10 Comments
User's avatar
SM's avatar

If the IDF is so serious about accountability why haven’t they arrested the soldiers who killed a family last week? It’s hard for me to be a Zionist these days.

Persha K. Valman's avatar

If you have noticed the IDF has been somewhat busy on multiple fronts. Calling up reserves for months at a time during this existential crises. These are ordinary people with ordinary lives juggling reserves, jobs and families. Zionism is the belief that Jews should have a country in their ancestral homeland. It does not demand perfection and support should not be dependent on some utopian fantasy.

David Roseman's avatar

The IDF is not a police service. They don’t arrest people (at least not citizens or residents, only enemy combatants). The police services are, as the post states, under the responsibility of a convicted felon with extremist views who doesn’t want the police to arrest Jewish terrorists.

SM's avatar
Mar 24Edited

That’s right. So wtf are we supposed to do about that.

gnashy's avatar

Sorry - did Germany and Japan stop being self determinate nation states after wwii?

Even in the worst case scenario there’s no reason you can’t be a Zionist fighting for pragmatic and righteous Zionism to return.

SM's avatar

Yes I hope so!

David Roseman's avatar

I think you’re also failing to take into account the number of attacks by Palestinian terrorists during the past year. All the press talks about is attacks by Jewish settlers. 58 Israelis were killed by terrorists last year, versus at the most 9 Palestinians in the West Bank. (I’m not implying that either is remotedly acceptable.) A lot of the attacks by the radical Jewish fringe groups are motivated by revenge for those others, as well of course as the desire to chase them off their land. The problem for Israeli society, aside from the plainly outrageous nature of the violence, as the article so rightly points out, is the impunity with which those groups are acting, which is corrosive to democracy. The Arabs may be much more active, but they’re also constantly being hunted down by the border police and other security forces and often being killed. Jews won’t be able to scorn Palestinian society for supporting terrorism if they also start to normalize the same kind of violent ideology. The truly radical Kahanists, however, don’t care about this: they are just bellicose and nakedly hostile towards the majority of Arabs, whom they consider to be “the enemy.” For context though, it needs to be said that if one can believe the polling, most Arabs don’t seem to be interested in peace either and very much see all Jews as the enemy, as well.

SM's avatar

Are we sure those figures are accurate? I feel that many more Palestinians have been killed by Jews in the West Bank than 9. Also, where is that 58 figure from. In any case, both are unacceptable.

Zevik's avatar

The Iranian regime always lies (propagandizes) and Trump is usually lying or exaggerating how great he’s doing. When neither side has a reputation for telling the truth, there’s no way to know what’s actually happening.

Sandra's avatar

Really appreciate this writeup. As an American, I get heartburn reading about the horrors going on on the West Bank. It is appalling to me that the government doesn't crack down on the terrorists. Enabling that is a nightmare for everyone.