Devout Jewish Heroes? Or Rodfim?

Torched mosque on the West Bank (JTA)

This is not OK. Revenge attacks against mosques on the West Bank do not solve anything. All they do is reinforce world animosity towards Israel.  And even worse, acts like this stoke Muslim hatred of us which could easily lead to levels of violence against us will make October 7^th  look like a picnic in July.

These revenge attacks are nothing new. They have been going on long before the events of October 7^th.  Since then Palestinians have increased acts of violence against Israel. To which Israel has responded  with increased military actions in West Bank towns like Jenin, hotbeds of Palestinian terrorism. That of course makes life pretty miserable for the Palestinians living in those towns. And that alone has generated even more European condemnation of Israel than before October 7^th.

The war in Gaza alone increased European condemnation. These revenge attacks just pile on to the of the condemnation of Israel and its leaders that has been ongoing for over 50 years. Torching a mosque on the West Bank just adds a lot of gasoline onto an already raging fire for which Israel gets the lion’s share of the blame. 

Even after the brutal massacre of Jews on October 7^th sympathy for  Jewish people of Israel was immediately accompanied by a comment from the titular head of the nations of world with a comment along the lines of, ‘The massacre did not happen in a vacuum!’ These revenge attacks justify such comments in the minds of the antisemitic nations that form the majority of the United Nations.

A JTA story this morning reports the following:

Israeli authorities are investigating after a mosque in the northern West Bank town of Marda was torched and graffitied with Hebrew slogans.

No one was injured in the incident.

Footage from the scene appeared to show burn marks and Hebrew graffiti featuring a Star of David and reading “revenge” and “burn the mosque, build the temple.” Israel’s police and Shin Bet security service have opened an investigation and have not yet made any arrests.

Palestinian leaders accused settlers of the vandalism, and Israeli media are also reporting that Jewish Israelis are suspected of perpetrating the attack.

I hope this does lead to arrests. And that if found guilty the ‘book’ is thrown at them. And that it makes headlines all over the world.

It gives me no pleasure to see devout looking Jews that very likely fought valiantly for the IDF (in many cases risking  their lives in dangerous assignments) treated like this. These are Jews that often sport huge Kipot and have longer Peyos than Satmar Chasidim. They are usually quite devout in every other way. Often having familes with lots of children.  

And still these are the people I think should have the ‘book’ thrown at them. The Chilul HaShem of frum Jews being exposed as terrorists cannot be overstated. 

But even with all that, they cannot be considered anything less than Rodfim! Because by destroying a Muslim house of worship (which is not even classified as Avodah Zara) they stoke Muslim outrage worldwide and thereby increase danger to every single Jew in the world. Not to mention endangering any support we get from nations that are even friendly to the Jewish state. Like the US.

That must be stopped. These people must be made to realize just how dangerous their acts of terror are to the Jewish people. And the only way that can be done is by finding them, prosecuting them and punishing them to the fullest extent of the law in the most public way possible. Israel needs to make an example out of them so that anyone else thinking of doing something like this again think twice before attempting lest they end up the same way.

Israel must crack down on the Jews living in those areas. They must impress upon them how serious Israel takes actions like thee and the consequences they will face if the try. Because the more things like this happen, the worse it will be for the Jewish people in Israel and worldwide.