Their Rush to Judge and Condemn the Innocent

The majority of the Israeli Press being so cosmopolitan, so progressive, and so Tel Aviv centric could not help themselves in their rush to condemn the “Hilltop Youth” for the riot that occurred at the Ephraim Brigade Base in Samaria in response to rumors that the IDF soldiers from the base had orders to destroy community of Ramat Gilad. The riot at the base was committed by teens and there were rumors of another settlement destruction despite ongoing negotiations to avoid such an event thus it had to be those “Settler” teens who build outposts on hilltops which are regularly destroyed by orders from Defense Minister Ehud Barak even against the wishes of many of the ruling coalition. After all, those settlers and their children live off the land, build their own homes without hiring architects or employing reputable contractors, and it shows. Why those people are so unsophisticated and uncultured, not at all like the cultured and civil society of north Tel Aviv and surrounding suburbs where most of the reporters and media reside. They had them convicted and were calling for allowing the IDF to shoot to kill those people if they resisted having their neighborhoods destroyed. Why couldn’t those crazy idealistic Zionists just live within the Green Line like good Jews? Why do they insist on stealing Palestinian lands? Who cares if many of the neighborhoods were originally built with the blessings and often funding of the government, so what? So some of them are building on land they have deeds of ownership that predate the Jordanian occupation. Didn’t the Jordanians revoke all Jewish ownership of those lands and give it to friends of Jordanian King Abdullah? Anyway, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch ruled that all non-State lands in Judea and Samaria are to be considered and treated as Arab owned land all evidence to the contrary be damned. Why can’t these way too Jewish Jews take the hint and leave the whole area where they are not wanted and let the Palestinians have their land back and then we will have peace, finally peace.

Well, I do agree with the Tel Aviv snobs that any riot against the IDF or disruption of the IDF in fulfilling their given orders should be punished to the full extent of the law. Where I differ is I prefer to wait until the investigation finds the actual culprits before jumping off the deep end and frothing hatreds from the mouth like a rabid dog. In some ways, I am even more distressed with who it now appears were the miscreants that attacked the IDF Ephraim Brigade Base in Samaria. It turns out that it was some Nationalist Extremists which is not a complete surprise and they need to be kept within the law with their protests and actions. The sad part was these particular Nationalists were from the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva had no part in the planning or commission of this crime. This was done completely independent of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva by a group of students who overreacted to a situation and should and will be held responsible for their crimes. The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva and the leaders and faculties of numerous other Yeshivas have condemned these acts as they should. The perpetrators of these heinous crimes have almost all been identified and will be tried for their crimes. Hopefully, whatever punishment the State decides to mete out will very likely be insignificant than what these Yeshiva students will face when their Rabbi gets his turn with them. They have disgraced their Yeshiva which has shamed their fellow students, their Rabbis, their teachers, the alumni of the Yeshiva, and worst of all committed a great sin before G-d. The punishment from the State will probably pale in comparison to what they have coming from their Yeshiva. They very likely will be expelled, the worst fate possible, and especially since they would have great difficulty being accepted at another Yeshiva after their shameful acts. The only bright light that will come of this disgraceful event is it will be used to assure that such does not ever occur again; at least such will never again be perpetrated by Yeshiva youth.

Fortunately, there also might be a few other turns for the better from this whole affair. First and foremost is that the Settler population has had their names cleared and the hilltop youth have been vindicated as every one of their groups denied having taken part in the riots at the base. With some luck, perhaps a few of those progressive and self-righteous urbanites will be less likely to simply jump to conclusions and falsely accuse and virtually convict those who have chosen to reside in the biblical heartland of Eretz Yisroel. Let us hope they have seen the pitfalls of leaping before all the facts have been made available. Maybe, with hope against hope, some of these Tel Aviv elites might take a trip and meet some of the people who live in Judea and Samaria. They might just lose some of their preconceived conceptions of who lives out on the front lines and who make Tel Aviv all that much safer by doing so. They may be in for some shocking truths. Not every person or community in Judea and Samaria are the knit Kippah crowd, a semi-derogatory reference to the religious Jews. Many are secular and are professionals who actually work in Tel Aviv. They may even find that some of the “settlers” are people from their office who they work with and joke with at the water cooler every day. You never know as the population of Judea and Samaria is probably the most derided and misconceived group in all of Israel. They span every dimension of Israeli society and it might be a real eye-opening experience to take a weekend tour of some of the communities and actually meet the people. They really are not from another planet; they are Israeli Jews just like the media who so often malign them. I realize that the Israelis living in Judea and Samaria tend to be more religious than the Jews living in north Tel Aviv and surrounding suburbs. Who would be surprised by such a finding? Not this writer.

Beyond the Cusp