Early Friday morning, two masked settlers crouched before a home in the West Bank village of Duma, touched their fingers to its cold walls and nodded. Then they spray painted the words “vengeance” and “long live the Messiah” before breaking windows, throwing firebombs inside and fleeing as a family of four burned in their beds.
Three of those family members–a mother, father and their four-year-old son–are fighting for their lives. The fourth, a baby named Ali Saad Dawabsha, burned to death in the home’s attic.
Images of Ali Saad Dawabsha, the baby burned alive by Jewish terrorists, scattered about his family's scorched house.
The crime, committed by terrorists seeking revenge for Israel’s removal of an unapproved settlement outpost, has shaken the nation in ways other crimes have not. This became immediately evident as prominent conservative politicians began releasing pointed and unusually emotional condemnations. Gilad Erdan, a member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, said this in the crime’s wake:
“A nation whose children were burned in the Holocaust needs to do a lot of soul searching if it bred people who burn other human beings.”
Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, compared Jewish terrorists to ISIS and called them a traitorous fifth column:
In the other room my son is putting on his uniform. He came home last night and has just now received a phone call. “Emergency call up,” he says, his face stern. He’s been called back in because the enemy acted last night in Duma. Terrorists entered at night and set fire to a baby. As always, the IDF is going to war against the enemy. Only this time the enemy is from here, from inside, from within us. They are a fifth column. They are the natural partners of Hamas, of Hezbollah, of ISIS. They look like us but they aren’t like us. They are traitors to all that is sacred to us, traitors to the very idea on which the State of Israel was founded, traitors to Judaism. And they’re trying, like the enemy always tries. to destroy the State of Israel.
Netanyahu, reading the mood and desperate to mute the horrible images emanating from the Occupied Territories, expressed his shock in the face of such an atrocity:
But Netanyahu’s not shocked. He’s complicit.
Indeed, Netanyahu appointed as Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who actively called for the genocide of Palestinians and championed calling their children “little snakes.”
He has repeatedly incited racism and hatred against Palestinians, once famously warning Jewish voters on election day that “Arabs are heading to the polls in droves.”
Netanyahu has stated that he wants an occupation which subjugates Palestinians to last forever and fully supports those extremists behind the settlement enterprise, with expansions having surged on his watch.
Netanyahu’s government has refused to crack down on settler terrorism and violence. Indeed, 120 incidents of terrorism or violence targeting Palestinians have occurred just this year alone, and approximately 11,000 incidents have occurred over the past 10 years, the vast majority of which aren’t even recorded by the State, much less prosecuted.
And of course, Israel killed over 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza last summer during its 51-day assault, a bombing campaign which was preceded by Netanyahu calling for “vengeance.” The same word scrawled by terrorists on baby Ali’s home before being burned alive.
Now, Netanyahu is of course not the only one complicit. So too are those very politicians, Lapid and Erdan included, who made emotional statements when news of Ali’s death reached their ears. It’s no surprise that in all of their statements, two words never appeared: “occupation” and “settlements.” Yet it is the occupation which lies at the center of settler violence and the devaluing of Palestinian lives. It is a center threatening to tear Israel apart as settlers and soldiers tear Palestinian families apart.
Nearly every member of Israel’s government has either actively worked to maintain the occupation or passively enabled its continued brutality by refusing to confront the damage it’s doing to both Israel and those Palestinians subjugated daily. And it’s not just Israel’s leaders who are complicit. American Jewish and ‘pro-Israel’ organizations are responsible as well, for the vast majority continue to ignore the occupation as though it doesn’t even exist.
To emphasize this, nearly every major American Jewish and pro-Israel organization–including AIPAC, ADL, AJC, and Jewish Federations–condemned the terrorism which took baby Ali’s life. Not a single statement mentioned the words “occupation” or “settlements.”
Unless Israeli and Jewish-Zionist leaders in the diaspora are willing to confront and end the occupation, the racism and violence against Palestinians will not just remain, but grow. Unless Jewish leaders stop vilifying Palestinians while allowing them to be oppressed, the racism and violence will not just remain, but grow. Of course, this isn’t a surprise to anyone. It’s known. It’s been known for longer than most leaders would bear to admit.
So spare me the “I’m shocked” routine and do something.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, published recently by Oneworld Publications.
Follow him on Twitter @David_EHG.
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In this post, I did not even broach the United States’ complicity, as well that of other democratic nations.
Doing so would have turned this into a book; however I will say that I have always — and will continue — to maintain that the only entities capable of pressuring Israel to abandon the occupation are either the United States or a massive nonviolent movement (economic pressure).
While the latter is growing, I’m not so sure about the former, though my hope remains that somehow, political opinion will shift such that US politicians will find the cover they need to take a hard stance against the occupation.
Israelis are shocked and came out in protest against the recent violence. They are not complicit. David, you on the other had tried meeting with a terrorist who set a bomb off in Jerusalem,. You are complicit.
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It’s my favorite fan, Fred. Thanks for promoting my book. For those interested in my story of reconciliation, here it is: What Do you Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?
When you tried to meet the convicted bomber, did you first consult with the families of any of the other victims or is it just about you?
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Ah, you don’t even know the story, and yet you critique. I suppose you’ll just have to read the book to find out.
The Israeli government is at fault for maintaining an apartheid regime in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government is at fault for also bringing hardcore right-wing extremists into the government, such as Israel’s Justice Minister. With extremists like him in place, why shouldn’t extremists in the occupied territories think they have a green light?
The Israeli people are at fault for continually electing these extremists into office. THIS is the government the majority of the people of Israel want. To their everlasting shame.
American supporters of Israel are at fault because they blindly support Israel no matter what and no matter how extreme the government gets. Ditto the American government and the American “news” media.
And, as the author points out, NONE of these people offering feckless apologies mentioned the words “occupation” or “settlements.” So nothing has changed. If a baby hadn’t been burned alive, the whole family would probably be labeled “terrorists” and that would be that.
Israel is waging genocidal war on the Palestinians. In the process, Israel’s own democracy is in decay, and Israel’s soul is turning black.
The Palestinians and Arab world are guilty for walking away for every peaceful arrangement going all the way back to 1948.
I appreciate the moral courage shown by Tikkun and Spiritual Progressives.
The Israeli government is at fault for maintaining an apartheid regime in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government is at fault for also bringing hardcore right-wing extremists into the government, such as Israel’s Justice Minister. With extremists like him in place, why shouldn’t extremists in the occupied territories think they have a green light?
The Israeli people are at fault for continually electing these extremists into office. THIS is the government the majority of the people of Israel want. To their everlasting shame.
American supporters of Israel are at fault because they blindly support Israel no matter what and no matter how extreme the government gets. Ditto the American government and the American “news” media.
And, as the author points out, NONE of these people offering feckless apologies mentioned the words “occupation” or “settlements.” So nothing has changed. If a baby hadn’t been burned alive, the whole family would probably be labeled “terrorists” and that would be that.
Israel is waging genocidal war on the Palestinians. In the process, Israel’s own democracy is in decay, and Israel’s soul is turning black.
My attempts to make a comment are being blocked for some reason.
You’re not-so-implicit attempt to place blame for this tragedy on all “Jewish-Zionist leaders in the diaspora” is beyond despicable, David. You are not offering a “critique,” as you like to call your work. This is just hateful. Shame on you.
Its so telling from the posting of some of the readers,- actually all those who posted- how they are focusing on attacking the writer, just for daring to right his consciousness opinion about such a tragedy, and they are ignoring the implications of such crime against an innocent child and his family? That’s is Israel and its settler mentality in the open for all the world to see. What’s sad, when you ask them, is this the image or the reality that you want to show, and most of the time, they say, we don’t care…F..k the world!
Instead of attacking this writer for his integrity and humanity, focus on learning from him how to be humans and humane !
Monir, Hamas would never try and pursue the arrest of murderers of children because they are the ones involved.
Dear Mr. David Harris-Gershon,
I am the writer of the Argentum Post, and I admire you and respect you profoundly.
I follow your writings and they are brilliant, based on principled standings, educational, and constructive as they reflect you passionate dedication to peaceful conflict solution with peace, justice, and security for all.
I need to point to you and all of your other readers, that in my blog, namely The Argentum Post, I appear by the name “Fred”.
The person who has posted several angry and misleading comments to this specific article, is obviously no the Fred of the Argentum Post. He may go by the name of Fred or he may deliberately falsely be using this name in an attempt to cast negative aspersions.
Stay well and best of wishes.
PS I live in the Washington, DC area and would enjoy and feel honored to meet you sometime over a cup of coffee or something of that nature.
There are many Fred’s in the world.
NOTE : This is an edited version of my previous comment. My apologies for the inconvenience it may have caused.
Dear Mr. David Harris-Gershon,
I am the writer of the Argentum Post, and I admire you and respect you profoundly.
I follow your writings and they are brilliant, based on principled standings, educational, and constructive as they reflect your passionate dedication to peaceful conflict solution with peace, justice, and security for all.
I need to point out to you and to all of your other readers, that in my blog, namely The Argentum Post, I appear by the name “Fred”.
The person who has posted several offensive, angry and misleading comments to this specific article of yours, is obviously not the Fred of the Argentum Post.
This individual may go by the name of Fred or he may be deliberately falsely using this name in an attempt to cast negative aspersions to the Argentum Post, and therefore is committing e-mail fraud.
There are a lot of Fred’s in this world. Fred is short for Frederick.
They’re always a few bad apples in every bunch. How many rockets do the Palestinians fly into Israel everyday from the Gaza strip? We shouldn’t be complicit about that! I have hope that the new deal with Iran will be successful.
Speaking as a kohain, I am called to declare what should be an obvious truth by now: expansionist Zionist settlers, many American born, spit on the memory of our 6 million. Our Holocaust dead in the bosom of Abraham will not forgive them, nor us for supporting them, and neither will the rest of the civilized world.
Thank you Bill. Can we, the USA stop sending money to Israel to support their settlement expansion?
The civilzed world has forgotten Tibet, northern Cypress and the massive forced”population exchange” between India and Pakistan in 1947. There are 50 million refugees in the world today. Let’s not forget about them.
Does Israel have to kill 6 million Palestinians before people like Fred are willing to criticize it? If the ability to rationalize is not infinite, it is pretty darn close. I think Pavlov would call it a conditioned response.
Here’s a history lesson for Jim Wilkinson. Far more, by leaps and bounds, of Palestinians have been killed by Arabs than Israelis. Keep up. 250, Syrians have died in a civil war. Injured Syrians are receiving care in Israeli hospitals. Does that have your attention. You sicken me.
“You sicken me.” Then I have made my point. FYI — you are using the Nixon defense. LBJ, et all, lied so it was OK for Nixon to lie. To be the lesser of evils does not make one less evil.
There has been an arrest in the murder and more arrests will be made. In the mean time, a Hesbollah terrorist who had smashed the head of an Israeli girl with his rifle butt, killing her, got a heros welcome by the Lebanese prime minister on his release. I doubt you read about it
Wilkinson, this is for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Kuntar
“Shoot-out and killings[edit]Kuntar’s group took Danny and Einat down to the beach, where a shoot-out with Israeli policemen and soldiers erupted. According to the official Israeli version, when Kuntar’s group found that the rubber boat they had arrived in was disabled by gunfire, Kuntar shot Danny at close range in the back, in front of his daughter, and drowned him in the sea to ensure he was dead. Next, he smashed the head of 4 year-old Einat on beach rocks and crushed her skull with the butt of his rifle. Smadar Haran accidentally suffocated Yael to death while attempting to quiet her whimpering, which would have revealed their hiding place,[15][16] from where she saw Danny and Einat being led away at gunpoint by Kuntar. During the shoot-out a second policeman[citation needed] and another of Kuntar’s comrades were killed. Kuntar and the fourth member of the group, Ahmad Assad al-Abras, were injured and captured. al-Abras was freed by Israel in the prisoner exchange of May 1985.”
Reception in Lebanon[edit]Upon Kuntar’s arrival at Beirut Airport, along with four other freed Lebanese prisoners, he was officially received by the Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon Nabih Berri, some Lebanese members of Parliament, and Muslim and Christian clerics.[33]
“Hezbollah arranged a public celebration in Dahieh (their stronghold in Beirut), where Hassan Nasrallah gave a welcoming speech to Kuntar.
On July 17, 2008, Kuntar visited the tomb of Imad Mughniyeh. Later that day, a homecoming function was organized in Kuntar’s native village of Aabey, southeast of Beirut. The ceremony was addressed by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and the Labour Minister and Hezbollah official, Mohammad Fneish.[34]
On July 19, 2008, Al Jazeera TV broadcast a program from Lebanon about Kuntar’s welcoming festivities,In it, the head of Al Jazeera’s Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, praised Kuntar, calling him a “pan-Arab hero”, and organized a birthday party for him. In response, Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO) threatened to boycott the satellite channel unless it apologized. A few days later, Al Jazeera’s director general, Khanfar Wadah, issued a statement admitting parts of the program had violated the station’s Code of Ethics, and ordered the channel’s programming director to try to prevent a recurrence.”
What happened, Wilkinson, Cat got your tongue?
If anyone is interested in a more mature and sensible critique of Bibi’s respone to these horrible acts of terrorism, please read J.J. Goldberg’s piece in The Forward.
Jake, I hope you are not saying that I’m not mature and sensible because I didn’t say anything about Bibi’s response. But since you mention it, let me just say it goes WAY beyond hypocrisy. As for Fred, he merely proved that he is using the Nixon defense. Don’t hate me Fred, I’m just telling you what you don’t want to hear. As Harry Truman said, “People think I’m giving them hell when I’m just telling them the truth and they think it’s hell.” That’s probably not an exact quote but Harry would forgive me.
I’m really sorry to let you in n a little secret. When a Palestinian is murdered by a Jewish terrorist, society and the government condemn it and persue justice. When a Hamas of Hezbollah terrorist kills an Israel, he gets a heroes welcome. See my example
I’ll let you n on another secret. When Hamas shot rockets all over south and central Israel, that is a war crime. Israel defending its citizens is not. Next you will condemn the British for obliterating German cities when London was bombed. Israel showed Hamas far more mercy.
Being an exotic, easy to pity Palestinian does not give them a pass by an ignorant extremest like yourself. Gazans and Palestinians have their leadership to blame. It is not safe to juts surrender land to a PA that can hardly sustain itself against better organized militants such as harm or even ISIS. Hezbollah is just waiting for the opportunity to unleash Iranian supplied missiles. That is not to say that Bibi is a great leader. I have plenty to say about him. But enough with your knee jerk reactions
Actually I read that the Allied bombing of civilian targets may have been counterproductive because it hardened German resistance. Like Gaza? You decide.
The death cult controling Germany was going to fight right down to the bunker. There was no intent to surrender. Hitletr thought he could win teh war up until a few days befor he put a bullet in his own head. Germany needed to grond into nothing for it to become civilized again,. Same with Japan. Looking at both countries troday, I call it mission accomplished. You really need to read more history.
Gaza is the work of Hamas, nothing else. But thanks for your concern. One of of has been there and I’m guessnig it was not you
Death cult? That’s the direction I see Israel moving. It’s a long way from there but it is getting closer. The us vs. them mentality never produces a good ending. Germany and Japan are at peace today because we didn’t extract vengeance. I’m no fan of Douglas MacArthur but he did it right in Japan. Not so much in Korea. The Israeli settlers are the tail that wags the dog. Nobody can dare say they have to go without committing political suicide. The Right of Return should have at least included a sanity test.
My real point is the persons who burned alive an infant are not unique. They are merely an extreme example of the bigger problem. Attacking me for not knowing about history is not going to make me angry. But you are welcome to keep trying.
” The Right of Return should have at least included a sanity test.”
What kind of sanity test? Should Israelis allow all refugees who fled return. Whatabout Jews who9 fled neighborng Arab countries? What about those who fled east and west when India was partitioned in 1947? Try a single standard, not a double standard. It works better
I would say if you believe the Bible condones the killing or persecution of those not of your faith, or you advocate violence you should be denied Israeli citizenship. Meyer Lansky was denied citizenship and he wasn’t even insane.
How many Jews have hidden in israel after committing a crime.? Come on.
I think what Wilkinson does not know is the hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern Jews were accepted into Israel after neighboring Arab states chased with out with pogroms and riots. Israel also opened he doors for Jews living in European displacement camps. That s what is called the “law of return”.
It looks like Bibi has underestimated the Jewish terrorist movement, and he may need to spend some time worrying about this problem instead of USA affairs?
These people want to ignite a religious war, which is not much different from what the jihadists on the Palestinian side have in mind. If the authorities don’t take action against them in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, and if the security coordination with the Palestinians that the IDF praises so highly isn’t maintained, they’re liable to achieve their aim
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.668922
ISIS is beheading away byu the thousands. In the mean time, Israeli society hass no tolrance for these Jewish extremists
While I would certainly be on the left of the Israeli political spectrum were I in Israel, I’m not 100 percent sure that “the occupation” (which I oppose) is the root cause of these incidents. Remember, both Jewish-Israel and Palestinian-Arab terrorist actions pre-date the occupation, and indeed, the pre-date the establishment of Israel (ever hear of the Mufti or the Irgun?)
I usually never feel compelled to post on forums such as these…but this time I just had to.
No matter your point of view, you have to admire fred’s consistency and devotion to his cause. He seems to have mastered the art of deflection and I sincerely believe there are lessons to learn from him to truly understand the force behind the “Expansionist Zionist movement”.
The force I’m referring to is the ongoing, relentless effort to locate any forum which criticizes Israel (even when this criticism is beneficial to Israel) and bombard it with arguments and facts and the such in an attempt to “shame” it into silence.
All of us here feel comfortable (though maybe irked) responding to fred and providing counter arguments. But imagine if we were elected officials and fred represented a powerful and influential lobby. Would we then keep arguing with his tenacious rhetoric? Would we risk losing the support of the organizations he represents? Or would we find it easier to adopt his rhetoric and use it to our own political benefit? After all, the references he provides are correct!
In any case, I’m interested to see how fred deflects this fact: Palestinian territories are under a state of occupation by Israel. This is recognized internationally. While we all recognize Israel’s right to security, what makes it have any expectation of this security so long as it remains an occupying force? Isn’t this a self-defeating strategy – Enforce security through occupation, and through occupation cause more insecurity?
We all know the answer, which is that insecurity serves Israel’s “Expansionist” aspirations. The real problem is that peace does not serve Israel’s interests. Until it does, I don’t see an end to the occupation.
“Expansionist Zionist movement”.
I have no love for West bank settlements, but if you want to see real expansm and slaughter look no father that ISIS activates in Iraq and Syria. What is ISIS trying to do? They are trying to set up a state and at the same time behead all who oppose it and its bastardized interpretation of Islam. Deflection away from Israel? No. Bring the current and most dangerous expansionist problem to the forefront? Yes. There can be no peace in the Middle East or specifically between Israel and the Palestinians without defeating these extremist , expansionist deadly forces of ISIS and Hamas. You want Israel to cede the West bank blindly in some hope that a stable. peaceful Palestinian state can be established. Well you really have some great dreams. Israel did cede Gaza to the elected Palestinian Authority, even left intact significant agricultural technology. What happened? The technology was looted and Hamas seized control of Gaza. Hamas is using Gaza as a rocket launching pad. It has been a violent thorn in Israel’s side. Now imagine Israel ceding the West Bank and east Jerusalem to the weak and corrupt Palestinian Authority. It would either collapse from ISIS or Hamas infiltration in a matter of months if not weeks. Then suddenly you have another war front, this time within a very short distance to Israel’s population center, Then add armed to the teeth Hezbollah to the equation. They have dreams of teaming u with Iran to liberate El Quds. You can see why Israelis fear a future Palestinian state next store
I am favor a Palestinian state of some kind, but the region has to be stabilized, otherwise the weakest link becomes fertile ground for well-organized extremists such as ISIS and Hamas.
And yes, you could condemn Israeli extremists, Israeli society does not condone their actions, they condemn them. Eventually the rule of Israeli criminal law will come crashing down on them
I suggest you look at reality of the current Middle East rather than finger point at Israel as the single worst criminal state in the Middle East or the world
Free Tibet, the country that was erased from the face of the earth in 1951. The refugees deserve the ‘right of return”
fred,
You are awesome! I really don’t have the time you do to dedicate to a back and forth battle of arguments. Or maybe I don’t care as much for the Palestinian cause (of independence) as you do for the Israeli cause (of expansion). I reiterate however that I admire your dedication.
By the way, your whore rambling about ISIS and such can be so easily debunked! For one: what was Israel’s excuse before ISIS was created? For two: ISIS and Al-Qaeda and nearly every single one of the others are fighting each other.
Fnally, fred…In a last-ditch hope that you do in fact care about achieving a lasting and just peace – since you claim to have no love for the settlements and Israeli extremism – please know that the settlers and the extremists are bolstered by the official Israeli policies. So keep on fighting ISIS…but at the same time put pressure on the Israeli government to stop building more settlements, end the occupation which has been in place for decades before ISIS, give the right of return to the refugees (in the same way you are calling for Tibet), etc, etc…
Until you (fred) start doing this, there won’t be peace for Israel.