By Ryan Jones
September 20, 2005
In October of 2000, as the violent intifada erupted, thousands of Arab citizens of Israel joined their Islamic brothers over the Green Line in a campaign of violence against the Jewish state.
They massed in towns such as Nazareth and Umm el-Fahm throughout northern Israel, assaulting Jewish police and civilians alike with stones, bricks, slingshots, and just about anything else they could get their hands on.
One Israeli civilian was killed, several police were wounded, and Israeli officers were forced to work under life-threatening conditions day in and day out.
As the situation reached boiling point, the police began to respond with the kind of force needed to protect their own lives and put an end to what had the potential of becoming a civil war between Israeli Jews and Arabs.
The result was 13 dead Arabs and a restoration of calm, at least on the streets.
In the courts, Arab families and their attorneys screamed for "justice" against the security forces that had dared to respond in kind to their kin's seditious violence.
A commission of inquiry was established and an internal police investigation began. But the case was closed this week after insufficient evidence was found to convict any police officers of criminal behavior.
The reaction among many of Israel's Arabs and leftist Jews has been nothing short of outrage.
An interesting and disturbing parallel exists here.
While the Arab mobs in 2000 did in fact engage in rebellion against the state and its symbols of authority, those on the left will never admit as much and those on the right seem to be keeping mum on the issue all together.
Now compare that to the situation not more than two months ago when enormous crowds of Israeli Jews were demonstrating peacefully and without violence against the plan to uproot the settlements in Gaza and northern Samaria.
During one such demonstration in the Negev town of Kfar Maimon, tens of thousands of pro-Land of Israel Jews came face to face with an equal number of police officers and soldiers, but did not lift even one finger against their countrymen.
Despite the lack of violence and seditious intent, Opposition Leader Tommy Lapid thundered on Israel's Channel One News that an open rebellion against the state was in progress.
Lapid's take on the situation was shared by a great many Israelis to the left of the political spectrum, while many rightist Jews eager to avoid being labeled "un-democratic" by their left-wing brothers attempted to explain away the phenomenon.
In Israel it seems Jews who hold fast to their birthright on biblical grounds are today deemed by some a greater threat and liability to national interests and security than Arab citizens of the state who at the first opportunity would join enemy efforts to destroy this nation.
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