Extremist violence endangers Israel’s future
The brutal attacks by Jewish extremists are a moral abomination. If they aren’t stopped, all Israelis will also pay the price.
Photo by Flash90
This year’s olive harvest has once again been accompanied by acts of violence, vandalism and arson by Israeli extremists against Palestinians in the West Bank (also know as Judea and Samaria). Instead of confronting the problem, our government seems bent on playing down the problem. Senior officials describe the perpetrators as misguided “fringe youth,” and dismiss the incidents as isolated, local “friction.” In reality, this is organized violence perpetrated by coordinated extremist groups who deliberately target Palestinians along with the Israelis and foreigners who help them. And it happens year-round, across wide swaths of the territories.
This violence, and the failure of Israel’s government and security agencies to effectively confront it, is unacceptable and dangerous for several reasons.
A betrayal of the rule of law
These acts are moral abomination that undermines Israel’s values as a Jewish state and as a democracy. They are also crimes. If they were committed inside Israel, there is no doubt that law enforcement would respond forcefully. They cannot be met with a shrug simply because they take place across the green line. For one, because international law obligates Israel to protect the Palestinian residents of the territories under its control. Just as importantly, no state governed by the rule of law can tolerate “enclaves” of lawlessness in territory under its control. Indeed, Israelis agree. According to a recent survey conducted at the Israel Democracy Institute, most Jewish Israelis believe settler violence against Palestinians undermines Israel’s values.
Violence does not stay contained
Anyone who believes that violent lawlessness of this kind can be confined to the territories, or to Palestinians, is sorely mistaken. Extremists who grow accustomed to imposing their ideology on Palestinians by force will, over time, turn that force on anyone who opposes them, including inside Israel. We are already seeing violent attacks on IDF commanders in the West Bank. Norms of lawlessness and contempt for the law will inevitably spread. They corrode the very foundations of Israeli democracy.
A blow to Israel’s standing in the world
Gratuitous violence against Palestinians also damages Israel’s international standing. Inside Israel, it gets relatively little media attention –the extensive coverage of recent attacks on an American photojournalist and European diplomats was an exception. Abroad, however, settler violence and the failure of Israel’s government and security agencies to stop it draw daily attention. It does little good to complain about double standards and media bias. These acts undermine Israel’s international legitimacy and damage its credibility—even among its supporters. Nor is the damage only symbolic. Israel’s ability to buy weapons overseas is already suffering. Our exporters are being hurt by these allegations. And cultural, academic and sporting boycotts are gaining momentum because of them.
In the same IDI survey, nearly two-thirds of Jewish Israelis, including a majority of right-wing voters, said violence against Palestinians harms Israel’s international legitimacy.
Security agencies holding back
Clearly, the IDF, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet are deploying less than their full capabilities to stamp out this violence. This restraint appears at least in part to stem from political pressure. The defense minister, for example, ordered an end to the use of administrative detention against Jewish extremists and refuses to authorize its resumption, thus depriving security agencies of what had been the sole preventive security measure used as last resort. But the security agencies themselves also seem reluctant to take decisive action.
The police make it hard to file complaints against rioters and drag their feet on investigations. Very few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice. The IDF, which hold the overall responsibility to maintaining security in the West Bank, has also failed to duly realize it. There are serious allegations, some of them documented, of incidents where soldiers cooperated with the rioters. The IDF’s ability to function as the people’s army rests on values that are shared across Israeli society. When soldiers or commanders support the rioters, they erode that moral foundation and erode public trust in the IDF. The Shin Bet’s performance is naturally harder to assess, but media reports about its director’s less than enthusiastic approach to the issue are cause for concern.
If the Israeli government and the security agencies do not come to their senses, the violence of a small group of settlers could end up shaping Israel’s national interests in dangerous ways. Israel has shown in the past that, given political will, it knows how to act decisively against Jewish extremists. It must do so now, with the same determination and effectiveness it brings to the fight against Palestinian terrorism.
