INTO THE FRAY: “Terror”, tigers and tabby cats…

For your perusal, my latest INTO THE FRAY column:

“Terror”, tigers and tabby cats…

(Kindly consider “liking”, sharing, tweeting – please use hash-tag ‪#‎IntoFray)


Arson in the village of Duma: One of several arson attacks not attributed to Jewish perpetrators

One cannot but think that if another country treated Jews, wearing “kippot” and “peyot”, the way Jewish minors, accused of “terror” are treated in Israel, it would surely be engulfed in a wave of outrage and condemned for blatant anti-Semitism

It appears this week on the following sites (in alphabetical order):

ISRAELI FRONTLINE : (To be posted)
ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23257
ISRAPUNDIT: https://www.israpundit.org/into-the-fray-terror-tigers-and-tabby-cats/
JERUSALEM HERALD: (To be posted)
JEWISH PRESS: https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/columns/into-the-fray-martin-sherman/into-the-fray-terror-tigers-and-tabby-cats/2019/01/07/
JNS: https://www.jns.org/opinion/terror-tigers-and-tabby-cats/
JEWS DOWN UNDER: https://jewsdownunder.com/2019/01/04/into-the-fray-terror-tigers-and-tabby-cats/
MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@martinsherman/into-the-fray-terror-tigers-and-tabby-cats-af4cdc36f32f
TORONTO ZIONIST COUNCIL: http://strategic-israel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TZC-Newsletter-2019-01-05-.pdf (Newsletter-including pieces from: Caroline Glick, Daniel Greenfield, Dov Lipman and others)

Several short excerpts:

This was a week, in which there was much for the citizens of Israel to be concerned about…The bulk of the headlines was taken up by reports of the appalling behavior of the nation’s elected politicians, proving beyond doubt that few—if any—are deserving of the public’s confidence in their ability to lead the country—and probably raising once heretical doubts in the minds of more than a few young Israelis, on the eve of their induction into the IDF.

But that was not the only thing that should have perturbed the public.

Detained without access to counsel

On Sunday, three Jewish minors were arrested on unspecified charges of terror and detained without access to counsel. The initial court proceedings were not open to the public and a gag order was imposed on the investigation. Accordingly, we do not know what transgressions the detainees are alleged to have perpetrated—other than, according to incessant media reports, they are purportedly “grave”…

“Terror is terror. Whether…from Arabs or Jews”

State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan: “Terror is terror”

…In Israel, the use of such detention without trial is almost universally limited to security-related offenses—particularly, terrorism…Indeed, that this was the rationale for the incarceration of the minors this week was confirmed by State Prosecutor, Shai Nitzan, just after an Israeli district court extended the remand of the three Jewish minors on suspicion of involvement in a Jewish terror plot. Addressing a conference following the court decision, Nitzan proclaimed: “Terror is terror. Whether it comes from Arabs or Jews”…

Misplaced evenhandedness: Stray tabbies are not Bengal tigers

…to attempt to lump together the actions of scrawny, ideologically-driven Jewish teenagers, on the one hand, and the activities of Arab/Muslim terrorist organizations on the other, under the same undifferentiated heading is no less misleading than claiming that because stray tabby cats and man-eating Bengal tigers are both undomesticated, striped feline carnivores, they pose similar threats and must be dealt with in the same manner…

Tabbies and tigers (cont.)

…Indeed, to adopt this “even-handed” approach is both a dangerous and detrimental

Bus destroyed by Arab terror in Jerusalem

distortion…It blurs what should be a crucial qualitative distinction between two very different manifestations of “the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims”:

– The one, blatantly conducted by the Arab and Muslim world against Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people; the other, purportedly conducted by a handful of Jewish fringe elements, against a hostile Arab population, largely supportive of the violence conducted against Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people…

Counterproductive “evenhandedness”

…But there is another caveat which those hand-wringing, moralistic mea culpa circles should heed. For although they may think that mindlessly reciting “terror is terror is…” somehow affords them the moral high ground and that their “even-handed” outrage enhances Israel’s standing abroad—quite the opposite is true… those who strive to equate Arab terrorism, and the terrorist organizations that perpetrate and propagate it, on the one hand, and the ideologically motivated crimes of renegade radical Jews, on the other, do a massive disservice to the country and its international standing…

Cause for concern

…there is an additional, and possibly sinister, cause for concern…Since the 2015 arson in the Palestinian-Arab village of Duma, in which three members of the Dawabshe family were burnt to death, there has been a series of extra-judicial incarceration of Jews, including minors. These have raised considerable doubts as to the integrity of the investigative process and the conduct of the security services and police…

Concern (cont.)

Meir Ettinger: Released after 10 months detention without charge

…In light of the harsh treatment and long periods of detention without trial or access to counsel, this series of judicial censure cannot but arouse a sense of acute apprehension as to the impartiality and equity meted out to certain sectors of the population…Indeed, one cannot but  think that if another country treated Jews, wearing “kippot” and “peyote”, the way the Jewish minors, accused of “terror” are treated in Israel, it would surely be engulfed in a wave of outrage and condemned for blatant anti-Semitism…

Full disclosure: My personal bias

I confess that I have a strong personal bias in favor of Israel’s security forces and little empathy for the “hilltop” youth, neither for their theocratic political doctrine, nor their purported modus operandi for its implementation…I would like nothing better than to feel I could place blind faith in the Shin Bet’s determination of guilt and the authenticity of the case brought against Jewish detainees.

Sadly this is not the case.

As usual your talkbacks/comments/critiques welcome,
Best wishes,
MS

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