Israel Hayom..
17 December '15..
1. I don't like the Im Tirzu clip. It's too chilling and has clear connotations that tie the figures that represent leftist organizations to a knife in the nation's back. It's inappropriate.
The need to spark public debate through provocation is understandable, but it's possible to speak harshly without stepping over the line to the point where people aren't listening to what you have to say, but rather are scared of you. It would have been better if the clip had never been made, but now that it's out in the world, we should probe it and the public discussion it has awoken.
I hear the cries of "incitement, incitement." The leaders of Im Tirzu are being admonished that they will be responsible for any harm that, heaven forbid, might befall the figures featured in the clip. The concern is clear and the debate must remain a verbal one. But what about the harm to the IDF and the citizens of the state? Are we relieving the leftist groups of any responsibility here? If we're so awful, such thugs, murderers and thieves, then not only is the armed struggle against us permissible, it's a precept -- jihad sponsored by the Yahud (Jews)!
2. In the summer of 2014, while tens of thousands of our soldiers were in Gaza to protect the south of Israel, Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence published a despicable article on the U.K.'s Independent, one of the biggest inciters against Israel.
The title of the article based on the content he supplied: "As an ex-soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, I've seen how shockingly we treat Palestinians," and the subhead: "There are moral red lines. Why do we keep crossing them?" The article was accompanied by dozens of clips of the "evil" the IDF committed in Gaza, and not a word about the circumstances.
Writing elsewhere, I analyzed the article and Gvaryahu's moral narcissism. I will only mention here that the title promised an Israeli soldier's testimony of what the IDF was doing to the Palestinians in Operative Protective Edge, which was still underway, when in fact Gvaryahu was recycling memories from the Second Lebanon War (2006) and a friend's memory of Operation Cast Lead (2009).
Nothing in the article had anything to do with the war going on at the time, but it was nevertheless urgent for Gvaryahu to slander the IDF as habitually "crossing red lines." That's not what a person who wants to fix society does. It's what a person does who wants to promote his "moral" image at the expense of his people's "war crimes," while indirectly supplying justification for the terrorism against us to continue.
3. The leftist organizations' long-standing claim is that they are holding a mirror up to Israeli society that shows its "ugliness." And here, now that a group has shown up to smear their faces in the same manner, the glaziers are all of a sudden calling to break that mirror.
Why? Take a look at the difficult clip -- scary, right? That's what your prophecies of doom about a storm that will swallow up Israeli society if we don't buckle under to your worldview look like, and that's how you operate to blacken our image in the world. This bad clip pales in comparison to the millions of testimonies, lectures, articles, videos, and lawsuits that dozens of left-wing groups and NGOs have put out against Israel, the people who live there, and the IDF.
Anyone who listens solely to you -- and there are more than a few like that throughout the world -- is convinced that Israel is a monster that threatens world peace, that the IDF is a army second only to the German Wehrmacht; that Israeli Arabs suffer under racist apartheid that is more evil than what existed in South Africa; that the Palestinian Arabs of Judea and Samaria are executed indiscriminately; and that the Jews who live on the hilltops -- "the settlers" -- are the enemies of humanity and their blood may be spilled.
This is a process that has been taking place for decades, in which you have led Israel into the position of constantly being on the defensive.
4. Any attack on an innocent person is horrible, and unnecessary. But the nations of Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the U.S. (not to mention the Middle East) have committed crimes a thousand times worse against civilian populations. And yet, not one of them is facing a worldwide propaganda campaign of delegitimization comparable to what we face -- a campaign that, at its core, seeks to delegitimize the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state. Some of the leftist groups define themselves as "Zionist."
You'll be amazed -- is that us? Not at all! We are righteous, the foundation of the world, worried about human rights and humanity, seeking peace, and that's it. So watch the Im Tirzu clip -- that's how we've been looking to the world for years, thanks to you.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14693
Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.
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