Does violence pay in Israel?

The past week, the streets of West Jerusalem were rife with scenes of violence. Segments of the ultra orthodox have been protesting the arrest of an ultra orthodox woman accused of starving her three year old child. She was facing jail time and the ultra orthodox community is up in arms about how the state could apply law to their community in such a clear way. The response has been riots, violent riots. The community has taken to the streets in nightly protests which include rock and dirty diaper throwing as well as setting garbage on fire. This has resulted in, “At least 18 police officers were hurt over the course of the evening riots, nine of them hospitalized in various conditions. Six demonstrators were also wounded”. One official commented that, “We haven’t seen such things since the first intifada in Tul Karm,” For more commentary on this incident please see Ami Kaufman’s brilliant piece in Haaretz.

The state has arrested protestors but they have been released within the same day with no crime filed against them. The bottom line is that the ultra orthodox have succeeded in exerting force against the state, evident from achieving house arrest today for the woman accused of the crime. One could say that violence in this situation has proven successful.

The settler movement routinely uses violence against the authorities of the state with little or no ramifications. I am not referring to acts of violence against Palestinians, which is a routine aspect of settler life. Rather, I am talking about settlers using force against the IDF, the Israel Police and the Israel Border Guard. I have seen settlers punch police officers at various outposts and experience no consequences for their actions.

On the other hand, non-violent leftist Israelis are often attacked with grave force by the state authorities. One needs to look no further than my videos as well as the weekly protests at Bil’in. In Bil’in there have been reported incidents of rock throwing but this is attributed to international activists and Palestinians, not Israelis. Why are the non-violent protestors attacked and jailed while the rightwing violent protestors are able to use violence to their benefit? The primary reason is clear; we are resisting the occupation and doing it with Palestinians. Anyone working with Palestinians is considered one of them in a meaningful way thus receiving the same repressive treatment from the authorities. Of course, one of our goals is to improve Israeli society and enforce the rule of law here, but that goes unnoted as we are treated as traitors, self-haters, in cahoots with the enemy.

It is a sign of the burgeoning militancy in Israeli society that violent protests by settlers and the ultra orthodox not only go unpunished, but actually achieve results. Sure, a majority of Israelis may tell you that settlers are awful, that the religious are parasites, but what is anyone doing about it? How sad a situation we are in that violence pays.