Amos Oz, who ranks among the notable Israeli authors, last week compared the so-called Hilltop Youths with Neo Nazis. He told the media “I have been speaking about the occupation for 50 years. If there are not two states very soon then there will only be one nation, an Arab one and if there is an Arab nation I do not envy the Jews that will be a part of it…”
Oz feels terms including “price tag” are a whitewash for he views the attacks as far more serious and insists authorities must view the attacks as such.
Right-wing MKs were quick to respond, including Bayit Yehudi’s Shuli Muallem, who pointed out those youths had parents and grandparents in concentration camps too. Housing Minister Uri Ariel and fellow party member MK Yoni Chetboun expressed disgust over the remarks, stating “such words cheapen the Holocaust and the victims”.
The Shomron Residents Committee filed a complaint with police, accusing Oz of violating state laws prohibiting incitement to racism.
Others explained that while price tag attacks are unacceptable, they generally involve spray paint and slashing tires or other property damage, questioning how a sane individual can compare such acts to the Nazi atrocities.
In the meantime, the government is working to come down harder on persons arrested for price tag attacks. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is seeking to amend the law to permit holding a suspect in administrative detention, without charging him with a crime. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni feels that the sentence for a price tag conviction should be up to ten years imprisonment, and she wants to grant that authority to a lone district court level judge instead of requiring a panel of justices for such a harsh conviction. Livni’s bill, which also includes steps to expedite the judicial process against price tag suspects, will be discussed by the Ministerial Law Committee on Sunday, 11 Iyar.
Yediot Achronot reports that police announced since the beginning of 2014, 78 price tag cases have been opened, 102 suspected were questioned/arrested and 37 criminal indictments were filed. Officials are quoted saying the suspects are generally from Yehuda and Shomron, with the majority being from Yishuv Yitzhar and nearby hilltop communities.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
You note Oz’s severe racism against Arabs. He holds it is impossible for Jews to live at peace with Arabs unless Jews arer ruling the Arabs, and that relegating the Arabs to their own inferior entity is the only solution. No wonder most of the world perceives zionisms as being similar to apartheid. And Oz’s is considered to be dove-ish liberal?????
1. Your comment is not understood. Please explain yourself.
2. Oz is racist to arabs?
3. And no, zionism is not similar to apartheid.
4. Yes, he is considered to be dovish liberal, and if I may say so, leftist as well. What is the question?
Give it up Akuperma – it ain’t funny. The fact that 69 years after WWII Yidden twiddle their yeshiva thumbs and darshen in support of Jewish racist and intolerant attacks on others is quite a sad statement. Ain’t that right Leo?
Amos Oz belongs to the self-hating Jew club.
I feel that although attacks are wrong, the youth is responding out of helplessness, as the feeling is very strong that there’s no leaders on the Jews’ side, everyone cares only about the arabs.
that’s part of “הגר אשר בקרבך יעלה עליך מעלה מעלה, ואתה תרד מטה מטה”…
Akuperma is right on the money. Oz said that he’s afraid for Jews who would have to live under Arab rule. That’s a racist remark–is he implying that Arabs don’t treat Jews properly? Of course, Oz (The Wizard of? Doctor?) said it to scare the Jews into giving the Arabs whatever they want, which makes him, at heart, a racist of a different persuasion.
To torahandmidot
It is a waste of time to question akuperman’s logic because most of the time it is not existent. You see, he (or she, who really knows) is so filled with hatred and disgust with the state of Israel, or the zionists, as he calls them, that it has become his Raison d’être. His comments often have nothing to do with the content of the article and therefore his comments make little or no sense in the context of the article. The article just serves as a platform for him to express his anti Zionist rhetoric.
May I suggest that we read the article carefully. Mr. Oz (neither wizard not Dr.) compared the “price tag” perpetrators to neo-Nazis, not the Nazis who actually carried out the Holocaust. That is a minor distinction, but a distinction nonetheless. As my readers know, I am extremely wary of comparisons of contemporary persons or events to Nazis and the Holocaust, as it wrongly diminishes the horror of the Holocaust and distorts and inhibits conscientious discussion and analysis.
If I were willing to compare the “price tag” attacks to a Nazi-era event (which I am not), I think the closest comparison would be to Kristallnacht. The crimes committed were generally vandalism, though many Jews ( I think about 100) were killed in the attacks. One important feature of Kristallnacht was the deliberate failure of German civil authorities to protect the lives and property of its Jewish citizens. That is not how the Israeli government has responded – in fact, the Israeli government has, B”H, had the opposite response.
The “price tag” attackers are contemptible, in my view, but comparing them to neo-Nazis merely diverts the discussion away from the facts, as can be seen in many of the comments posted here.