Friday morning. I woke up in New York and turned on the television to catch up on the news in the United States. What I saw was horrifying. A group of young men, all masked, were beating a woman who was no longer young as she lay on the ground. For a moment, it looked like a scene from the Gaza Strip. After all, footage like this is hardly unusual there. Hamas terrorists brutally abuse anyone who refuses to obey them.
But within seconds, it became clear that these were not Hamas terrorists. They were not even Muslims. They were homegrown Israeli thugs. Jews.
Israeli settlers attack journalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank
(Credit: Reuters)
JSR, a news agency operating in the West Bank, issued a statement claiming that the incident was a planned ambush by Palestinians accompanied by journalists and left-wing activists. Could that be what happened? There have been such incidents before. But this was not an isolated episode. It was part of a series of incidents in a rampage that has continued for many months, virtually unchecked.
Soldiers also arrived at the scene. Some are still under investigation amid conflicting accounts. And the older woman lying on the ground was Heidi Levine, a photographer for The Washington Post, one of America's most respected newspapers.
According to the IDF spokesperson, "This is an olive-harvesting area that does not require prior coordination." In other words, Palestinians are entitled to harvest their olives without seeking permission in advance. Both sides arrived masked and prepared for a confrontation. According to the spokesperson, some of those present were activists from anti-Israel groups. Even so, the spokesperson concluded that "the rioters included both Jews and Palestinians."
The bigger picture
No serious person believes the Palestinian side is entirely innocent. There is Palestinian terrorism. There are provocations. Still, we need to look at the bigger picture.
Time and again, we hear that these are merely gangs of thugs who have nothing to do with the settlers. And yes, most settlers despise these thugs. But they are part and parcel of the settlement movement.
Consider Rabbi Dov Lior, one of the leading figures in religious Zionism, who recently issued what amounts to a fatwa — a religious ruling — declaring that land held by Palestinians is "stolen property in their hands ... meaning they never acquired it by any means and it remains the property of the people of Israel."
And if it belongs to Israel, then anything goes.
This spiritual leader, whose followers number far more than a handful, goes on to declare: "Even if we were to say they deserve some compensation for planting the trees, they have already received more than enough through the fruit they have eaten over all these years ... Therefore, harvesting olives in the Holy Land is entirely permissible."
We should look at neighboring countries. When a fanatical group enjoys the backing of "spiritual leaders," possesses weapons and openly defies the state and the military, the outcome is predictable. We complain that the Lebanese army cannot bring Hezbollah under control. That is an excellent question. But we should be asking it of ourselves.
It is appalling to read. This is not Judaism. This is not Zionism. This is thuggery.
Admittedly, it is somewhat difficult to stop this elderly rabbi. But we should not delude ourselves into thinking this is a fringe phenomenon. We are talking about a sizable group of hundreds, perhaps thousands, many of them armed, who have no respect for the state or IDF soldiers.
They do as they please in the territories. They have political backing. They do not merely seize property that does not belong to them. Sometimes they also commit murder.
And as long as we continue to dismiss them as a "handful," no serious action will be taken to stop those among us who are rising up to bring destruction upon us.
We should look at neighboring countries. When a fanatical group enjoys the backing of "spiritual leaders," possesses weapons and openly defies the state and the military, the outcome is predictable.
Why, we complain, can't the Lebanese army bring Hezbollah under control? An excellent question. But we should be asking it of ourselves: How is it that the most powerful military in the Middle East cannot bring under control what is increasingly developing into a homegrown Hezbollah?
Heidi Levine
(Photo: Reuters)
It is difficult to overstate the moral damage. It is even harder to overstate the international damage.
In recent days, I have heard senior administration officials, staunch friends of Israel, warn of sanctions that are drawing ever closer. The danger is on our doorstep.
But before we name Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Hasan Piker and Abdul El-Sayed — a partial list of Israel-haters in influential circles — we should acknowledge that the far greater danger comes from within.
Nationalist violence is bringing sanctions closer far more than all the Israel-haters combined.
And even if there was a Palestinian provocation, these criminals who brutally beat a photographer must be called by their true name: Israel-haters.
After all, they already know they are causing terrible damage. They simply do not care. They are putting into practice precisely the same ideology — racist, fascist and colonialist — that Israel's enemies attribute to the country.
Rabbis from Tzohar, an organization of religious Zionist rabbis, have already condemned Dov Lior's religious ruling. They are far more representative of Judaism, Zionism and the Jewish people.
But they did not appear on the news broadcasts of the world's leading television networks. The Israel-haters from within our own ranks dominated the headlines and television screens.
They are cancerous cells. We cannot afford to wait. Because if we do not remove them from our midst, they will destroy the Zionist enterprise.