After the tires of the vehicle of veteran settlement builder Ze’ev Chever (Zambish) were slashed in an apparent price tag attack, Settlement Council leader Danny Dayan released a statement condemning the violence.
It should be added that while Dayan did not fall over himself condemning every attack attributed to price tag extremists as government officials did, he did condemn attacks perpetrated against IDF vehicles and bases.
What is significant is Dayan admits that when attacks were perpetrated against Arabs, motions put before his council to release a statement condemning such attacks were defeated, with a policy position set in place that the council would remain silent in the face of price tag attacks against Arabs.
In his scathing criticism of price tag attacks, Dayan warned those responsible for these acts present a greater threat to the settlement movement and its future that the prime minister and defense minister. He added “We cannot remain silent any longer. We will not be halted with punctured tires”.
One of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion Rabbi Yaakov Median, who has released harsh criticism against price tag extremists in the past, stated “we have woken up too late”. Rav Meidan has been a long time critic of the Yesha Council’s silence and has repeatedly called on rabbonim to condemn acts of violence perpetrated by Jews.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
Hmmmm.
My knee jerk reaction is to condemn. But is that because I think they are wrong, or because I think that their actions are unproductive and politically harmful?
I mean, the arabs sneak into settlements and stab sleeping babies; so these guys go burn a few arab fields.
The idea that the Arabs should pay a price, that they should suffer whenever we suffer, is obviously legitimate. It goes back all the way to the days of the Mandate, when Etzel said that if we have to live in fear then so will they. The same applies to the IDF; it must know that it can’t act against Jews with impunity.