29 thoughts on “Jewish State-Sponsored Pogroms – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. I haven’t been following the news closely, but don’t remember hearing about four killed in Khirbet Safa. When did this occur?

    1. I’ve been trying to confirm this myself. I know David Shulman to be a highly reliable source. Either he is right & no one is reporting this. Or he received the information from another source and trusted it was correct.

      1. It is hard to believe that organs such as the Ha’aretz or Yediot Aharonot newspapers would pass by a news item like that, because their official editorial lines are quite hostile to the settlers.

  2. There is an article in Ha’aretz. I am copying it in its entirety. At least from this reportage, as horrible as the event was, I can’t see that the Jewish state “has endorsed state-sponsored pogroms against the Palestinian inhabitants of Khirbet Safa” – or that such rhetoric is either at all accurate or at all helpful in understand what happened, and how to respond, either within Israel or in the Diaspora. Four settlers were arrested; an IDF spokesperson is quoted as calling the settlers’ actions “an unnecessary and dangerous provocation.” See below.

    SOURCE http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/1082554.html

    Last update – 08:14 03/05/2009

    Four settlers held for firing at Palestinian village in West Bank

    By Nadav Shragai and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

    Police arrested four Jewish settlers including two Israel Defense Forces soldiers on home leave on Saturday for allegedly firing indiscriminately at the West Bank village of Khirbet Safa, near the settlement of Bat Ayin.

    Settlers had assembled on a hill overlooking the village on the 30-day anniversary of the murder of Bat Ayin teenager Shlomo Nativ, who was killed by a resident of Khirbet Safa. They began shooting at the village when an IDF patrol ordered them to leave. The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the settlers opened fire “without any reason.” The spokesman called the settlers’ actions “an unnecessary and dangerous provocation.”

    Around half the settlers on the hilltop headed toward the village. Settlers and local Palestinians began throwing stones at each other until army units arrived. The IDF removed the settlers from the village and fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at the Palestinians. The confrontation between the Palestinians and IDF lasted hours.

    IDF sources said two Palestinians were wounded, but it was not clear if they were hurt when the settlers opened fire or during the clashes with the IDF.

    Settlers and people from Khirbet Safa have been involved in a series of violent incidents over the past few years. Three years ago Bat Ayin resident Erez Levanon was stabbed to death by a resident of Khirbet Safa. Earlier this year a 14-year-old Palestinian boy from Khirbet Safa was badly beaten by Bat Ayin settlers.

    Three weeks ago the Shin Bet security service arrested Musa Tiet, a resident of Khirbet Safa, for Nativ’s murder last month. Tiet admitted killing the 13-year-old and wounding a 7-year-old boy. He said he had acted alone with the aim of becoming a martyr.

    Police are concerned that members of the settlement, the home to a number of right-wing extremists, might seek to avenge Nativ’s death. Five years ago the Shin Bet arrested a number of Bat Ayin residents who were members of a Jewish underground cell that had planned to bomb Arab schools in East Jerusalem.

    Related articles:

    Shin Bet: We’ve caught Bat Ayin axe terrorist

    Father of Bat Ayin terror victim, 7, gets prison furlough to visit son

    Settlers, Palestinians clash after memorial for boy killed by terrorist

    1. I know about this report. It is nearly a week old & there are pogroms there every day. So it could very well be that this is not up to date information. Why would you not suspect that even the august Haaretz may not have the story (when it should) right. I’m doing everything I can to confirm (or refute) the charges which is more than I can say for those who are professional journalists & paid to do so.

    1. The U.S. government is setting a pretty sh*tty example these days in its behavior overseas – no argument there, Alex.

  3. “Four killed is the number the villagers have cited, and I heard from my colleague Amiel Vardi, an unimpeachable, careful source.”

    What are their names & ages? what date were each killed? Is Vardi certain they didn’t mean throughout the occupation, rather than as part of this “pogrom?”

  4. No, and neither has PCHR (Palestinian human rights group, well respected as a source)

    This is irresponsible to just leave an unconfirmed story of such import hanging like this. I would take it down pending confirmation.

    1. Gee, thanks for yr editorial suggestions. I’ll treat them with the respect they deserve.

      Whether or not anyone was killed in Safa, Israeli soldiers and Border Police are active participants in pogroms. The fact that they may actually have not yet killed anyone is of lesser importance than the fact that the state is endorsing anti-Palestinian pogroms.

      1. my apologies, richard. I should have expressed myself with greater restraint, I regret the disrespect.

        your updates are sufficient, & at least you’re trying
        to get to the bottom of this. the report has
        been posted elsewhere,but none of those posters are trying to check the facts.

        1. Thanks for that apology. Neither David nor I have been able to confirm the claim of deaths. Though certainly several people have been shot and seriously injured, one of which is specifically witnessed & reported in David’s eyewitness report. When such weaponry is used on unarmed civilians it’s only a matter of time before someone WILL be killed, if they haven’t already.

          I have heard no report on any follow up either investigating or punishing those soldiers who participated in these incidents. This troubles as well.

  5. “Whether or not anyone was killed in Safa, Israeli soldiers and Border Police are active participants in pogroms. The fact that they may actually have not yet killed anyone is of lesser importance than the fact that the state is endorsing anti-Palestinian pogroms.”

    Once again, the horror of the event isn’t sufficient and you have to take it up a notch. The fact that soldiers in the uniform of the IDF or Border Police have participated in these acts of violence is shocking, but that doesn’t mean they are “state-endorsed”. Was the police brutality meted out to Rodney King stated-endorsed? Of course not. I don’t understand this leap of logic – if it’s state-endorsed that means that someone in the government has ordered the army to carry out a pogrom, hardly likely, even if only for PR reasons.

    If these standards of journalism were used in a JPost article on, say, Norwegian anti-Semitism, you’d rightly be blowing your top. Once again, double standards. There’s also, as ever, the not-so-subtle shifting of the goalposts. Before, four people had been killed and that was that. Now, it doesn’t matter if they were killed or not, the point is this is a state-sponsored pogrom. As the great Statik Selectah says, Stick 2 tha Script.

    1. It certainly does mean it was state-endorsed. When the police arrest every single officer of the state who discharged a weapon during these ongoing pogroms and charges them with the serious violations of law in which they’ve engaged, then we can talk about whether the state endorses or denounces such egregious behavior. Till then, I’ll stick with the terminology I’ve chosen.

      if it’s state-endorsed that means that someone in the government has ordered the army to carry out a pogrom

      I didn’t say “state-ordered” I said “state endorsed.” Endorsements can be implicit or ex post facto. These pogroms have happened over quite an extended period of time. If the State was troubled by anything that happened it had ample opportunity to put a stop to it & show its displeasure. It didn’t. A few IDF soldiers were arrested a few days ago though far fewer than they actually assaulted the Palestinian village.

  6. Richard, you have a lot of kindred spirits in Israel. Wouldn’t they raise a ruckus over a cover-up like the one you are describing? What about Ahmed Tibi and the Arab Knesset members, if you don’t think MERETZ is militant enough? Wouldn’t they raise a stink, or are they part of the conspiracy, too?

  7. “A few IDF soldiers were arrested a few days ago though far fewer than they actually assaulted the Palestinian village.”

    I don’t understand what you mean by this.

    1. What’s not to understand? Numbers of Border Police, IDF & settlers shot up this village on multiple occassions. I read that 4 were detained. Do you think only 4 people engaged in the atrocious acts Shulman described? The number is clearly far higher.

    1. Geez, if bullets were whizzing over my head I don’t think I’d stop to get a good look at how many were shooting at me. But you know Bat Ayin and its history of supporting anti-Arab terror including planting bombs outside a Palestinian girl’s school. Do you think there were only four shooters? If the question is important to you David Shulman’s e mail address is available online through his school & you can ask him.

    1. I know what your question was. And my answer is precisely the same as it was before. All the IDF/Border Police have to do is confiscate the weapons of any members who live or serve in the area & examine them for discharge. Then they’ll know how many participated. But will they? Once again, if this question exercises you e mail David.

  8. Fair enough.
    Btw, whatever your updates at the top said, if this story was about Palestinians killing Israelis, you would not be sticking to the line about four people being killed.
    Once again, double standards.

    1. How tiresome. I’m not “sticking” to any line on this. It’s clear from the updates that David and I are still trying to clarify whether anyone was killed. When there is something definite to report you will see it here. Till then, find something else here to complain about.

      You might want to spend a little time considering the substance of this post, which is that Israeli police and army colluded with settlers in a potentially lethally pogrom. That’s something you easily gloss over with a “tut tut” and then it’s on to whatever is really bugging you.

  9. I don’t gloss over it with a tut tut. Go to my website and you’ll see I frequently draw my readers’ attention to awful episodes such as this. So, once again, for the record, it is awful. But you’re not helping anyone by leaving up an unsubstantiated claim about four people being killed. Accuracy is of the utmost importance.

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