EU and UN diplomats love to talk about “settler violence.” Diplomats use a double standard against the only Jewish state in the world when they do this. That’s antisemitic. You’d think “Palestinian violence” simply doesn’t exist.
And if there is “settler violence,” there is also “European violence,” “American violence” and so forth. No state or area in the world enjoys a 0% crime rate. Yet a single brawl in Judea-Samaria prompts European diplomats to badmouth Israel as though violent crime were unheard of in their countries.
In the EU alone there are 600,000 assaults each year, and over 3,500 homicides and murders. European diplomats should be conducting their crusade against violent crime closer to home.
Here are some facts about the recent Hebron Hills brawl after which Israel was aggressively denounced internationally. None of these facts featured in the EU or UN diplo-speak because the inciteful effect against Israel and Jews (“settlers”) had to be preserved.
First – excellent news: the three-year-old Arab child who was hurt has recovered and been discharged from the hospital. More facts: The medics who treated him were Jews (“settlers”). The toddler was hospitalized in an Israeli – not Palestinian – hospital. The serious incident is still being investigated by Israeli authorities, but the Jewish brawlers still insist it was they who were attacked first, and merely responded. Israeli law enforcement authorities promptly arrested Jewish brawlers.
Dozens of photos emerged of Arabs using clubs and slingshots, hurling rocks with their faces clearly visible; none were arrested. An Arab rioter reportedly set a storeroom on fire while shouting that Jews had done so; obliging European diplomats blared that “Jewish settlers” had destroyed property. Finally, my response as a Jewish local leader was to emphasize: there is no justification for harming innocent people – Arabs, Jews or Christians.
EU and UN diplomats should have praised Israel’s attitude against violence – in striking contrast to the Palestinians who, among other things, officially pay salaries to Arab mass-murderers, routinely glorify terrorism in their national media, and run a museum on a university campus venerating terrorism.
In the Judea-Samaria region alone, there are about five violent attacks on Israelis daily. But diplomatic statements featuring any of this would detract from the desired character assassination of Israel.
EU diplomats are not motivated by any genuine pity for any three-year-old child. The real reason, I believe, for their diplo-speak is the land war they are conducting. For 20 years, an illegal land-grab is ongoing – of Area C, a tiny region which by international law including even the Oslo Accords, belongs to the tiny State of Israel.
European diplomats know about this invasion – because they themselves provide it with funds.
Arabs have taken over firing rounds where the Israeli army used to train but had to stop. Arabs appropriate land and build thousands of buildings without permits. Arabs steal our water; the Oslo Accords stipulate that the Palestinian Authority provides water to Palestinians, but they prefer to steal water for free. Arabs sabotage our electricity infrastructure, pour out sewage to damage the environment, slap down roads in nature reserves, steal and plunder archaeological sites. Arab lawfare is busily appealing to the courts to force the State of Israel not to do exactly what it must do – evict violent illegal intruders. Israel’s High Court is to rule shortly on one such matter in our area, which has been going on and on for almost 20 years.
So the recent accusations against Israel and “settlers” (read: Jews) by EU and UN diplomats are perfectly timed to twist facts and distort the truth – away from the Arab illegal intruders who harass Israel daily.
Progressives wake up – there’s no justice here. Contrary to years of “legal” propaganda led by Europeans, Jewish resettlement of Judea-Samaria is fully legal by international law. Jewish resettlement of these highlands is also essential – ensuring that the tiny lone Jewish state remains viable. This does not significantly harm the ancient Arab nation – which rules more than over 20 expansive states, more than any other nation in the world.
Tiny, isolated Israel is under assault, territorially and diplomatically. The culprits are the Europeans and their Arab protégés. Stop the assault: Let us be! Jews matter!
Yochai Damri is the head of the Hebron Hills regional council.