Riots in Jerusalem. 'Don't the police understand what is happening under their nose?'
Photo: AP
This is how an intifada starts
Op-ed: Had Israel clamped down MKs' provocations on Temple Mount or Jewish serial home buyers in Arab East Jerusalem, we might not be having to ask whether we are witnessing a third intifada.
The cameras that documented the two terror attacks in Jerusalem
and Gush Etzion
leave no room for doubt: If it looks like an intifada, acts like an intifada and sounds like an intifada, it's an intifada.
There is an intifada, and it's not even that quiet, as it was described when it started. It's as quiet as an avalanche making its way down from the top of the mountain. The images we are seeing in Jerusalem and its environs do not look like local violence that is cooling down, as senior ministers insisted this week.
But there are those who see the evidence before them, and hear the clamoring voices and still refuse to call it by its name.
A week ago, during a meeting of the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said that there was no intifada in Jerusalem, that the public was just being intimidated. This is the place to tell Danino that if there is one thing that scares the public, it's statements of this kind, which give the impression – perhaps erroneously - that the police don't understand what is happening under their noses.
Ongoing Attacks
Ron Ben-Yishai
Analysis: The attacks in Jerusalem, which receive Abbas' blessing, illustrate the need for Israel to separate the two populations in the capital, and give up the pretence of happy cohabitation between Jews and Arabs.
Nonetheless, one must concede that the police are in an untenable situation at present: They are paying the full price, while only trying to solve the tip of the problem – it's symptoms.
When there is terror in Jerusalem, is it the fault of the police? Or is it possible that the unwise – not to mention reckless – behavior of some of our public representatives has a significant share of the responsibility?
It's no secret that the mere mention of the Temple Mount drives Arabs crazy. That's a fact.
And nonetheless, with the situation in Jerusalem so explosive, people such as Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Knesset Members Miri Regev, Moshe Feiglin, Shuli Moalem and Ayelet Shaked (all from either Likud or Bayit Yehudi) wake up every morning and tear at this wound, making sure it has no chance to heal.
This group of provocateurs insist on violating the status quo, shattering the peace, and do everything in their power to prevent the restoration of calm. And this group could easily be joined by MK Hanin Zoabi, with her horror show at the Temple Mount on Wednesday.
Had the government adopted a policy of zero tolerance towards provocation on the Mount and towards the Jewish serial apartment buyers in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, perhaps we would not have to ask whether it is a third intifada we are witnessing here.
