No doubt: Jewish American mainstream condemns Jewish extremism in Hebron. Attacks on Palestinians by extremists are unacceptable. Israel's government has a right to enforce the law. AJCommittee: "“While we fully understand the bonds of history and faith that tie the Jewish people to Hebron, this cannot be a justification for violating the law.”
It is clear. The mainstream and predominant voice of the Jewish American community is resolutely opposed to Jewish extremism.
Most recently, and perhaps I should have reported this about a week ago, because there are some who apparently wish to make this a wedge issue, the "Big Three" Jewish American watchdog organizations expressed their condemnation of the attacks upon Palestinians and Israeli soldiers enforcing the law in Hebron by "certain segments of the settler community."
AJC Appalled by Settler Provocations in Hebron
December 5, 2008 – New York – The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is appalled by the actions of Jewish settlers who were forcibly removed from a home in Hebron by the Israel Defense Forces yesterday.
“Israel cannot permit a small minority to challenge its legitimate institutions through violence,” said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. “We fully support Israel’s government and security forces in their resolve to maintain order in the West Bank city of Hebron, whether the protagonists are Jews or Arabs.”
The IDF and Israeli police enforced the ruling of Israel’s High Court of Justice to evict Jewish settlers from a house in Hebron whose lawful ownership is disputed. The settlers balked, with some verbally abusing and physically attacking Israeli security forces, and later assaulting Palestinian residences and neighborhoods in Hebron.
“The behavior of certain segments of the settler community, pitting Jews against Jews in a highly combustible environment, is a threat to the democratic foundation of Israeli society,” said Harris.
“While we fully understand the bonds of history and faith that tie the Jewish people to Hebron, this cannot be a justification for violating the law.”
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AJCongress: Threats of Violence and Resistance to Court-Ordered Eviction in Hebron Undermine Israeli Democracy
December 5, 2008 — In the wake of the show-down over Jewish residence in a house in Hebron the American Jewish Congress today called on Israelis to rally firmly behind the rule of law and the democratic process.
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that the courts will need more time to settle the dispute over the ownership of the house and that in the meanwhile the defiant Jewish settlers must exit the residence. The Court gave the residents several weeks to evacuate peacefully. Settler leaders and the goverment held talks to try and broker a compromise that would avoid a clash, but these talks took place under the threat of violence by supporters of the Hebron house residents. According to reports, settlers resisted the eviction. Subsequently, bands of settlers attacked Palestinians in an intolerable outbreak of lawlessness.
The question of whether or not Jews can remain in key parts of the ancient Jewish homeland, and specifically in Hebron, evokes deep feelings. Honorable people can disagree, and vigorous debate does not threaten the fabric of a democratic society.
But it would be a tragic irony if actions motivated by Zionist attachment to the land of Israel undermine the great achievement of the Zionist movement — the creation and the sustaining under great pressure of a democratic state based on the rule of law. We know that not all settlers are engaged in violence; those who are undermine the state that Jews longed for over two millennia.
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ADL Condemns Violence by Jewish Extremists in Hebron
New York, NY, December 5, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned the rioting and violence by Jewish extremists in Hebron against Palestinians and their properties. The violence, first directed at Israeli police and military personnel, escalated into physical attacks against Palestinians -- their homes, land and Muslim cemeteries -- as the Israeli authorities moved to enforce an order of the Supreme Court to evacuate a contested building.
ADL issued the following statement:
The attacks against Palestinians, their farms, cemeteries and other Muslim property by Jewish extremists are deeply troubling and unacceptable. These attacks and those against Israeli soldiers and police, who were there to enforce a Supreme Court order to evacuate a contested building, are a direct assault on the rule of law and only serve to undermine Israel’s democratic institutions.
We are also disturbed at reports that some of the Jewish extremists wrapped themselves in the imagery of the Holocaust by sewing yellow Stars of David into their clothing and shouting “Nazi” at Israeli soldiers. This is an outrageous and cynical abuse of history and has no place in the Jewish State.
Israel cannot tolerate extremists who defy the law and democratic values. It is time for all Israelis, religious and non-religious, settlers and non-settlers, to respect Israel’s democratic institutions and to stand up against those who would use violence and intimidation.
