Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumWATCH Masked Jewish Man Attacks Head of Rabbis for Human Rights
Rabbi Ascherman beaten by settler after helping Palestinians during olive harvest in the West Bank, video alleges.Chaim Levinson Oct 23, 2015 5:38 PM
The head of Jewish human rights organization was attacked Friday by a masked Jewish man near a settlement in the West Bank in an incident caught on video and labeled by the police as an altercation between left and right wing activists.
The Jewish assailant was caught on video accosting Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who heads Rabbis For Human Rights, and threatening him with a knife during a Palestinian olive harvest near the Jewish settlement of Itamar. The Israel Police's political crimes unite have opened an investigation into the incident.
According to Rabbi Ascherman, the incident occurred when he and a Palestinian returned from the harvest and saw a Jewish settler attempting to steal olives from the orchard while another was allegedly setting some of the trees on fire. Ascherman said he moved towards the fire, approaching the settler.
According to the video, which begins at this point, Ascherman is attacked by the masked man, who beats him and pelts him with a rock, before pulling out the knife. Ascherman is seen attempting to defend himself and confronting another man at the scene before the masked attacker hits him again, swinging his knife at the rabbi before fleeing the scene.
The police described the incident as "friction between left wing and right wing activists during the time of the [Palestinian] olive harvest." The police said that officers were canvasing the area and that an investigation has been opened in coordination with security forces. The police said they view such incidents with the utmost severity and would have "zero tolerance" towards any lawbreakers.
Source : http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.682019
Israeli
(4,159 posts)Volunteers and activists were accompanying Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank to help protect them from settler attacks.
A right-wing Jewish extremist threw stones at and attempted to stab president of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Asherman, following an olive harvest coordinated with the Israeli army on Friday. Nobody was significantly injured in the incident.
Rabbi Asherman and a group of Israeli and international activists arrived to accompany Palestinian farmers to their privately owned olive orchard, located near the illegal Israeli outpost of Gideonim, which is an offshoot of the Itamar settlement.
Following the harvest, the Palestinian farmers noticed suspected Israeli settlers stealing olives and another setting fire to the hillside. Rabbi Asherman said that because firefighters did not arrive quickly, he went to try and put out the fire himself.
At that point, the masked man who set the fire, ostensibly a settler from the nearby outpost, tried to prevent Rabbi Asherman from reaching the site of the blaze, threw stones at him and pulled out a knife and repeatedly swung it toward him. The man kicked and punched Asherman.
Rabbi Asherman and other activists remained at the scene in order to direct the army and police toward the attacker, he said in a statement, but it took police 30 minutes to arrive. At that point the attacker had already fled.
Rabbis for Human Rights often accompanies Palestinian farmers in order to help protect them from settler attacks.
The organizations website explains: Our presence in the groves with the farmers helps keep them safe, as extremists are far less likely to cause problems when they know Israelis and internationals are present.
A police spokesperson responded to the attack on Friday by blaming the incident on a provocation by left-wing activists and anarchists. She said officers were searching the area for the suspect.
Between 2005 and 2014, according to human rights group Yesh Din, only four out of the 246 criminal complaints of damage to olive trees that it monitored resulted in indictments. In total, only 7.4 percent of West Bank Israeli police investigations into complaints from Palestinian victims of offenses committed against them or their property by Israeli civilians result in indictments, according to the organization.
From the moment the olive harvest begins, we witness a series of serious incidents involving attacks on harvesters and damage to trees, Noa Cohen of Yesh Dins research department stated last year. This recurring phenomenon is a result of failure to enforce the law.
The incident on Friday was far from the first time Rabbis for Human Rights and the Palestinians they accompany have come under settler attack.
For an in-depth look at Israeli settler violence and the authorities inability to cope with it, I suggest reading Larry Derfners feature, Settler violence: It comes with the territory.
Source: http://972mag.com/watch-masked-settler-tries-to-stab-rabbi-for-human-rights/113146/
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Well, you know, so long as the victim is a Jewish guy. If the victims happen to be Palestinians, well, there's plenty of tolerance for that. As evidenced by the apparent lack of worry about the attempted theft and arson...
I hope Ascherman is okay. Israel needs more men and women like him.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)A man who proudly proclaims: "I am a Zionist" and stands firm in the face of those who would co-opt the term.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)and they are in government.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Who are in the opposition.
Reminiscent of the dark days of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration.
The RW-ers at the head of government, but countless wonderful progressives fighting the good fight in the opposition.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)If you knew anything about Israel it is that the majority, not to forget the illegal colonist block, have sided with the right wing.
Any opposition has been marginalized, and seemingly the right wing even wants to silence them even more.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)The "tea party" lunatics were on the ascent.
The opposition was completely marginalized and the right wing wanted to silence them even more.
The tea partiers even thought Bush and McCain and then Romney were too left wing for them.
Not to mention the dominance of Fox News which has grown into a massive right-wing empire.
Israel will have its Obama moment as the US finally did after the long dark Bush nightmare.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)that vote I doubt it, but whatever dreams keep some in that cozy coma...
oberliner
(58,724 posts)It doesn't get much crazier/right-wing than that.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Israeli
(4,159 posts)or Eritrean .....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134115681
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Absolutely pathetic display by this criminal.
Thankfully there are Zionists like Arik Ascherman who are not afraid to stand up to such bullies.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Are they present in the video?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)..
The Israeli police see their job as to facilitate criminal behavior by the settlerscum, not to prevent it.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)If there were police officers literally standing by doing nothing while this was going on, then they ought to be fired and/or criminally charged as well.
The guy in the mask should have been apprehended and arrested for assault.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)The Geneva Initiative (or something very much like it) is the pathway towards peace.
People on the left (and in the middle) ought to try to get more energy behind that initiative in my view.
A one-state solution is a recipe for unending internal infighting between groups of people who will forever despise and distrust one another.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)they were before moving into the WB.
But they oppose a Palestinian state, for obvious reasons--they'd have to leave.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Withdraw those settlements and remove those settlers as part of the two state solution.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)On May 14, The Geneva Initiative held a conference inTel Aviv which was attended by 250 Israelis on: "The challenges facing the peace camp in the current political reality."
The panel of speakers featured Chairperson of Meretz MK Zahava Galon, MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid), MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Camp) and senior Geneva Initiative member Brig. Gen. (res.) Giora Inbar. The conference was moderated by journalist Uri Misgav.
...
Chairperson of Meretz Zahava Galon: The challenge of the peace camp is to connect all of the opposition parties (aside from Yisrael Beitenu) into one front which will fight against the policy of this government. Netanyahu does not intend to make progress with the peace process and we need to be braver in our statements, including support for international recognition of a Palestinians state.
http://www.geneva-accord.org/mainmenu/ofer-shelah-at-geneva-initiative-conference-we-need-to-emphasize-hope
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)I salute their adherence to progressive principles and defense of peace and human rights, but they are awfully lonely.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Those parties were 2nd and 4th in the most recent elections.
shira
(30,109 posts).....to throw out the Palestinians, but here you are calling for all Jews to be thrown out of parts of their historic homeland.
So what makes you better than them?
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Assuming they agree to do so as Palestinian citizens under Palestinian law would that be acceptable to you?
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)forced to leave in Israel what you suggest amounts to Jewish RoR
oberliner
(58,724 posts)No Jews should be allowed to live in Hebron if that does not happen?
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)I would call for a full right of return for both injured parties: supervised by the UN.
shira
(30,109 posts)....pretend to be offended when a few Jews call for all Arabs out of Israel.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Or at least won't admit the sinister undertones while crying crocodile tears.
Mosby
(16,365 posts)Israeli
(4,159 posts)Former West Bank division commander testifies in court against right-wing extremists.
Chaim Levinson Oct 23, 2015
Right-wing violence in the West Bank is one of the causes of Palestinian terror, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told a court on Thursday.
Some of the motivation of the Palestinians to carry out terror attacks is due to the violence of right-wing elements in the West Bank, the director of the IDF operations directorate, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, said in testimony at a trial about incitement on the Hakol Hayehudi (The Jewish Voice) website.
Alon came to testify as the former commander of the Judea and Samaria Division and the head of Central Command, in a trial against Avraham Binyamin and Yehoshua Hess, who are accused of being the editors and owners of Hakol Hayehudi, based in the settlement of Yitzhar, where they publicized words of violence and incitement. The two deny the accusation.
Alon was brought as an expert on Jewish violence in the West Bank and its effect on the security situation in the region. In his testimony he said that incidents of Israeli violence are linked to Palestinian violence. In my understanding there are many reasons for Palestinian violence, some of them related to the murderous behavior of the terrorists, some related to religious and nationalistic motives, and a certain part, not the main part, that is related to revenge activity due to the activity of Israelis against Palestinians, said Alon.
Attorney Yitzhak Bam asked whether IDF violence is the reason for Palestinian violence. Alon replied that the Palestinians, for them IDF activities in which Palestinians are hurt serve as another issue encouraging and causing terror activities. They differentiate between the activities of soldiers and those of settlers, but for them both are occupation.
Alon said that a significant part of Israeli violence against Palestinians stems from Palestinian violence against Israelis. Some of the incidents are revenge for terror or violence.
Regarding criticism of him and the demonstrations against him, Alon said, There were several attempts to demonstrate in front of my house, I dont know where the residents were from and they didnt influence me at all.
He said that he did not read Hakol Hayehudi regularly, and denied that he was testifying against the site because they wrote that his wife was a member of the Machsom Watch anti-occupation group or because they called the violent incidents the Nitzan Alon intifada.
According to the indictment, the website posts systematically included incitement to violence and racism against Israeli and Palestinian Arabs ... claiming that Arabs are hated, murderers, violent, wild animals, rioters, evil, brazen, terrorists, abusive, cruel, harassers, criminals, hostile and an enemy.
Source: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.681956
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)was an honor killing committed by Arabs.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)killed.
When a masked Jew is waving a knife, on the other hand, he's only a right-wing activist who deserves no punishment according to the same people.
I feel there's some kind of discrepancy going on here...