'Absurdly, no one has managed to find the people behind the faces caught on camera'
Photo: George Ginsburg and Hassan Shaalan
Zoher Bahalul
Jewish extremists trying to provoke 'intifada'
Op-ed: What began with refined 'price tag' attacks may lead up to murder of Arab personality or blowing up of mosque or church.
Let me start by refuting the arguments which will be made in the coming days: "We didn't know," "we were surprised," "these are sporadic incidents," "the security forces are making the maximum effort to capture the perpetrators of the 'price tag' crimes"
and also "errant weeds," God forbid.
Moreover, how can one adopt the "we were surprised" expression, which has been infamous since the days of the Yom Kippur War, after rabbis with Divine permits, have been calling for the expulsion of Arabs from student dorms, and have even published their holy excuses on the different sites with their names and photos? Where exactly is the surprise?
How the hell can one claim "we didn't know" after malicious graffiti have been spray-painted in more than 10 Arab communities? And how can one hide behind this allegedly innocent argument, when those criminals, arrogantly and heartlessly, did not hesitate to arrive at the heart of Umm al-Fahm and provoke its residents in the middle of the night? Not to mention their violation of the holiest thing to the Arab minority in Israel – the mosques and churches.
Slippery Slope
Ophir Pines-Paz
Op-ed: When Jewish extremists torch mosques and spray graffiti like 'Arabs out,' we must remember the lessons of the Holocaust.
And how can one ignore the characteristics of these criminal acts, which have such a similar outline and nature, so that every sensible person should reach the conclusion that this is an organization.
Since conceptualization was born to reflect reality in the best way possible, let call a spade a spade: We are talking about an ideologically-motivated Jewish underground, perhaps even missionary, whose purpose is to inflame the situation and make transfer-supporting Israeli leaders speed up the execution of their racist idea and get rid of the Arab rioters once and for all.
The result is that we are being provoked in order to make us lose our discretion, and perhaps even our sanity and the civil self-discipline we imposed on ourselves, to create a reason for strengthening the definition of the Jewish and democratic state.
And yet, I have recently detected an attempt among my fellow people and residents of my town to get closer to the Israeliness. The crumbling Arab world spurred the Israeli Arab minority's belief that it must take action in order to integrate into the land of Zion, in high-tech and in the other systems of life. Our threatened identity, as if out of a realistic decree, became refined, and the attempt to get closer materialized, at least wistfully.
Until that satanic, demonic group suddenly emerged from the darkness, sowing chaos and touching the raw nerve of the Muslim and Christian minority. And if it goes on, ladies and gentlemen, the flare-up will surely arrive.
Once again I am thrown into conceptualization: The intifada is on its way, God forbid. It began with the refined price tag, and it may go on with the murder of an Arab personality or with the blowing up of a mosque or church. And at the end, like in a Greek tragedy, the victim will become the culprit.
And maybe someone will finally find not only a lead, but the actual criminals. Because so far, quite absurdly, no one has managed to find the people behind the faces caught on camera. Is this really an impossible mission for the Shin Bet and Israel's security forces?
Zoher Bahalul is an Israeli Arab journalist.
