Naughty settlers and toothless authority

Many secular Israelis consider the ultra-orthodox haredim to be irritating elements that walk around as cartoon characters and tirelessly try to infuse everything and everyone in righteous halacha. What they should be more irritated and worried about is the religious settlers on the West Bank, who really are the Israeli version of troublemakers who come with the holy scriptures in one hand and a rock in the other.

They are systematically spreading on the West Bank, expanding their outposts, and although it is not allowed the actions against them are toothless and somewhat blasé. They attack Palestinians, as well as Israeli soldiers, and after the latest incident today, no one was arrested, which is completely unacceptable. The logistics makes the surveillance of the area complicated and Israeli police often arrives at a scene too late, while the Israeli Defence Forces are primarily posted to re-establish calm and not to arrest people. Another problem is that many of the outposts stretch into areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, where Israeli police cannot be on patrol. Altogether, the West Bank is growing into a Wild West, where rioting youth are acting as they please.

I have never said that the Palestinians are innocent on their side and they have their own problems with Hamas cells trying to infiltrate the West Bank society to recruit youngsters to terrorism activity, while they also urge Palestinians to fight the Palestinian Authority like they would Israel, and also Palestinian youth are involved in riots, but two wrongs does not make one right. Law and order have to be re-implemented on the West Bank and the silk gloves have to be taken off.

The settlements threaten to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the implementation of the partition solution, which is essential for preserving Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state. Let's face it! There is not any Greater Israel visible in the glass ball and that is what we have to work with to create peace. Defending the settlements requires Israel to operate a complex system of access roads and roadblocks, which make Palestinians' lives more difficult and inflict serious financial harm on them.

So, next time you see a haredi trying to tell you something from the Torah, you can thank him for not taking his deed into physical action on the West Bank.