Opinion
Stop picking on the settlers
Assaf Wohl
Published: 03.11.08, 18:13
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1. Assaf Wohl wonderful! But I have one word: ELECTIONS
m   (11.03.08)
How can Kadima win any votes with the people hating them, their corruption, lack of leadership and destruction of Israel for the past years? So they take a page from history: BLAME THE JEW at this moment "settlers" who are religious. Once they were whipping hatred against the scape goat Jews, in the market, now they do it through the leftist media. Everybody did it, the Greeks, the Persians, the Christians, the Muslims and now the new secular Israeli. Ain't history a wonderful mirror?
2. "Settlers" like Baruck Marzel and Noam Federman and their
Bunnie Meyer ,   Los Angeles, CA USA   (11.03.08)
families and their neighbors are keeping Israel as a JEWISH land against the efforts of the left to trade REAL land for a FAKE peace. It is an illegitimate and fraudulent government that destroys the home of a religious Jew in the middle of the night falsely call it an unauthorized outpost and will not tear down the home of a terrorist who killed 8 youths at a yeshiva. The "Settlers" suffering the hardships of preserving the land for the Jews are indeed the Chosen People.
3. wow, wow and more wow...YNET published
(11.03.08)
this article...did hell freeze over? r pigs flying over Milwaukee? now lets wait for talulas and her vile creeds.
4. so stop them first
Jalal ,   Gaza   (11.03.08)
donnt ask the police to be nice with criminal ask the criminal to be a nice person
5. Applause!!!
Jewish mother ,   jerusalem   (11.03.08)
Quite brilliant. I'm gobsmacked that Y-net printed it, but beautifully written, to the point and absolutely true. It's such a shame that until 10 years ago, any Israeli would have used the word "settler" with pride. It was "settlers" who created the modern State. Only the bastardising of the term by the media has brought the word and the brave pioneers who made the wasteland flower, into disrepute.
6. finally words of sanity,in this insane asylum called YNET
CHAIM ,   BROOKLYN NY   (11.03.08)
7. Great article -
A Jew ,   Shilo Israel   (11.03.08)
I count myself amongst the thousands of Jews loyal to the State of Israel that followed government policy in deciding to live on one side of the 'green line' rather than the other. I serve as a volunteer to assist our security forces, I also serve in our local synagogue. Does this make me a radical ultra orthodox right wing Jewish extremist deserving the type of rhetoric found in Nazi Germany before the mass wholesale slaughter of all Jews, regardless of their situation? I don't harbor hatred against so called leftist or secular Jews...been there & done that! We can be a great nation if we just look inward for a moment to see just how much we have going for us. I didn't steal anyone's land or curse fellow Jews, I did attempt reconcialition and still perservere towards seeing a unified Jewish dream in our beloved Israel. Try visiting one of our communities so that at least you know what it is have against us and can explain in less poisonous language? Personally, I think after a few days with us, you'll know why the real leftists were also genuine settlers themselves!
8. spot on
MC ,   UK   (11.03.08)
Absolutely right. Thank you for saying this. People should pay attention...
9. Assaf Wohl
Ricardo Macher ,   KarneiShomron Israel   (11.03.08)
I want to congratulate Assaf for having the guts and the finesse for putting so many trues in writing. Olmert and Barak are not domocrats but Stalinists who have no shame, in any civilized country it is forbidden to enter a house by night without the approval of the owner, just in hard security measures when liberty is restricted it is permitted. Of course this does not apply to arabs, Barak as always, is afraid of them.
10. The brave rightist
Alon Frank ,   Beth Shemesh, Israel   (11.03.08)
Before the left attacks the so called rightist settlers,let's get back to history. The settlers were the only one to protect us from Palestinian terror. When the leftist started to hate them selves they started to fight against our tradition and faith. They lifted road blocks,left Gaza, left Amona etc. What did we get back from those "poor" Palestinians? Rockets,knives,bombs and guns against us. That wasn't enough! The left sought to justify progroms against those brave settlers who became the best soldiers in the commando troops. Now they try to uproot jewish outposts,while arab outposts can stay. Is this justified? Are you suprised that the settlers take their rights in their own hands? I am not. The rightists have always fought for a build up of a jewish land and the leftist have fought (and are still fighting) for a strategy that has proven again and again that this will sow more terror. SO STOP THIS MADNESS NOW BEFORE WE HAVE NO STATE ANYMORE !!!! G-d bless the rightists.
11. Great article!
Shmendrik ,   Israel   (11.03.08)
The government is trying to use the settlers existance as justification in giving West BAnk away. They are trying to make the Israeli public hate them for the sole purpose of clearing the area of any jewish population. The isolated cases of Settler violence is nothing compared the daily actions against Israelis by the Palastinians. The media is dictated by the leftists and that is evident with the over use of biased reports from the likes of people like Weiss and Waked!
12. the Right on the way to victory
RobertK ,   Jerusalem   (11.03.08)
Bibi is packing Likud with superstars. It's a good strategy--it shows people that for all sorts of high-profile but mainstream Israelis, Likud is the way to go. We'll win big in February! Even if Bibi in his inscrutable wisdom then invites the Kadima and Labor lefties into his coalition, they'll be weak. Unless there's an upset tomorrow, Israel will have to be strong MUL O'BOMBER.
13. A bunch of hot headed lunatics who dont
Eric.... ,   Israel...   (11.03.08)
care about the law.They think they are in the wild west,they should be put in prison for breaking the law .
14. Good column. It took guts. Now let's hope the leftist media
Marcella   (11.03.08)
also dares to publish the actual abuse of authority exercised by the police. They have injured small children and adults alike. They have indulged in wanton destruction of property and in the humiliation of people roused in the middle of the night to be expelled from their homes. Just today it's being reported that police arrested two Jewish youth who were being kidnapped by Arab attackers!!! "Jewish residents of Migron reported Monday that Arabs from a nearby village had attempted to kidnap two young Jews. "The attack took place on Monday morning as border police were demolishing five buildings, including a structure used as a meeting place by local Jewish youths. "Border Police either failed to notice the attack or chose not to intervene, residents said, and the kidnapping was foiled only due to the efforts of alert local teens. "The Arab men had gained access to the area by telling soldiers they were farmers who had come to harvest olives. "The attackers managed to overpower and grab the two youths. They then bound them and began dragging them away. The two youths continued to struggle and were beaten by the mob. One was stabbed in the head. "A group of 15 young Jews from Migron ran after the attackers. After the attackers had fled, police arrested one of the injured Jewish youths. (Israel National News) The Israeli public is being misinformed about what is really happening in their country. Everyone should be deeply disturbed by police abuse of authority, condonned by the Israeli government. There is no reason - absolutely no reason - to justify this kind of police and government lawlessness.
15. Kol HaKavod to Assaf Wohl for expressing what many have felt
Michael Berg ,   Petach Tikva   (11.03.08)
16. Point missed: stop saying "the settlers"
JPS ,   Efrat   (11.04.08)
Every time the press abuses the term "the settlers", it's like calling the whacko anarchists at Bil'in every week "the leftists". It's simply lazy, irresponsible and bad journalism not just by YNET, but by just about every media outlet. There are a few handfulls of extremists reactionaries living in certain parts of Judea and Samaria, yet the press calls them "the settlers". It's wrong. And because it's wrong, it's bad journalism, because journalists and the press are supposed to get it right and present us with the facts, not with generalities that give the wrong impression to the readership.
17. Agent Provocateurs?
Yisroel ,   USA   (11.03.08)
It occurred to me that Disken might be sending in masked agent provocateurs. He wants to stir up trouble to enable the police to "react" --- remember the use of Ashai Raviv during the Rabin assassination. Anything this leftist government does would not surprise me.
18. #13 you missed the whole point
Elchonon ,   Chevron   (11.03.08)
First off, I live in chevron and do not partake in violent actions.. additionally, most people I know, dont either! The issue being raised is, why are you so obsessed with settlers ?!?!? Why is everything the left supposedly stands for, ignored ?!? Social justice ? fight for the rights of foreign laborers, the poor, crime etc. etc.. Furthermore, in proportion with its population, crime beyond the green line is barely a blip as opposed to inside the green line. At least settler violence is idiologicaly driven.. no one is here for money!
19. Settlers like hamas counter parts are terrorists
Rami ,   Nazareth   (11.04.08)
20. #16 JPS
Marcella   (11.04.08)
Settlers or Pioneers or whichever name they are called, the point is there are those who resist and there are those who will meekly pack their bags, board the buses, and leave their homes for the Arabs when told to do so by the government. You call the first group a minority of "extremist reactionaries". To us they show enough self-respect to defend their homes and challenge police brutality and Arab violence. And it's only a matter of time until they are joined by a much greater number. What the government is doing is evil. There's no other word for it. Personally, I don't approve of unprovoked violence. And I have a strong suspicion that they are being set up, provoked to react, so as to paint all of them as extremist and dangerous "settlers" thus making their eviction somehow justified.
21. I completely agree.
Matt C ,   Canada   (11.04.08)
I have never exactly been a supporter of the settlers but seeing the unfair attacks on them, I have felt compelled to defend them. The slightest incident is enough to receive wall-to-wall coverage in the media, incidents that are minor in comparison with some of the antics of the left (and organised crime in Israel for that matter) and sometimes turn out to be false (blood libels). The settlers are being threatened with losing their homes and their hopes and dreams, so the reaction of that large group to all this has been remarkably peaceful considering the facts. Didn't the settlers arrive there in the first place with the support of the Israeli government as it sought housing for the poor? So isn't the current treatment of them a sort of betrayal, a sacrifice to appease anti-Semitic elements who will not sign a peace deal without some withdrawal of Jews from the land they no live in? If the settlers are to be made to suffer in the name of some peace deal, that will probably not hold anyway, they should be treated with understanding: not beaten, labelled as akin to fascists and denied their humanity. The treatment of the settlers removed from Gaza provides an example of this. It seems to me that Kadima and its supporters in the media are trying to make the settlers into a threat that they are not in order to win the election on an "us-versus-them" campaign. If there is violence later on as a result of this disgusting behaviour, the party to blame will be Kadima, not the settlers, because it is Kadima doing the incitement.
22. About the left, the media and the settlers.
Robert Bernier ,   Tel Aviv   (11.04.08)
From the perspective of the left and the media, settlers have become the ultimate Other, mainly because of the ideological threat that they, religious Zionists and anyone who identifies with them poses to those who pride themselves on an absence of ideology. The settlers - in the path they have chosen, in their faith and even in their appearance – represent the exact opposite: values, traditions, solidarity and, yes, hope for the future of the Jewish people. That is their sin, and that is their reward.
23. Yes
Leftist ,   Israel   (11.04.08)
Racism, fascism and political assassination .....we should all support that . I remember everything that led up to Rabin's murder ...I remember Baruch Goldstien and I remember Kach . You must think we all have short memories or that we will forgive them . I assure you we do not and we will not .
24. #13 Amen brother !
Simon ,   TA Israel   (11.04.08)
Exactly they belong behind bars !
25. To Leftist # 23
Ricardo Macher ,   KarneiShomron Israel   (11.04.08)
Pity you live just to hate and to remember offenses. What was done was wrong, but "zinat chinam" (blind hate) is worst since it keeps hate alive. Pity you don't understand that the death you should really mourn is the death of all the ideals Israeli left used to have and that made us so proud!
26. #23 good memory
Israel Israeli ,   Tel Aviv   (11.04.08)
Do you remember Avishai Raviv and his fake organizations Eyal and Dov? Do you remember how Raviv dared Amir to kill Rabin? Do you remember Yossi Sarid blaming the Right for the murder in Halul when he knew that it was an underworld killing between Arabs? And please tell what you have against Kach? I did not like their proposal to Transfer people from their homes, but I am certain you did support such a racist Transfer.
27. #13
Joseph ,   Israel   (11.04.08)
The Settlers are the first to support putting lawbreakers in jail: Yossi Beilin who broke the laws against meeting terrorist organizations. Ehud Barak and Itzhak Herzog who broke election funding laws. Yariv Oppenheimer of "Peace Now" which broke NGO funding laws. Yoel Marshak caught destroying olive trees. YSM police who illegally remove identification tags.
28. #26 - racist transfer
Mati Pellnitz ,   talpaz   (11.04.08)
You could not be more correct! Thank you!
29. Pick a side ...
Leftist ,   Israel   (11.04.08)
I chose mine long ago infact I was born to it : On this battlefield, two visions confront each other, two visions that are as far apart as the West is from the East. On the one side: An enlightened Israel, modern, secular, liberal and democratic, living in peace and partnership with Palestine as an integral part of the region. On the other side: a fanatical Israel, religious, fascist, cut off from the region and civilized humanity, a people that "dwells alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Numbers, 23:9), where "the sword will devour for ever" (2 Samuel 2:26). You guys want a civil war ? We are not going to join you and if you push us to the wall we will fight you .
30. Fantastic article
Sam ,   Ramat Gan, Israel   (11.04.08)
Thank you so much for this article, it is refreshing and SO TRUE. Am Israel h'ai !!!!
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