The public in Israel is currently being exposed to a disturbed uprising. It started with TikTok clips of sadistic abuse of Haredi Jews and developed into a frightening display of violence toward Jews in mixed cities. And not against the security forces that represents the "oppressive" and "thieving" establishment, but against the Jewish population.
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There will be time to discuss the Jewish response, some of which is moving and impressive in its show of solidarity, and the fringes of which are nauseatingly violent. But that minority is used as a smokescreen. It meets us on TV, in politicians' tweets, in messages from leaders of organizations: The Jews are responsible for the rioting. At first it was gentrification in Jaffa, then it was the entry into Al-Aqsa, then it was the barricades at Damascus Gate, and in between it was Itamar Ben-Gvir's presence at Sheikh Jarrah or a rapper on Facebook – and above all these, Public Security Minister Amir Ohana and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who are throwing fuel on the fire.
When settlers from Judea and Samaria show up to help the residents of Lod, the accusing finger knows where to point. It's always the ones with the kippas and the sandals who foil the utopia of the peace-seekers.
And again, like we saw with the Oslo Accords, the Al-Aqsa intifada, as well as after the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Jews are the victims of murderous violence and forced to hear the shapers of public opinion explain why it's all their fault. That they provoked, they neglected, they were racist, they stole, they excluded, they settled, they dared to live together, or dared to live by themselves.
In some places, it is already sliding toward explicit rationalization of violence. Interviews with the "protest youth" who complacently describe the sources of the Arab frustration a night after their friends surrounded a Jew and beat him with sticks. B'Tselem explains that this is the result of apartheid within the Green Line, and that the violence by Arabs is a response to the "organized" violence against them. True, the imam of Lod did say on TV that "The state of Israel is an enemy state and this is how we treat it," but what does he know? The Left knows better what is bothering the Arabs. It's no longer the racism of low expectations, it's a gross generalization that even the Right doesn't dare make – are all Arabs potentially violent?
Limits to logical failures are being smashed in the desperate attempt to justify the violence against the Jews. After the victim is blamed, the attacker starts becoming victimized. A perusal of social media and the speeches full of pathos being made on TV is like watching a circus of moral signaling. Many Jews who are subject to terrorist attacks in their neighborhood are forced to hear that their attackers are the victims in the story.
The Left is astonished, as usual, by the extent of the Arab aggression and its anti-Jewish characteristics. This is not the partner they imagined. Let them try and sell their "Jewish-Arab partnership" now. But what really hits a sour note is the power of its alienation from prevailing Israeli sentiment. The public is looking at the reality, and doesn't understand in what parallel universe the pundits who are already calling for "introspection" – at our expense, of course – are floating around in.
In a moment, we have gone back to the mentality that existed before the disengagement: if they are violent toward us, they must be right. "We need to see how we can continue with a Jewish state and a democratic state," analyst Dana Weiss said on Channel 12 News. A week of violence toward Jews – and the Left is already considering how to lower the flag. Maybe they understand this, too: that ultimately, it's about the flag, meaning the nation. Any discussion about integration and coexistence needs to start with an acknowledgement that this is the story, and not a few kippa-wearing Jewish families who moved into apartment buildings in Lod.
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