire to help people (excuse me—Jews) in distress and to fulfill the commandment of settling and conquering the land. But accompanying this are highly problematic motives and conduct, and the expected results are disastrous. So I would gladly forgo their “kindness.”
E. A Look at Sovereignty: On the Movement of Ideas in Israel
It’s worth remembering that the pogroms and these events began on Jerusalem Day—the day on which national/nationalist feeling bursts out proudly over our (non-existent) sovereignty in Jerusalem. It’s common that Jerusalem Day is almost a full consensus in the religious community, unlike Independence Day, which is disputed by the Haredim. As you can understand, to me Jerusalem Day is meaningless—unlike Independence Day. On Independence Day we merited a state and independence—certainly a reason to celebrate. But on Jerusalem Day we merited theoretical (and not truly realized) sovereignty in Jerusalem. I think theoretical sovereignty over a place is not a reason to celebrate—certainly not when it’s the sovereignty of the State of Israel, a secular state with no religious meaning (I don’t think it’s a Jewish state in the essential sense). That’s true even had we had sovereignty in Jerusalem. When it isn’t realized, it’s even more meaningless. At most, the victory granted us limited access to the Western Wall and ascent to the Temple Mount by permission of the Waqf for interested parties (no praying and no murmuring, heaven forbid). So what is there to celebrate? The theoretical sovereignty of the State of Israel—the beginning of our confusion—over Jerusalem? I wrote people two days ago that I don’t understand the point of celebrating Jerusalem Day when we haven’t yet conquered it. Why harness the horses before the cart?!
But following these days’ riots, I’m beginning to doubt—by the same logic—the value and meaning of Independence Day too. It seems sovereignty in the whole land isn’t really existent either, not just in Jerusalem. I confess and am ashamed that after presenting the spiritual developments here, I’m beginning to feel that these words are my version of a revised “Faith of Our Times.”
I’ve said and written more than once that flag-dancing isn’t truly celebration and joy, but a nationalist show of sovereignty. The more the understanding that we don’t really have sovereignty, that we haven’t truly returned to Jerusalem, penetrates people’s consciousness, the more frustration grows—and it’s no wonder it bursts out as nationalist bluster in the style of “We’ll show them who’s boss” (if the police and government won’t do it—we’re here. The eternal people aren’t afraid, etc.). It’s now easy to see what this means regarding the 5781 riots.
The riots across the country and in Lod broke out on Jerusalem Day itself, following Hamas rocket fire at Jerusalem (which also led to the cancellation of the flag march). I think once again frustration was created by an injury to our sense of sovereignty. Let them shell the Gaza Envelope and a few unfortunates die there whom no one really cares about—but to send a rocket to a supermarket or public garden in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv? That’s a real red-line crossing. And if they ruin our dance that expresses frustration over the absence of sovereignty—then the frustration doubles. We lack sovereignty even to express our frustration at the lack of sovereignty. The usual frustrations over non-existent sovereignty in Jerusalem expanded naturally to the rest of the country and inflamed greatly. People go out to demonstrations with flags to express sovereignty, and that elicits “suitable” Arab responses from the opposing nationalist camp. The events we’re witnessing are the result of that frustration. It’s a desire to show sovereignty and express frustration at its absence, wherever the state is missing—and that vacuum generates everything described above, and thus the sovereignty we had achieved to some measure is going to waste.
F. Futility
To be honest, the hardest feeling these days—beyond the colossal lack of governance and control—is futility, both inward and outward. Citizens are prepared to endure shelters, property damage, suffering, even loss of life—if it’s clear there’s purpose. If it were clear there’s a government that knows what to do, acts along a decided path, and after a day, a week, or a year we might reap fruits of our efforts. But everyone knows that what’s happening now has no purpose. Not that perhaps we won’t see fruits—people can err in assessments, expectations, and plans, and that’s forgivable. Here there are simply no expectations or plans, and thus nothing to realize. What’s happening today in Gaza is yet another round in a long series that have brought us nothing beyond the price in civilian and military lives and in property that drives people into distress. And at the end of each round, we pay “tax/bribe” to Hamas that further improves their situation, so they might deign to grant us a bit of quiet. The dumping of tons of metal on Gaza is nothing but venting frustration, not policy (remember: war is the continuation of policy by force). Everyone knows it’s meant to give citizens a sense of satisfaction from revenge for the injury to them and to the state’s sovereignty, and also to divert public attention and provide catharsis for their frustrations. None of this has any practical aim. We won’t achieve even quiet there (unless the Palestinians need a break and more funding for rearmament).
All that regarding Gaza and Hamas. As for the internal riots now raging, it’s even clearer. The context is clear: utter helplessness of the government and army, standing powerless before relatively weak actors and unable to move the needle. They don’t even have goals or expectations—so how are they to act to realize non-goals? There’s a connection between Gaza events and the 5781 pogrom—not just their proximity in time. Both result from the same helplessness and fecklessness, and thus they influence and feed each other. I’ve already noted (see e.g., column 149) that Israeli governments have no policy, no real aim in any field, apart from a heartbreaking wish to gain a few more quiet days. But our game-theory sages taught us: whoever seeks quiet will never get it. Or in another phrasing: he who desires peace must prepare for war. Helplessness creates frustration, the vacuum calls outside forces into it, and that’s a tried-and-true recipe for the disintegration we’re now witnessing.
G. The 5781 Events and the Joker
At the end of column 258 I referred to the film Joker, which for me was an instructive experience. It stirred in me not a few gloomy reflections about human society, especially about the bubbling lava beneath the organized and orderly outer layer that characterizes modern society. I thought that within every society lie so many tensions and different forces: crazy people, psychopaths, rigid and determined ideological forces, enemies outside and within, plain wicked folk, and more—that it’s a wonder that, broadly speaking, the various democracies function fairly normally. We have rules and institutions that organize our lives, and the feeling is that all those hidden threats don’t exist. Who even thinks about them? But the Joker’s director apparently did. He shows us how a small, random spark—an ordinary man at the margins—can bring that bubbling lava to the surface; suddenly the fabric of our calm, orderly lives turns into utter chaos, with violent street battles between groups of rioters and governmental paralysis. To be clear, I’m describing what happened in the film, not what’s happening now on our streets. Admit it: it’s very hard to tell the difference.
As citizens of a modern democracy, it’s very hard for us to digest that in the past diseases and plagues killed people and children before whom we stood helpless. It’s strange to us that violent people could then attack you and you couldn’t really call the police to arrive within minutes (?). At best you could recruit a militia, build a coalition of associates or mercenaries, and try to defend yourself. In illness you could perhaps pray and use grandma’s remedies—and that’s it. Infant mortality and life expectancy of thirty–forty were part of life. In trouble you might solicit donations to be saved, if you managed. If not—you’re in trouble. No wonder everyone then was religious! We have only our Father in Heaven. Today, by contrast, we have insurance and/or national insurance to help when needed; an army and police to assist us in an organized way; courts, laws, and a sophisticated central government; a decentralized food supply functioning astonishingly (wonders of the free market); organized welfare and education; technology and global logistics enabling us to move elsewhere if needed; communications and information flood; and more. Seemingly, we can cope with any calamity and our fate is in our hands. Today we have technology, advanced medicine, orderly government, power mechanisms and power-control mechanisms that control all this—and thus we feel calm and tranquil day to day.
That’s the angst COVID aroused in so many of us. Suddenly we returned to the Middle Ages and to strange, forgotten notions like plagues and mass death beyond our control. Even the all-knowing men of science stood helpless before the phenomenon, not always managing even to analyze what was—and certainly not to predict what would be. I feel the events of these days evoke similar feelings. They’re the result of a small spark and inattention that—like in Joker—reveals reservoirs of lava hidden beneath the calm cover that previously wrapped us. Suddenly we’ve returned from mid-21st-century life in an orderly state to the depths of the Middle Ages: pogroms in the streets, insecurity, pogroms against Jews (and Arabs), loss of livelihood, loss of control, lack of central government, and the like. Nothing is as certain as it was two days ago—including our very existence here. Our fate is no longer truly in our hands. No wonder people feel it’s time to take it back. If it’s the Middle Ages—act like the Middle Ages. In Rome, do as the Romans. I’ve noticed I’m so accustomed to the previous order and protection that these descriptions don’t even make me feel fear. I’m as calm now as I was three days ago, and the depictions I present above come from the head, not the heart. I don’t truly believe it can all fall apart.
H. So Who Is to Blame?
In my estimation, this failure utterly dwarfs the Yom Kippur War fiasco—they’re not even in the same league. These days I think there’s some risk (though currently not high) that the State of Israel won’t survive these events—but even if it does, it’s unclear what things will look like. Everyone knows that in Israel today there is no government, and we’re in a crisis unprecedented to date. The street battles raging across the country before the helpless eyes of our passive, clueless police are the result of years of eroding governance, where every power—executive, political, judicial, or media—does whatever seems right in its own eyes. From constitutional unraveling we’ve reached complete unraveling. It only remains for the weapons stockpiled in the Arab sector to come out and be used, for a change, nationally rather than “just” criminally—and if Hezbollah joins the party with its rockets, I truly don’t know what will be left of us.
But fear not—no one here will be held to account for this failure, nor for the previous ones. Not the corrupt one at the top, not the vanishing Minister of Public Security, nor the other dwarfs and incompetents around him who do nothing and brought us to this state. It’s hard for me to imagine a collection of creatures more pitiful—except perhaps the citizens who vote for them again and again and won’t let this fecklessness affect their choices. In the end, the blame is always ours—the citizens. We’re the ones who let this reality happen and let La Familia rule the day, and we do nothing. We’re the ones who repeatedly vote for the same incompetents and the same bleary-eyed dwarfs without noticing the costs and consequences. So I shouldn’t complain—we’re eating what we ourselves cooked.
[1] Just today I heard Arab voices in Lod claiming that the two Arab fatalities from yesterday’s Gaza rocket that landed in Lod are the direct fault of the Jewish, Zionist, occupying police and government. Why? Because they didn’t build them shelters. How can we allow their brothers—those who enjoy their support and sympathy in acts of terror and rocket fire against us—to kill them too, and not only us?! Truly we are to blame. We should have protected them well to allow them to cheer the rocket fire at us and rejoice at every death on our side. Shame.
Discussion
With God’s help, 2 Sivan 5780
I completely understand the conduct of the police on the ground, who have no interest in getting themselves into trouble with the Arab rioters. After all, the distribution of portfolios in the “change” government has already been agreed upon, and it will have an absolute left-wing majority—Lapid, Gantz, Labor, and Meretz will set the tone. It has already been agreed that Merav Michaeli will be the Minister of Public Security, and Shay Nitzan the Attorney General. With such a police minister and such an attorney general—what policeman would want to get into trouble? If, God forbid, he kills one of the Arab rioters, he can expect merciless criminal proceedings. Officers and policemen on the ground naturally understand that they must keep the “intensity low.”
But fortunately, the Arab rioters are remembered for good, because they cannot restrain themselves even for a short time. Just as in 5756, after Rabin’s assassination, when it was clear that the left would win the elections and advance the withdrawal process—they could not summon patience, and intensified the bus bombings, which led to the victory of the right and the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu, who made it clear to them that continuing the diplomatic process was incompatible with continuing terrorism.
So too now: had the Arab rioters been wise and waited for the rise of the left-wing government—they would have enjoyed seeing the weakening of the regime. But now that they advanced the riots by several days—they greatly reduced the chances of establishing a left-wing government, one that would rush to carry out withdrawals for them without anything in return and without quiet.
Time and again the Arabs, in their stubbornness, save the situation, and in that same stubbornness cut off the achievement of their own independence.
Regards, Ami‘oz Yaron Schnitzler
And now perhaps this is an appropriate time for some soul-searching regarding the sharp certainty about corona (perhaps reality is after all not what was published from every platform and network)?
I think you fell down here. A lapse whose source is not clear to me.
The timeline has completely disappeared from the equation, and the scope of the acts is nowhere to be heard in all eight sections.
To say that these and those are barbarians and hooligans is factually correct, but it falsifies the reality that claims this phenomenon is a derivative of the culture from which the rioters came.
I’d be glad to hear, in your opinion, why the question of who started it is not a central one in the whole matter?
What are the scope and intensity of the phenomenon in each sector (Jewish and Arab)?
Are these not important things when assessing reality?
I wonder about the connection you make at the end between the existential uncertainty known to humanity in pre-modern democratic society and the fact that everyone was religious then (which also gives a sense of meaning and a communal framework that has an element of “insurance” against various harms). Doesn’t it also work, to some extent, in the opposite direction—that religious organizations and religious politicians act, by commission and omission, to undermine the social closure of modern democracy, partly because its values do not really fit with religious traditionalism, and partly because undermining it strengthens the spread of religion (and hence their control) among the public? If there is no good public education system, part of the public will already prefer to send a child to “El HaMaayan,” because there he’ll also get a long school day and a hot lunch. If there is no functioning welfare system, the religious community presents an alternative in the form of charity systems and free-loan funds…
Rabbi, the claim of Bibi and his entourage is that now they are allowing much stronger force to be used in Lod (batons, Ruger rifles, and administrative arrests) in order to restore quiet.
Let’s see whether there will be a change.
By the way, I didn’t quite understand what goal can be set within civilian normalization other than “quiet,” and likewise regarding Gaza if no clear solution is being proposed.
A few hours ago I listened to Kalman-Liberman on Kan Podcasts. Their program from yesterday morning. I got the impression they made a serious effort to clarify facts. Not a complete picture, but something enlightening, adding knowledge.
https://www.kan.org.il/radio/program.aspx/?progid=1141
I just wanted to make two small remarks. A. This time the IDF is responding excellently against Hamas. And this isn’t just another round of rockets but the beginning of a war. On this matter Gantz and Bibi are cooperating very well. B. The absurdity of the Arabs’ claims against the State of Israel—that it did not provide shelters for Arabs—only grows when one understands that this was an illegal settlement and they were not supposed to be there at all according to the state.
Three more small comments. A. Do you refuse to believe those who shot the Arab rioters even after the court believed them and approved their version? After it was exposed *in court* (I don’t know how to emphasize) that the investigating officer decided to investigate only Jews and not Arabs, do you still refuse to believe? (As for the Arabs’ claims, I personally haven’t read the Arab side, but it seems they don’t think the Jews are going around like rioters and they are only defending themselves; rather, they have claims about the desecration of al-Aqsa and the evacuation of people from Sheikh Jarrah. That is the claim of the other side according to the responses I’m seeing.)
B. From what I heard from a Lod resident who is relatively active, the La Familia people are unwanted there and are only looking for violence, as opposed to residents of Yitzhar who came to help and were told that this is not the place to make provocations and cause more violence.
C. The Jews who wanted to show governance and sovereignty were on a street that is entirely Jewish from A to Z, and they were singing songs there. Is that something you consider illegitimate? After that, Arabs arrived and tried to beat them, and the brave fellow defended himself and the other Jews and shot the Arabs.
Well, as I wrote in my first response to the previous column: when you write about philosophy, Torah, and science—you at least seem like someone who understands the material he is writing about (after all, a rabbi, a PhD in physics, etc.). But when you write journalistic columns, you reveal yourself as a brainwashed, low-brow “beast”—yes, yes, exactly like you describe the “beasts” (shame on you for that epithet) of the “hilltop youth,” the “Ben-Gvir types,” etc. I wrote “like you describe” because here too you are either ignorant of the facts (by your own testimony) or a malicious liar.
The “beasts” (whose ankles you will never reach in humanity) from Yitzhar, Itamar, and the rest of the settlements of the “beasts” lead the country in rates of living organ donation, volunteering, and donations of every kind and color. Itamar Ben-Gvir is a brilliant lawyer with achievements that the greatest lawyers in the country envy, who has succeeded in saving hundreds of innocent people from prison, people whom the prosecution of Satan and the judges of Sodom persecuted. He represented quite a few of them pro bono. (He himself was acquitted of 46 absurd indictments by judges who really did not like him—doesn’t that prove systemic persecution?)
I won’t analyze here the series of errors, lies, and crooked logic you are spraying in every direction. (Maybe I’ll do so one of these coming days, and maybe not. After all, it’s hard to write at length when every now and then you have to run to a protected space.) But I quickly went over this embarrassing column (I blushed for you) and found in it all sorts of slogan-filled and clichéd gibberish against the government (which certainly deserves criticism, but definitely not your criticism), and one thing stood out in its absence—not even a single word about the real culprit in the situation, namely this country’s rotten, vicious, corrupt judicial system. Not a word about the crazed juridicization, not a word about the Or Commission, not a word about the rule of the attorney general and the military advocate general, not a word about the Azaria effect, not a word about the “hands in pockets” procedure that has spread through the police because of it. Not a thing.
It is so distorted, warped, and stupid that, at best, you are a brainwashed ignoramus (a useful idiot, in the foreign tongue). At worst, a foreign agent.
All in all, what is happening these days is a wonderfully precise fulfillment of the prophecies of Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed holy memory in his 1980 book Thorns in Your Eyes. The true culprits are the “anti-racists” who allow you and your ilk to call good and loyal Jews “beasts,” who slandered them as “racists,” outlawed them, and nurtured the Arab cancer in our midst until it exploded in our faces. If you are not a foreign agent (as I suspect), then you are just a useful fool in the service of Satan.
After quite a bit of soul-searching, I repeat that the Mishnah has not moved from its place. But I recommend that you try applying this point to your own statements.
I do not recall having made any comparison anywhere between Arabs and Jews. Read again.
A priori it is possible, but factually it really does not sound plausible to me. Most rabbis I know are actually careful to observe dina de-malkhuta dina, as halakhah requires.
It is certainly possible to set goals. For example, to work toward equality with the Arabs and toward increased enforcement against criminals among them and against rioters. These are significant goals of domestic policy. The goal is supposed to set before us a model of the state to which you aspire, and the way to it is to work toward realizing that goal. That is not being done.
A. You should take a breath and calm down. I did not write anywhere that I don’t believe them.
C. No demonstration of governance justifies riots. I didn’t write that either.
Dear Mordechai. Nowhere in this column did I write that the people of Yitzhar are beasts. I was careful to use that epithet in relation to La Familia. Read carefully and be silent. I wrote that the curses I heard from them would not disgrace a herd of beasts. And that is a fact, as I witnessed it myself. All the rest of your words truly do not merit a response. It was not for nothing that the starling went to the raven, but because it is of its kind.
I’m aiming less at actual incitement or disobedience to the law. More at the deeper aspect of the content of education and the professional horizon it grants graduates of the religious education system, education toward hostility and lack of solidarity toward other sectors, cooperation with the process of weakening the welfare state and replacing it with sectoralism, and the like.
I don’t see any of this, and certainly not the motive on which you are hanging your argument.
Not explicitly, but the whole spirit of הדברים stems from the assumption that there is uniformity. “Into this vacuum come, of course, all the provocateurs in the world, from all sides… On the Jewish side the facts are unequivocal: the Arabs are rioters and the Jews are arrested for nothing. The Jews go out to defend their lives, which are in tangible danger from an incited mob of masked rioters, and specifically they are arrested by the police, while the Arabs are left in peace. Ukraine and the British Mandate are here. But I’m sure that among the Arabs too this is the situation (as stated, I’m not in their WhatsApp groups), only replace ‘Jews’ with ‘Arabs’ in the previous sentences… So who is right? I assume both are, to some extent.”
One can understand between the lines a comparison. The violence began on TikTok, with young Arabs beating random Jews; the tension was not over the Temple Mount, but was an excuse Hamas used to inflame things internally because of the cancellation of the elections in the Palestinian Authority.
That is not the spirit of the piece, and it is also not written anywhere. If only because I do not think so. As for the sentences you quoted:
1. Indeed, into this vacuum come provocateurs from all sides. What is incorrect here? Where is there a comparison here? 2. Regarding the facts from the Jewish and Arab side, that is not connected to the issue at all. I presented there how a narrative is created in each WhatsApp group, entirely apart from the question of who is right and who is better than whom. I illustrated what happens on both sides, and that it happens because of social media. That is all. Where do you see here even the slightest hint of any comparison?
3. When I write that both are right to some extent, I explained immediately afterward in what they are right (for some reason you stopped the quotation there): in that the police are doing nothing. In that, both sides are right. Do you see here a comparison between the groups of rioters?
Again, emotional reading is working against us.
Michi,
instead of splitting hairs here over what you meant and what you didn’t, please address an explicit question: beyond assigning blame (justifiably) to the governmental vacuum, beyond the observation (again justified) about “provocateurs from all sides,” do you recognize that insofar as there are, broadly speaking, two rival sides, the main problematic element and the main blame fall on the Arab side, even if only a small part of that public?
To the best of my understanding this is a yes-or-no question.
Until the Israeli public, especially the Arab public (!!!), understands this point, I find it hard to see even the beginning of dealing with the difficulties.
Note carefully: I did not put words in your mouth, but presented a question about a certain understanding that Moshe and I myself had regarding your words.
Somehow, intuitively, it was pretty clear that when Bibi reached a dead end, he would lead us into chaos unlike anything we had known. And here it is happening. I just have difficulty understanding the path of events. How exactly did he manage to roll it forward to the point in time he needed.
Instead of splitting hairs and asking the same question over and over, my answer is: yes. Where did you see otherwise? How did the discussion get there?
Rabbi Michi is politically correct even if it costs human lives; I’m very disappointed in him.
The left that warns about the disintegration of democracy is exactly the same left that, supposedly in the name of phony humane values, does everything necessary to undermine democracy.
If on Land Day in 2000 the police still knew how to respond (roughly) and used live fire and killed rioters (by sniper fire instead of, as required, automatic fire), then all the righteous men of the left came, set up a state commission of inquiry, and closed off the possibility that the police would again act with determination approaching lethality against rioters and rebels.
The impotent right (headed by Netanyahu) did nothing for years to turn the tables, and therefore bears responsibility for what is happening here today no less than the gang of leftist purists.
As for your information/facts, whether they are correct or not, I have a clear and simple recommendation: use common sense, and certainly not the Israeli media.
Ask yourselves: since when do Jews go out to riot against Arabs on Jerusalem Day or on any other occasion?
Here I’m really surprised by the honorable rabbi.
Since when have Arabs needed a special reason to kill Jews?
The only thing that usually prevents the killing is lack of opportunity or too high a price.
That is true of Hezbollah and Hamas, and so too of Israeli Arabs.
True, there are also Jews with poor self-control who find release in violence.
But it is almost never initiative, but response, and so this time too.
And one who does not trust his own reason can still rely on the media, but it would be right to infer that what is conveyed there is partial and that the interpretation is always political and deliberately biased to the left.
It sounds as though I’m joking, but unfortunately this is reality.
Thus, for example, they will describe them as rioters or youths when it comes to Arabs.
Thus they will always try to depict a situation in which two sides are guilty of the violence when it is clear to all that this is complete nonsense.
Nor is there any surprise in this.
Today I read a post by someone who had been glued to the screen for several days and only this afternoon discovered that an 82-year-old Jew is hospitalized in serious condition after almost being burned to death in a hotel in Acre.
Clearly, had it been an Arab whom Jews had set on fire in Lod, he would have heard about it whether he wanted to or not.
Arab society is a violent society.
Its violence is directed first and foremost inward.
The number of murders among them rises year after year until they themselves are already crying to us to stop their violence.
And then they burn a police station or two. So be it.
In summary: violent Arabs, an impotent government and institutions, and we all suffer.
But it would at least be worthwhile to understand why this is happening.
For years now there has been no leadership here, not even at the level of scout leaders or Bnei Akiva youth leaders.
“People are not appointed over the public, to be those by whose word every matter goes out and comes in, unless they are complete men, wise and exceedingly trustworthy, and they know enough to understand insight and times—what to draw near and what to distance, what to preserve and what to cast away… And the Rambam gave us a great general rule (in ch. 1 of the Laws of Kings, halakhah 7), that anyone who does not have fear of Heaven, even if his wisdom is great, is not appointed to any appointment in Israel… And why so? Because public and political leadership among the house of Israel is bound like a flame to a coal with Torah leadership, and therefore the beginning of the wisdom of leadership is fear of God. And because of this, it was always accepted among the people as a first principle that at the head of the leadership could stand only one who is a righteous ruler in the fear of God… And one who is not a Torah scholar at all would not be asked to be engaged in public needs (see Ha‘amek Davar on Deut. 1:13).”
“A leader appointed over the public must first know that what he takes upon himself is not lordship but servitude—to serve the public, to shepherd them with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom in the fear of God, in truth and with a whole heart, to labor for their welfare and fill their lacks, to strengthen the poor and the stumbling and take up their cause from the hands of their oppressors, to lead the people with righteous justice, to guide them in the straight path, and to remove from them distorted ideas.”
“Abarbanel, in parashat Shoftim and in the book of Samuel, in explaining his preference for rule by many leaders over rule by a king, within that same approach also prefers electing leadership for a defined and short period over electing leadership for an undefined or long period, and his reason is with him: that their leadership should be from year to year, or for three years, as a hired servant or less than that; and when the time comes, other judges and officers will rise in their place and investigate whether the former ones betrayed their trust, and those whom they convict will pay for all the wrongdoing they did. And since their leadership is temporary and they are destined to give judgment, and after a few days fear of flesh and blood will be upon them, see there. And thus the custom was instituted in our times, to elect leadership for a defined period.”
“According to what has been said, that the public’s stipulation is effective in limiting the term of an appointment, we learn simply that other public stipulations with the elected are also effective—stipulations that the voters, or a committee of representatives of the voters, make with them at the time of agreeing to elect them as their representatives; and afterward, when it becomes clear that the elected have violated the conditions stipulated with them, the voters can legally demand the removal of the elected even during their term of office and appoint others in their place.”
(Tzitz Eliezer, Laws of the State, part 3)
Let the wise hear and increase in learning!
No doubt Netanyahu timed everything with the Arabs.
Just like all the other times people said about him (and of course were proved wrong) that now he would start a war in order to achieve … (choose whatever it is he wants)
1. No Jewish provocateur entered this vacuum simply because there was lack of governance and it enabled him to harm Arabs.
Jews (and not only from Yitzhar at all, but also from Pardes Hanna, Petah Tikva, Ariel, and every place you can imagine) came in order to defend their brothers from crazed Arabs, and from the looting and burning of homes. The video of the burning of the two cars that was published everywhere under the sun was filmed by my wife’s friend. Her neighbors burned her cars, not because she didn’t pay the building committee fee, but because she is Jewish, and she posted it in darkness because they went even further and burned their electrical cabinet. That is the symmetry you presented in “these and those are provocateurs.” No Jew would have come if there hadn’t been masses of Arabs hunting Jews and Jewish property, and however you turn it around, a hooligan who came because of other hooligans whom he despises is not comparable to the first hooligans.
If you want to insist, health to you. But you’re talking nonsense. It seems the emotions aren’t allowing you to think calmly.
Not only here. Netanyahu times things with the Arabs all along the way, so that at the last moment they will insist and save the situation.
That is what Netanyahu did when the U.N. decided on the establishment of a Jewish and a Palestinian state in the territory of the British Mandate. Netanyahu enticed the Arabs not to accept the opportunity, to open a war and lose. So too Netanyahu enticed the leaders of the “Arab Higher Committee” to advise the Arabs of the land to leave their homes until the Arab armies finished off the Jews, and thus Netanyahu created the refugee problem.
That is what Netanyahu did in the Six-Day War, when he enticed Nasser and Hussein to go to a war of annihilation against Israel, and thus Netanyahu brought about the conquest of Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and Sinai. Netanyahu also lulled the vigilance of the Egyptian air-defense system, so that the Egyptian air force would be destroyed in two hours.
Again Netanyahu showed his demonic power when, following Rabin’s assassination, the prestige of the right declined and Peres was about to win the elections. What did Netanyahu do? He enticed the terror organizations to blow up buses, thus arousing the resentment of the Israeli public that brought the right to power.
And so too, after Barak came to power, ready to offer Arafat almost everything—Netanyahu enticed Arafat to insist, and thus prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But Netanyahu’s demonic tricks began thousands of years earlier. In a brilliant maneuver Netanyahu enticed the Egyptians to pursue the children of Israel into the sea, and then Netanyahu sent back an east wind that drowned the Egyptians in the sea.
Likewise, when Israel entered the land, Netanyahu brought about the defeat of the Israelites at Ai, after which none of the kings of Canaan made peace with Israel and they all fell into Israel’s hands.
And even in Shushan the capital, when Haman, the beloved prime minister of Ahasuerus, rose against the Jews—Netanyahu enticed Haman to come to the king and ask to hang Mordechai precisely after Ahasuerus had read in the book of remembrance that Mordechai had saved his life, and thus Netanyahu brought about Haman’s downfall.
Even in the Second World War Netanyahu enticed the Germans to open a second front against the Russians and the Japanese to open a second front against the U.S., and thus their increased appetite brought about their final downfall.
The common denominator of all the events I have described is that they can be explained not only through Netanyahu’s demonic powers, but also naturally: evil and hateful people do not know satiety, and therefore when they feel that things are “going their way,” they do not calm down but continue with even greater force until they “jump above their strength” and come to their downfall.
And that is exactly what happened in the riots of 5781. Hamas and the Arabs of Israel sensed that a left-wing government was about to arise that would be submissive and convenient for them, but instead of summoning patience and restraining themselves for a few days—they began attacking with full force, and thereby cut off with their own hands the realization of their desires.
And let us conclude with great thanks to Netanyahu the demon, who saves his people from disaster by the right timing 🙂
Regards, Ba‘al Zevuv, High Priest to the Demon
You forgot the deliveries of money to Hamas that were transferred naturally. Until they naturally stopped.
Even before the horrifying scenario that was supposed to bring the left-wing government to power with Merav Michaeli as Minister of Public Security—the police are paralyzed also out of fear of the “gatekeepers,” as happened in the riots of 2000, when the police responded with force and killed 13 rioters, and then a commission of inquiry was established headed by the left-wing judge Theodor Or, which brought about the dismissal of the police commanders who had dealt harshly with the rioters. No wonder the police forces in the field are afraid to confront Arab rioters.
The last elections could have brought a stable government based on 65 Knesset members from the right-wing bloc. A stable majority that might have put the dictatorship of the “gatekeepers” in its place. Unfortunately, the power of the personal hatred of Bennett and Sa’ar and their partners toward Netanyahu prevailed, to the point that they were willing to join the left in order to oust Netanyahu. Thank God, Bennett and his friends have already “climbed down from the tree”; all that remains is to continue praying that “Gideon Moshe son of Bruria” and his friends will also return to the quarry from which they were hewn on the right, and together the forces will be joined to restore order and security in our land.
Regards, ay"sh
To Sh"tz
Be well. You brought a smile to my lips. I have merited to become a righteous man whose work is done by others
More power to you
You should clarify your words in a note. It really is not clear at all. On my first reading I too understood that you were calling the people of Yitzhar beasts, and I was horrified to the depths of my soul by such ingratitude. So I read it again, and to my relief I understood that you meant what you said here in the comment. Aside from that, in war there is no place for self-righteousness toward your brothers (even if they are little and wild brothers. But brothers. This is not nationalist romanticism. It is part of the shared fate that the Holy One, blessed be He, sealed at Mount Sinai, and that the Zionists grasped somewhere at the beginning of the twentieth century), even if their scent does not smell good to you. One can discuss whether they cause more harm (heating passions and inflaming the area) than benefit (deterrence. After all, that is the only language the savage Arabs understand), but there is no room for self-righteousness.
Besides, regarding the guilt of the judicial system, these things are public and well known. Only today I read an article about the frustration of policemen who are not allowed to do anything. You can say until tomorrow that it does not merit a response, but I am the fourth commenter here already writing this. So your lack of response looks like a convenient evasion. The impotence regarding Gaza also stems from such legal fears, except that they also come from outside—from the rest of the world that is hostile to us. Sorry for sounding leftist, but it is impossible to stand against the rest of the world without being united. And the greatest enemy of unity is self-righteousness (everyone curls his nose at the other because it gives him a sense of superiority).
With God’s help, 3 Sivan 5780 (Benny Gantz’s 62nd birthday)
“Can two walk together unless they have agreed?”—the riots of the Arabs of Israel broke out in a coordination that was not accidental with the Hamas rocket attack. Let us try to conjecture the reasons for the outbreak.
It seems that the rise of the Biden administration in the U.S., hostile to Israel and favorable to the Palestinians, and in parallel the expectation of the rise of a left-wing government in Israel—are an excellent reason for an outbreak of terror and riots, in the sense of “the eager are urged only if they are already eager” 🙂 When there is someone ready for sweeping concessions for the sake of the “peace process”—this is the time to increase the pressure in order to win even more sweeping concessions.,
However, it may be that there is also here an issue of internal power struggles among the Palestinians. Hamas is embittered by Mahmoud Abbas’s cancellation of the elections to the Palestinian Authority, elections that they expected would bring about Hamas’s takeover of Judea and Samaria as well. On the other hand, Hamas’s allies among the Arabs of Israel—the people of the “northern branch” of the Islamic Movement (and perhaps also some of the people of Ra’am)—fear the integration of Mansour Abbas and Ayman Odeh as legitimate partners in the Israeli coalition.
The revival of the armed struggle both from within and from without—they are Hamas’s attempt to harm Abbas (both Mansour and Mahmoud) 🙂
Regards, Shams Razal Alfang’ar, Kubbat al-Najma
Paragraph 3, line 1
However, it may be that there is also here an issue…
In the meantime, until the emotions subside and composure lends a hand to rational thought, I’d be glad if you could address the points where I was talking nonsense.
Is the statement that into this vacuum come provocateurs from both sides not a statement that suggests some sort of balance between the sides? Factually it is correct. But so too the statement that acts of murder during the Holocaust were committed both by Germans and by Jews is correct (of course without making comparisons, because where did you see that I compared?)
With God’s help, 3 Sivan 5780
To R. Moshe R.—greetings,
Even from the help of volunteers with good intentions, not God forbid violent or provocative—quite serious problems can arise. Especially when it comes to enthusiastic and idealistic young people, there is concern that their response will not be proportionate and will spill over into harming innocent people, or will lead to escalation.
Dealing with a popular uprising needs to be done through a combination of “carrot and stick” toward the Arabs: on the one hand a forceful response toward the rioters, and on the other hand an attempt to reach dialogue and understandings with the “silent majority” of the Arab population that is interested in continued calm so that they too can live and make a living.
In my humble opinion, it should be made clear to the volunteers that although their intentions are good and welcome—their actions will be welcome only if they are careful to act in coordination and “in line with” the residents’ representatives and municipal staff, and through them with the security and rescue forces. Only in full coordination can effective guarding and aid be carried out.
Regards, Yaron Fish"l Ordner
You answered yourself. Indeed, provocateurs from both sides enter the vacuum. Where did you see a comparison? These and those are provocateurs, regardless of how many and to what extent. It seems you still haven’t cooled down; otherwise this really does not seem too complicated for understanding to me. And if there were Jewish murderers in the Holocaust, then it certainly would have been correct to say that there were German murderers and Jewish murderers, even if there was a big difference between them. Not very complicated.
If the questions don’t improve, I won’t answer anymore.
Moshe,
as stated, I agree with the main thrust of your words and with the criticism of what Michi said.
But the sentence “Jews came to defend their brothers” doesn’t really give a balanced account of the facts, as far as I can decipher them.
More power to you, words like goads. Just a few comments.
You present the residents of Yitzhar here as people who love anarchy and chaos and that’s why they come to Lod, for yet another exciting battle scene; moreover you dare to call them beasts or savages. And I ask: how do you know? Maybe they really are coming only out of mutual responsibility—how do you know what their agenda is at all? I don’t recall you writing that you had a deep dialogue with one of the residents of Yitzhar and clarified what his approach is. In any case, I don’t mean that you are wrong, but I truly don’t know, and it seems that you don’t really know either. Maybe you are fed by media stereotypes, and that is exactly what you tried to come out against in this column.
In addition, it is also proper to make the distinction between an Arab revolt and thugs who get excited by beatings and by not having their honor harmed, but I saw that this was already discussed above..
I don’t know who “La Familia” are (though I do hear Italian). It was explained to me that this is some organization of fans of a Jerusalem football team. I’m not interested in sports, but indeed I do have suspicion (a prejudice?) regarding the cultural level of fans of mass sports teams in general, and football in particular. Still, would you also call a parallel organization of fans of an Arab football team (“the clan”) “beasts”?
Every time you are caught with your pants down, you rush to cover your nakedness with tissue and feign innocence. But thus are your own holy words:
“Thus too the rioters of Yitzhar and La Familia come to Lod and to other cities throughout the country, and anyone who looks at them can see that they are enjoying every moment. Anarchy gives them life, and they are truly experts and experienced in these situations. The curses heard from these righteous men when they come to the aid of the Lord among the mighty in Lod and elsewhere would not disgrace the last of the beasts in the pigsty.”
Either you are not aware of what you are writing, or you are simply a liar (and not a particularly sophisticated one). And further on:
“Everyone now sees that these are two-legged beasts by any standard, and that they have no protection but a knife (again, a long-standing police and governmental failure.”
A call for murder?
As I said, I blushed for you when I read the column, not only because it is simply shameful in its belligerence toward your brothers, but because it is confused, lacks a message, shrill, and at the same time sanctimonious and self-righteous. Again you accuse “the corrupt one” (a soothing mantra for you?) of paralysis while the real culprits, whom I mentioned in my previous response, do not receive from you even a single polite word of criticism. (Related to the fact that your son interns with them?)
There is nothing new under the sun. When black rioters rampaged in U.S. cities, they were subdued in less than an hour in Republican-controlled states, and are rioting to this day in progressive “Democratic” states whose governors’ response was … Defund the police. So too אצלנו, the response of the judicial system to the October 2000 riots was the complete emasculation of the police and security forces. A proven recipe for creating civilian self-defense militias, which can easily deteriorate into civil war.
As I wrote, what is happening these days is the impressively mathematically precise fulfillment of the forecasts of Rabbi Meir Kahane of blessed holy memory in his book Thorns in Your Eyes, which I read about 40 years ago. A priest and prophet walked among us, and the judges of Sodom stained him falsely and deceitfully with “racism” (may the Merciful save us) and outlawed him. Fortunately, I knew him personally, not from the newspapers and commentators like you. He was free of racism. A man full and overflowing with love of humanity and love of Israel, and a Torah scholar of great stature. He was the first to come out against the conspiracy of silence of the corrupt and rotten Jewish (Reform) establishment in the U.S. regarding the plight of Soviet Jewry, and his heroic struggle led to the enactment of the “Jackson Amendment” to the constitution. Of course, official historiography (historio-falsification) erased the rabbi’s part in this achievement.
The real criminals and racists are the men in black robes who disqualified him. The people of the “racism of low expectations,” who forgive every Arab crime and hold Jewish girls in until-the-end-of-proceedings detention in mass and unlawful arrests because of a demonstration; those who invest billions in catching youths suspected of spraying graffiti and do not lift a finger against criminals who burn synagogues, police stations, and Magen David Adom stations.
The real racism, as Rabbi Kahane of blessed holy memory once explained to me (and as he also wrote in that book), is that of those who see Arabs as an inferior race, who will forget their religion and their religious hatred for the “sons of apes and pigs,” the “ahl al-dhimma,” and colonialist invaders, sell us their sacred waqf land, and seek to integrate among us in “coexistence” in return for connecting their villages to electricity and running water and opening our universities to them. “Racism of low expectations” (or auto-antisemitism) shows tolerance for Arab riots against Jews “because of provocation” (buying houses with full payment!) but demands “restraint” and “containment” from attacked Jews so as “not to descend to their level.” It is worth recalling the logical failure of the racists of low expectations who, on the one hand, “understand” Arabs seized by “uncontrollable rage” because a Jew bought an apartment, and on the other hand believe this is a “materialist” conflict over real estate and borders that can be solved by “dialogue.” They have been murdering one another (including the family members of the “prophet”) for 1,500 years with continuous and inconceivable cruelty because of Islamic religious zealotry, but with us they will live in “coexistence”? Oh, holy innocence.
But Michi is a “bourgeois” living peacefully in “luxury” neighborhoods (yeah right) in Lod, feeling morally superior when he writes twice a day “the corrupt one, may he live long” (after reading both versions of the indictment against him, I still found no fact in them that constitutes guilt…), feeling culturally superior when he calls good Jews “beasts,” and intellectually superior when he dismisses criticism exposing him naked with “does not merit a response.” Hounded by feelings of inferiority and a desire for legitimacy from the “beautiful white people,” he so badly wants to distance himself from any identification with the “beasts” and the “racist” Kahanists, God forbid, that he is willing to support the establishment of a government dependent on representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and the communists (what about ISIS?). Anything but Bibi!
(Full disclosure: I have never voted for Netanyahu and have much criticism of him. But he is not corrupt.)
Nu shoyn. A good night, a good Shabbos, and a good holiday.
P.S. You really do not merit a response. But unfortunately you still have a few groupies whose eyes perhaps can be opened. One good word nevertheless is due to you for not deleting my comments here. Many thanks.
If the Torah nucleus had not been in Lod, wouldn’t the situation have been even better?
Do you really see an essential difference between a cunning and quiet takeover and a takeover accompanied by noise?
With God’s help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath, “and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle” 5780
It is worth noting that the epithet “beasts” for people behaving wildly unfairly harms beasts, which are animals domesticated by man and which serve him with obedience and loyalty.
The loyalty and obedience of beasts to the human who leads them is described many times in Scripture, for example: “An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s crib”; beasts are a symbol of innocence, as David said: “I was brutish and did not know; I was as a beast before You,” and as in Isaiah’s prophecy: “The spirit of the Lord guided them like a beast.”
The sages learned good traits and qualities from animals, such as avoiding theft from the ant and modesty and cleanliness from the cat, as stated in the book of Job: “Who teaches us through the beasts of the earth.” Let us learn from the beasts loyalty and obedience and walk in the furrow.
With the blessing “A voice of joy and gladness, then our lips will sing,”,
Kaleb Fayvl, nicknamed “Faybish Lipa Sosnovitzki-Dehari, an admirer of animals
Paragraph 3, line 1
The sages learned traits from animals…
According to the reasoning I raised in the comment above, that the riots are organized by Hamas agents among the Arabs of the הארץ—it may perhaps be conjectured that the police’s refraining from dealing forcefully with the rioters is because the effort and allocation of forces are currently focused on suppressing and deterring Hamas in Gaza, out of a desire not to open a high-intensity struggle on two fronts.
The thought is also that the moment Hamas in Gaza begins to be deterred by the price exacted from it—an order will naturally be given from there to their agents here to calm down. The staying power of the rioters inside the country, who are not backed by a government and organized army, is also smaller, and there is a greater chance that they will tire more quickly than their Gazan senders.
Of course, these things do not go beyond the realm of conjecture. I have no information beyond what is published in the media.
Regards, Yerachmiel Fish"l Halevi Azrieli
A small note on your note [1]—from what I heard (from the principal of the school where Nadin Awad studied), it’s not that they are complaining to the state that it didn’t build them a protected space, but that they were not given permission to build one; they wanted to build it themselves. That’s very problematic.
Your comment on the matter is also very problematic (I don’t know if it was sarcastic or not). The state cannot discriminate against its citizens solely because of their ethnic origin or their opinions. Yes, they should be allowed to protect themselves like every other citizen in this country, and if the state provides some kind of protection, every citizen as such is entitled to that protection.
“And the stranger who sojourns among you…”
On its face, cutting off the electricity, both to the rioters’ neighborhoods and to Gaza, would be an effective means of stopping the rampage and the rockets. The trouble is that the High Court prevents the use of this effective means, by “moral” fools. May it be God’s will to open the eyes of the blind and give strength and courage to our leaders to do what needs to be done.
Regards, Yafi"a Halevi
That wasn’t a question. You write as if words lack context. When everywhere the riots are described symmetrically, there is meaning to the statement that these and those are rioters, beyond the pure statement. We don’t disagree about the post itself (in fact, in the post you wrote at the time about Elor Azaria, we discussed taking the law into one’s own hands, and already then I argued that there is no governance and no confidence in state institutions whatsoever, and therefore I would shoot without thinking twice ץ, if only for the assurance that the terrorist wouldn’t be released from prison in the next prisoner exchange deal). This may be semantics, but it is important when the tendency is to create distorted symmetry in order to try to change reality.
If you saw the comments above, surely you have already noticed that I did not call the people of Yitzhar beasts anywhere. Although emotional readers for some reason latch on to this point.
Since I live here and meet the people in the streets, I am speaking from personal impression and not like you from general information and WhatsApp rumors. In addition, if you read my words, you surely saw that I wrote that I believe good intentions are also involved there, and nevertheless I waive the favor. My words of course did not concern all the thousands of volunteers who are arriving, especially those who started coming from yesterday, among whom there are quite a few good people and not only cowboys and La Familia types, as there were on the first and second nights.
By the way, your determination that I am mistaken or that I don’t know is really fascinating. Unlike me, who met the people and am speaking from personal information (but of course I’m speaking without information), you didn’t meet them (apparently) and certainly not me. Interesting that as far as you are concerned, you aren’t very strict about solid information before making determinations.
Mordechai, I hope the problem has been solved. After reading your incisive words, all my groupies have already learned their lesson and are no longer impressed by my nonsense. Fortunate are you.
My remark was definitely sarcastic. I oppose all discrimination, and certainly also against Arabs. In my words I wanted to illustrate a phenomenon that is surely a real one: that Arabs complain instead of cooperating and taking action. Populations in distress that do not act on their own behalf and wait for others to solve their problems usually will not merit that (see the Palestinians). Arabs who cooperate with those who are bombing us should not be surprised that they suffer discrimination (not justified). If they think that their actions these days will improve their condition, they are mistaken. It only lowers the motivation to help them (as would have been proper).
As for the case with the shelters, I have no information. I wrote that I heard a story and brought it only as an illustration. It is certainly possible that you are right. But the principal claim still stands: as long as the Arabs are satisfied with cries of discrimination and violent terror instead of acting and beginning to cooperate, their problems will remain as they are. And as long as there are not those who confront them with this, but only contain them and explain that they deserve all the rights (which is completely true), that will only perpetuate their problems. People have spoken more than once already about the racism of low expectations.
Not always. “And the teeth of beasts I will send against them”—see Rashi.
To Chaos—greetings,
When the situation reaches chaos, then even the beasts that are usually disciplined begin lashing out and biting 🙂
Regards, Y.P. Ordner
Former MK Yaakov Katz (“Katzaleh”) from Beit El proposes mobilizing reserve forces and imposing a curfew on Arab cities in which there are riots. See the article: “Katzaleh: Impose a curfew on the Arab cities” (on the Arutz 7 website).
Regards, Yafi"a
May it be His will.
I also can’t believe I’m saying this (oh, how lofty an intellectual I am), but it seems that “Kahane was right.” Only I wouldn’t start wars with leftists because of that. The price of wars among ourselves is still total destruction by the enemies outside. But first of all there needs to be peace among the people of the right themselves. After that it will be possible to speak about unity with the left, and before that it is impossible even to talk about any sort of peace and coexistence with Arabs. One who cannot live with the people of his own nation certainly should not babble about coexistence with enemies. Even the Arabs know this. They smell internal divisiveness and go out to war. If you, Rabbi Michi, are unable to live with the Sephardi public and wrap it in “Bibi is corrupt” (it’s like the Shema, which must be recited twice a day), then what is there for you to tell us stories about equality for Arabs
I’d be interested to know whether the left would not do this. I only hope they wouldn’t pay them with our tax money on humanitarian grounds
With God’s help, 3 Sivan 5780
To Emanuel—greetings,
The rocket barrages from the large refugee camp known as the “Gaza Strip” clearly show that even when they are “not among us”—the problem is not solved. There is no escaping the need to reach coexistence based on “carrot and stick”: forceful measures against riots and terror, together with fairness toward the Arab population as a whole. When the foreigner is aware that with us he enjoys freedom, security, and a high standard of living—then the majority of the Arab population will prefer to sit quietly.
Long ago Panger the Arab and Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai disputed this (in a discussion with Vespasian): according to Panger, if a snake is coiled on a barrel, one breaks the barrel together with the snake. By contrast, RYBZ holds that one removes the snake and preserves the barrel and the wine.
Wisdom and restraint need to be combined with firmness and strength!
Regards, Ben-Zion Yohanan Korinaldi-Radatzki
Perhaps also an Arabic translation of “Stable and certain truth” will help moderate the Arabs 🙂
In the last line
… will help moderate the extremism of the Arabs 🙂
Rabbi, how did the night go—was there an improvement since Ohana’s failed speech?
I didn’t hear about Ohana’s failed speech (was the speech a failure, or is Ohana a failure?). But since last night I do feel some improvement and hope it continues. Not a little of it thanks to many volunteers (of whom, at least from yesterday, I get the impression that a large part are good people, unlike those I described in the column who came on the first and second nights, who apparently finally understood that they are not wanted here, thank God) who came to help here, and an organization by the nucleus that seems to me excellent and very effective. We are doing shifts and even getting a bit of cooperation from the police (if only a waiver of the curfew as far as we are concerned). The shifts are meant to show a presence and report incidents, but no less than that to monitor and moderate those unruly groups among our “helpers.”
We’ll see how tonight goes. The situation here is very strange. By day you see a normal city, shopping, preparations for Shabbat, and the like, and at night suddenly a phase shift. Just like in the movies.
The mayor of Lod, Yair Revivo, also said that the people of “La Familia,” who harm innocent Arabs, cause damage and escalation. By contrast, the Shin Bet has gone into action in the mixed cities in order to catch rioters and preempt intentions to riot. See the article “Shin Bet personnel operating in the mixed cities” (on the Arutz 7 website).
With blessings for a quiet and joyous Sabbath and holiday, Yafi"a Halevi
I didn’t think a rabbi in Israel would surrender to political correctness even at the price of turning dear Jews under attack into murderers! How much alienation there is! All so that heaven forbid no one should suspect you of being, heaven forbid, a right-wing and primitive person even while murderous Arabs are slaughtering us.
No wonder your sons left the path of Torah; take off the kippah already—you are shallow, superficial, and condescending toward your brothers. Shame on you!
You need to remember:
A. He lives in Lod and experiences the events personally.
B. He wrote several columns against PC, so it’s unlikely he suddenly thinks like them.
C. He did not call Jews murderers; he called aggressive football fans who enjoy getting into fights beasts.
That’s not what I wrote. I wrote that I don’t mean you are wrong, but that there is a quick judgment here of the motives of the guys from Yitzhar without sufficient claims and reasons as to why you think they enjoy the chaos. Therefore my determination is not fascinating, because I did not write that you are wrong, and you also did not show why you know what their agenda is. Thanks for the answer in any case 🙂
Hello Rabbi, what is the day-to-day situation in the city?
Has your house been hit by gunfire?
Has the police started doing anything?
On blindness…
“When the foreigner is aware that with us he enjoys freedom, security, and a high standard of living—then the majority of the Arab population will prefer to sit quietly.”
This is exactly the white Ashkenazi racism against which Rabbi Kahane of blessed memory warned. The white Ashkenazi (relax, I too belong to this “race”) sees the Arab as an inferior race that will sell its homeland, its religion, and its national aspirations to the “sons of apes and pigs” (the Jews) and reconcile itself to the rule of the dhimmis who in their insolence established for themselves a state on sacred waqf land instead of bowing their heads and paying jizya (a Muslim poll tax on “tolerated infidels,” Christians and Jews). Only a detached person, lacking roots and homeland, would believe that the Arab (especially the devout Muslim) would agree to that in exchange for “freedom, security, and a high standard of living.”
Contrary to the legends of the left, the State of Israel has invested truly legendary sums in the Arab sector. It built them schools, connected their localities (including the illegal ones) to electricity and running water, subsidized elementary, high-school, and higher education for them, and the list is long. Nowhere in the world has a hostile irredentist minority (that does everything to evade every civic duty, including paying taxes) received such investment from the state. Netanyahu’s government (“the corrupt one, may he live long”) budgeted 15 billion shekels (!) for an ambitious plan to invest in the Arab sector, designed in cooperation with representatives of the Joint List.
The simple truth is that the opposite is correct, and Pharaoh was right when he said “Let heavier work be laid upon the men,” etc. A wise people makes sure to leave its enemies illiterate peasants. Only a foolish people gives education to its enemies. The worst of the Arab haters of Israel (for more than 100 years) are the educated among them.
It has improved greatly. It seems a little, yes, but not really something one can rely on. Our home was not hit, and there was almost no gunfire here. Things look worse from far away. In fact, the Arabs did not act in an extremely severe way; otherwise the situation would have been much worse. I believe the quiet was achieved more thanks to the residents and volunteers than thanks to the police. Maybe the Shin Bet? I don’t know whether and how much they acted.
If there is lack of clarity regarding the facts, attached is Kalman Libeskind’s description of the shooting that took place on the first day of the riots:
Seemingly, cutting off the electricity would cause all those wavering in these neighborhoods to go out and join the rioters—what else would they have to do at home?
Unfortunately, the column suffers from the syndrome of “drama instead of facts.” Israel on the verge of disintegration? Really? Weren’t there much more severe riots in the U.S. not long ago? Antifa? The storming of the Capitol?
In addition, one can always say that we know nothing until we have fully clarified all the facts, and that is a well-known means of silencing.
And after all that, the clear factual situation is that the Arab side is the violent side and the Jewish side is the defensive side. This fact is supposed to become clear to everyone at a certain stage in life, and from that stage to become an axiom in every political-security-diplomatic question in Israel.
Is the idea that the U.S. is on the verge of disintegration really so absurd?
It is likely that neither the U.S. nor Israel will disintegrate in the next 20 years (not including things like one state seceding from the U.S., etc.), but it is definitely an option
If “noise” means beatings or throwing stones etc., then there is indeed an abyssal difference between takeover by buying houses or buying land and building houses, and takeover by violence in the literal (physical) sense.
I think the assumption that the Israeli media are biased only to the left is mistaken.
First, there are media outlets that lean to the right.
Second, when it comes to clashes within the Green Line, it is likely that even left-wing Jews know more Jews who live in Acre/Lod/Jaffa (or Jews who know such Jews), and therefore the flow of rumors through acquaintance may cause them to emphasize the Jewish side.
As for the suggestion not to rely on the media but on reason—reason can analyze the facts after one discovers them by seeing or hearing, etc. One cannot, for example, know by reason alone how many Arabs attacked Jews and how many otherwise
“The white Ashkenazi (relax, I too belong to this ‘race’) sees the Arab as an inferior race…”
Exactly the opposite: to sit quietly in return for a good material situation and personal freedom (including religious freedom, aside from the commandment of jihad) is the most proper conduct on the part of a minority, and that is how generations upon generations of Jews behaved in all lands (even in return for much less than what Arabs can receive in Israel today), until the USSR and especially the Nazis made that strategy ineffective.
If anything, the mistake here is not reverse racism but projecting your own mode of thought onto the other side.
Every disqualifier does so with his own blemish, etc.…
Your words remind me of a conversation I had with a senior Shin Bet man sometime in the late 1980s. As a young yeshiva student I was then amazed by the depth of ignorance, superficiality, and shallowness of someone for whom Arabs and Islam were supposed to be his daily bread. This slapdash understanding of Islam and the Middle East in general led to the march of folly of Oslo, the disengagement, etc. We paid the price in abundant blood (in every sense).
Indeed, you are projecting the way Jews think onto the Arabs. But they do not see themselves as a minority. They see themselves as the legitimate masters of the land, and us as “dhimmis” (a protected people), sons of apes and pigs, impudent upstarts who established for themselves an illegitimate infidel state on sacred waqf land instead of bowing their heads and paying jizya. They certainly do not think they should thank you for your good heart in allowing them “to sit quietly in return for a good material situation and personal freedom.” They believe they must fight you to the bitter end in order to restore the stolen waqf land to the rule of Islam. From their perspective, “religious freedom, aside from the commandment of jihad” is a burning insult. For them Israel is a modern version of the Crusader state, and jihad against it is the supreme religious commandment.
When you assume they will relinquish their national and religious aspirations in return for the right “to sit quietly,” etc., you are in fact seeing them as an inferior race of “natives” lacking religious/national consciousness. That is racism par excellence.
That is not at all an abyssal difference.
Income gaps are also a kind of violence, for any attempt to settle the issue will immediately bring uncontrolled and unrestrained violence.
Might makes right.
With God’s help, 8 Sivan 5780
To Mordechai—greetings,
Not all Arabs are zealous idealists who will go fight the holy war under every condition and in every situation. In the great majority, the advice “Let heavier work be laid upon the men” does indeed hold, and they will prefer the quiet that allows them to continue bringing prey to their household.
Therefore I wrote that a distinction should be made between the rioters and inciters, and they should be dealt with firmly in a point-by-point and focused manner, in accordance with the approach of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai—to remove the snake without breaking the barrel.
And just as Mordechai the Jew dealt specifically with Haman and the hard core of his sons and supporters, while Harbonah, who abandoned the gang for opportunistic reasons, remained “remembered for good” 🙂 Thus Mordechai achieved that “many of the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of Mordechai had fallen upon them,” and left among all the nations a good memory of “the account of his mighty and powerful acts and the full account of Mordechai’s greatness.”
So too Rabbi Shmuel HaNagid acted toward the Arab who cursed him and whom the king commanded him to cut out his tongue. R. Shmuel HaNagid went and did good to that Arab, and then instead of cursing him—the Arab began to praise him. And R. Shmuel HaNagid showed the king: “I cut out his evil tongue and put in its place a good tongue.”
Regards, Ben-Zion Yohanan Korinaldi-Radatzki, the white Ashkenazi, may his light shine
Indeed, in Esther Rabbah it sounds as though the statement “and Harbonah too is remembered for good” follows the opinion that Harbonah is Elijah, and not the opinion that Harbonah was one of Haman’s group and betrayed him. So “remembered for good” he is not, but there is still room to distinguish between the hard core of the Hamans and the many Harbonahs with whom one can get along.
With esteem, B.Y.K.R.
A response to Mordechai—who prides himself on not being a Torah scholar and not understanding philosophy—
Your style does not suit this site. Nor do the “arguments” you make.
For example, the argument “you are a brainwashed ignoramus”—perhaps on other sites that is a winning argument. Go there.
To Arik 1—greetings,
There is a high probability that people who need quiet in order to live and make a living will get fed up with the rioters’ rampage. Now, when it is possible to work by day and riot by night—livelihood is not harmed. When life becomes unbearable for the Arab population—there is a good chance that they themselves will put the rioters in their place.
Regards, Yafi"a
There is something in your words, but only something.
Indeed, not all Arabs are rioting. The rioters are the rich and the satiated. Those whom, in its great folly, the State of Israel “wisely” raised from the dust, gave education to, and opened to them the gates of business and the economy. The peasants are indeed sunk in “let heavier work be laid.” But make no mistake—they hate you no less than the educated, but their abilities are limited.
Thus it has been since the outbreak of the conflict more than a hundred years ago. The heads of the inciters were the educated Arabs (the first were actually Christians, graduates of the American University of Beirut, who founded the first Arab newspapers in the Levant and poured out antisemitic venom long before the rise of the Nazis in Germany).
I have often encountered good and innocent people who think that “terror is the result of poverty and occupation.” Sorry to spoil the theory, but empiricism simply buries it. There is extensive research literature on this. Terror is a rich man’s business.
Another naïve theory many are tempted by is that “education makes a person better.” That is folly. Education does not take away free choice from a person, but gives him more possibilities to realize his choice. Therefore, one who chose evil will be able to do more evil if he is also educated. There is no shortage of examples of wicked educated people. Of the four commanders of the Einsatzgruppen (the SS murder squads that murdered about a million and a half Jews by shooting), three held doctoral degrees, and the fourth had “only” an M.A. Likewise, about half of the participants in the Wannsee Conference were doctors, and to them one can add Yasser Arafat (civil engineer), Pol Pot (electrical engineer), Saddam Hussein (jurist), Prof. Guzmán (philosopher, founder of the murderous “Shining Path” underground), Dr. Mengele (physician), Prof. Hirt (physician), the terrorist Carlos (economist), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (PhD in electrical engineering), Fathi Shikaki (pediatrician), George Habash (pediatrician), and… whew, my fingers are tired… but there are many more and evil ones.
A wise people makes sure to keep its enemies backward and ignorant!
As for R. Shmuel HaNagid—one does not bring proof from legends.
When you own the site, you can throw me out of here. I noted positively in one of my previous comments that Michi, despite the harsh criticism I leveled at him, did not censor me.
With God’s help, 8 Sivan 5780
To Mordechai—greetings,
The educated are the greatest agitators and inciters, but not necessarily the ones who will dirty their neckties by rampaging., The rioters are more from the masses, and especially from the young, upon whom the burden of supporting a family has not yet been placed.
On the other hand, among the educated there are many who are “citizens of the great world,” “mobile” in Gadi Taub’s language, whom it interests far more to live a good life and make money. Therefore among the wealthy and educated strata there are many more who leave the country.
Birthrates too keep declining among the educated and the wealthy.
In any event, the increase in the educated is not necessarily the result of a deliberate Israeli policy. The Arabs are learning from the trends prevailing in Israeli society within which they live, which aspires to comfort and higher education.
Even the academic institutions where they go to study, both in Israel and in Europe and America, tend toward left-wing and liberal positions that encourage the Palestinian struggle. Why should we complain about the Arabs? They are simply good students of our academic world.
Perhaps the Arabs should be directed to Haredi and Hardal concentrations, so that they may devote themselves to Torah study that straightens and refines 🙂
Regards, Yaron Fish"l Ordner
Good for you that that’s what you think. But apparently you have no eyes in your head. The media is definitely not biased to the left. It is entirely on the left. It is a propaganda tool of the left. When people talk about bias, I have in mind an image of a tree planted in the ground, with its leaves and branches leaning to one side. Bias to the left means that the trunk is planted in the middle (objective) and the foliage (the branches and leaves) leans to the left. In our case—the general worldwide media (except for the right-wing media channels established specially as a counterweight) is planted entirely far over on the left.
That can’t be right. The media belongs to the rich. The rich are anti-communist.
Since the right-wing upset, the media has been using the technique of “the media attacks X, the media is hated, therefore X is good.” And thus all sorts of emissaries of the junta like Bibi and all the rest continue to get elected.
And the public is stupid, and therefore the public pays.
(To TLP) Greetings,
Once the parties of the left—such as Mapai, the Labor Party, Mapam, etc.—were socialist. Today most “leftists” are capitalists (except for Shelly Yachimovich and a few others who still advocate socialist economics and a welfare state and the like).
Today’s leftists are characterized by a tendency toward sweeping concessions for the sake of “peace” with the Palestinians, and by a tendency toward increased secularization of the State of Israel and opposition to “religionization.” The right tends more toward nationalism and tradition, whereas the “leftists” aspire to be “citizens of the great world.”
Regards, Sh"tz, a graduate of “Merkaz”
You are intelligent on another level.
A deep analysis of all sides while addressing all planes. (At least all the ones I could think of.)
Amazing. I’m curious how, in a relatively long text, you are not afraid that contradictions might accidentally be found? (After all, we’re all human—maybe that’s the reason..)
By the way, I don’t know if you gathered some of the reasons behind Hamas’s conduct from other places; I assume so (at least some).
Still, the content presented (especially in section 7) reminds me of some of the content presented in a post Yair Lapid published today. (More precisely, his post reminds me of your words.)
I wonder whether politicians in general tend to collect ideas from your publications or from the publications of others (directly or indirectly), especially if they stand on the opposite side of the political map (relative to the author of the text).
Thanks for the compliments (somewhat exaggerated).
I have no idea whether anyone uses my materials. No one informed me of such a thing. But I very much doubt that any of the celebrities reads material here on the site.
1. The rabbi said that “the bourgeois in Lod do not know how to deal with such situations. They are accountants and lawyers who live in their comfortable homes, and are not accustomed to street battles and riots… therefore it is convenient for them to hand the task over to the Yitzharist gangs and be led by them.” The truth is that after the first night the residents organized and set up an operations room that handled urgent cases skillfully and tried to communicate with the police.
2. What I heard from someone who was in charge of security during the days of the riots confirms the legends that the police were waiting for the protection of the Yitzhar people and the residents. I don’t know about the rest of the rumors.
It seems to me I mentioned that I was an active participant in the watches organized here. So I am fairly updated on what happened in Lod.
These legends reached me too. One thing is clear: the Israeli police completely failed to function, even more than its usual level of non-functioning. But from there to those descriptions there is a distance, as is the way of urban legends, which rely on one or two cases, if any, and build from them a general description and picture.
I had just gone into the blog yesterday to see whether a new article about the 5781 riots had already been posted.