I am told there is no coverage of the attempted lynching of Palestinians in Jerusalem, by a mob shouting Death to Arabs, in the LA Times, Washington Post, or NYT so far today. Meantime, Rabbis for Human Rights North America has released this statement on the attack:
In the wake of a violent attack by Israeli teenagers on Palestinian youths, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America calls on rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators, and community leaders to teach our children that hate is not a Jewish value.
Today, a mob of dozens of Israeli teens attacked three Palestinian youths in Jerusalem’s Zion Square. One of the victims was beaten so severely that he required resuscitation and remains in critical condition. Witnesses described the scene as a “lynching” and said that the perpetrators shouted “death to Arabs” and other racist epithets.
As rabbis and cantors, we are shocked and embarrassed by the behavior of these teens. Regardless of our political opinions or our desired resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have a responsibility to teach our children that Judaism condemns the shedding of blood, as all people are equal creations in the divine image.
We applaud the swift action of the Acting Jerusalem Police Chief, General Menachem Yitzhaki, in already setting up a special investigative team for the case. We urge the police and prosecutors to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of this horrific hate crime. And we praise the Magen David Adom rescue team who administered first aid, and the doctors and staff at Hadassah Hospital who continue to care for the victims. These medical personnel embody the Torah’s command, “You shall not stand against the blood of your neighbor.”
On this Shabbat, as we enter the reflective period of the month of Elul, we ask rabbis, cantors, and educators to spend a few minutes speaking with our children and our communities about today’s incident in Jerusalem. These conversations should emphasize that political differences are no excuse for bigotry. We pray that our children will help us to realize a world free of hatred or violence.
“Rabbis for Human Rights says Israeli mob’s attack on Palestinians violates Jewish values” …
Correction sir, it violates any decent person’s value … not just [place religion / mythology here]‘s value
Rabbis for Human Rights are Jewish heretics who think that “human rights” are part of “Jewish values”. At least, it seems to me that they are branded as heretics by the mainstream rabbis who sign protests against repudiations of oppression in occupied territories by thousands.
To be honest, there is something like “American civic religion” with a reverence of Founding Fathers and Lincoln for a good measure. The mainstream understanding of “All humans are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights …” is “All decent humans (meaning, humans that do not belong to no-goodniks of which there are many) …”. Heretics, or a distinct minority, insists on a literal reading.
Of course it violates any decent set of values you care to name. But it doesn’t violate Israeli/zionist values – a tacit acceptance, shrug of indifference is as much reaction as you can hope to get there, and silence in the US ziopress.
“Of course it violates any decent set of values you care to name.”
In that case, why the calling-out of “Jewish values”? Is it worse than if they had just violated those boring old Gentile values?
Never understood the liberality with which some people go plastering the label “Jewish” on things. All they are doing is setting traps for us. And so often the person’s income is directly related, to fostering feelings of Jewish identity, with its designer fungibility.
I wish the Catholic Church or the Protestants would make a similar statement about the U.S and Christian values.
if this had been an attack against jews obama would be denouncing it and saying it didn’t represent our values. unfortunately no such denouncement from will be forthcoming.
@Annie
Well, Obama told us all on prime time TV he thinks of little innocent Israeli kids asleep in their bed when he peeks in his daughters’ bedroom after sleep time. That should assure you he has the right set of values. Or was he really speaking over our heads to only 2% of us, and even farther over our heads, all the way to his Israeli audience? Hard to tell with American politicians, or no? We’re sort of like just there, in front of our TVs–I think maybe the sincere fellow just thinks we’re asleep.
Maybe to him the Israeli kids look more like his own than the Palestinian kids? That’s a bit odd…. well, he did say when he saw the pic of that black kid who was killed in a tussle with that latino-white kid who was playing Neighborhood Watch, said that the black kid looked like his son if he had one.
Shame on the MSM for practicing taboo instead of reporting the news.
Yes, right about the Times and Post. Curious if and how these things are covered in Europe, also an important diplomatic actor/Israeli trading partner.
RE: “I am told there is no coverage of the attempted lynching of Palestinians in Jerusalem, by a mob shouting Death to Arabs, in the LA Times, Washington Post, or NYT so far today.” ~ Weiss
MY QUESTION: Is it in the interests of these newspapers to cover this story?
After all, not “rocking the boat” can certainly assist in Manufacturing Consent (and maximizing profits).
And let’s not forget that Israel is a “much-loved surrogate homeland and ethnic status symbol”, to borrow from Howard Sachar.
I should add that using Google searches I was unable to find any articles about this “lynch” in Jerusalem by AP, Reuters or AFP.
“…Judaism condemns the shedding of blood, as all people are equal creations in the divine image.”
Is it possible that these Rabbis are unfamiliar with the Halakhah?
Ha ha, oh yes, I see. You are making a funny while suggesting that perhaps Jewish law and tradition are actually in favor of random, unprovoked attacks on people. Ha ha, yes, examples like this must surely cast aspersions on all Jews, or all Jews who observe religious precepts, and a tragedy like this merely brings it out in stark relief.
Good one. Way to reinforce the idea that the comments section on this site are home to Jew hating intolerance and the peddling of mocking assertions about Judaism.
Get over it. Americans and Europeans have been inundated for decades with criticism not just of individual Christians and Muslims, but of Christian and Islamic doctrines as such. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. All religions have ugly and frankly anachronistic dogmas. Keith called out one.
Ranjit, attacking a specific Jewish doctrine would be great. go after the strains within Judaism that promote Jewish supremacy; they certainly exist. As they do in other faith traditions.
Attacking all of it, in principle, is an endorsement of bigotry. To do so on the thread that follows a statement by Rabbis for Human Rights is just perverse. Has it occurred to you that RHR’s interpretation of Halacha on recent events is widely accepted?
That said, again, super classy. Christians and Muslims have had their faith attacked and maligned, unlike those Jews, who got a 20th Century pass. So let’s go there! Cuz three wrongs surely make a right.
Extremism and bigotry are self reinforcing. They all feed off each other.
Newclench, it appears your disagreement is not so much with the veracity of Keith’s accusation – that Judaism’s Halakha does in fact make a distinction between two classes of human beings, and more with the fact that we shouldn’t be allowed to address it.
In point of fact, this only reinforces the point – people outside the group don’t have the right to question that group’s doctrines, however antithetical to the values of Enlightenment.
Also, I notice you changed my “decades” into “a 20th century pass”.
I will say it more clearly: any religion which still adheres to ideas of blood and ancestry is in need of deep and sustained reform in order to be in accordance with modern principles of democracy and human rights. If the issue were, for example, gender equality in fundamentalist Islam, Orthodox Judaism, or Catholicism, I suspect you would not be so in arms. Well, guess what? The principle of the equality of mankind is just as essential. And it cuts to the core of all of the issues debated on this blog. Or else why do some people have the right to return and others do not, merely on account of birth?
This is an issue of civil rights and should not be subordinated to a pious respect for barbaric traditions.
“Judaism’s Halakha does in fact make a distinction between two classes of human beings”
This is false.
1. To say that ‘Halacha states that…’ is already a warning flag. What is meant by halacha is a compilation of many conflicting opinions, some with a great deal of buy in, and others that are mentioned, but generally ignored/refuted/sidelines, within the texts themselves.
2. Most Jewish commentators, past and present, are pretty clear that all human life is sacred, and there is lots of proof text making it clear that this sacredness is not divided up between Jews and non-Jews. We are all ‘in the image of god.’
3. Here are there are some pretty atrocious things that have emerged in Jewish tradition. The Habad/Lubavitcher innovations seem positively evil to me in how they distinguish between Jews and Gentiles. The Kahanist, far right, settler affiliated madness of the folks who authorized Rabin’s murder is even more wacko. And attacking these kinds of things, specifically, makes sense. There are other things, more ancient, that look awful to moderns us. But picking and choosing the stuff that looks the worse and portraying it as ‘halacha says that… ‘ or ‘Judaism asserts that’ is a time honored misleading way to smear Jews. It is how anti-Semites justify the blanket statements they make about Jews. It is how anti-Semites pretending to be horrified at Zionism in particular link age old tropes about how what some Jews are guilty of today is only a manifestation of age-old deficiencies embedded in the DNA of Judaism.
But you sort of gave that all away by referring to barbaric traditions. Because barbarians are the original subclass, from Greek times, people lucky to be slaves of empires who might civilize them along the way.
What a stupid stupid distraction from the more important business of addressing the lynch mob in Jerusalem. But that’s what you get when you take atrocities committed in Israel and use them to support a far more broad thesis that applies to Judaism and Jews in general.
@Newclench
I don’t disagree with what you say; you make good distinctions and your logic is good too. Certainly Judaism’s notion that God is made in the image of man, and, as well, the notion to be empathetic and helpful towards strangers for “we were once strangers in Egypt” are historic and powerful guides towards doing the right thing. Another biggie is the notion of repairing the world. OTOH, what the Jewish anthropomorphic G-d says and does in the Old Testament is not always a good role model for humans to follow, and these are tropes too, and this is additional to the negative or evil things you suggest are taught by the Jewish groups you mention, for example, respecting the divisions in the quality and souls of humans and different standards to be applied to which born class of people one is born into. And so on. One may say, well, that was then, this is now, but all of us here on MW have had many discussions about current active and reflective justifications by influential people of evil conduct derived from these antique sources. It’s a mixed bag, no? The acronym PEP has been coined for a good reason.
, “attacking a specific Jewish doctrine would be great. go after the strains within Judaism that promote Jewish supremacy; they certainly exist. As they do in other faith traditions.”
Okay bubele you stepped in it this time. “The strains within Judaism that promote Jewish supremacy” have founded a country They are not sitting around doing Torah and Talmud exegesis and saying to one another “See, I don’t care what anybody says, we are smart. No, newclench, the “Jewish supremacy” is an inherent part of Zionism. It was the plan from the beginning and that’s how it was carried out, as an act of Jewish supremacy.
That makes the supremacy advocates the biggest, most active most effective most criminal most influential, most powerful “strain” in Judaism. The only armed strain in Judaism. I say “strain” quoting you, because I’d like to avoid a stupid bunch of pilpul over who actually calls themselves or admits to being a Jewish supremacist. The intent and action of Zionism has been one of Jewish Supremacism (in Palestine) no matter what it calls itself.
So there is every reason to be concerned about Supremacist Judaism. It’s not just a couple of “strains” in Israel who happen to be the most extreme or vocal about it. Supremacism has become the dominant force in Judaism these days. And the expression of Jewish supremacism (how else can we see it?) is armed with nuclear weapons.
But, of course, if you think this is what makes a religion stronger, attracts more converts, strengthens the people in their faith and makes them eager to pass it along to their children, well more supremacist Jewish power to ya’.
“
Yes, yes, I know, Newclench, all those things I think are Jewish supremacism were, in another “narrative” simply a response of necessity to existential danger. But if the ARabs had acted like they shoulda, we wouldna done any of that. Okay, Clench, okay
Clench,
But you can use the centuries old thing for real estate?
This is all keyhole logic with you putting Xs or checks on the doors you think we should be allowed to go through.
Ha. Halacha, to me, is definitely on the side of prohibiting Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Viewed as a question with many centuries of debate behind it, I’d say it remains unresolved.
Certainly, folks like me think using God as a real estate agent is despicable. What’s worse, it reduces holy texts to literal truth.
NEWCLENCH- “Most Jewish commentators, past and present, are pretty clear that all human life is sacred, and there is lots of proof text making it clear that this sacredness is not divided up between Jews and non-Jews. We are all ‘in the image of god.’”
Let me begin by noting that while I am pleased that the Rabbis condemned the action, I cannot pass by in silence this misrepresentation of Judaism which strikes me as a form of damage control. Do you seriously believe that historical Judaism was premised on universalism? We are all God’s children, Jew and Amalekite brothers? Universalism and brotherhood the credo of pious Jews in Israel?
Quoting Israel Shahak concerning an event in 1965: “I had personally witnessed an ultra-religious Jew refuse to allow his phone to be used on the Sabbath in order to call an ambulance for a non-Jew who happened to collapse in his Jerusalem neighborhood. Instead of simply publishing the incident in the press, I asked for a meeting with the members of the Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem, which is composed of rabbis nominated by the state of Israel. I asked them whether such behavior was consistent with their interpretation of the Jewish religion. They answered that the Jew in question had behaved correctly, indeed piously, and backed their statement by referring me to a passage in an authoritative compendium of Talmudic laws, written in this century….Neither the Israeli, nor the diaspora, rabbinical authorities ever reversed their ruling that a Jew should not violate the Sabbath in order to save the life of a Gentile. They added much sanctimonious twaddle to the effect that if the consequences of such an act puts Jews in danger, the violation of the Sabbath is permitted, for their sake.”
This is but one example he provides. A little common sense indicates the prevalence of this attitude in Israel. What is the penalty for a Jew shooting a Palestinian? What is the penalty for a Palestinian throwing a rock at a tank? Do American Rabbinical organizations support Israel? Do the Rabbis for Human Rights North America support the Jewish state? Have they championed the cause of equal rights and equal justice? The incident that they are condemning is but one particularly flagrant example of systemic injustice. While I am pleased that they condemned this incident, to the degree that they support the systemic injustice, I don’t want to hear any crap about how “Judaism condemns the shedding of blood, as all people are equal creations in the divine image.” That is a blatant misrepresentation of historical Judaic teachings and an example of damage control. It also misrepresents the prevalent attitudes of Israeli Jews in regards to non-Jews, as you should be aware.
Final quote from Shahak:“Therefore, the real test facing both Israeli and diaspora Jews is the test of their self-criticism which must include the critique of the Jewish past. The most important part of such a critique must be detailed and honest confrontation of the Jewish attitude to non-Jews.” (“Jewish History, Jewish Religion,” Israel Shahak, 1994)
Keith, I’ll see all your stories of Jewish supremacism, and I’ll double your bet. I know a group of Jews who were so supremacist, they thought that Jews should be able to steal a country, kick out kill or dispossess the present inhabitants, and bear no accounting for it, and receive no correction or consequences. This “strain” of Jewish supremacism is called “Zionism” And remember, they don’t just say this stuff (‘We Jews are totally the best, we oughts have our own country’) they go out and do it!! And not just as one irascible old Jew, no, they band together by the thousands into armies dedicated to the idea that Jews will reign supreme in Palestine.
So, to me, it sort of indicates that there might be, well maybe, sorta, but if you looked, you could find a strain of supremacism in Judaism. Oh not much, of course, just enough for an entire country, and a world-wide net-work of supporters. That’s all. Really, the Eco-Jews are right behind them in influence and power, and things could shift radically, any day now…
Newclench just used a nice play to move the goalpost. Anotherwords, if we make Israel the new normal, than only those even more supremacist, outlandishly impotently supremacist can be called supremacist. Nice trick.
But the fact is, even if a one state solution is imposed tomorrow Israel would be a testimony to Jewish supremacism. Even a one-state solution allows the basic dispossession to stand, and it leaves the Palestinians at the mercy of the Jewish Israelis, and it doesn’t guarantee reparations.
And so Zionism, the expression of Jewish supremacism, will stand as the thing most people know about Judaism, it will be the way most people contact Judaism, and it will be (after all, it’s what they put their time, money and lives into) what we are judged by. It may well destroy Judaism, there no doubt it will damage it for years to come. And we might as well admit and get it done with. It didn’t work as planning, and we were told so. It didn’t work in it’s inception, it turned into another ethnic cleansing and dispossession. It hasn’t worked after that, Israel has never been able to define its borders, make amicable arrangements with the people around them, or even find a way to deal with all the people in Israel. It’s been a failure, and there’s no point in not admitting it.
I’m glad I bestirred myself to find Shahak and read it — but it is one-sided polemic.
Mooser threw a tantrum when I asked the last time — but does anyone know of a critical — but more balanced and certainly more comprehensive — history of Judaism? As I mentioned, I’m not interested in reading some sort of cultural equivalent of hagiography — but Shahak by himself is hardly a fair summation.
Maybe there ain’t no such animal. Maybe it’s all vilification or deification. Certainly that happens in other areas. However, I thought I’d try asking again.
“You are making a funny while suggesting that perhaps Jewish law and tradition are actually in favor of random, unprovoked attacks on people.”
Newclench, I hate to break it to you, old friend, but the people here (well, most of them) are aware that very few Jews explicitly and faitfully follow all the commandments. They are aware that Jews today are much more lax than they have been.
So really, there’s no point in trying to convince us that halakh only tells us to be nice. It’s too late for that. You won’t get them to believe that we’ll be all that scrupulous about following it.
Ha ha, oh yes, I see. You are making a funny while suggesting that perhaps Jewish law and tradition are actually in favor of random, unprovoked attacks on people.
that’s not very helpful clench. first off no one said Jewish law and tradition are actually in favor of random, unprovoked attacks on people. so i am wondering why you are diverting from what he said to what he didn’t say. if someone said christianity condemned the shedding of blood i’d think..really, coulda fooled me.
the helpful thing to do would be to simply site passage the rabbi’s were referencing, the condemnation. everyone knows people interpret religious text differently. instead you jump the shark and get all weird.
try explaining things and being helpful.
“instead you jump the shark and get all weird.”
Look, if Newclench and Yonah Fredman want to give themselves a nervous breakdown by reading Mondoweiss, you are not responsible for the consequences. Believe me, they’ll get weirder before it’s all over.
They elected to come here, to have their most cherished myths demolished, why I don’t know, because when they don’t have Zionism, they got nothin’.
Pretty obvious, isn’t it? They know by now they are wrong about the facts. So they are reduced to jumping at any shadow of a word they can declare anti-Semitic. Because that must be how Mondoweiss operates. Because if it isn’t……
If I had known that Newclench served in the IDF, I wouldn’t have bothered. He’s already made up his mind Zionism was worth his life. No point arguing with a convinced Jewish supremacist.
RE: “I should add that using Google searches I was unable to find any articles about this “lynch” in Jerusalem by AP, Reuters or AFP.” ~ me (above)
MY COMMENT: This makes me wonder whether Shin Bet might have obtained some kind of a ‘gag order’ after the first articles were published by claiming that the publicity would interfere with their investigation. In actuality they would probably have gotten the gag order to limit embarrassment to Israel from news articles about the “lynch”.
SEE: “Shin Bet Slaps Gag Order on Safed Mosque Burning Investigation”, by Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 10/04/11
SOURCE – link to richardsilverstein.com
A beating nearly to death can be a brutal hate crime without being mischaracterized as a “lynch.”
David says: “A beating nearly to death can be a brutal hate crime without being mischaracterized as a “lynch.””
I’m not sure where you’re coming from with this, but according to Haaretz, the Israeli police have now joined those ‘mischaracterizing’ it as a lynching.
/Rabbis for Human Rights says Israeli mob’s attack on Palestinians violates Jewish values/
Not to mention that it violates Israeli law therefore the police already made an arrest.
link to ynetnews.com
Oleg:
You should read your own links:
“…She noted that the family fears for her son’s life. “My son went out with his friends to buy clothes for the holiday and once they arrived on the scene were attacked by racist Jews for no reason,” she said.
“We all know police forces were present near the scene but they did not intervene…
…Another family member said that there is a dangerous phenomenon in Jerusalem where “dozens of settlers roam the shops and brutally assault Arabs when they see them.” He said the police fail to stop this phenomenon.”
What claims by family members that weren’t there
have to do with facts ?
You judge and jury now Colin ?
The facts are bunch of Jewish teens fought with a bunch of Arab teens
violently , one man got hurt badly and now the police are making arrests,everything else are speculations accusations etc.
The court will decide who did what that’s what they are for.
Unless you suggest that commenters here at MW substitute
courts and make judgments according to what they read in newspapers.
The facts are bunch of Jewish teens fought with a bunch of Arab teens
Are you suggesting, as Ynet seems to state categorically, that it was a “brawl” (despite its own reports of the incident)?
A number of eyewitnesses paint a very different picture. See this report by Nir Hasson: link to haaretz.com
So far, there has been no testimony to support the “brawl” theory.
Look Shmuel i don’t know what happened there exactly.
Ynet says this witness says that, i am not a court and i am not interested in being one.
If this was indeed a hate crime then those who did it should be punished more severely then if it was just a brawl that got out of hand.
In any case there were no fatalities thankfully and at least one suspect was arrested i assume there will be more. So we are dealing with it.
This whole Jewish mob Lynches innocent Arab rhetoric i don’t like
and don’t agree with , it’s aimed at vilifying Israel some more it’s not interested at what actually happened.
The only actual real lynching that actually did see in Israel was not perpetrated by Jews , you know what incident i am talking about…
So you have no reason to believe that it was a brawl, but you don’t like the conclusion that arises from various eyewitness accounts because the “Jewish mob Lynches innocent Arab rhetoric … [is] aimed at vilifying Israel”.
You seem to be the one having trouble with the facts (and no we are not a court of law, but I don’t see you prefacing every statement you make about Palestinians with “alleged”, “probable” or “possible”).
Shmuel if you are trying to start another shouting match,
i am not interested.
As you well know but are trying to obfuscate.
There is a whole number of possible scenarios that stand between
A brawl between Jewish and Arab teens that ended badly
and
A racist Jewish mob lynched an innocent Arab that was minding his own business.
So no i don’t have the facts and neither do you.
I don’t like the idea that the second scenario in fact occurred
but if it did like i said the perpetrators should be severely punished.
/ (and no we are not a court of law, but I don’t see you prefacing every statement you make about Palestinians with “alleged”, “probable” or “possible”/
No i don’t but if you have followed my comments then you should already know that unlike a lot of other commenters to this site (from both sides btw) i rarely claim something to be totally and axiomatically true in regards to most issues.
Shouting match? You made a biased argument against bias and I pointed it out.
There is a whole number of possible scenarios that stand between A brawl between Jewish and Arab teens that ended badly and A racist Jewish mob lynched an innocent Arab that was minding his own business.
Sure, plenty of scenarios, but only one that has been corroborated by a number of eyewitnesses. The scenario you seem to prefer – a “brawl” – is entirely unsupported except by the fact that it makes you feel more comfortable. I don’t “like” the idea of a lynch any more than you do, but unfortunately, based on the information available at the moment, that seems to be what happened.
A mob of Jewish teens shouting ‘Death to Arabs’ and no evidence to the contrary to claim it wasn’t a mob versus a minority —- and you think it was still a ‘brawl’?
OlegR says: “What claims by family members that weren’t there
have to do with facts ?
You judge and jury now Colin ?
The facts are bunch of Jewish teens fought with a bunch of Arab teens
violently , one man got hurt badly and now the police are making arrests,everything else are speculations accusations etc.
The court will decide who did what that’s what they are for.
Unless you suggest that commenters here at MW substitute
courts and make judgments according to what they read in newspapers.”
It was your link, not mine. Otherwise, I find your response quite satisfying, as it confirms most of my impressions about Israeli attitudes.
OlegR:
What you don’t like is what actually happened. So what you are trying to do is to erect a verbal screen that will allow you to avoid acknowledging what happened.
Part of this is converting the subject into an argument with somebody. Then — hopefully — something will turn up, and you can seize upon that, and argue about that.
Instead of confronting what actually happened.
Oleg – Israel police is officially calling this incident a “lynch” (same word in Hebrew). Read (in Hebrew) the updated Nir Hasson article that Shmuel linked to: “Police representative, officer Shmuel Shenhav called the incident a “lynch” in the remand hearing at the Jerusalem court.”
“Shmuel if you are trying to start another shouting match,”
You lower the bar, they slither through the mud. This one is getting down to hard-pan. To dig any deeper below veracity, he’ll need a boring machine.
Yes Olga, that Shmuel, well, I’ve been reading him for well over a year, and your accusation that he starts “shouting matches” is ridiculous and you know it. I bet there is, on the other hand, someone you can hear shouting. The guy in the room with you.
Yes i have read it today.
Well like i said in here already the perpetrators must be then punished more severely then.
“Well like i said in here already the perpetrators must be then punished more severely then.”
You did? What a brave man, what a lover of justice. All across Israel, Israelis are humbled by his nobility, and Palestinians lift their eyes almost blinded by a ray of hope. “Did you hear? OlegR said they should be ‘punished more severely then’. Our hour of deliverance is at hand”
This one is freakin verity around here. When they finally get refuted from every possible side, they say “Well, I don’t agree with it” and that’s supposed to make it alright. The fact that OlegR is breaking with what he, in his damaged psychology, thinks is tribal unity.
I think we’re supposed to say, ‘Wowie Zowie, if OlegR will say that, these Zionists must be right guys after all.’
Oleg –
As the Ynet article you linked to reports, the police failed to stop the Jewish mob, effectively providing official Israeli security for the lynching of a Palestinian by Jews.
As a former Jerusalemite of many years, I passed through Zion Square far more times than I can remember.
Zion Square always has a heavy police/ border police/undercover presence. The name “square” is a misnomer and an overstatement. Zion Square is actually the intersection of Jaffa Rd. and the Ben Yehuda and Yoel Moshe Salomon pedestrian malls. See this image:
link to google.com
The entire are can be easily controlled. That’s what the police should be there to do. In fact, the police are there to protect Jews, apparently, including those Jews who are busy attacking Palestinian citizens. What safer place for a Jewish lynching mob than an area that is secured by Israeli police? Just in case anybody tries to step in to defend the Palestinian victims.
Good for Rabbis for Human Rights for calling out the Israeli public and the Israeli police for this despicable attack.
So you don’t know what happened but just assume the worst about the police
inaction , ok that’s your right.
Of course it is. Yesh Din studies corroborate the inaction of the military courts in the OT to do anything about the abuse of the IDF against the Palestinians.
Why should it be any different inside your racist apartheid State?
Oleg – in response to RHR’s appropriate response to this violence, you praised the Israeli police. In spite of all the precedents and the particular circumstances of Zion Square, what reason to you have toa assume the best of Israeli police?
I never praised Israeli police (or any other for that matter) Elliot,
arresting people that break the law is part of their job nothing to be
praised about.
And i don’t assume the best about them, i just don’t assume the worst either.
OlegR: “So you don’t know what happened but just assume the worst about the police
inaction , ok that’s your right.”
When the ‘police inaction’ almost invariably comes when it’s a matter of Jews attacking Arabs, but on the contrary, the police reaction is invariably ferocious and almost instantaneous when it’s a matter of Arabs attacking Jews, then it’s not merely someone’s ‘right’ to assume the worst, but the conclusion is inescapable.
When it comes to Jews versus the actual inhabitants of Palestine, there is no rule of the law as the term is understood in the West in Israel. There is only official sanction of and connivance at racial persecution. Why pretend otherwise? You know the actual facts of the situation, and you know we know you know. So why bother?
just assume the worst about the police inaction , ok that’s your right.
oleg, do you assume they will not be beating down israeli citizens doors in the middle of the night and photographing/arresting children?
Elliot says: “…Good for Rabbis for Human Rights for calling out the Israeli public and the Israeli police for this despicable attack.”
At least going by what is quoted above, the Rabbis called out ‘these teens.’ They commended the police and the other members of the Israeli public involved. No criticism was made of them at all.
Colin – Fair enough. RHR commended the Jerusalem police chief for setting up a commission of inquiry. Nothing about the cops themselves.
They gotta close down for good them arab-hating jewish madrasas in occupied Palestine.
Don’t forget drone strikes on the more prominent propagandists — even those that are American citizens.
The irony is that here we will probably see Israeli justice at its finest (no irony intended).
This happened in a public place, where Israel wants there to be law and order. They have arrested the hooligans, will probably prosecute them, and may even impose significant sentences. They don’t want gangs of Jewish vigilantes attacking all and sundry in the middle of Jerusalem — hence Netanyahu’s orders for a crackdown.
Tell me how that investigation of the firebombing in the West Bank is going. There’s where we can see what Israeli ‘justice’ really amounts to when there are no witnesses.
Colin –
It’s true that Israel doesn’t want lynchings in the heart of Jerusalem’s tourist district. If West Jerusalem turned into the West Bank, it would be a disaster. American Jews would cancel their pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
However, if Netanyahu were truly committed to civil society he would order a public display of respect for Palestinians – say, a Palestinian festival in Zion Square and a policy, going forward, that welcomes Jerusalem’s Palestinian citizens to West Jerusalem. I’m not holding my breath.
What Netanyahu wants is law and order with invisible Palestinians. That’s what separation barrier is for. To keep them over there.
What is all this fuss about?
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“Moshe Feinling, a leading Likud activist, told [Jeffrey] Goldberg: “The Arabs engage in typical Amalek behavior. I can’t prove it genetically, but this is the behavior of Amalek.”" – Elliot Horowitz, “Reckless Rites”, page 1
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That must have been the case – that’s why the Arab/Amalek was attacked.
Doesn’t the Bible command the Jews to “blot them out from the face of the earth”?
Why blame the youngsters?
“Doesn’t the Bible command the Jews to “blot them out from the face of the earth”?
Klaus, you have no empathy! Do you have any idea what it’s like, being a Jews, gripped by ancient Torah commands which I know are wrong, but must obey? Commands which, because I am Jewish, I cannot reject? I got to go around blotting all day, and make sure I get at least %50 off retail prices, too. Do you have any idea what a burden that is?
The Amalekites are dead. The Arabs aren’t descended from them.
And you ain’t a descendent of the prophet Abraham either.
“The Amalekites are dead. The Arabs aren’t descended from them.”
First off, the ‘Amalekites’ belong to a section of the Bible so unreliable as to be worthless as history. The ‘Amalekites’ are more than merely dead — there’s no particular reason to think they ever existed as anything remotely similar to that described. We might as well believe in Camelot and write a ‘history’ of Dark Age Britain based on the revelations contained in the ‘Morte d’Arthur’ as base our beliefs about ancient Palestine on what is in the Old Testament.
Second, by ‘the Arabs’ you mean the Palestinians, and those are descended from the ancient inhabitants of (go figure) Palestine — including the Jews of the region.
Fredblogs,
“The Amalekites are dead. The Arabs aren’t descended from them.”
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That’s an interesting argument. — But if the Amalekites were indeed historically real and the Arabs were indeed descended from them … then what?
BTW, I told Mooser that observant Jews in 19th century Germany used to take a piece of paper, write AMALEK on it and then crossed out the word. – For some reason this comment didn’t pass the moderators.
I mean, the problem with these ancient Biblical commands – long considered to be beyond their historical expiration dates – are revived in Zionist Biblical Israel.