A little background. Nazareth is a large Israeli-Arab city in the Galilee. The police chief of the region in which Nazareth lies is Commander Alik Ron. Barely a month ago, Alik Ron was the subject of wrath from Israeli Arab community leaders and Members of Knesset when he stated that these community leaders and Members of Knesset were inciting the Israeli Arab community in the north to violence against Israeli Police officers. These community leaders and Members of Knesset called for his resignation then, a resignation that was neither forthcoming nor demanded by his superiors. At the same time, Ron was hailed by Nationalist Jews in Israel for his forthright statements and his acknowlegement, finally, of a state of affairs that has long been the truth.
Meretz, you will remember, is the only Jewish pro-Arab party in the Knesset. They are supported from outside the Knesset by the Peace Now organization, long a hotbed of Jewish self-hate and anti-Zionism. Peace Now's former chief anti-Semite, Mossy Raz, is currently a Meretz member of Knesset.
Really, Sarid's call today is not all that surprising, given this background. But it is nonetheless a cause for concern. For the past two weeks, Israel has been at the mercy of the Arabs who live in our midst. D aily Arab rioting, shooting, and even kidnapping, have taken place throughout the country. The violence has increased daily, and has resulted in Israel pulling its forces off the Temple Mount and out of Joseph's tomb unilaterally, and the placing in danger of Israel's other holy sites. It has resulted in 89 deaths as of this evening, and yet it escalates.
And today, after 12 days of violence, Sarid calls for a commission of inquiry into a riot instigated by Jews.
For the past 12 days, Sarid has not seen fit to call for an investigation. After all, to his mind, the past 12 days of violence have been deserved. But for Jews to stand to their own defense in Israel is unconscionable to Sarid.
Most newscasts these days feature various national representatives - parliamentarians, security officials, police officers, army officers, and others - claiming that the government's response has been weak. By pulling troops off the Temple Mount and out of Joseph's Tomb, and handing these areas to the Palestinians as a reward for their murderous rampages, these officials claim, the government has been showing weakness and encouraging even greater violence. There is much truth to these claims, and Ehud Barak will long be remembered not as the greatest soldier in Israeli history, but as the greatest coward.
But not all of this is Barak's fault. The weakness in Israeli society, for it pervades the right as well as the left, is one that is epidemic proportions. And it is cowards like Yossi Sarid who are at fault for this weakness. It is their self-hate, their anti-Semitism, that is the root cause of the weakness that infests Israeli society.
Dr. Yoram Hazony recently published a book describing the historical revisionism that is prevalent in the Israeli curriculum, where students are taught that the Jewish state was born out of the criminal activity of its pioneers, and that the displaced Arabs are the real victims of the war while the Jews who created the State were the oppressors. This curriculum is the product of the same weakness that has now become so entrenched in the government that even ardent nationalists like Benjamin Netanyahu have no hope of expunging it from our national consciousness.
If Yossi Sarid is really interested in a commission of inquiry, let him inquire about the school curriculum. After all, he is a past education minister, and has aspirations to return to the post. He can also inquire about the weakness that has allowed the Arab rioting to go unchecked for two weeks, and that has lead to increasing frustration and fear among Jews in Israel.
It is that frustration and fear, and the apparent inability of the government and the army to quash the violence that is now causing citizens to take the law into their own hands. Nazareth was not the first scene of spontaneous anti-Arab demonstrations this week. But the idea that Jews would go out and riot on Yom Kippur while they are fasting and while they need to conserve their energy, tells me that the frustration is now at a fever pitch.
And this frustration is not the fault of the Jewish citizens of Israel. It is the fault of Yossi Sarid and his followers who have injected this society with such self-hatred that Israel's military and political paralysis is the only logical result. If there is to be an investigation, let it start with Sarid and his partners who have done more to destroy this country that all the Arab rioters ever could.
Copyright 2000. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
