Time and again we see public figures praise the "shahids" (martyrs) whenever a Palestinian kills Jews. They include key figures in the Arab community, including MKs, but also "human rights activists" and "peace advocates" who accept with resignation the Palestinians' willingness to treat every Jew killer as a role model for Palestinian society.
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They want to get Israelis to have mercy on a terrorist who has been shot as he perpetrated an attack, and are not embarrassed when he turns out to be anything but an innocent person. This dovetails with a much worse phenomenon, which is deeply etched into the failed political culture of this region and is common among many in the Arab elites: shedding responsibility for the actions of their own people.
This was once again on display last week: A young Palestinian man carried out a ramming attack after recording a video message vowing to sacrifice for the Palestinian cause. He was shot and killed during his attack, prompting Arab MKs and peace activists to mischaracterize the events that had unfolded prior to his death.
Some said he was on his way to a bridal salon to help his sister prepare for her wedding. Others went so far as to call him a martyr and even called his death a "murder." A leading Palestinian official said he was "shot in cold blood." And a prominent peace activist in Israel said that the "ramming attack never happened," lamenting that the Israeli public doesn't care and won't hear about the family's grief. The list goes on.
And then there are the Arab riots in Jaffa, which include violence against city officials in protest of a court-sanctioned construction project because it is on a site that had been a cemetery before Israel was founded and has been used as a soccer field for dozens of years.
The speakers in the protests have included a prominent member of the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch, which has been outlawed. He described Israel as sucking the blood and resources of the Arab world, and on Friday, the crowds chanted, "Khaybar, Khaybar, Ya Yahud, Jaysh Muhammad Sa Yaud," warning the Jews that the Arabs will slaughter them like the Prophet Mohammed's forces did to the Jews of the Arab Peninsula in the Battle of Khaybar. And then there is the Arab Knesset party that praised the massacre of Jews in 1929.
Whenever there are cases of domestic violence in Arab Israeli society, its leaders shed responsibility for the root cause of the problem and blame the police for not doing enough. But the majority of Arab Israelis believe that the political culture is responsible for this, and less than 40% accept the leadership's narrative.
What connects all this behavior, including the solidarity with terrorists and the manipulative use of religious feelings to engage in nationalist incitement, is the view that there is no need to step up to the plate.
The collective, not the individual, usually lets the radical and destructive forces take center stage, creating obstacles for Arab Israelis in their path toward integration. The apologists who have tried to explain away this phenomenon are doing a disservice to Arab society.
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