Tuesday, May 17, 2005

The Fake Mistake

Last night, at my traditional Monday evening KIC session with olim (new immigrants) at Ulpan Etzion, we delved into the borders that should be drawn for those anti-Disengagement Israelis who have started a somewhat successful yet cynical program of civil disobedience.

Civil disobedience - OK. Placing burning tyres on highways - maybe! Placing fake bombs in bus stations - I don't think so my friends! I can't think of much that is more insulting to the Israeli public who has suffered terribly at the hands of'real bombs' in the last few years and throughout Israel's existence. For 57 years, Israelis have spotted the unaccompanied bag or parcel and reported it immediately - always to be followed by the arrival of police, sappers, closed streets, malls and the like.

Surely there is a red line. The Right is trying to show to what extent they will be able to tie up police and army resources when Disengagement Season arrives. Honestly, I can totally understand the great distress of many in the Israeli population in regards the Disengagement. But please...

3 comments:

ifyouwillit... said...

A peaceful hafganah is an effective way of getting the message accross. A little bit of annoyance to the public can go a long way to fight a cause, but you are right to say there is a line that should not be crossed.

Thanks for the monday nights, they have been great, and I hope to keep in touch.

Yosef - the british one. (http://aliya05.blogspot.com)

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike:
My name is Richard, I'm Jennie (Aviva) Woolf's brother. She gave me your link so I'm going to start checking it out. I'm into Israeli domestic issues and politics as well as US Foreign Policy and relations, esp. vis-a-vis the Middle East.
If it is okay, I would love to start engaging in debate and discussion.
My first posting I guess is simply this...I agree with you on this one. That is definitely crossing the line. The Right, by using this tactic is going too far. Besides what it does the Israeli psyche, one must remember the rest of the world which jumps at ANY opportunity to make Israel, Israelis or Jews look bad. If that isn't a chilul hashem, I don't know what is.
There is my two cents and I look forward to joining the discussion and encourage feedback.

Michael Lawrence said...

Richard welcome and thanks for riding the KICBLOG!
It's a problem as you say and there is a nice level of debate about the tyres and fake bombs going on at www.ynetnews.com (English version of Israel's Yediot daily).

Michael - KIC