The Silent Intifada

Palestinians hurl stones during clashes with Israeli police in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Wadi JozThe perpetrators in the main of the new silent intifada are male Arabs, mostly young, with Jerusalem residency cards.  They have the right to live in Jerusalem, and receive the perks of citizens, but – tellingly – for political reasons have declined to become full citizens.

With increasing frequency in recent weeks, they are out on the streets of eastern Jerusalem and at key eastern Jerusalem locations, actively participating in violent and destructive behaviors.  Sometimes they wrap scarves around their faces so they cannot be identified.

Some Arab “unrest” occurs from time to time in the city.  Perhaps a demonstration protesting a perceived grievance suddenly turns into a riot.  Molotov cocktails might be thrown, or rocks large enough to kill.  Municipal infrastructure might incur some damage.

None of this is acceptable, but for the most part, these have been intermittent and localized occurrences.  What is happening now is something else: a form of behavior that is more persistently violent and more pervasive.

It comes as a shock to learn, for example, that at least 30% of the cars of the Jerusalem Light Rail are out of commission because of vandalism that takes place at the Light Rail station located in Shu’afat, an Arab neighborhood.  This is not a matter of delinquent kids with time on their hands. This is focused behavior intended to undermine the authority of the municipality.

This past week, on the second night of Rosh Hashana, Chanan Kupietzky, 25, and two others were walking towards the Kotel (the Western Wall) when they were accosted by some four Arabs, who began by calling, “Dirty Jews!”  At a signal from yet another Arab, they approached Kupietzky and his companions and launched a physical attack.  Other Arabs in the area began throwing rocks at the three, and at other Jews who were nearby, wounding one man in the chest.

“It was like an ambush,” Kupietzy said.  One Arab came at him with a two-by-four that had nails protruding from it, which was used to strike him repeatedly; ultimately his hand was so badly fractured that he required surgery.

One of the locations that has been most problematic is Har Hazeitim – the Mount of Olives.  This is the site of Judaism’s most ancient cemetery, with 150,000 graves. This past week, on one night alone, 40 graves were vandalized.

Nearby is Ma’aleh Hazeitim, a Jewish neighborhood that has been the site of stonings.  Arabs – likely from the nearby Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud – target cars on the road that have Jewish drivers.

This past week, however, a new low was reached when Arab stone-throwers made a nursery school the target of an attack.  As rocks pelted the outside of the nursery building, the teacher quickly brought the children into an air-raid shelter for safety and summoned the police.

These stories and many more like them have been insufficiently publicized.

Multiple observers have noticed that the attacks seem organized rather than random, and that there is never one person acting alone.  There are groups operating, under instruction.

According to one very reliable individual with direct connections to the Israeli government, what we are seeing is a limited intifada.  The Palestinian Authority has decided that a wide-scale intifada in Judea and Samaria would not be a good idea now: they have opted for one focused exclusively on Jerusalem instead.

It makes perfect sense. In the struggle between Israel and the PA, Jerusalem is the heart of the matter.

In July 1980, the Knesset passed a bill in Basic Law that reads: “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.” There is no such place as “East Jerusalem;” there is one, undivided city.  Nonetheless, the Palestinian Authority continues to promote the fiction of “East Jerusalem” as a separate place that is destined to become its capital.  In the end, the sovereignty of Jerusalem – as the sovereignty of any place – is directly connected to control on the ground.  The PA goal is to make eastern Jerusalem so difficult for Jews to live in that they will withdraw.

Were this to happen, it would be an unmitigated disaster, particularly as the very core of Jewish tradition in the city – including the Temple Mount – is in its more ancient eastern part. It would mean relinquishing that core, with all the implications that would follow.

The overriding question now is what is being done to guarantee that this does not happen.

There are many fine police officers at work in Jerusalem, and, in fact, their numbers have been augmented recently. But there remains a persistent unease that what may be happening when the police act is more in the way of containment than enforcement of the law to the fullest extent possible.  Sometimes violent groups are scattered and chased away rather than arrested.  At other times arrests are made but prosecutions do not follow.

While these instances have been observed, what is not clear is whether they are just that – separate instances, or whether they are the result of orders from above, from Minister of Internal Security, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, or police officials.

It is not difficult to understand the inclination to fall back on containment, no matter how ill-advised it is in the long run: The world watches Israel as it watches no other nation. One false arrest, one injury or death of an Arab during attempts to make arrests, will result in headlines and international protests.  It feels safer to go easy.

But it is exceedingly important for Jews to make their presence known in all parts of Israel’s capital; and they must be able to do so free of harassment or physical risk.  Protecting its citizens is a primary responsibility of the government.

In this instance, when the government of Israel acts to protect its citizens, it is also protecting its rights as a sovereign nation and its future in the land.

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  • Bamaguje

    Obama, Kerry and other willfully blind pro-Palestinian loudmouths are all silent about this provocative Arab violence.
    But if Israel takes decisive action to deal with the problem, that would be racism and apartheid. It’s long past time to expell the treacherous ungrateful Arabs from Jerusalem.

  • rsklaroff

    When Arlene has raised these issues episodically in the past, I have advised that the perpetrators should be “exiled” to Gaza; awareness of data suggesting enhanced coordination of these attacks serves to enhance the urgency of this innovative effort to expunge anti-Israel denizens of “The [unified] City of Peace.”

  • Ken Kelso

    Kahane predicted the weakness of Israeli leaders.
    Remember what Kahane said,
    I prefer an Israel hated by everybody than in Auschwitz loved by all.”
    Right now Chaim Ben Pesach who is the successor to Kahane has been barred from entering Israel by the cowards who run Israel.
    That includes Likud, Kadima and Labor.
    Chaim Ben Pesach wants to use all out force to stop these Islamo fascists from terrorizing Israel and Ben Pesach wants a death penalty to Arab killers.
    You can go on Chaim Website. He has a forum message board.https://jtf.org/forum/index.php?board=1.
    Chaim can save Israel from the weak Israeli leaders who accept Arab terrorism.
    Here’s a great article about him.
    Jewish Defence League UK (JDL): Chaim ben Pesach a Jewish hero forbidden to make Aliyah
    Chaim ben Pesach a Jewish hero forbidden to make Aliyah
    August 6, 2012
    Jewish Defence League UK (JDL): Chaim ben Pesach a J…
    When Israel was created in 1948, most Jews dreamed of finally establishing their homes there.View on http://www.jdl-uk.orgPreview by Yahoo
    When Israel was created in 1948, most Jews dreamed of finally establishing their homes there. Israel was to become the home of Jews, every Jew, and the Zionist dream came with the promise to save them from harm and protect them from evil for as long as they lived in Israel.
    However there is now something dark and nefarious working its way in Israeli society and which has reached the very core of the Israeli government. It’s called Socialism. Socialism is a disease that thrives by using other people’s money and causing them misery. It is tyrannical, oppressive and it corrupts people’s souls. Unfortunately Israeli society has long since caught this disease, and the symptoms are stronger and more evident in the ranks of the Israeli government.
    The situation now is so bad that we have decided to speak out against it and we truly hope that the Israeli people will wake up and join us in demanding the end of this sinister, evil and malignant Socialist ideology.
    The corruption is so ingrained that it has gotten to the point that Jews are now refusing entry to Jews in Israel. In other words, if you are the “wrong type of Jew” you cannot make Aliyah and live in Israel.
    Since when are these people allowed to deny a Jew a home in Israel?
    How dare these Socialist/Communist Jews forbid other Jews to make Aliyah when they are only in Israel because other Jews fought for them and sacrificed their lives so they could live there! Do they think they own Israel now?
    NO. Israel is owned by all Jews and every Jew has a right (if not a duty) to live in Israel. The Torah attests to that, and no amount of Socialist-Communist tumours are going to change this.
    We want Israelis to know the double standards and the corruption of the Israeli government, which hasforbidden a Jewish Hero, Chaim ben Pesach to make Aliyah – While the Bolshevik-Dhimmi Israeli government continues to pander to our Arab enemies and even invite them into Israel, as they done with Arafat and other terrorists!
    Are we Jews going to allow that? Are we seriously going to let these so-called “leaders” of the Jewish people to stop our own brothers and sisters from returning home?
    There is only one reason why they would stop a Jew entering Israel. Fear. Those who are sabotaging the Aliyah process and denying certain Jews to return home are scared of being exposed and of losing their position of power.
    This case is particularly interesting because it is the case that best exposes the fear of the current Israeli leadership, and due to the nature of these events we urge all Israelis to stand with us and demand that Chaim ben Pesach be allowed to make Aliyah immediately.
    Background on Chaim ben Pesach
    May 6th 1986 – front page of the Village Voice – a weekly newspapers in New York – it read: NICE JEWISH BOYS WITH BOMBS
    CRAZY JEWS LIVE LONGER
    American Chaim ben Pesach was the National Chairman of the Jewish Defense League but resigned in December 1978 after he was cowardly sent to jail for bombing Egyptian targets in an effort to stop the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula (The Israelis did not realise how stupid it was to withdraw from Sinai until it was too late).
    After his release and upon the completion of his probation in July 1983, Rabbi Meir Kahane again appointed Chaim to be National Chairman of the JDL. During the 1980s, Chaim was arrested again, along with two other JDL members in connection with six incidents; a 1984 firebombing of an automobile at a Soviet diplomatic residence, the 1985 and 1986 fire and pipe bombings of an FBI informer’s car, the 1986 firebombing at a hall where the Soviet State Orchestra was performing, and two 1986 detonations of tear gas grenades to protest performances by Soviet dance companies.
    None of these actions caused anyone to be injured or killed. Only property was destroyed, unlike the actions of real Arab-Muslim terrorists who deliberately set out to murder people, principally women and children whom they treat as commodities. Even the FBI wrote a report stating that Chaim ben Pesach went out of his way to ensure that no one got injured in his bombing campaigns.
    Jews with honour and courage. Left: Chaim ben Pesach. Right: Rabbi Meir Kahane
    In the United States, Chaim served five and a half years in prison and spent another 12 years on probation, parole and/or house arrest for his activities on behalf of Soviet Jewry when he was the National Chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL). After completing this period of 17 and a half years of being either in prison or under severe restrictions, he wanted to immediately fulfill his lifelong dream of making Aliyah (immigrating to the land of Israel).
    In July 1996, he flew to Israel with the intention of applying for citizenship under the “Law of Return”, which supposedly guarantees every Jew the right to return to his ancestral homeland. Upon arriving at Ben Gurion airport, he was immediately arrested by Israeli Shabak agents (Israeli KGB) and placed in a cell without a toilet for 24 hours. He was not permitted to contact his family or friends or his attorneys. After 24 hours, he was forcibly placed on a flight back to the United States.
    His expulsion order was signed by Interior Minister Eli Suissa from the Shas party. The same Suissa and Shas supported the Oslo accords where the Arab Hitler Yasser Arafat and 80,000 armed PLO-Fatah terrorist murderers were invited into the land of Israel. Arafat and the PLO terrorists have murdered thousands of Jews since the 1950s. Suissa met with the PLO terrorist butchers around the same time that he was ordering his expulsion.
    In other words, Arafat and the PLO terrorist mass murderers were welcome into Israel after slaughtering thousands of Jews, but Chaim was forcibly expelled because he damaged Soviet diplomatic property (without killing or injuring anyone) in order to save 2 million USSR Jews who were being held hostage behind the Iron Curtain.
    This disgraceful, illegal and dishonourable attitude from the Israeli government cannot go unnoticed any longer.
    While Chaim was being held in a cell prior to the expulsion, an attorney Herbert Sunshine went to see Industry and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky.
    Sharansky and members of his political party were Russian Jews who were liberated from the USSR because of the successful efforts of Kahane’s JDL to make the Soviet Jewry issue a page one subject that no one could ignore.
    Until the JDL’s campaign to publicize this issue, almost no one ever spoke about the brutal oppression of Soviet Jews. Sharansky’s party had 7 seats in the 120 seat Knesset (Parliament). The new Likud government under Binyamin Netanyahu needed Sharansky’s party in the coalition. But when asked to intervene to allow Chaim into Israel, Sharansky coldly replied “There is nothing I can do”.
    Of course Sharansky (This ungrateful kapo) could do many things but the truth is that he cowardly chose not to. He was afraid to lose his “precious” (and pathetic) position in the Knesset. Such spineless politicians are the ones who have corrupted the Israeli government and need to be forcefully removed from their seats.
    In August 1996, a month after Chaim’s forcible expulsion, he applied for Aliyah at the Jewish Agency in New York. Once again, Interior Minister Suissa from Shas rejected his application and this time sent him a letter informing him that he was not permitted to even visit or set foot in the land of Israel.
    In December 1996, Chaim wrote to Prime Minister Netanyahu explaining the situation. Not surprisingly the Prime Minister’s office never did anything in response to his letter.
    In July 1997, Chaim again wrote to Interior Minister Suissa asking him to explain why he was banned from making Aliyah or even visiting Israel. His letter was ignored. He never received any reply.
    Over the years, Chaim repeatedly made new requests for Aliyah. For example, in late 2007, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yonah Metzger, wrote a letter on his behalf asking that he be allowed to finally make Aliyah. Rabbi Metzger wrote to the Interior Minister Meir Shitreet. Sheetrit, a notorious leftist, angrily rejected the Chief Rabbi’s request.
    Interesting is that the Chief Rabbi politically, does not agree with anything that Chaim stands for. ‘Chief Rabbi’ is an official position, so only an establishment figure will get chosen for this.
    Meir Shitreet wrote a letter in response to Yonah Metzger, calling Chaim all sorts of names and claiming Chaim ben Pesach “is a threat to the peace process” and “a threat to democracy in Israel itself”… Even the Chief Rabbi was shocked by this, because such accusations are never used against the muslim terrorists.
    Obviously, there is no ‘democracy’ in Israel. They put people in prison just for expressing rightwing views. Chaim is a threat to his rule in Israel, because Chaim would start a movement that would remove him and the other socialists from power.
    This insane masochistic, suicidal political correctness must be stopped. We are giving our enemies rights that we do not even give to our loyal citizens and this goes for Israel, America and the entire West.
    Our corrupt, traitorous leaders must be replaced once and for all.
    These accounts above should now make it clear to all our readers the level of corruption inside the Israeli government. It should also expose those who are acting against Jewish interests. What we must ask is WHY.
    Why are they denying a Jew a return to his homeland?
    The truth is that Chaim is being denied Aliyah because he has acted honourably to save Jewish lives and he paid the price for it. Chaim has sacrificed his own freedom in order that others could be free to make Aliyah.
    Sharansky himself a Russian Jew should know and act better than that. But he chose to side with evil and we must never forget that.
    Neither should we forget that Netanyahu has ignored his plight, while at the same time he continues to forge relationships with “Palestinian” Arab terrorists.
    So we ask all our readers to please contact the Israeli government, principally Mr. Sharansky and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and demand Chaim be allowed to make Aliyah, for he is a Jewish hero who saved over 1.5 million Russian Jews’ lives.
    If you do not get a response, chase for one. Keep on writing and demanding an answer. We simply cannot allow these so-called representatives of the Jewish people to act against Jewish interests. If they do not reply, and keep on ignoring our messages, we must write in demand of their resignation for they can no longer represent us.
    Chaim is the director of the Jewish Task Force in America, and HaYamin HaAmiti in Israel.

    • Bamaguje

      Israel needs more Chaim ben Pesachs.

  • StanleyT

    Enough of privileging these Arabs. Anybody who so much as yells out in protest should be arrested just in order to be identified, and then s/he and his/her family should have all their privileges revoked. No more free education. No more free health care. No more free anything provided by a generous Israel. Let them look to the PA and the world for their welfare.

  • iluvisrael

    Deport the savage koranimals – oh yeah, no arab country wants them.

  • Metatrona

    The Israeli police MUST shoot to kill these sadistic terrorists. Jail does not rehabilitate them. They have to be eradicated like all threats to humankind.

  • bob e

    what would israel be if they lost & were anihilated ?? the land would become a shithole like gaza & every other arab shithole on earth ..

  • Bert

    Netanyahu is wrong! His Israel is NOT a Jewish state. Rather it is a state governed by secularists and atheists who operate from fear of Arabs and contempt for Jewish of faith. To them the Temple Mount is more trouble than it is worth and letting it go to the Arabs is no big deal. The Israeli government is essentially degenerate and does NOT represent the majority of Israeli Jews. Conditions will become steadily worse until the criminals are driven from office.