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A Jewish protester is forced down by police (Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff March 16, 2008 |
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| Jewish protesters confront police (Flash90) |
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22 Jews were arrested Sunday in Jabel Mukaber, in southern Jerusalem, after nationalist demonstrators entered the village to try and tear down the home of the terrorist who murdered eight yeshiva boys 10 days ago. After 8:00 P.M., the police declared the demonstration illegal and dispersed the protesters with force. Two police officers were lightly hurt.
There was damage to property inside the village, including cars and homes, after Arabs and Jews clashed, throwing stones at each other.
At 5 pm, hundreds of nationalist Jews gathered at the Armon HaNatziv promenade and proceeded toward Jabel Mukaber. Posters announcing the protest were directed against "Israeli Arabs" and said: ""The Arab enemy is inside Jerusalem! The mourning period is over. It's time to destroy the terrorist's house and wipe out the evil from our midst. The Arab enemy within us, in Lod, Akko and Wadi Ara, and in Jerusalem, supports and encourages murder of Jews." They added: "In the face of the state authorities' inaction, we shall come ourselves and do what needs to be done as representatives of the People of Israel."
The protesters marched through the streets of the village, carrying signs wthat said "Expel the Arab enemy," and "Israel for Israelis," while some chanted "Death to Arabs." The protesters called for revenge, and one told Ynet, "We are fed up with keeping silent. Jewish blood will not be abandoned. It's time to stop the defamation of God and this disgrace. We are going to destroy the terrorist's house."
Before of the protest, hundreds of police took up positions within Jabel Mukaber and outside it, in the hope of preventing the demonstrators from entering the village. However, several dozen Jews managed to go around the police roadblocks and enter the village. They did not succeed in reaching the home of the terrorist, Ala Abu Dheim, but they did reach some houses on the outskirts of the village. Video aired on Channel 2 TV showed a group of about a dozen youths throwing rocks at cars and at a home, smashing car windshields with metal bars.
Among the protesters were Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh in Samaria and Rabbi Dudi Dudkevich of Yitzhar. Holding a megaphone, Dudkevich told the gathered: "These Arabs are supposedly 'our' Arabs, but they are no less dangerous [than those in Judea and Samaria] and their home must be destroyed. The Arabs in this village celebrated the murder and the State of Israel must destroy the terrorist's house."
A Magen David Adom paramedic by the name of Yosef told Arutz7 that Arabs were throwing rocks at Jews on a massive scale, and the police were not doing anything against the Arabs. Plainclothes police were on the scene in large numbers and making arrests, as well as police on horseback. The police, wearing full riot gear, confronted the Jews forcefully and made arrests. Police said some of the Jews threw detonators at them.
In the end, near 9:00 P.M., the Jews who were not in police vans prayed, sang Purim songs and dispersed.
Moshe Musa Cohen, a Komemiyut organizer, told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine about the initiative: "It's been over a week, and our government has not yet provided a real response to the slaughter in Merkaz HaRav. The same government that destroyed thousands of homes in Gush Katif can't destroy the home of just one terrorist? The still-standing home of the terrorist is a symbol of the government's weakness and failure to act. They want quiet while they carry out their mistaken diplomatic policies, and are generally unwilling to take action, and that's why the house is still standing."
"They keep talking about completing the partition fence," Cohen said, "yet this terrorist came from within the fence! He is a full-fledged resident of Israel." Most Arabs of eastern Jerusalem are residents with near-total citizenship rights, except for the right to vote in national elections. In 1980, when Israel annexed the entire city of Jerusalem, the Arab residents were given the right to full citizenship, just like the other Arabs of Israel, if they would learn Hebrew and pledge allegiance to the country; most of them refused.
"When a country is afraid to deal with its enemies in its own capital," Cohen said, "that is a sign of bankruptcy.... For us, it is hard to sit quietly; we want to express our protest and destroy the house."
Cohen does not expect to fulfill his second objective of destroying the house: "The same police whose men stayed outside Merkaz HaRav while the terrorist massacred the students, will be out in force to make sure that we don't get close to the house. But at least we will get our message across: We have an Arab enemy in Israel, and we must protect ourselves and fight against him."
"There is a fifth column inside the State of Israel," Cohen said, "and that is the Israeli-Arabs. We don't see a solution to this problem."
Nadia Matar of Women in Green, a protest organizer, said: "Today's protest is an important one. It begins a new campaign regarding the future of our country, and it is good that this issue is being raised.... The government has not razed the house because it is afraid of the Arab MKs' reaction -- just like it is afraid to attack Gaza and stop the Kassams. The government thus does not represent Jewish interests."
Tensions have been rising since the massacre, as the Israeli government has taken no action against the home of the murder. According to Arutz 7, Rabbi Menachem Brod of the Young Chabad movement wrote in a weekend publication:
"If there is something more horrific than the terrible massacre of the yeshiva students hunched over their Torah texts, it is the quick return to the daily routine and the indications that the government is not planning to do a thing to respond appropriately to this crime. Nearly 52 years ago, we saw similar photos when terrorists infiltrated Kfar Chabad and shot and killed five students and a teacher as they were praying Maariv [the evening prayer]. This event was one of the factors that caused the Government of Israel to begin the Kadesh Operation [Suez Canal War of 1956]. But today, the government merely suffices with an expression of sorrow.
"In the past, this type of event was called a pogrom. Jewish communities were aroused to demand that the world not stand silently in the face of Jewish bloodshed. We used to be told that the establishment of the State of Israel was in order to prevent Jewish blood from being spilled wantonly - but now it turns out that the Jewish State is the only place in the world where yeshiva students can be massacred, and within a few days everything is back to normal, as if this is something we must learn to live with." |
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