'I kicked the Arab, I stepped on his head'

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By Uri Blau

Dozens of teenage boys from Jerusalem received the same ICQ message: "We're putting an end to all the Arabs who hang out in 'Pisga' and the mall, whistle at the girls, curse, threaten little kids. Anyone who is Jewish and wants to put an end to all that should be at Burger Ranch at 10 P.M., and we'll finally show them they can't hang in our area anymore. Anyone who is willing to do that and has Jewish blood should add his name to this message."

It would have been difficult to choose a more cynical date on which to send out such a message: Wednesday, April 30, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Dozens of boys arrived at the meeting place in the Pisgat Ze'ev shopping mall. They streamed in from all parts of the capital, some on foot, some by bus and some driven in by parents. Equipped with knives, sticks and clubs, they all had one purpose: to do harm to Arabs for being Arabs.

At the entrance, the gang encountered two boys from the Shuafat refugee camp, who had come to shop for clothes and didn't know the mall had closed early for Holocaust Day. The day's end saw the two battered, bleeding and stabbed, and at Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem.

A few days ago, an indictment was submitted to the Jerusalem District Court against 11 of the attackers - teenage boys aged 15-19. Their testimony indicates the attack was perpetrated in a society in which violence against Arabs is seen as a legitimate and necessary means by which to restore Jewish hegemony to the neighborhood.

"I study in Pisgat Ze'ev at the Teddy Kollek School," Rafael (his and all the other teens' names have been changed), 15, told police. "Last Tuesday began as an ordinary day. School. I returned from gym and on my way to class, I overheard some guys saying that tomorrow we would be meeting in the mall to fight the Arabs. I went home and like every day, logged on to the computer and connected to ICQ ... After I talked with some people for half an hour, they sent me a message that tomorrow, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, we would meet at 10 P.M. to fight the Arabs who whistle at the girls and harass little kids. I sent the message to one person."

Another teen, Yaron, said in his testimony: "I received a message on ICQ on the Thursday before ... The day came and at 8:30 P.M. I went to my barber in Pisgat Ze'ev, Kobi Ben Haim, for a haircut. After Kobi finished cutting my hair he said, 'Yalla, in another hour and a half we'll screw the Arabs.'"

Ill-fated day

At the same time, in the Abu Kamal home in Shuafat in northern Jerusalem, 18-year-old Ahmed was preparing to go out. "He told me he wanted to buy clothes," said his father Jemal. "I heard that in Pisgat Ze'ev there's a mall, that it's like Jaffa Road, inexpensive. I said to him, 'Great, go, why not?'"

Ahmed is the second of 12 children. "He saw that I was having a tough time and that he had to help me, and since then he's been working as a janitor in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center. My child is calm, none of us has a police record. We have Jewish and Arab friends, we have nothing against anyone and people in the village respect us."

read on...plenty more...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=988477

[sarge43]

1. Shame, shame.

Of all the people on God's green earth one would think the children and grandchildren of the Holocaust survivors would understand where this mindless hatred leads.

[Electric Flag]

2. If we've learned one thing from history,

it's that we never learn from history. :cry:

[sarge43]

3. It seems so, unfortunately.

A line from the film Excalibur, "It is the doom of men that they forget."

Welcome to DU, Electric Flag.

[oberliner]

5. Where does it say that they were the children or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors?

The article does not include any such information about the background of these teenagers.

In any case, there are stupid racist teenagers everywhere in the world regardless of what their relatives may have gone through, unfortunately.

Hopefully the Israeli police department can do more to prevent these sorts of incidents from happening in the future.

[Vegasaurus]

6. Just as the Palestinian children have grown up under occupation

Israeli teenagers have grown up with non-stop terrorism.

It has hardened those on both sides.

[moez]

4. Thank God

That they didn't decide to strap a bomb on their chests and blow up the Arab kids' neighborhoods.... just sayin'...

[LeftishBrit]

7. Awful

I hope Ahmed and Walid recover from their physical and psychological injuries. And I hope the young thugs get punished severely; and that the gang is broken up.

These youngsters remind me unpleasantly of the neo-Nazi and similar groups who are a problem in most Europaean countries.

[Sezu]

8. Pick any country with teenagers and you can find teen on teen

violence be it racist, homophobic, territorial or anything else. Should we be surprised that it happens in Israel?