Revenge?
Several hundred Orthodox Jewish protestors attacked the village of Jebel Mukaber outside Jerusalem on Sunday night and clashed with Israeli police who were there to protect it. Stones were thrown and 22 were arrested. The crowd intended to destroy the home of the terrorist Ala Abu Dhaim, who massacred yeshiva students in Jerusalem last week, but were unsuccessful. Although there were erroneous media reports that the home had been destroyed by the IDF, this is not the case.
Many people cannot understand why this has not been done, since it is the usual Israeli policy, and there is certainly anger that the killer is being celebrated there as another martyr for the Palestinian cause. The Minister for Security, Avi Dichter, has called for the home to be destroyed, but the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who has the responsibility for ordering such an action, has not responded.
There is legitimate anger against the perpetrators of the massacre, but the Shin Bet investigated early reports that Rabbis at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva had called for specific revenge against Palestinian leaders and determined that they were false and unfounded. It seems that some anti-religious elements in Israel were trying to make political points over the deaths of the yeshiva students.
On Monday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Israel for an official visit. She is due to address the Knesset in German, and that has caused some controversy. It seems that the law allows the Head of State of a country to address the Knesset in his native language, but in the case of Germany that is the President, and he has already done that. For the Chancellor, it requires that the Knesset itself must give permission for her to address them in German, and there was some opposition to this from some MKs who had lost relatives in the Holocaust. In the end the majority ruled that she could use German, although some MKs announced that they would walk-out.
Relations between Germany and Israel are still very sensitive, and since Israel needs German support in the EU for its stand against Iran, it is good that a diplomatic incident was averted. Still it is some kind of sweet revenge that the German Chancellor is here to address the Knesset.
In Krakow, Poland, hundreds of demonstrators, including some survivors of Schindler's List, marched to the square in the former Ghetto and said prayers for the dead. They were commemorating the destruction of the Ghetto starting on March 13, 1943 by German soldiers, during which they killed some 13,000 out of 16,000 inmates.
Many people cannot understand why this has not been done, since it is the usual Israeli policy, and there is certainly anger that the killer is being celebrated there as another martyr for the Palestinian cause. The Minister for Security, Avi Dichter, has called for the home to be destroyed, but the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, who has the responsibility for ordering such an action, has not responded.
There is legitimate anger against the perpetrators of the massacre, but the Shin Bet investigated early reports that Rabbis at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva had called for specific revenge against Palestinian leaders and determined that they were false and unfounded. It seems that some anti-religious elements in Israel were trying to make political points over the deaths of the yeshiva students.
On Monday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Israel for an official visit. She is due to address the Knesset in German, and that has caused some controversy. It seems that the law allows the Head of State of a country to address the Knesset in his native language, but in the case of Germany that is the President, and he has already done that. For the Chancellor, it requires that the Knesset itself must give permission for her to address them in German, and there was some opposition to this from some MKs who had lost relatives in the Holocaust. In the end the majority ruled that she could use German, although some MKs announced that they would walk-out.
Relations between Germany and Israel are still very sensitive, and since Israel needs German support in the EU for its stand against Iran, it is good that a diplomatic incident was averted. Still it is some kind of sweet revenge that the German Chancellor is here to address the Knesset.
In Krakow, Poland, hundreds of demonstrators, including some survivors of Schindler's List, marched to the square in the former Ghetto and said prayers for the dead. They were commemorating the destruction of the Ghetto starting on March 13, 1943 by German soldiers, during which they killed some 13,000 out of 16,000 inmates.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:49 PM
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