What’s the source of violence in Judea and Samaria? If you follow this publication’s coverage, you know that every day sees multiple attacks by Arabs on Jews, especially Jewish motorists, on the roads of Area C, with stones and Molotov Cocktails that now and then end in injury and even fatality, not to mention the new wave of stabbing attacks on innocent Jews in the streets of Israel. It’s something you’d expect Israel’s Minister of Internal Security to know and share with world leaders when he meets them. But you’d be wrong. Take for example Labor’s Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev’s tweet Monday night:
“Today I met today with the Under Secretary of State of the United States, Ms. Victoria Nuland. The Under Secretary of State was interested, among other things, in settler violence and how to reduce tensions in the region and strengthen the Palestinian Authority.”
פגשתי היום את תת מזכירת המדינה של ארה”ב, הגברת ויקטוריה נולנד. תת מזכירת המדינה התעניינה, בין היתר, באלימות מתנחלים וכיצד ניתן להפחית את המתח באזור ולחזק את הרשות הפלסטינית. pic.twitter.com/M1XNdqHtZ2
— עמר בר-לב (@omerbarlev)
One almost had to check if Minister Barlev works for the Israeli side in the conflict and not, say, the Palestinian Authority. After all, his dad was IDF Chief of Staff, he himself retired from the army with the rank of Colonel after commanding the special force Sayeret Matkal unit for four years. If he, son of the Labor movement in Israel, misidentifies the situation under his jurisdiction so shockingly, then the settlement enterprise and the state of Israel are in serious danger.
As Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) quickly noted in a tweet about one hour later: “You were confused, the settlers are the salt of the earth, heirs of the pioneers of the valley and the mountain. The violence that should shock us is in the form of dozens of cases of stone-throwing and stabbing of Jews that happen every day – just because they are Jews, and all this with the encouragement and support of the PA. I encourage you to talk about this violence with Ms. Nuland.”
Minister Barlev responded with another infuriating and self-righteous tweet: “I understand that it’s really difficult for some of you to put a mirror in front of your faces about the fact that extremist settler violence is crossing the whole world and foreign governments are interested in the issue. I recommend for those who have difficulty, to drink a glass of water. I will continue to fight Palestinian terrorism as if there is no extremist settler violence – and extremist settler violence as if there is no Palestinian terrorism.”
This collaboration of haters reminded me of Ernst Eduard vom Rath, a German diplomat of little significance, other than the fact that he was assassinated in Paris in 1938 by a Polish Jewish teenager named Herschel Grynszpan, which provided a pretext for Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass.” The mass persecution of Jews was already well on its way in 1938, but the murder in Paris somehow pointed the finger of blame at the victims.
Similarly, in a sea of Arab violence that knows no limits, somehow a few Jewish individuals who fight back attract most of the attention. Not because it’s a reflection of reality, but because the minister of internal security and the State dept. official are looking for an excuse to start Kristallnacht. – DI
Back in December 2012, when Victoria Nuland was the spokesperson for the State dept., she told reporters in response to Israel’s decision to add housing units to Ramat Shlomo, a neighborhood inside Jerusalem: “We are deeply disappointed that Israel insists on continuing this pattern of provocative action. These repeated announcements and plans of new construction run counter to the cause of peace. Israel’s leaders continually say that they support a path towards a two-state solution, yet these actions only put that goal further at risk.”
For the record, Ramat Shlomo is located in northern Jerusalem, between Ramot and the Har Hotzvim Industrial Park. The area was empty before the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. Nuland might as well have complained about new housing construction in Tel Aviv.
When an Israeli minister approaches an American official who is so hostile to Israel, she gets angry when it builds inside the “green line,” said minister should defend the security of half a million Israeli citizens – not help her point them out as the cause of violence.
Religious Zionism Chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich was probably as upset as this reporter when he tweeted: “Listen, sorry for the bluntness, but you’re simply a scoundrel. Hundreds of thousands of heroic settlers absorb terror daily and have paid a heavy price in blood and you shed their blood disgustingly and participate in a fake and antisemitic campaign that defames them, to act enlightened and find favor in the eyes of a bunch of hypocrites. Shame on you little man. And thanks to Ayelet Shaked, thanks to whom you became a minister.”
Finally, MK Simcha Rothman consolidated everyone’s rage and anxiety in his tweet when he cited Proverbs 26:11-12): “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.”
Rothman continued: “Many thanks to the Minister of Internal Security, whose every tweet only sharpens the extent to which Bennett, Shaked, Kahana, Orbach, Saar, Elkin, Hauser, and Haskel are without influence and status in this oblivious and malicious government.”
כְּכֶלֶב שָׁב עַל קֵאוֹ כְּסִיל שׁוֹנֶה בְאִוַּלְתּוֹ.
רָאִיתָ אִישׁ חָכָם בְּעֵינָיו, תִּקְוָה (חדשה) לִכְסִיל מִמֶּנּוּ.תודה רבה לשר לביטחון פנים, שבכל ציוץ שלו רק מחדד עד כמה בנט, שקד, כהנא, אורבך, סער, אלקין, האוזר והשכל הם חסרי השפעה ומעמד בממשלת הזדון האטומה הזו. https://t.co/TKsy9rYuz4
— שמחה רוטמן – Simcha Rothman (@rothmar)
Finally, Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said in a statement: “Arabs have killed close to 120 Arabs inside Israel in the past year. In between, they shot, stabbed, stoned, and beat Jews. But for the founder of Peace Now, who is currently the Minister of Internal Security, it is more important to join hands with foreign governments and promote the delegitimization of Jewish settlers. Unbelievable. Just grab your head in your hands in disbelief.”