Opinion // Oh Merciful God, Show Some to Victims

The illegal outpost near Alonei Shiloh in the West Bank, June 27, 2017. Olivier Fitoussi

The settlers are in distress; how heartrending. According to the private lawyer hired by the state to defend thousands of robbers and thieves – a delusional scenario in its own right – the settlers are living in “a shaky reality” – a “national problem” that’s “tearing society apart.”

Let me be clear: I hope the settlers are indeed living in the distress described by the lawyer who’s himself a settler and violator of construction laws. I hope they indeed are living with uncertainty in their stolen homes, on their stolen land, because they deserve it. I hope they’re living in distress that will shake up their lives so badly that they’ll give up their stolen property and return it to its owners.

Anyone committing such a grave injustice to so many people for so long deserves to taste the suffering that injustice can cause. Maybe that will help correct the problem, but I doubt it. The cry of the robbed Cossack in court, the likes of which has not been heard in judicial history since the murderer of his parents lamented that he was an orphan, marks yet another stage in the state’s shamelessness and in the annals of the settlers’ emotional blackmail.

The state’s response to the petitions filed with the High Court of Justice against the expropriation law is a turning point in the history of the occupation. The State of Israel officially seeks to amend the Ten Commandments and change the eighth to “Thou shalt steal.” From now it is permitted, even desirable, to steal because the thieves are suffering. Pretty soon we’ll have “Thou shalt commit adultery” and “Thou shalt kill.” The new Israeli reform.

The state also declares that the only human beings living in the territories are Jews. All the others either don’t exist or aren’t human beings. The disruption of their lives, their distress and their disasters – which are far more intense than the settlers’ “distress” caused by their own crimes under state sponsorship – don’t count. In the eyes of the state, not just those of the settlers, the just majority in the territories doesn’t exist – only the dispossessing minority.

You have to doubt that in the history of South African apartheid there was ever such a petition. You have to doubt that under that evil regime there was such total disregard by the state for millions of native people, even if they were black.

The state’s lawyer, Harel Arnon, who was questioned as a suspect in the Ari Harow case and replaced the attorney general who refused to represent the state, represents us all. Repeat after me: Arnon is our lawyer. He’s the state’s attorney, Israel’s satanic attorney. Repeat after me: We are all settlers. We are all on stolen private land. We all bear responsibility.

Arnon is complaining in your name and mine, in the name of the state, that it’s hard for the settlers who are sitting on stolen land, which is why their presence must be legalized. Over 3,500 land thieves are not only not being prosecuted, they enjoy the state’s protection and are dictating the state’s agenda, which will be an everlasting tragedy.

No, Arnon, they’re not tearing society apart, because most Israelis don’t care about their fate. They also don’t deserve Israelis’ sympathy. They aren’t victims; their victims are the only victims. And no, it’s not just the state that’s to blame for their fate; they took their fate into their own hands by deciding to settle in a land that wasn’t theirs. That’s why their suffering isn’t our suffering. In any case, that suffering is completely fabricated.

It’s hard to know what the court is going to do with this shameful document submitted by the state. During the next rape trial the state can hire Arnon to defend the rapist, whose life was shaken up by the rape.

Every fair Israeli must ask himself: Where this is going to stop? When will the awakening come? The defense minister, in whose settlement 155 demolition orders have been issued, is preventing the establishment of an enforcement unit. A court is making Bedouin citizens pay for the demolition of their homes while the state is allocating a quarter billion shekels – $70 million – to the Amona evacuees. And now this mockery of a response.

God full of mercy for the settlers and their false distress. He should show some mercy to their Palestinian and Israeli victims.