Jewish shahid

Friday, August 05, 2005

His own mother tried to get the army or police to arrest him, to no avail. His father told Military Police that the recently ‘born again’ Zada – who took his rifle when he walked out of the army, leaving behind a detailed letter explaining he could not serve in the army ‘because Jews don’t expel Jews,’ -- was getting involved with Kahanists. Zada reportedly tried to turn himself into the police while he was in Kar Maimon just last week, demonstrating against the disengagement, but was allegedly told by police that he should go back to the army. His army buddies knew he was living in Tapuah, one of the most radical of the settlements of the West Bank. If his commanders knew, they did not report it higher up. If they did not know, they failed as commanders. The Shin Bet knew his name, when the police called from Shfaram to ask if the secret service was familiar with him, but had done nothing to warn the army and neither had told the police.

In short, the writing was on the wall. But the three institutions, police, Shin Bet and army, either did not read it together, or did not read it to each other, or did not read it at all. True, it is almost impossible to stop a lone gunmen who decides on his own to take action. A conspiracy is easier to intercept, particularly if the target is so obvious, like the Temple Mount, which along with an attempted assassination of the prime minister is still considered the number one threat by Jewish extremists. Nonetheless, the lessons of Baruch Goldstein, who for months did nothing to hide a ‘depression’ over the Oslo process, and Yigal Amir, who tried to impress a settler girl who wanted nothing to do with him by bragging that he was trying to stop Yitzhak Rabin, should have been learned.

The joint investigation by police, army and Shin Bet is now underway, aiming at finding out why the lessons were not learned. It might be too late – just as Zada was a Baruch Goldstein wannabe, there are probably more Zadas out there who want to be like him. Some estimates say there could be as many as a few hundred potential lone gunmen. Other say thousands.

Yesterday evening, right as the news from Shfaram began to filter in, Channel Ten’s London and Kirschenbaum current events program was hosting, among others, Hagai Ben-Artzi, the brother of Sarah Netanyahu, the finance minister’s wife. Ben-Artzi, who moved to Gush Katif earlier last year to fight against the disengagement, promised the show at the time that if the disengagement takes place, he’ll leave Gush Katif ‘in a coffin.’ It sounded like a threat of suicide.

Last night, as it became evident that a Jew was responsible for the terror attack Ben-Artzi cloyingly rephrased his statement, explaining that ‘the leadership of the anti-expulsion forces has always made clear that non-violence is the only course of action.’ But then he went on to say, ‘you must understand, the expulsion of Jews from their homes by other Jews is an act so monstrous, so unbelievable, so inconceivable, that it is impossible to say what will happen. Its effect on some people is utterly unpredictable. Who knows how it will affect some people? For example,’ he said, in a didactic tone of voice, clutching his chest as a demonstration, ‘It could give people heart attacks.’

The Shfaram shooting was the last thing the anti-disengagement movement needed, of course. The blatant law-breaking trying to break into Gush Katif on ideological-religious grounds has already alienated most of Israeli society from the settler community. Their patronizing attitude toward the non-religious, their claims of moral superiority because of their readiness for ‘self-sacrifice’ (while living off government largesse, cheap and spacious housing, and cheap Palestinian labor) and their increasingly strident challenges to the legitimacy of the state’s institutions, have all combined to isolate them. It has dramatically undermined their political strength and the shooting yesterday only further undermines the anti-disengagement movement, unless, as the strategists on the far Right believe, so much turmoil ensues as a result of an incident like Shfaram, that the government has no choice but to postpone at least the disengagement. As it happened, more than half the police of the Northern District, which has jurisdiction over Shfaram, were in the south, deployed for disengagement duty (and to prevent Israeli infiltrators trying to reach Gush Katif).

Police were promising to stay out of the Arab towns and villages where mourning rallies were slated for today and away from the mosques where no doubt there will be some angry Friday prayer sermons. There was a high police alert on the Temple Mount. Security around Prime Minister Sharon is already unprecedented.

Nobody wants a repeat of October 2000, Israeli Arab demonstrators against Ariel Sharon’s demonstrative visit to the Temple Mount turned into a riot and 13 Israeli-Arab demonstrators were killed by police, fanning the early flames of the intifada across the Green Line. Well, perhaps not nobody. The Kahanists – and Hamasniks -- and their fellow travelers probably wouldn’t mind.

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