An innocent Palestinian family, numbering close to 20 people. All ofApparently if it were not for the interventions of several journalists, the settlers would have killed the Palestinian family. Other settlers fired on and wounded Palestinaians. This is absurd. The extremist settlers present a clear and present danger to the safety and security of Israel, not to mention the stability of the broader Middle East and of course, to American interest. Here's Jeff Goldberg, no anti-Zionist, who noted that Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations made no comment on the pogroms:
them women and children, save for three men. Surrounding them are a few dozen masked Jews seeking to lynch them. A pogrom. This isn't a play on words or a double meaning. It is a pogrom in the worst sense of the word.
So the question to the Conference of Presidents is: Was it not a pogrom, and therefore not newsworthy? Or are you simply too ashamed to report, amid your long list of Arab and Muslim sins, evidence of Jewish sin? These people, the Hebron settlers, are a threat to Israel and to Zionism. But not everyone in the American Jewish leadership has figured that out yet.Goldberg also described as the extremist settlers as a "disgrace to Judaism." Fun stuff Check out Goldberg's piece in the New Yorker four years ago about life in Hebron, as well as his Atlantic article examining Israel's future.
I am not a huge fan of the IDF, but I have to give them credit for doing what must be one of the suckiest jobs in the world: forcibly removing your fellow citizens from their homes as they pelt you with eggs and rocks.
And H/T to Daniel Levy on TPM for pointing out this CFR/Brookings report out, which recommends the US should tie aid to Israel with progress against the settlers. You need to buy the report or something to read it, so I will have to rely on Levy's quotations.
Both public criticism of Israeli settlement policy as well as conditioning portions of aid to a settlement freeze can be effective in eliciting Israeli compliance.Now, that's public pressure for a freeze these two establisment organizations are advocating. In the long run, the settlements will have to be dismantled, but that will have to come as a part of a peace agreement. Lets hope Obama, Hillary and Rahm (who speaks Hebrew) can find a way to some sort of settlement within the next four years. I don't have a lot of hope that peace talks will succeed, but you never know.
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I'm always hesitant to talk about Israel-Palestine stuff on this blog, but this is quite troubling.
Israeli settlers are a danger to everyone.
And I am glad to hear that the journalists intervene. Journalists should be able to do that, without sacrificing anything. After Hurricane Katrina, some journalists just snapped photos of people begging them for water and first aid because they didn't want to "intervene." That was the point where my tolerance for the BS cover of "journalistic integrity," as an excuse for everything, finally snapped. Be a human first and a journalist second.
The Daily Star, a Lebanese news source known for its bias for Hizbollah, actually provided well-backed arguments against Israel's approach to the settlers rather than the disgusting violence which occured.
"In an ideal world, Israelis and Palestinians would be able to exist peacefully side-by-side in Al-Khalil (Hebron), a city that plays host to a tomb that is scared to both Muslims and Jews. But that world will remain confined to the imagination if authorities - both Israeli and Palestinian - fail to ensure that all individuals are afforded equal protection under the law, and that all criminals are brought to justice."
This point being made in response to Israel's slow response to the occupation of this house in Hebron, which has led to the already mentioned violence.
The former prime ministers statement came as a shock as well.
"As a Jew, I was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs in Hebron. There is no other definition than the term 'pogrom' to describe what I have seen...We are the sons of a nation who know what is meant by a pogrom, and I am using the word only after deep reflection." Olmert anounced to the nation.
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