UPDATE: I’ve just published a new piece at Mint Press News on the massive campaign launched by the Israel Lobby to defeat the Iran nuclear deal. Please read it and promote it via your social media accounts and among family and friends.
Last week, I reported here the scoop that Israel’s Shin Bet had arrested three suspected Jewish terrorists responsible for burning the Church of Loaves and Fishes in the Galilee, while defacing the holy site with anti-Christian graffiti.
Today, I have a new scoop which further develops this story. The intelligence services have arrested another two suspects in this terror assault. They are Moshe Shachor (a minor) and Moshe Orbach, age 23. Their names are under gag order and may not be reported inside Israel.
Orbach is a notorious settler terrorist who’s been banned from the West Bank by Shabak for previous attacks. He was arrested after the 2012 attack on the Latrun Monastery, but (unsurprisingly) charges against him and all other suspects were dropped last year (English-language report).
Last week, I reported the arrest of three other suspected arsonists, Yinon Reuveni (age 19), Mordechai Gedalia Margalit (age 18),Yehuda Yedidia Asraf. All their names remain under gag order.
There are now a total of five suspects in custody. As I’ve written before, these arrests offer the false impression that the security services are on top of Jewish terrorism. They mollify liberal Zionists inside and outside Israel who can now say an arrest means the State takes action against such crimes. In truth, little or nothing will come of this. This outcome is useful as well since the Likud can now say to its far-right constituency that it has disciplined offenders but been lenient with them.
Everyone is happy…except justice itself, which weeps. Israel doesn’t believe in justice on such matters. There are all sorts of considerations and self-interest that trump such absolute, unattainable principles like justice. These are young idealistic youth, so the Israeli narrative goes, who’ve diverged from the proper path. How will harsh treatment accomplish anything except giving Israel’s enemies the sense that they’ve achieved a victory in their efforts to delegitimize Israel by turning good Jewish boys into criminals?
Why won’t you call it justicewashing?
If an individual Israeli citizen does something bad, we are all criminals, haters etc but something is done right, it is a mere PR stunt, pinkwashing, greenwashing or mamawashing.
Israel actually does something right involving Christian and Muslim Arabs? That is news indeed, perhaps you can enlighten us on some actual things “done right” in this arena because we all hear about times when Israeli Jews kill a Palestinian here and another there, we all hear about Arab crops destroyed by Jews, we all hear about the humiliations showered upon Palestinians and how their properties are confiscated to favor Jews and on and on and on and on…
Do tell, please!
You should visit media outlets other than ‘Tikun’ Olam, Mondoweiss and +972.
If all you look for is the bad image or twisting facts around to make them look bad, you are on the right blog.
@ Eilati: The only reason Jafar & I are able to rebut your hasbara so easily is because we read the right-wing sources from which you learn your talking points.
[You have been moderated. Further violations of comment rules will result in being banned.]
Doing something right and so everything wrong should be forgotten ?????? This same logic is all the time presented by Israeli Jews and their supporters. They say more or less directly that do not care of those Palestinians we kill, because in Syria etc are killed much more. Hmmm …..
In the Tel Aviv University’s anti-Semitism database (Moshe Kantor Database) is categorized as Anti-Semitic Activities – Violent Incidents – Harassment when some drunk had peed on the fence of the Jewish Community in Helsinki. The Jewish security claimed that the man had spoken some words of Arabic, but obviously they refused to call and ask the Finnish police to handle this unknown “violent Arab attacker” in Israeli slang “Arab thhhherrorist”. Most certainly the man was some local Finnish drunk on the way back home from restaurant and he did not know that there is a Jewish property behind the fence. Also there is another “Violent Incidents – Attacks” when some nut had called a Finnish Jewish member of parliament, then speaker of parliament, with the less polite Finnish expression “jutku”. The MP did not make a criminal complain of the event. The anti-Semitism database is full of such “serious” violence events and anti-Semitism happening also in other European countries. The database is used in those widely spread studies of the terrible “increasing” anti-Semitism in Europe. Compare the seriousness and frequency to the databases “attacks” to the reality of Palestinians, Muslims and Christians have to encounter daily in Israel and occupied areas.
Now the question is of burning one important Christian Church. But behind this event are countless killings, arsons of Mosques and other buildings, destroyed cemeteries, racist graffities etc against Muslims which are never solved. Now a Palestinian throwing stones can be put in prison for 20 years. In You Tube by writing “settler throwing stones” one gets about 2,800 hits of videos, where in many of those videos Israeli Jews are throwing stones on Palestinians. Is a single one of them in prison even they have not even bothered to mask them selves and the video is enough evidence for the police and court. Israeli Jewish soldiers arrest even children, Palestinians naturally only, of the age of 5 to 6 years for claimed stone throwing. By the way “settler spitting” produces 1,150 hits, “settler olive trees” 1,450 hits etc. Jewish police and courts could easily fill their prisons with criminal Jews terrorizing and provoking Palestinians simply using the public video evidence. But it does not. When a Palestinian boy throws a stone tens of heavily armed police and soldiers are sent to hunt them. Just like in 30’s guess where ….
It is this unbelievable hypocrisy and massive use of propaganda is mildly said irritating for many western people. This constant howling of being harassed outside Israel and on the same time harassing people on a massive scale inside Israel and demanding others to shut up of it, will eventually turn against all Jews around the world.
Do you know how many churches and mosques have been burnt last year in the Middle East?
@ gilead cohen: Almost none in western countries. And when they happen the full force of the state is called into action to investigate, prosecute & punish the perpetrators, unlike in Israel where the will is absent generally.
Isn’t that the standard by which you’d prefer Israel to be judged? Or do you prefer to be judged by the standards of Pakistan and Iraq?
And how does the alleged fact of church burnings in foreign countries mitigate Israeli Jewish crimes?
” Or do you prefer to be judged by the standards of Pakistan and Iraq? ”
Shit yeah. Why not? They’re human beings same as Jews. Right?
Nazi’s were human beings too. And now what do you say?
Could you specify your standards please?
How low do you want to go before you start to have a pang of conscience?
@Elizabeth
Nazis were members of a political party. Pakistanis, Iraqis, Jews and Germans aren’t political parties. they are national groupings.
Mitchell Blood if Nazis in your mind are/were a political party, which can not be compared with Pakistanis, Iraqis, Jews and Germans, which are not political parties, then do not forget that Zionists are a political movement. So “we” can compare Nazis and Zionists? Right or wrong mr. Blood?
@Sumo
Sure. Knock yourself out.
Is this the end of Christianity in the Middle East? Via NYT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/magazine/is-this-the-end-of-christianity-in-the-middle-east.html?_r=0
Let’s see a show of hands:how many of you believe this extremist Israeli government would, if it could (get away with it), expel/ ethnically cleanse non-Jews from Israel?
@Richard
“..how many of you believe this extremist Israeli government would, if it could (get away with it), expel/ ethnically cleanse non-Jews from Israel? ”
That would surely end Israel’s tourism industry. No?
Tourists and citizens are a different thing. You are being intentionally stupid, in your earlier comment as well, so as to derail discussion here. Don’t think we do not notice that.
You did not answer my question, I asked:”in the Middle East” see Mitchell Blood response
“Almost none?”
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/22/france-jewish-shops-riot_n_5608612.html
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/synagogue-arson-in-germany-not-anti-semitism-says-judge/2015/02/07/
http://www.vosizneias.com/179053/2014/09/16/brusseles-belgian-synagogue-hit-by-suspected-arson-attack/
We can go on and on… ah! but the is justified because of the Gaza war, isn’t it?
BTW, not everyone who doesn’t agree with you is from the “Hasbara”, this is just you being paranoid.
@ Dani: Israel is a small country of 7 million. If we add up the populations of all western countries in which there have been arson attacks against churches, mosques or synagogues we reach populations in the hundreds of millions or perhaps even a billion people. If we compare per capita arson attacks in Israel to those in these western countries Israel will fare very, very poorly I assure you.
FYI:
http://www.themarker.com/news/1.2691094
If the data in this story is correct, then 134 complaints were filed last year to the Malmo police regarding assaults incidents on the Jewish community, which counts to only 400 members, that’s 1 in 3.
The same happens in France and Belgium. Jews are targeted and don’t feel safe anymore, that’s a fact, and this is why so many do Aliya, even though financially they are better of in their native countries. Considering this, I am not sure that the personal safety for Israeli-Arabs in Israel (excluding the West Bank of course) is worse than that of Jews in Sweden, France or Belgium.
Mitchell if israel would be happy to be ranked as a third world country how should we look at this claim then: “….Israel is the forward position of European civilization. Israel is the bulwark of European values. Israel is a pluralist, vibrant multi-party democracy.” (Netanyahu in a recent speech to the foreign press) ?
This has nothing to do with developing countries or not but rather countries with high friction between groups.
With number of non-Christian immigrants in Europe being lower then 10%, Europe has high violence towards&from those groups.
@ Eilati: Inter-ethnic tension/violence/hate in Israel is as high or higher than in Europe. And such conflict within Pakistan, African and Asian (Burma, Thailand) countries is MUCH higher as Arie correctly noted.
The examples mentioned were Pakistan and Iraq. These are generally regarded as third world countries. And countries “with high friction between groups” are mostly, though not exclusively, third world countries.
Furthermore the talk was not of violence in general but of attacks on church buildings – those are quite rare in Europe. Finally, I would like to see a source for your claim that migrant groups in Europe suffer “high violence” (that is, in the context of this discusssion, more than in a number of third world countries, and Israel).