To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues,
and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics.
Issue 988 • January 8, 2016 • 27 Tevet 5776
STABBINGS PROMPT IDF TO ISSUE SOLDIERS PROTECTIVE NECK
GEAR (Israel Hayom 1/6/16)
With the wave of terrorist attacks showing no sign of receding, the Israel
Defense Forces has decided to issue special neck protectors to soldiers in
the GOC Central Command to protect them from stabbing attacks.
The Central Command requested the special equipment in December. Until
now, soldiers on duty have been equipped with helmets and vests designed
to protect their heads and torsos, but their necks were exposed and
vulnerable. The Central Command requested protective gear that would
shield troops from a knife to the throat but be comfortable and flexible
enough to allow the wearers to function in the field while wearing them.
The neck protector is the result of cooperation between the Central
Command, the IDF Anti-Terror Unit and the Personal Equipment Section of
the IDF's Technological and Logistics Directorate.
The army spent about two weeks developing the new piece of protective
gear. Shortly after the neck protector was ready, the Defense Ministry began
distributing it. Soldiers serving with the Judea Brigade in the Hebron area
were chosen to receive them as a pilot.
Around 850,000 neck protectors are due to be manufactured and issued to
Central Command soldiers.
After Haaretz reported on these events, the Civil Administration briefly
ordered the work stopped. But it soon decided it had no grounds for halting
the renovations if no changes were made to the building’s exterior.
Haaretz’s report that the new owner planned to turn the compound into a
settlement spurred politicians from both left and right to visit it, and
Palestinians staged demonstrations against the project.
The property is located just outside the boundaries of the Gush Etzion region.
The local council therefore asked Ya’alon to approve adding it to the
municipality’s jurisdiction.
Ya’alon has agreed to this request, and the military commander in the
territories signed off on the order. This means the property is now officially
part of the settlement bloc.
It also suggests that families can move in immediately, since the eight
buildings on the site were built decades ago and require no construction
permits. In contrast, any plans for additional construction that might be
submitted in the future would require permits.
Representatives of the new owner say there is no plan to let families move
into the buildings, with the goal being to open a hostel that will serve Jews,
Christians and Muslims alike. But information obtained by Haaretz indicates
that the property is intended to become a settlement.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER OKS ADDITION OF WEST BANK CHURCH
COMPOUND TO SETTLEMENT BLOC (Ha’aretz 1/6/16)
A West Bank property once owned by a church that was later bought by a
right-wing American Jew will become part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc,
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has decided. If the compound is populated,
settlers would help consolidate their hold on Gush Etzion’s south.
The property’s purchase by U.S. businessman Irving Moskowitz, a prominent
supporter of the settlements, was first reported by Haaretz in May.
The property consists of eight buildings on a 40-dunam (10-acre) lot. It is
located on Route 60 between Jerusalem and Hebron, opposite the Al-Aroub
refugee camp. Originally built by an American missionary in the 1940s, it first
served as a tuberculosis hospital and later as a hostel for pilgrims.
But a few years ago the Presbyterian church group that owned it fell into
financial difficulties and decided to sell it. Gro Faye-Hansen Wenske, a
Norwegian Christian who is a supporter of the settlements, then set up a
company in Sweden that portrayed itself as a church group.
The company, Scandinavian Seamen Holy Land Enterprises, offered to buy
the property from the American owners, saying it planned to restore the
church and resume its operations. The sale was completed in 2010 and duly
registered with Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank.
In 2012, the Swedish company announced that it was going out of business
and sold the property to an American organization controlled by Moskowitz.
That organization, the American Friends of the Everest Foundation, is mainly
active in East Jerusalem, where it specializes in buying property from Arabs
and encouraging Jews to move in. Its local partner in this activity is Aryeh
King, a Jerusalem city councilman and long-time activist in right-wing causes.
Moskowitz’s organization posted guards at the church compound and, about
a year ago, began renovating the buildings. But the new owner’s true identity
was kept secret, including from the Israel Defense Forces.
Palestinian workers employed to do the renovations said they were told the
owner was a Norwegian who sought to restore the church to its former
condition. The same story was given to the army.
UNIVERSITY WINS VICTORY OVER BDS EFFORTS (YNet 1/6/16)
Israel won a symbolic victory against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) movement when the Spanish government recently paid NIS 430,000 in
compensation to Ariel University in the West Bank. The compensation was
for an incident in which 15 architecture students were barred from an
international competition sponsored by the Spanish Housing Ministry
because they came "from the occupied territories".
The payment brought an end to a five-year legal struggle led by the
Israel Report is a Student Publication of
Yair Knoller, Editor-in-Chief
Zev Jarashow, Yosef Segal, Daniel Zolty, and Yonatan Kurtz, Editors
We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone
any of the material published:
Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL
Hillel at California State University - Long Beach
Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies
Hillel at Columbia University
Boca Raton Synagogue, FL
Hillel at Johns Hopkins University
Carmel School, Hong Kong
Hillel at Yale University
Chabad of Oak Park, CA
Hillel High School, Deal NJ
Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ
Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ
Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ
Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY
Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT
Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD
Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY
Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA
Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ
North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY
Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ
Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ
Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ
The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC
Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ
Woodsburgh, NY Minyan
Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ
Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ
Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA
Young Israel of Brookline, MA
Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ
Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ
Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY
Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ
Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL
Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA
East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO
Young Israel of Holliswood, NY
Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY
Young Israel of Houston, TX
Harvard University Library
Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY
Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY
Hillel at Baruch College
Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY
Hillel at Brandeis University
Young Israel of Sharon, MA
YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD
We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to
subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected]
university. The saga began in 2009, when the Ariel University team advanced
to become one of 21 finalists in a competition to design an environmentallyfriendly home. The team's project received an enthusiastic response – in fact,
Spain's housing minister came to see the model house for herself.
Behind the scenes, though, the BDS movement was applying heavy pressure
on authorities to disqualify the Israelis because they came from West Bank
settlements, resulting in an announcement that the Ariel University team was
withdrawing from the competition.
Concerned about the decision setting a precedent, the university launched a
legal battle, presenting Spain's Housing Ministry with two demands:
cancelling the decision to boot the Ariel delegation from the competition, and
paying €230,000 in compensation to the university.
The Spanish Housing Ministry sought to reject the Israeli suit outright,
claiming its decision had received backing from Spain's Foreign Ministry.
Spain's National Court decided in 2013 to deny the Housing Ministry's
request, ordering it to consider paying compensation.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Housing Ministry turned to Spain's Foreign Ministry
with a request for written proof that Ariel University was forbidden from
participating because of its location. The Ministry replied that it had no such
proof. The Housing Ministry thus decided to reconsider its stance.
In March 2014, it said in an official statement that "Ariel University was
treated unequally in comparison with other contest participants, allegedly
because of the European Union's position regarding the 'occupied territories'
and without clarifying how the 'occupied territories' might affect the
competition. Therefore, the decision to disqualify Ariel University has no legal
basis and is unjustified. It is a violation of the fundamental right to equality
included in Article 14 of the constitution, as the decision to disqualify the
university contradicts Ariel University's right to equality in the competition.
The faulty decision-making regarding disqualifying Ariel University from the
competition makes the decision null and void."
Ariel University decided to accept the Spanish Housing Ministry's proposal for
compensation, bringing an end to the affair. University Chancellor Yigal
Cohen-Orgad said resolution of the case proved that efforts by BDS can be
overcome. "We went to court so as not to set a precedent," he said. "It was
the first, and fortunately the only, time we were disqualified from a
competition anywhere in the world. There were unsuccessful attempts in the
past and we thought we had to put up a fight."
ISRAELI SOLDIER WHO LEAKED INFO TO RIGHT-WING ACTIVISTS
SENTENCED TO NEARLY FOUR YEARS IN PRISON (Ha’aretz 1/5/16)
An Israeli Defense Forces soldier who leaked information to right-wing
activists about pending arrests was sentenced to three years and nine
months imprisonment on Tuesday.
The sentence given to the soldier, Elad Ya'akov Sela, was the result of a plea
bargain that took a possible charge of espionage – which can carry a life
sentence – off the table. Sela was found guilty of passing confidential
information.
The original charge of "passing information to unauthorized persons with the
intention of harming the security of the state" was one of the harshest ever
filed against an IDF soldier. According to the indictment, Sela opened more
than 15,000 classified intelligence documents that had been shared between
the country's intelligence agencies. Many of them originated with the police
and the Shin Bet security agency.
He was found guilty of searching the army's computer system "for documents
dealing with 'price tag' activists from the Bat Ayin settlement where he lives
and for security activities against them." "Price tag" refers to right-wing
activists who mount revenge attacks against Palestinians.
For example, Sela searched for information about coordinators dealing with
Bat Ayin in the Shin Bet's Jewish Division, informed hate crime suspects of
pending activities and gave them intelligence information that had been
gathered on them.
2
Sela was drafted in the special framework for Haredi soldiers and worked as
an intelligence analyst in the Etzion brigade, which is responsible for the
Bethlehem area that includes Bat Ayin.
The military court ruled that Sela's actions had harmed the state, because the
information he provided enabled activists to prepare for security force raids
and to continue their activities against Palestinians.
In addition to the prison sentence, Sela was reduced in rank to private. The
IDF spokesman said in a statement that the sentence indicated a stiffening of
policy. "Crimes of this sort need to be eliminated and anyone who betrays the
trust placed in him will be severely punished," the statement said.
Sela's attorney from the Honenu organization, Adi Kedar, said that "the plea
bargain brings to an end an affair that began with a great noise and
allegations of espionage. The amended charge accurately reflects the facts."
REPORT: 35% OF ISRAELI FOOD PRODUCTION GOES TO WASTE
ANNUALLY (JPost 1/6/16)
Israel wastes some 2.45 million tons of food annually, constituting 35 percent
of overall domestic food production, according to a report released
Wednesday by Leket Israel – The National Food Bank.
The annual report, “Food waste and rescue in Israel: The Economic, Social
and Environmental Impact,” was presented by Chen Herzog of BDO Ziv Haft
Consulting Group, which collaborated on the report, and Leket Israel CEO
Gidi Kroch at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
The report included a detailed study of food waste in Israel – the first
comprehensive study of its kind.
“We have taken this initiative on as a national undertaking,” said Kroch during
the press event. “To date, there has been no aggregated report with data
regarding food waste and food rescue in Israel.”
According to the inaugural report, in 2015 food waste resulted in a NIS 18
billion loss, constituting 1.6% of domestic food production.
When studying the total food waste across all stages of food production and
consumption, the report found that it translated to a loss of 84 kg. of food per
household per month, estimated at a loss of NIS 616 per household per
month.
The report further found that 75% of food wasted is fruit and vegetables.
The study addressed food rescue as an alternative to food production and
found that roughly half of this food, some 1.3 million tons, is rescuable,
meaning that it is worthy of human consumption. The value of this rescuable
food is estimated at NIS 8b. annually.
“Food rescue is not primarily philanthropic or charitable, but an alternative
economic means for food production, one that is clearly beneficial to the
national economy and contributes to reducing inequality,” the report stated.
As such, the report explained that each shekel invested in food rescue by
nonprofit organizations provides NIS 3.6 worth of food for the needy. Adding
in factors such as environmental and societal benefits, this figure increases
to NIS 7.2 for every shekel invested in food rescue.
The report found that some NIS 3b. worth of food needs to be rescued in
order to bridge the food consumption gap between those suffering from food
insecurity in Israel and the normative expenditure of the general population.
In other words, rescuing 600,000 tons of food, or 25% of the food wasted
each year in Israel, valued at NIS 3b., should address the problem of food
waste.
“Food rescue is clearly preferable compared to the alternative of attempting
to bridge this food insecurity gap by means of allocations, donations,
subsidies or support for the needy,” the report stated. “Without food rescue, it
would require an annual cost of NIS 3b. to fully finance this gap.”
Rescuing this food instead, the study indicated, would cost only NIS 840m. –
resulting in a surplus of some NIS 2.1b.
Unfortunately, the report showed that only 20,000 tons of food, accounting for
only 1% of food wasted each year, is rescued in Israel.
“Take Leket Israel as a pilot that for the past 13 years has proven that food
rescue is an economically successful model that can and should be adopted
by the government as a national project. We must grow and raise public
awareness, which in turn will put pressure on the government to act,” said
Kroch.
In September 2015 the UN established a 50% food waste reduction goal by
the year 2030. The US, a world leader in food rescue, and other countries
have adopted a similar goal.
The report found, however, that “Israel is lagging behind most Western
countries in awareness of the food waste problem and the importance of food
rescue.”
In an international comparison, the findings indicated that Israel ranked 11th
on the Global Food Security index out of 34 OECD countries – and below the
OECD average.
“There is no reason that we should lag behind the US and the OECD,” said
Kroch.
The report even cited the 2015 State Comptroller’s Report on the issue,
which stated that “in Israel, food wasted is an issue that has yet to receive
government address.”
For Israel to bridge this gap, the report offered three recommendations to
increase the level of food rescue.
Primarily, the report called to determine a national goal to reduce food waste
by 50% by 2030, in accordance with the UN objective.
In addition, the report called for finalizing legislation to encourage food
surplus rescue.
It cited the US Good Samaritan Food Donation Act that absolves nonprofit
organizations and food donors from civil or criminal liability.
Finally, the report called to require all state and state-financed institutions
with kitchens catering to 1,000 people or more to rescue food.
“I hope this report will serve as a tool for other organizations and for the
government to take action and improve the situation,” said Kroch. “Our goal is
to wake up the public discourse on this issue.”
ISRAELI DEVICE IS EYES FOR VISION-IMPAIRED (YNet 1/6/16)
OrCam, an Israeli device that can help visually-impaired people "see," is now
available in Hebrew.
The Jerusalem-based company unveiled on Tuesday a new version of its
computerized device for the visually-impaired.
The device consists of a tiny camera mounted on eyeglasses and a wire
connecting it to a computer about the size of a cigarette box, which can scan
the surroundings and report what it sees – now, for the first time, also in
Hebrew.
Operating the device is not complicated. With the push of a button, it
photographs the object in front of the user and reads text out loud into his or
her ear. It can help people read street signs and bus numbers, identify
currency and products, and read menus, newspapers, and books, etc.
An additional use opens up a whole range of possibilities: the device can
capture faces, allowing users to identify people he or she cannot see – or
whose name he or she had simply forgot. The device does not, however,
record what it photographs and can only save pictures of faces, currency or
products in order to make them easier to identify.
The device first went on sale last year in a version that identified and read
English text, but OrCam is now launching a Hebrew-language version.
The first models were sold for $2,500, while the Hebrew-speaking model is to
be sold in Israel for about NIS 10,000. The manufacturer is in discussions
with insurance companies and HMOs regarding subsidizing purchases, as
with other medical aid devices.
In 1987, Lieutenant (ret.) Ziv Better was left almost entirely blind when he
was wounded rescuing a fellow soldier in a minefield. He has since become a
swimmer, winning five Paralympic medals.
Better, now a 50-year-old husband and father of three, recently tried out
3
OrCam's device.
"OrCam is not a replacement," said Better, "but I can use it to know which
bus arrived at the station, and it can also read the mail, the newspaper or a
book."
MALAYSIANS PROBED OVER ISRAELI ABSENCE FROM SAILING
TOURNEY (JPost 1/7/16)
World Sailing announced on Sunday that it is conducting an investigation and
seeking clarification from the Malaysian Organizing Authority of the Youth
Sailing World Championships after Israel was unable to send a delegation to
the event in Langkawi, Malaysia.
Israel’s Yoav Omer and Noy Drihan will not have an opportunity to defend
their titles at the championships, which got underway on Sunday, after the
Israel Sailing Association (ISA ) said last week that it will not be participating
in the event due to the demands made by the organizers and the fact the
surfers had yet to receive visas.
The ISA informed World Sailing – formerly called the International Sailing
Federation – the International Olympic Committee and the hosts that Israel
will not be taking part as the organizers demanded that the surfers would not
compete under the Israel flag and wouldn’t be allowed to use any symbol
identifiable with Israel on their cloths or surfboards.
The hosts also said that should an Israeli win a gold medal the Israeli
national anthem would not be played.
“As with all diplomatic issues this is quite a delicate matter,” said World
Sailing President Carlo Croce in a statement released on Sunday.
“World Sailing is aware of the current commentary in the public arena, and
have reason to believe that some of the comments may not be accurate or
possibly based on misunderstandings.”
Croce insisted World Sailing will not accept a situation in which one nation is
unable to compete.
“World Sailing is committed to ensuring participation in our sport by
competitors from all nations, and is taking this issue seriously,” he said. “A
member of the World Sailing Executive is on route to Malaysia to investigate
and is seeking clarification from the Malaysian Organizing Authority.
“World Sailing expects the organizing authority of its events to allow sailors
from all nations to compete on an equal basis. This expectation is made clear
in the bid process and is set out in the contractual documentation governing
our events.”
ISA chairman Gili Amir threatened last week to file a lawsuit against World
Sailing and the host country. “As we have yet to receive visas, 24 hours
before our scheduled departure date, and considering the restrictions and
difficulties the organizing committee has placed on us, we have decided not
to take part in the competition,” Amir said last Wednesday.
“The Malaysians’ demands are unacceptable, and as we haven’t received the
visas, we decided not to participate. We condemn the unsporting conduct of
the organizing committee. We will not agree to be humiliated.”
Omer claimed the gold medal in the boys Under-19 competition in the
previous championships last year in Gdynia, Poland, while Drihan won the
girls U17 and U19 events.
A TONED-DOWN ANNIVERSARY (Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, Israel
Hayom 1/5/16)
This week, France and the world will mark one year since the Islamist militant
attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish supermarket
in Paris, commemorating the victims with memorials and ceremonies.
French President Francois Hollande is due to attend heavily guarded
ceremonies and unveil commemorative plaques at the main sites of the Jan.
7-9 attacks. A larger, more public ceremony is planned at Place de la
Republique on Sunday.
France was given only a 10-month respite from terror, as 130 people were
killed in a series of shootings and suicide bombings on Friday, Nov. 13. And
given that France has emerged as the number one European target of
Islamist terrorism, there are serious security concerns surrounding the
ceremony honoring the 17 victims of the January killing sprees, making the
toned-down affair a far cry from the loud and proud free-speech rallies
following the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
Even though France has engaged militarily with Islamic State, Europe seems
to have capitulated to the idea of perennial Islamist terrorism, even toning
down its protests out of security concerns. One country stands out as the
resistance in this irregular war, and even though the West refuses to
acknowledge it, the enemy seems to know the score.
In an interview with the British Jewish News recently, German reporter
Jurgen Todenhofer, who spent two weeks in Islamic State territory last year
as part of research for his book, said Israel is not included in the group's
planned "first stage" of colonization in the Middle East.
"The only country ISIS [Islamic State] fears is Israel -- they told me they know
the Israeli army is too strong for them," Todenhofer said.
According to him, Islamic State thinks it can defeat American and British
ground troops, believing they have no experience in urban guerrilla or
terrorist strategies, but it knows that the Israelis are trained, tough and
realistic.
As last January's attacks are memorialized, it is a time for solemn reflection,
but also for re-evaluation of a strategy that has ever so violently failed. The
more the West appeases this enemy, the more it earns its contempt. The
process most of Europe has been busying itself with since 9/11, these many
versions of self-effacing cultural sensitivity, has not helped stem the tide of
radicalization, but rather has helped it grow and confirm the extremists' belief
that the West has no alternative belief system to offer.
Islamic State fears Israel not only for its military might, which is second to
none, but also for the values that drive it. Israel stands alone in many ways in
this world, but these days the ideological isolation may be the most glaring,
standing by its founding principles in a time marred by realpolitik. Islamic
State too runs on ideology, albeit the opposite one, and it knows that the
most dangerous army is one that truly believes in its cause.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Islamic terrorism has been the defining issue of our
time. But most in the West have been slow to identify its root. Ideas are
replaced by other ideas, a revolution of thought sweeping in waves of
enlightenment. But since World War II, there has been a vacuum. Nothingness replaced ideas, relativism where there used to be ideology. And as with
any vacuum, this too sought to be filled and so it was, in a blaze of fire.
What Islamic State knows, Europe has yet to realize, and that cognitive
dissonance has proved to come at a very high price. At the end of the week,
once we come to the end of these toned-down ceremonies, Europe should
use the time to reflect on its overall strategy. If it wants to win this war, of
ideas and firepower in equal measure, it needs to realize that it is
abandoning its true ally, and that when it goes to great lengths to distance
itself from Israel, it is turning its back on the one entity that the enemy truly
fears.
WHEN THE LEFT TURNS INTO A RADICAL RIGHT (Ben-Dror Yemini,
YNet 1/6/16)
For hours I recited everything the Left said about the murder on Tel Aviv's
Dizengoff Street: The murderer does not represent Israel's Arabs, most of
them are loyal citizens, they have not chosen terror.
I also know the extended Melhem family, so it was easy for me to write that.
And even without personal acquaintance, the radical and loud right's attempt
to link the murder to an entire sector is an expression of racism.
When that's what the left says, I am a leftist. But it turns out that part of the
left is actually a radical right. Because when it comes to hate crimes
committed by individuals on the Jewish side, everything the radical right says
about Arabs is said by part of the left - not just the radical left - about Jews:
The Jewish society has become a violent and racist society, the nationalistic
4
government backs terror, the dangerous right waters the garden-beds on
which murderers grow. A competition of declarations.
It turns out that even in light of the murder of two Jews by an Arab, the
melody won't change. Barely 24 hours had passed since the despicable
murder on Dizengoff Street, and Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Galon had
already gone back to the moldy clichés: "Jewish terror is backed by the
government."
She hasn't heard that many of the "price tag" hooligans have been detained
for several weeks now. She hasn’t heard the claims of torture. It must be a
show. And the indictments filed on Sunday are a Zionist deception.
If Galon is right, and Jewish terror is backed by the government, then Arab
terror is a proper response. None of the Arab sector's spokespeople thought
it was the time to respond with such incitement. But Galon couldn't help it.
Don’t make generalizations, she pleaded, like I pleaded in my article, when
an Israeli Arab carries out an attack. She forgot, however, that she is actually
a professor of generalizations. After the "bloody wedding," the same Galon
wrote: "The actual disease is the blind hatred which doesn’t begin and end
among a 'handful' of teens, but penetrates growing parts of our society."
Baruch Marzel wouldn't have said it better. When he and his likes seize every
opportunity in which an Israeli Arab is involved in terrorist activity, they turn
the entire sector into a sick society filled with hatred. That's exactly what
Galon is saying about the Jewish society. When it comes to Arabs, part of the
right sees a homogenous, dark and hostile bloc before its eyes. When it
comes to Jews, part of the left sees a homogenous, dark and hostile bloc
before its eyes.
It's not just Galon. Many of the left's spokespeople have adopted this line of
incitement. It's the same left which diligently compiles exceptions, real and
invented ones, in order to turn IDF soldiers into criminals. It's the same
intellectuals who turn most of the Israelis into dangerous fascists. And it's the
same activists who run to every corner of the world in order to spread this
doctrine abroad, "because there is no longer a chance to make a difference
from the inside."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the murder scene in Tel Aviv
on Saturday evening and joined the party. It's not the content. All parts of
Israeli society must be subject to the law. The incitement must be stopped,
and there is incitement. It must definitely be stopped. The problem is the
tone.
While both the
murderer's family
members and his
close surroundings,
as well as the Arab
leadership, were
busy condemning
the murder - tough
Netanyahu
demanded
that
they condemn it,
delivered a speech
without
any
embrace
or
compassion and
pointed
an
accusing finger at
the entire Arab
sector.
He
competed
with
Galon over who
would fume more.
They both won.