The State of Judea

Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin (Ynet)

When a former head of the Shin Bet speaks, people ought to listen. Yuval Diskin has pointed out something I have suspected for a long time now.  There is a shadow government on the West Bank that ignores Israeli law saying they abide by a higher law. The law of the Torah.

It probably started with Rabbi Meir Kahane. Whose beliefs were supported by enough Israelis to give him a Kenesset seat. When it became evident that his Kach party would gain even more seats in a subsequent election, the government banned Kach as a racist party not eligible to run for the Knesset.

But his admirers have grown in Religious Zionist circles to the point of endangering the very foundation of the Jewish State as a democracy.  Mass murderer Dr. Baruch Goldstein was an ardent Kahane follower. One might think that a mass murderer would be universally condemned. But Dr. Goldstein is venerated to this day by many supporters of Rabbi Kahane. So much so that a shrine was built at his grave site on the West Bank. It has since been dismantled by the Israeli Government. But that has not stopped increasing numbers of right wing religious Zionists from venerating him. I can’t count the number of times I have seen signs that read ‘Kahane was right!’ – in both Hebrew and English.

We now have numerous groups of people that have adopted a mindset based on Rabbi Kahane’s philosophies who are involved in illegal activities. Some of which involve terror rivaling Islamic Jihadists. In 2 separate cases of arson, Arabs were burned to death. Last year in a deliberate kidnapping and burning to death of an innocent Arab teenager. And this year’s recent arson of house where an 18 month old baby was burned to death and where the father of that baby was so severely burned that he too died over the weekend.

We now have Price Taggers and Hilltop Youth, the Temple Mount faithful… and many extremists like Baruch Marzel advocating expulsion of Arabs from the West Bank (a Kahane proposal). We have extremists even advocating the destruction of the Mosque on the Temple Mount. Or burning down churches.

From Ynet, here is what Diskin said about this phenomenon: 

Alongside the State of Israel, a de facto State of Judea is being formed," Diskin wrote in a lengthy Facebook post warning of a potentially irreversible situation.

"In the State of Judea there are different standards, different value systems, different attitudes towards democracy, and there are two legal systems," he asserted. "In the State of Judea, law enforcement is shockingly weak towards Jews. In the State of Judea, anarchistic, anti-state, violent, and racist ideologies are forming over the years, and they are treated tolerantly by the Israeli legal and judicial system. "

According to the former security service chief, "the Hilltop Youth (hard-line, extremist settlers) are setting the tone within Religious Zionism. Anyone who thinks we are only talking about a few dozen of delusional youths is making a big mistake. In the State of Judea, there are many hundreds of youths supporting messianic and/or anarchistic, anti-state ideologies.

"Among these many hundreds are dozens who daily adopt different levels of violence or terrorism against Palestinian lives and property," wrote the ex-Shin Bet boss. "Among them are dozens who would be willing to unhesitatingly take part in violence and terrorism against their Jewish brothers when they see the value of "sacred land" as being put to the test. In certain scenarios, these numbers can be expected to increase significantly." 

I think he’s right. That accounts for the increase in violent attacks like the one last week against an Arab home in the West Bank.

What bothers me is that a lot of normally sane people refuse to see it. And worse in an effort to save the reputation of these extremists they suggested that this heinous act was done by Arabs for their own reasons and made to look like it was Jews who did it.

I think we have a problem here that goes way beyond what has thus far appeared on the surface. There are a lot of people now saying ‘Kahane was right!’ They may not be the ones doing the damage. They may not be the ones that will commit these heinous crimes. But they are the ones that tend to in some way justify them by supporting their motives or by shifting blame away from them for atrocities they are responsible for.

What a shame that the ideals of the Torah have been so perverted by these people. Ideals about Eretz Yisroel that all religious Jews share are being used to excuse atrocities. That cannot be allowed to stand. Not only is it immoral, left alone it may grow out of control.

 I’m not sure what to do about it. But I believe that Mr. Diskin ought to be taken seriously. The last thing I want to see is a war between West Bank settlers and the government. Jew against Jew. How sad would that be.