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Standing up to Jewish terrorism
By Haaretz Editorial

ations and call a spade a spade. We are not dealing with "marginal groups," "extremists who have gone out of control," and other attempts at verbal acrobatics that are designed to paper over a harsh reality. For a long time now, settlers in Hebron and other areas of Judea and Samaria (and East Jerusalem) have engaged in unruly behavior whose only goal is to violently threaten the Palestinians while undermining Israel's sovereignty. By any official standard recognized worldwide, this is terrorism that sows fear and disrupts the proper management of a state.

It is difficult to fathom the way Israeli politics and society were seduced into turning a blind eye toward the growing Jewish terrorism. Ever since the heads of the Jewish underground were released as part of a shady deal, this trend, which was given the deceptive term "wayward weeds," has continued. Under the hypocritical umbrella of "national unity" and the self-righteous threat of "a rift in the nation," the rampaging has become the norm, a daily routine. The settlers utter profanities, spit, beat, sow ruin and destruction, while the army turns a blind eye in the best-case scenario and takes part in the worst.
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The House of Contention is therefore the culmination of a dangerous progression of events, and the widespread public protest that should have arisen among the sane portion of society after these events has not materialized because the heart of Israeli society has been desensitized for quite some time. Only in such a setting could a former ambassador (Danny Ayalon) who recently joined Yisrael Beiteinu, a party that espouses clear-cut racist values, appear as the lawyer for the offending group and warn: "The settlers are part and parcel of us and we must not tear them away from the nation."

The extreme right-wing activist Daniella Weiss also warns that in Hebron "we will not turn the other cheek," and the settlers holed up in the House of Contention openly call for their admirers to aid them in their struggle against the army. These calls for rebellion, which are tinged with cries of persecution, frighten the government.

This week, Israel has reached the point of no return, which will also determine who controls the state: the justice system and a government elected by democratic means, or Jewish terrorism. If the government does not remove, as soon as possible and without fear of violence, the riotous core of settlers in Hebron, which has disengaged from the state and its institutions and now endangers the public, the blood of the victims of religious fanaticism in the territories will be on its hands. No less grievous would be the message sent to the plunderers that they were victorious and proof for the silent majority in Israel that the future of the Jewish Zionist state is being held hostage by those who pray for its destruction. No other moral claim, not even the just claim of the Jewish people for a national home, will stand, either at home or abroad, against such a capitulation to terror.
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  1.   my admiration 09:24  |  Jean La Salle 04/12/08
  2.   Best solution: Unambiguous Knesset stand for Saudi Plan 09:34  |  Ivar 04/12/08
  3.   Jewish (and Muslim) extremists are holding hostage...... 09:36  |  Swiss (Dino) 04/12/08
  4.   My admiration for the settlers who are following the laws,yet 09:37  |  TC 04/12/08
  5.   Congratulations to brave Haaretz for using the "T" word 09:40  |  Clickfool 04/12/08
  6.   TERRORISTS & TERRORISTS 10:01  |  Alka Seltzer 04/12/08
  7.   It`s all according to plan 10:05  |  Natallie Durson 04/12/08
  8.   TERRORIST 10:12  |  joe 04/12/08
  9.   STOP LETTING THE LEFT CONTROL ISRAEL!!! 10:43  |  DR ERIC 04/12/08
  10.   Only the new government should decide on Chevron!! 10:47  |  DR ERIC 04/12/08
  11.   Wrong time to start a Civil war when Israel govt in Limbo!!! 10:51  |  Dr eric 04/12/08
  12.   this is how israel was concieved 11:10  |  VIPER 04/12/08
  13.   #6, ALKA SELTZER, and why is this so? 11:14  |  VIPER 04/12/08
  14.   What These Kids Need Is A... 11:48  |  Yosemite 04/12/08
  15.   Judea and Shomron are jewish land Ha`aretz 12:11  |  arthur 04/12/08
  16.   breakdown of society 12:27  |  al 04/12/08
  17.   For Arthur # 15 12:28  |  Clickfool 04/12/08
  18.   Palestinian Double Talk 12:55  |  Yosemite 04/12/08
  19.   A country within a country 13:04  |  The Northern Wind 04/12/08
  20.   Israel is the Occupying Authority 13:30  |  Mark Lincoln 04/12/08
  21.   Guilty 13:36  |  Sam Soul 04/12/08
  22.   the settlers 13:36  |  JL 04/12/08
  23.   WHAT AN ATTITUDE 13:37  |  indrajaya 04/12/08
  24.   Oh well,I guess Pals will just have to live with terrorism 13:44  |  Sam 04/12/08
  25.   haaretz in the words of moshe dayan 13:50  |  harzion 04/12/08
  26.   Standing Up to Jewish Terrorists 14:39  |  Michael Cohen 04/12/08
  27.   Everone who ... 15:00  |  Edith 04/12/08
  28.   not complicated 15:43  |  soggy liberal 04/12/08
  29.   Terroist is Bad Word Choice- Shame on YOU 15:57  |  Rafi 04/12/08
  30.   above 16:22  |  abraham cohen 04/12/08
  31.   To `Clickfool` 16:57  |  Neil L 04/12/08
  32.   long time coming 17:02  |  curious george 04/12/08
  33.   Michael Cohen # 26 17:03  |  kameel 04/12/08
  34.   to 29 17:37  |  Susan 04/12/08
  35.   Peace loving Arabs and Jews must unite and craft peace! 18:20  |  Jasim 04/12/08
  36.   The coming election will prove who the silent najority agrees 18:47  |  Norman 04/12/08
  37.   For Neil L # 31 19:08  |  Clickfool 04/12/08
  38.   It`s about standing up to destructive leftist machinations. 20:46  |  Chaim 04/12/08
  39.   Journalism 101 21:07  |  howiej 04/12/08
  40.   Religious Extremists 21:16  |  Kevin 04/12/08
  41.   skewed editorial 21:35  |  don muntean 04/12/08
  42.   Settler leaders inciting violence against IDF must be arrested 21:42  |  Pablo B 04/12/08
  43.   A Jewish state or a state of Jews 21:50  |  ben 04/12/08
  44.   For Ben # 38 21:57  |  Clickfool 04/12/08
  45.   Israel Cannot Allow Sedition To Triumph 22:09  |  chet 04/12/08
  46.   above 22:25  |  A. David Cohen 04/12/08
  47.   You don`t know the meaning of the word Rafi 22:33  |  Mark Lincoln 04/12/08
  48.   These exremists are helping to get Israel as a BINATIONAL State. 22:37  |  sarah 04/12/08
  49.   Don`t be so melodramatic 22:41  |  Josh 04/12/08
  50.   Why there is no ROAD BLOCKS/CHECK POINTS 22:42  |  George Carr 04/12/08
  51.   DR. ERIC,The SUPREME COURT made an HONEST jjudgement 22:47  |  Le Carret 04/12/08
  52.   what is terrorism 23:10  |  ben 04/12/08
  53.   overreaching on the word "terrorism" - right on everything else 23:24  |  ivo 04/12/08
  54.   No ben, not by definition, though usually they are criminals 00:42  |  Mark Lincoln 05/12/08
  55.   Josh the melodrama queen... 01:30  |  BBSNews 05/12/08
  56.   settlers religion 02:01  |  Dan 05/12/08
  57.   To Dr.eric, whoever you are 02:02  |  Otto Rand 05/12/08
  58.   To Dr.eric (second dispatch) 02:11  |  Otto Rand 05/12/08
  59.   The US Controlled Media Speaks Again 02:18  |  Sam Weinstein 05/12/08
  60.   The settlers entirely lost it 02:36  |  Tami 05/12/08
  61.   Thanks for naming Jewish terrorists by their real name 02:51  |  Secular 05/12/08
  62.   Durson rushes to Minneapolis 02:52  |  Arie 05/12/08
  63.   after reading A. Issacharoff`s last piece on the attempted pogrom 02:58  |  ivo 05/12/08
  64.   Welcome Ivo 03:43  |  Magnus K. 05/12/08
  65.   Ironic use of words 03:50  |  Daniel 05/12/08
  66.   unruly settler teens 04:48  |  Sean 05/12/08
  67.   well done Neil L 05:49  |  Jane 05/12/08
  68.   good one JOSH 05:55  |  Jane 05/12/08
  69.   Jewish terrorism 06:15  |  Cookie Cohen 05/12/08
  70.   Denouncing Arab Terrorism 06:34  |  Michael 05/12/08
  71.   31 Neil L, Clickfool is right re: stolen land 06:39  |  Dutch 05/12/08
  72.   36 Chaim, lost in his own destructive machine 06:48  |  Dutch 05/12/08
  73.   Josh the melodrama queen... - 2nd try 07:11  |  BBSNews 05/12/08
  74.   #23 Indrajaya 07:31  |  George Kaplan 05/12/08
  75.   Israel needs to rein in Jewish terrorism... 07:49  |  Dutch 05/12/08
  76.   standing up 08:44  |  chuck vorspan 05/12/08
  77.   How dare you call them terrorists a word not 08:54  |  lily 05/12/08
  78.   Well said Rafi but how many posts like yours will be printed 08:56  |  lily 05/12/08
  79.   By the way why call Israelis - `settlers` at all 08:57  |  lily 05/12/08
  80.   Lovely to see Jew haters complimenting Haaretz when anti Jewish 08:59  |  lily 05/12/08
  81.   Haaretz: Hamas=Militants/Jewish Heroes=Terrorist 10:14  |  Baruch Gold 05/12/08
  82.   Magnus K. #60: i`m where i always was & haven`t changed worlds - 14:04  |  ivo 05/12/08
  83.   #14 - Yosemite 16:44  |  Samuel 05/12/08
  84.   #77 - Baruch 16:55  |  Daniel 05/12/08
  85.   Hebron 04:03  |  Karl 06/12/08
  86.   They are all terrorists 11:39  |  The Berlin Wall 06/12/08
  87.   God kveld Ivo :) 21:00  |  Magnus K. 07/12/08
  88.   Jewish Terorism 23:57  |  G. Rubinstein 07/12/08
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