"If you support Smotrich and Ben-Gvir's party, I will persecute you. The story of menorahs in every intersection on Hanukkah and Chabad houses around the world is over." These were Opposition leader Yair Lapid's threats directed at supporters of religious Zionist Knesset members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, which he had to hear on Friday.
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That same day another interview took place that was supposedly intended to set things straight between Defense Minister Benny Gantz and journalist Amnon Abramovich, who previously had a falling out. Instead, the two joined together to rebuke Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Abramovich called "a scoundrel."
To top it all up, that same evening, journalist Rina Matzliach, a member of the "COVID is just flu" camp, when reporting on the morbidity rate in various sectors of that same "flu," couldn't contain herself and declared that "had there been no ultra-Orthodox and Arabs [in Israel,] our situation would be better."
Friday's statements were just the tip of the iceberg of countless declarations that were followed by neither apology nor condemnation. In fact, it seems that the limit to hatred and incitement has been set so far that nothing the Left can say, no matter how extreme, can hit it. And when the Right condemns the Left for such inciting statements, it gets accused of the very same crime.
A few days ago, Labor Party head Merav Michaeli explained, with the unsurprising backing of the media, that Ibtisam Mara'ana, who got disqualified from Labor Party primaries due to her extreme anti-Zionistic views, did not constitute a problem, and the problem lay with those who criticized her. In Michaeli's opinion, they were inciters.
Michaeli's colleague, Labor MK Emilie Moatti, tweeted this week that no one as evil and as despicable as Netanyahu has ever become prime minister. Then, when she was criticized for such a tweet, she rushed to protect herself by claiming those who criticized her were, in fact, the inciters.
It is becoming more and more evident that not only is the aggressor portrayed as a victim sometimes, but the real danger is being redefined.
An Israeli living in Australia who "dared" to publish a video praising Israel's vaccination campaign became the target of criticism and threats within hours. When journalist Dr. Avishay Ben-Haim dared to point out the action patterns of the veteran Israeli elite using sociological tools, he was accused of incitement.
Worst of all are the statements directed against the prime minister. But Netanyahu expressing himself the way left-wing politicians allow themselves to? That would never fly.
Incitement has never been so political and so evident. The trick is that one side of the political arena can use hate speech without restraint and fear of retribution, while the other side fears criticism every time it attempts to express itself.
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