Soldiers, settlers in Hebron
Photo: AFP
Mercy on the hilltops
Religious Zionist leaders choked during Hebron riots
Until recently, I was considered a good boy. A good boy, with a kippa on his head.
Even when my friends and I went to the movies, our teachers warned us to behave: You're religious kids. Make sure you don't desecrate God's holy name.
"Desecrating God's holy name," known in Hebrew as "chilul Hashem," is a concept with which all graduates of religious institutions are familiar.
No Surprise
B. Michael
The goings-on in Hebron in recent days are certainly no surprise. Therefore, there is no great need to discuss the predictable and familiar outbursts of violence, lawlessness, self-righteousness, wickedness and obscene use of children
At least where I went to school, and at my branch of the Bnei Akiva youth group, we were taught to be super-careful about the image of religious teenagers and of the messages we were supposed to transmit.
We were occasionally reminded: Everybody is watching you. If you act inappropriately, you will be desecrating God's holy name.
Chilul Hashem in Hebron
I thought about this while looking at photographs of religious teenagers in Hebron, faces covered, throwing eggs at IDF soldiers. The images were so bad, so serious, that I waited and waited for some religious-Zionist leader to publicly remind the kids what we'd always been told: This is a chilul Hashem.
But it never really happened. Several hundred kids continue to roam around and carry on Hebron (where are their parents and schools?), waiting for the inevitable clash with the security forces.
But only a few lone voices have denounced their behavior, and right-wing internet sites have chosen instead to stress "police provocations" and praise our "ideological sons."
No more mercy
On Arutz 7, a well-known right-wing news site, Women in Green leader Nadia Matar even said the time had come "to stop being good boys and girls" in the struggle over the Land of Israel.
She explained: Teenagers now understand that the time has come to erase the stain of dancing and hugs (that accompanied the Gaza withdrawal) and to show the correct path: We must fight for every hilltop, for every house and every grain of the Land of Israel that they are trying to take away from us.
I'm not naive: I understand full well the logic that says, "let's be bad." As they continue to lick the wounds of disengagement, the right feels it has been backed into a corner.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert speaks openly about the next pullout, and in Judea and Samaria there is talk about the "moment of truth" in the "battle for the Land of Israel."
Predominant voices on the right say there will be "no more hugs," and are preparing for a gritty struggle with Israeli security forces. The Yesha Council is now considered "left-wing" in these circles.
Losing battle
Nadia Matar and friends are no longer interested in the image broadcast by religious-Zionist youth or "how kids with kippot on their head look like in the media, which according to Matar and her colleagues are nowadays dedicated to spreading lies anyway."
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Apparently, there is only one important thing: "The battle for the Land of Israel."
The settlers are going go lose with this sort of behavior – and lose big. Not too many people in this country will shed a tear over the eviction of teenagers who throw rocks and eggs at soldiers. And the security forces proved at Kfar Darom they could efficiently take care of people who "don't hug."
This should have been the finest hour for the leaders of the religious-Zionist camp, heads of Bnei Akiva and the right-wing leadership. It should have been a time for them to clearly define the limits of the struggle, and to say clearly that even as the kids head for the hilltops, they must take care not to desecrate God's holy name.
It is not too late to consider the image of religious teenagers. To once again become "good kids."
Elad Tene is Ynet.co.il news editor
