Commentary… Fearing to Dissociate Themselves from the Message They Are Sending to the Jews

בס״ד that go with it among עש"ק פרשת נשא 10 Sivan 5781 ISRAEL NEWS tens of thousands of May 21, 2021 Arab Israelis, in Issue number 1346 A collection of the week’s news from Israel dozens of cities throughout the FromFrom the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of country. The severity of the Jerusalem 6:53 phenomenon focuses on the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation Toronto 8:24 overwhelming majority refraining from curbing the hostile and violent elements, and Commentary… fearing to dissociate themselves from the message they are sending to the Jews. Damage Control on the Gaza Front By Dan Schueftan Dozens of their spokespeople, from Knesset members to Beyond the hardships of the war, the achievements and the journalists and participants in the riots, who addressed the Jewish pains—in the skies of Gaza, on the streets of Lod, and on the roads of public, flat out lied, made poor excuses and did not accept the Galilee and the Negev—its significance can already be appreciated responsibility, with a particularly repulsive combination of within a broader context. aggression and whining. Many were not even willing to settle for the Although it was forced on Israel and it would have been better had deliberately false and distorted symmetry that the journalists offered it not erupted, since it has done so nonetheless, Israel is expected to them regarding “extremists on both sides.” make lemonade out of these lemons. Such a determination would be plausible had Arab society and its In recent years, Hamas has seriously provoked Israel, knowing that spokespeople rebelled against the many thousands of rioters and it is focused on fighting in the northern arena with Iran and its haters among them, similar to the absolute renunciation of the vast emissaries in Syria and Lebanon. Israel has restrained itself and even majority of the Jewish public and almost all its spokespeople from developed illusions of long-term arrangements, under the belief that the handful of vandals on the margins of society, who went out to riot Yahya Sinwar wants to focus on improving the living conditions of the against Arabs in Bat Yam, Tiberias and other places. Gazans. It is a mistake to focus on the Arab rioters who raged in Lod, But the deep essence of Hamas dictates an inevitable Ramle and Akko, attacked their Jewish neighbors, burned and looted confrontation. In the Gazan culture of the Muslim Brotherhood, there their property, and endangered lives. Much worse are the hundreds of is almost no constructive content of building a society and a nation. serious incidents all over the country, some of them substantial, The struggle to uproot the Jews is the meaning of life. Gazan society where riled-up young Arabs chanted, among other things, Khyber, does not offer its children a better future in terms of quality of life, but Khyber Ya-Yehud, Jaish Muhammad Sawf Ya’ud (“Khaybar, rather a morbid satisfaction from killing Jews and destroying their Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.”) country, derived from a tribal and pathological version of “honor.” During these protests, they actually laid siege to Arad, threatened Gaza has no “solution.” Improving its living conditions is not a Jews in dozens of centers in the Galilee and the Negev and tried to substitute for violent struggle. Israeli occupation and control, which lynch an IDF soldier in Jaffa. These are blatant manifestations of will indeed facilitate the neutralization of the violent threat, are joining the enemy during war. This is terrorism in the original sense undesirable. of the term: imposing terror on tens of thousands of Jews, who fear What is left is damage control: severe, repeated harm to Hamas’s for their lives, well-being and property. military power, and exacting a high and deterring price for its The Jewish public got a reminder of the deep nature of the aggression. Following this, it is desirable to adopt a policy of national struggle at home. Although most Arabs want to reject, and continuous prevention from now on. The current confrontation would perhaps even repress, this dimension and focus on civil integration, have come anyway; Israel tried to avoid it, until it broke out. they choose their political and social leadership based on their loyalty And it’s good that it came now. The fear was that in the event of a to delegitimizing the Jewish state in its essence and identifying with possible war with Iran and its emissaries, Hamas would open another its various enemies and adversaries. front. In such a war, most of Israel’s resources would be mobilized to It turned out that the Arab public is not trying to restrain the tens face the main threat; there would be no satisfactory solution for Gaza; of thousands within it who express throughout the country a concept and Hamas would be striking its blows on Israel and surviving without of struggle against Jews that promises their neighbors—by using much damage. Molotov cocktails, rocks and mass hostilities—to recreate in Israel Under such conditions, Hamas would have many tools left and the tragic fate of the Jewish tribe in Khaybar in the seventh century. would be highly motivated to conduct the next round of its choosing. But until the “army of Muhammad” comes to finish the job, they But with the outbreak of the conflict now, Israel has been given the wish to contribute their share to the heroic struggle against the Jews opportunity to direct all its resources against Hamas—to strike, and their state. The Jewish public also understands that “coexistence” eliminate some of its commanders and centers of knowledge, fatally can prevail as long as Arab radicals do not (accidentally) smell damage its military capabilities and inflict severe damage on its weakness and sloppiness. Good to know. (Israel Hayom May 19) supporters. If and when Hamas wants to join the war between Israel and its enemies in the north, its contribution will be marginal—and its The Bipartisan Consensus on Israel Broke, and the GOP can’t be suffering will be unbearable. Blamed By Jonathan S. Tobin Hamas went to war to take control of the Palestinian public in the For the past two decades, Jewish Democrats have lamented what West Bank and Israel after Abbas canceled the elections that were they considered an assault on the bipartisan consensus on Israel. supposed to allow for this outcome through the ballot box. It had some According to them, the people trying to destroy it were Republicans. temporary and limited gains with heating up the West Bank and They saw the GOP’s efforts to point out the contrast between the bringing Israeli Arabs under its banner, but its defeat in Gaza is increasing lockstep support for the Jewish state on their side of the expected to cool its enthusiasm. West Bank leaders will be forced to aisle with growing divisions among Democrats as inappropriate. restrain it, for fear of its rule and the deterioration of living conditions Highlighting dissent about Israel among Democrats was labeled as an to the level of those in Gaza. attempt to use the problem as a “wedge” issue to get more Jews to The Arab citizens of Israel will soon realize the cost of active vote for Republicans. identification with Hamas. The widespread, violent, pogrom-like If that was the GOP’s goal, they failed. The overwhelming rampage they perpetrated is unfortunate and harmful. It would have majority of Jews remain loyal supporters of the Democratic Party. been better if avoided completely, or at least reduced to only a few That has remained true regardless of where Democrats stood on Israel negative elements on the margins. But, since it broke out, one should because the liberal majority prioritizes social-justice issues over those also recognize its positive side effects, as happened in the second connected to the Jewish state. intifada. But in the last two weeks, as Hamas has launched thousands of Following the pains and damages of that campaign, mainstream missiles at Israel and the Jewish state has decidedly responded, it’s Israeli society realized that the Palestinian national movement was not become clear that we are witnessing the end of what is left of that a reliable partner in a historic compromise, and became extremely bipartisan consensus. And far from it being engineered by suspicious of normalizing relations between the two peoples, on the Republicans, the crackup is almost entirely the result of a conflict justified assumption that any Israeli concession would be used to being waged inside the Democratic Party. undermine the Jewish state. Since the election three years ago of the members of “The This time, the Jewish public will learn the lessons of the violent Squad” to Congress, including open anti-Semites such as Reps. Ilhan rampage, the manifestations of hostility and the assassination ethos Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), centrist Democrats have insisted that they didn’t represent their party’s views. illiberal and reinforce racism. But when applied to the conflict It’s true that most of the Democratic leadership continues to pay between Israel and the Palestinians, they are also based on false lip service to support for Israel. That includes President Joe Biden, moral equivalence between the two sides. who seems to be trying to keep his word about criticism of the Jewish Do those who treat Hamas as the representatives of an oppressed state being uttered in private, rather than in public, as former President people realize that the goal of those shooting at Israel is to eliminate Barack Obama did.

Load more