The Aftermath

Waiting in Vain: Palestinian vs Israeli Responses to Violence
-Phyllis Chesler, PhD

One waits for an outpouring of condolences for the kidnapping-murders of the three Israeli teenagers, one of whom was also an American citizen. Especially, one waits for such statements from the most ardent supporters of a Palestinian state in the disputed territories.

 

One waits in vain.

 

However, as soon as the news of a kidnapping and murder of an Arab teenager, European, American, and Israeli Jews rushed to express outrage, grief, and to condemn, in advance, any Jew or Jews who might have committed this heinous act.

[Breitbart] 

After Murder of Palestinian Youth in Jerusalem, Israel Moves to Limit Expressions of Hatred
 
Israel is treating the murder of Muhammed Abu Khdeir with the utmost seriousness. [T]hat this youth [may have been] killed as an act of revenge for the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teenagers, who were buried the day before (July 1), has placed Abu Khdeir's murder near the top of Israel's agenda.
     
President Shimon Peres, President-elect Reuven Rivlin, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have condemned the murder and expressions of hatred. Israel has taken robust actions to solve the case as well as to ensure that any conditions which might have contributed to the crime are punished and not repeated. Israel rejects any expressions of hatred and is taking concrete steps to limit them. Seven IDF soldiers have been sentenced to military prison for posting hateful comments or calls for vengeance in social media.
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)


Behind the Rioting in Jerusalem - Pinhas Inbari
 
The Arab rioting in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods indicates that the Palestinian Authority has little control over Palestinians in the city. The PA is not calling for riots but for calm. It seeks to recruit the Muslim world's tourist traffic to Jerusalem in order to emphasize the non-Jewish character of the city.
    
Because Hamas wants to inflame the city, it opposes Muslim tourism, as does the global Muslim Brotherhood movement. 
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)


After the Horror - Herb Keinon
 
In the wake of the discovery of the bodies of the three teenagers, part of the world, in its obtuseness, has warned us against a "disproportionate" reaction, as if there is a proportionate reaction to three boys murdered for no other reason than they were Jews.
     
This type of brutality leaves a mark on the national psyche - not only the brutality of the act itself, but also the glee in which so many on the other side greeted the news of the kidnappings, glee grotesquely paraded on Facebook in the form a three-finger salute.
    
The support the kidnappers enjoyed among so many of their own people and the calls for more kidnappings of innocents reveal a hatred which serves as a reminder of where we live and what we have to deal with.
    
Those abroad who fail to grasp why Israel is not more "forthcoming," not more willing to "make sacrifices for peace," or why it builds a security fence, or why it sets up roadblocks, do not understand the degree to which incidents like this leave their mark. To understand Israel, it is necessary to understand that incidents like this - kidnappings, rockets randomly fired into living rooms, bombs blowing up buses - sap any desire to "take risks for peace." 
(Jerusalem Post)


These Murders Reawaken Israel's Deepest Fears - Anshel Pfeffer

Israel was founded and its military force built up so that no Jewish child should ever be captured and spirited away. That is Israel's core purpose. For 18 days, nearly every Israeli parent put him or herself in the place of those three mothers and three fathers. Nearly every Israeli child and teenager imagined being in that car racing away through the night.
     
Israelis were deeply insulted by foreign media which downplayed the kidnapping, or described the teenagers as "three settlers." To Israelis, this was a national tragedy.
(Guardian-UK)
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Murderers of Palestinian Teen Face ‘Full Weight of Law’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged following arrests in the murder of a Palestinian teen that the killers “will face the full weight of the law.” Israel’s Shin Bet security service announced that it had arrested “several Jewish suspects” in the kidnap and murder of 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, whose body was found July 2 in the Jerusalem forest.
   
Sending his condolences to the victim’s family, Netanyahu said Sunday, “I pledge that the perpetrators of this horrific crime, which must be resolutely condemned in the most forceful language, will face the full weight of the law. I know that in our society, the society of Israel, there is no place for such murderers. And that’s the difference between us and our neighbors. They consider murderers to be heroes. They name public squares after them. We don’t. We condemn them and we put them on trial and we’ll put them in prison,” he said. “We do not differentiate between the terrorists and we will respond to all of them, wherever they come from, with a firm hand.”
(JTA)


Broad Israeli Action against Gaza Not Imminent
 
In remarks to his cabinet, Netanyahu pledged "to do whatever is necessary" to restore quiet to southern Israeli communities that have come under rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is the dominant force. But he also cautioned against any rush toward wider confrontation with the group, whose arsenal includes long-range rockets that can reach Israel's heartland and its business capital, Tel Aviv.
(Voice of America)


Arson, Firebombs, Rocks and Rockets: 48 Hours of Terror Across Israel 
 - David Bender

Israelis over large swaths of the country underwent a harrowing weekend of Arab violence, sparked, in part, by the killing of an Arab youth in Jerusalem last Wednesday by a group of suspected Jewish extremists.
   
Israelis were assailed by violent expressions of anger; by Arab rioters in Wadi Ara in the Lower Galilee who stoned public buses, to motorists caught and dragged from vehicles near Nazareth, which were then torched, to massive rioting in Jerusalem, to poolside Kassam rocket alerts near Gaza.
(Algemeiner)
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UPDATE:

Soccer Thugs Killed a Palestinian Boy - Liel Leibovitz

Like so many of the narratives beamed out of the Middle East by pale Western journalists who know so painfully little about the region and its inhabitants, this story, too, is difficult to understand. If you want to understand the gruesome murder of 16-year-old Muhammed Abu Khdeir in the hands of six young Israelis last week, don’t turn to Bibi or the Bible or Hamas or Abbas: turn to Beitar Jerusalem, the favorite soccer team of Israel’s undivided capital.
  
All six suspects are fanatical Beitar fans. Members of the murderous cabal are all affiliated with La Familia, a small group of several thousand Beitar fans known for their anti-Arab opinions and a more general penchant for thuggery. The truth is that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority, settler rabbis and Hamas all have nothing to do with the terrible events that unfurled after six lowlifes forced a sweet-faced kid into their car and burned him alive. Soccer does. So please, enough with the ancient hatreds and the cycle of violence. The death of Muhammed Abu Khdeir is a terrible tragedy, but it’s not one unique to Israel. Anyone who watches soccer more frequently than a few matches every four years understands that intuitively.
(Tablet)
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