Comments on: It’s been quite a surreal day

By: ck

ck — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:43:05 +0000

Of course there is no justification for attacking soldiers and attacking otherwise innocent Palestinian civilians. But the fault? It’s ours. We taught the extremist settlers what tactics they should use to achieve their goals. I mean heck, it worked for the Palestinians, so why not for the settlers? Prior to the first intifada, no one serious ever talked about dividing Jerusalem. Now even the Prime Minister, fuckwad that he is, is talking about it. It seems all the concessions that Israel is making are predicated on the other side’s incessant acts of violence. We taught the extremist settlers well.

By: Ben-David

Ben-David — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:05:02 +0000

So: how did these people – whose families and communities have for decades worked their way up into the IDF’s elite units – how did they come to feel themselves not part of the State?

It’s called disenfranchisement.

In the 1980s the religious-zionist knitted kippahs were widely admired. Then the left saw its power slipping, and attacked people who threatened their cultural program.

During the years leading up to Oslo, Israel’s leftist elites in government and media pursued a steady program of demonizing this entire community. This included willful falsehood and propaganda manipulation by Israel’s secret service.

In the process, the “law” was rewritten a dozen times to suit left-wing politics – to the point where soldiers have hesitated in their duty – and been killed – because they feared the legal/media wringer they’d be put through if they defended themselves against “peace partners”.

So: spare me the self-righteous breast-beating about how “lawless” the settlers have become.

As Oslo falls apart, more and more Israelis see clearly that this group are the only ones to retain healthy instincts of self-respect and self-defense.

By: יובל

יובל — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:12:22 +0000

the Israeli law states that any land or house that is purchased in the west bank must be done so with a special permit from the minister of defense (this is due to the fact that every one of these houses must be guarded by the I.D.F).
This house was indeed paid for legally but no permit was ever given to them by the minister of defense.

saying that the house was brought legally is using half-trues

but all this argument is irrelevant to the settlers going out and retaliating on the Palestinians of the west bank. Nothing justifies that!

By: David H.

David H. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:28:32 +0000

It’s frightening.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:40:59 +0000

So, was that house legally purchased or not? Because it could be argued that the government breached the law first. Not condoning anything (I still find what happened as disgusting), but just trying to see their point. As in, if I understand the settlers’ minds correctly, if the government doesn’t follow the law, then why should they?