Settler Violence and Their Apologists

image and caption from Rationalist Judaism 

I was unaware of an incident in the West Bank until I read about it in Rationalist Judaism. In my view, it is nearly as dangerous to the welfare of the Jewish people as the surge of antisemitism around the world today. And that is saying a lot.

There was yet another attack by extremist settlers against a Palestinian village whose residents had done nothing wrong. Settlers set fire to a clinic in one village, along with cars and property in another.

I am tired of the apologists who defend them. Or claim they are a minority too small to make an issue of. These are Jewish terrorists – plain and simple. The claim that they are merely a handful of unhinged teenagers who do not represent the broader settler movement is no longer credible. While most Jews living in Judea and Samaria surely abhor such behavior, the perpetrators are clearly more than just a negligible fringe.

Their religious motivation echoes that of the radical Islamists who rule Iran. In both cases, they believe they are acting against enemies of God. The scale is different—settler extremists are not mass murderers—but the underlying mindset is disturbingly similar. That said, there was one glaring exception: Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 massacred Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs. In both cases, these misguided religious fanatics believe that eradicating enemies from land they see as divinely promised - is a Kiddush Hashem. (Or, in their parlance, Allah’s will).

The ‘small minority’ argument no longer persuades me. These extremists are the ideological heirs of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who preached a religious imperative to claim all of biblical Israel and to either expel or subjugate Palestinians. He managed to gain enough support to win a seat in the Knesset and threatened to gain more until his party, Kach, was banned for racism. Yet today his ideological heir, Itamar Ben-Gvir sits in the Knesset, with his party, Otzma Yehudit, holding 6 seats in the governing coalition.

Israelis of just about all pollical persuasions condemn these acts. What troubles me is the persistent minimization of the problem by the right, as if it were isolated, when it is clearly not. Equally troubling is the political climate that allows it to continue. Some responsibility should clearly be placed on Ben-Gvir. He may not direct these attacks. But he has defended those who perpetrated them. And his rhetoric helps feed the mindset behind them.I was unaware of an incident in the West Bank until I read about it in Rationalist Judaism. In my view, it is nearly as dangerous to the welfare of the Jewish people as the surge of antisemitism around the world today. And that is saying a lot.

There was yet another attack by extremist settlers against a Palestinian village whose residents had done nothing wrong. Settlers set fire to a clinic in one village, along with cars and property in another.

I am tired of the apologists who defend them. Or claim they are a minority too small to make an issue of. These are Jewish terrorists – plain and simple. The claim that they are merely a handful of unhinged teenagers who do not represent the broader settler movement is no longer credible. While most Jews living in Judea and Samaria surely abhor such behavior, the perpetrators are clearly more than just a negligible fringe.

Their religious motivation echoes that of the radical Islamists who rule Iran. In both cases, they believe they are acting against enemies of God. The scale is different—settler extremists are not mass murderers—but the underlying mindset is disturbingly similar. That said, there was one glaring exception: Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 massacred Muslim worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs. In both cases, these misguided religious fanatics believe that eradicating enemies from land they see as divinely promised - is a Kiddush Hashem. (Or, in their parlance, Allah’s will).

The ‘small minority’ argument no longer persuades me. These extremists are the ideological heirs of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who preached a religious imperative to claim all of biblical Israel and to either expel or subjugate Palestinians. He managed to gain enough support to win a seat in the Knesset and threatened to gain more until his party, Kach, was banned for racism. Yet today his ideological heir, Itamar Ben-Gvir sits in the Knesset, with his party, Otzma Yehudit, holding 6 seats in the governing coalition.

Israelis of just about all pollical persuasions condemn these acts. What troubles me is the persistent minimization of the problem by the right, as if it were isolated, when it is clearly not. Equally troubling is the political climate that allows it to continue...

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