American Jewish Leaders Asked to Speak Out Against Growing Terrorism in Israel
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January-February 2009, pages 48-49
Israel and Judaism
American Jewish Leaders Asked to Speak Out Against Growing Terrorism in Israel
By Allan C. Brownfeld
“AMERICAN Jewish leaders have been quick and correct to call upon Muslim leaders in this country to condemn Islamic terrorism forcefully, particularly when it’s against Jews, and to mobilize their followers to oppose all such violence,” wrote Doug Bloomfield in the Oct. 16, 2008 issue of Washington Jewish Week. “But when it comes to Jewish violence and terrorism, they are strangely silent.”
He cited Jewish-Arab violence in the northern city of Acre which began when an Arab father and his son drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur and had their car stoned (see December 2008 Washington Report, p. 15). Word spread to Arab neighborhoods, from where youths rushed into Israeli parts of the city. Israeli police had to evacuate some Arab families when their homes were torched by ultra-Orthodox Jewish rioters. Houses, businesses and cars belonging to Arab and Jewish residents alike were vandalized, burned and looted.
”This is not an isolated problem, say Israeli army and police officials, but part of a spreading problem of violence by fervently Orthodox Jews and radical settlers. It’s not just in the West Bank, but also in Israeli cities like Acre and Jerusalem,” Bloomfield noted. “But you wouldn’t know it unless you spent a lot of time on the Internet reading the Israeli media.”
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Israel and Judaism
American Jewish Leaders Asked to Speak Out Against Growing Terrorism in Israel
By Allan C. Brownfeld
“AMERICAN Jewish leaders have been quick and correct to call upon Muslim leaders in this country to condemn Islamic terrorism forcefully, particularly when it’s against Jews, and to mobilize their followers to oppose all such violence,” wrote Doug Bloomfield in the Oct. 16, 2008 issue of Washington Jewish Week. “But when it comes to Jewish violence and terrorism, they are strangely silent.”
He cited Jewish-Arab violence in the northern city of Acre which began when an Arab father and his son drove into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur and had their car stoned (see December 2008 Washington Report, p. 15). Word spread to Arab neighborhoods, from where youths rushed into Israeli parts of the city. Israeli police had to evacuate some Arab families when their homes were torched by ultra-Orthodox Jewish rioters. Houses, businesses and cars belonging to Arab and Jewish residents alike were vandalized, burned and looted.
”This is not an isolated problem, say Israeli army and police officials, but part of a spreading problem of violence by fervently Orthodox Jews and radical settlers. It’s not just in the West Bank, but also in Israeli cities like Acre and Jerusalem,” Bloomfield noted. “But you wouldn’t know it unless you spent a lot of time on the Internet reading the Israeli media.”
more
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