A weekend confrontation between Jews and Arabs outside the community of Har Beracha in Samaria (Shomron) highlighted the degree to which the conflict over the Land of Israel is a media war. Both sides confronted each other with cameras, each daring the other to make a mistake and provide the other side with damning footage.

A local Jew (R) faces the mob with a camera.

Har Beracha Secretariat
'Ready, aim...'

Har Beracha Secretariat
It ends in tears.

Har Beracha Secretariat

A spokesman for the Shomron Regional Council called the incident “another provocation that failed.” The Council Head Gershon Mesika called upon the new government to reverse the “flaccid” policy of the previous government, which he said encourages the Arabs and their Jewish helpers to riot.

The grassroots Shomron Residents' Council said: “It was amazing to see how the radical leftist Jews drag the Hamas terrorists behind them, against their own people. We demand that distancing orders be issued to the radical leftist activists, who organize these provocations, just as Jews were distanced from their homes in Shomron because of empty speculations. The IDF and police need to kick these rabble rousers back to their Tel Aviv coffee houses.”

The Shomron Liaison Office in conjuction with the Shomron Residents' Council have begun supplying and training local activists with cameras to document such events.