The Presumption of Jewish Guilt

                                                                                 

Several weeks ago, following an atrocious terror attack in which an Arab baby and eventually his father were burned to death, a few of our leaders, several journalists and bloggers accused members of my people of committing that crime. “My people have elected terror,” ( “בני עמי בחרו בטרור”) read the Hebrew headlines quoting our President. There is not even one iota of qualification in that statement. The president did not say, “Some of my people.” He did not suggest that “a few of “ his people might have carried out such an attack. No! He held us all responsible!

In another paper, MK, Yair Lapid, likewise, rushed to a similar conclusion. “The enemy acted last night in Duma. Terrorists entered at night and set fire to a baby. As always, the IDF is going to war against the enemy. Only this time the enemy is from here, from inside, from within us.”  MK Lapid, without any apprehensiveness connected the Duma attack to the enemy "from within us.” Others rushed to condemn us,  to preach to us, to praise and defend these leaders for their premature condemnations. 

I trust I am not the only one who is perplexed by the taunting questions that such accusations raised. Nearly a month later and we are still waiting to learn who are these people who “elected” terror? Who are these “Jewish terrorists” that we suddenly hear so much about?  More importantly, where is the evidence against them? Are we going to get the answers we deserve?

And we do deserve answers. As a nation that has been wronged for so long throughout history, the last  indignation we need is to be rebuked and scolded by our own for a crime we may not even have committed. If we have, it is not merely our right to know. It is our duty to remove the evil from within is, to repent, improve our ways. Israelis and Jews may not be perfect, like anyone else, but why in the world should we take responsibility for other people’s crimes, both individually and collectively when so many of the details of that crime are still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty?

“Yesterday’s papers are today’s fish and chips wrappers,” I was once told when I lived in New Zealand. What this saying implies is that the farther away in time one moves from an event, the more it sinks into the creases of the subconscious and the realm of forgetfulness.

Not this time!  Until we get the answers we deserve, these accusations, these uncertainties will continue to haunt us as individuals and as a nation. Such unpleasant collective memories, if left unresolved untreated, can turn into monsters that could rear their ugly heads at any moment, consume the well-being of a nation and bring it to the brink of the abyss.

Is the Duma “guess- timation” the next Al Dura narrative?

                                                

                                          

I am not going to discuss the painful issue of the recent Duma tragedy. We have had enough of that, enough of self flagellation, breast beating and guilt ridden national conscience. The incidence has been debated, written about, discussed and analyzed ad nauseaum to the point of exhaustion.

It is time to heal and move on.

Herein, however, is where our problem rests. Any doctor will tell you that no healing process can commence until the problem has been fully diagnosed and the source of it has been identified. How can we, Israelis, prescribe a cure for the malignancies in our midst if so many of us refuse to confront them?  How can we stop a small but loud segment of our society from breast beating and projecting upon the rest of us their dysfunctionalities by pointing a blaming finger at us and declaring us as the “usual suspects?”

These questions seem legitimate following another very well publicized example; one that continues to resurface; one we had allowed to remain an open wound for too long, a wound that still comes to haunt us probably because we took too long to address and cure it. I am referring to the Al Dura case of September 30, 2000.

The image of the twelve year old Gazan boy hiding behind his father who was allegedly killed by Israeli fire, is still a symbol of “martyrdom” in some parts of the world, mainly the Arab world. It appears on posters, stamps and is still fuels hatred and violence towards Israel.

Following the incident, France 2 T.V. station aired a clip of the alleged killing and distributed it for free to other networks that broadcasted it, inspiring further violence directed at Jews and Israelis.

My dear friend, Philippe Karsenty, the founder and president of Media-Ratings (www.M-R.fr) claimed  that the footage was staged. He was ready to defend his claim in court. Karsenty was sued for defamation by the French-Israeli journalist of the France 2 T.V. station. Karsenty lost in court.

On May 21, 2008, justice briefly prevailed and Karsenty won his appeal. In 2012, however, the French Supreme Court overturned the Appeals Court‘s decision on procedural grounds. According to it, Karsenty had no legal right to show the footage during the proceedings at the Court of Appeals.

It was not until May 2013, though, that a victory for Israel took place. Following the recommendation of an investigative committee set by the Israeli government, Israel formulated its official position that there is no evidence to support France 2’s claim that the young Al Dura was killed by Israeli fire, if at all.

Clearly, only some of pieces of the Duma firebombing puzzle are strewn around. These include, a dead baby, a wounded family and two burnt houses in the middle of a small Arab village. All the other details are circumstantial.

Uncertainties and unsolved issues are a nightmare. No one deserves to live with them for too long, if at all. Hopefully, the relevant Israeli authorities would, like in the Al Dura case, initiate their own probe into this case and hopefully sooner.  Otherwise, in the words of my dear friend and fellow blogger, Varda Meyers Epstein, “Duma might become the next Al-Dura case.”