Israel Matzav

A hot night in 'east' Jerusalem

Hundreds of 'right wing activists' demonstrated last night in a bid to get the government to do what it promised to do more than a week ago: destroy the home in which terrorist Alaa Abu Dheim lived during his lifetime. I know that some of you may think that's kind of harsh, but it's been de rigueur around here for a long time - going back to the very civilized Brits of the Mandatory period (1922-1948). The 'activists' marched on the 'east' Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber and attempted to destroy the home themselves, getting twenty-two of them arrested in the process.

One policeman was lightly wounded in a scuffle with the protesters, while 22 activists were arrested on suspicion of stoning Arab residents' houses.

The protesters were comprised chiefly of teenagers and veteran far-right activists such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Baruch Marzel, members of the Komemiut organization and Women in Green head Nadia Matar.

For almost three hours, police struggled to prevent the activists from vandalizing the property of the residents of the Arab village while calling "revenge, revenge." Young girls shouted at policemen and refused to be evacuated from the village, some crying and lying on the ground, telling the police that they were guarding murderers.

Well, let's be honest. They were.

As police prepared for the protesters' arrival at the Sherover Promenade, massive security forces fanned out in Jebl Mukaber in case the activists tried to attack the terrorist's family's home.

"The entire village is on alert right now. They won't let them touch a stone of the family's house, and it wouldn't be a pleasant sight if they scuffled," a Jebl Mukaber resident told the The Jerusalem Post while passing the demonstration.

If the 'Palestinians' were serious about getting along with the Jews, they would expel families like this themselves. Instead, they protect them. The residents of Jebel Mukaber, like those of every other Arab neighborhood in 'east' Jerusalem, have the right to Israeli citizenship, a right that many of them have exercised. Many of them have then abused the freedom of movement that goes with Israeli citizenship to perpetrate attacks like the one ten days ago.

Finally, police declared that the demonstration was illegal and forced the protesters to leave, escorting them out of the neighborhood.

"Today is the beginning of the fight to expel our enemy. Today, there are more people who understand that it's us or them," Ben-Gvir told Post earlier Sunday as the activists gathered at the city's Sherover Promenade.

Matar, who arrived at the meeting point ahead of most of the protesters, told TV crews that "we will lose this country just because we're afraid of being called racists. It's time we say it out loud - the Arabs of Israel put us all in danger."

"We need to replace [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert's government with a government that isn't afraid to handle Kassam rockets and the enemy at the front door," Matar added.

And people wonder why you see calls to restrict 'east' Jerusalem Arabs?

The protesters, many of whom were settlers, carried signs reading "Expel the Arab Enemy" and "The Land of Israel for the Jewish People." Some called to "kill the Arabs" and, despite a heavy police blockade at the entrance to Jebl Mukaber and a massive deployment of security forces in the area, the marchers managed to enter the village, stone residents' homes and damage a couple of cars belonging to villagers.

"We're here on behalf of the Jewish people... The people are strong in their demand to raze the terrorist's house," one of the organizers of the demonstration told the protesters. "The Jewish people are wounded and hurt, and not just because of eight children who were murdered [in the Mercaz Harav shooting] but also because anyone who has an Israeli ID card and an Israeli license plate can go anywhere he wants and do whatever he wants. The Jewish people, here and in the Diaspora, have woken up and demand that the house of the family who tortured an entire nation by rising Hamas flags be destroyed."

How does the Post know that 'many' of the protesters were 'settlers'? Did they take a survey?

Anyway, here's a small, raw clip of the 'demonstration' that I found online. For those who don't understand Hebrew, they're shouting "death to the Arabs" (mavet la'Aravim). Given the atrocity that was perpetrated ten days ago and the way the Arab community has rallied around to protect the terrorist's family, those sentiments are not all that surprising.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:37 AM