A few residents of Itamar, after hearing that one of their neighbors had been killed in yesterday's terrorist attack in Ariel, assaulted Arab olive-pickers near their community, injuring two. Though presented in the Israeli media as a classic case of "settlers attacking Arabs," MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union) explained it differently to the Knesset today:
"As a former farmer, it was important for me to check into this matter. It turns out, from authoritative security sources with whom I spoke, that the army closed these areas - the ones adjacent to the Jewish communities - to the Arabs, after it was found that they gather information from there on the towns and then use it to perpetrate murderous attacks! ... We are witness to abusive incitement against these great pioneer settlers who have to stand in the front lines of this Oslo War that [the left] has brought upon us!"
Arutz-7's Elkanah Perl reports that shots were fired several days ago at a Jewish town from amidst a group of Arab "olive pickers." On another occasion, two bombs were found near a fence - left there by "innocent Arab olive pickers" to be used later against Jews.
Arab MK Muhammad Barakeh (Hadash) caused a ruckus in the Knesset today when he called the government a "government of blood." Only after much yelling and demands for him to retract, and with the help of a few minutes' recess, did Barakeh retract these particular words. He continued to incite against the government, however. Minister Danny Naveh (Likud), in his speech, sharply attacked Barakeh, then turned his efforts to defending the residents of Yesha:
"We hear condemnations and slurs against people from Tapuach and Itamar even as they are burying their dead [from yesterday's terrorist attack] - from the princes of the media and the bleeding-hearts. What really bothers you? It's not the extra few dollars that they receive, but rather the fact that they number 250,000. You would like them to be taken away and uprooted..."
Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz said, "The heart of the matter is simple and will not change. In 1967, there were no settlements and no outposts [- yet the Arabs attacked]. The heart of the conflict is the very existence of a Jewish state in an otherwise Arab Moslem Middle East. This is why they attacked us in 1948 and on every other opportunity."
"As a former farmer, it was important for me to check into this matter. It turns out, from authoritative security sources with whom I spoke, that the army closed these areas - the ones adjacent to the Jewish communities - to the Arabs, after it was found that they gather information from there on the towns and then use it to perpetrate murderous attacks! ... We are witness to abusive incitement against these great pioneer settlers who have to stand in the front lines of this Oslo War that [the left] has brought upon us!"
Arutz-7's Elkanah Perl reports that shots were fired several days ago at a Jewish town from amidst a group of Arab "olive pickers." On another occasion, two bombs were found near a fence - left there by "innocent Arab olive pickers" to be used later against Jews.
Arab MK Muhammad Barakeh (Hadash) caused a ruckus in the Knesset today when he called the government a "government of blood." Only after much yelling and demands for him to retract, and with the help of a few minutes' recess, did Barakeh retract these particular words. He continued to incite against the government, however. Minister Danny Naveh (Likud), in his speech, sharply attacked Barakeh, then turned his efforts to defending the residents of Yesha:
"We hear condemnations and slurs against people from Tapuach and Itamar even as they are burying their dead [from yesterday's terrorist attack] - from the princes of the media and the bleeding-hearts. What really bothers you? It's not the extra few dollars that they receive, but rather the fact that they number 250,000. You would like them to be taken away and uprooted..."
Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz said, "The heart of the matter is simple and will not change. In 1967, there were no settlements and no outposts [- yet the Arabs attacked]. The heart of the conflict is the very existence of a Jewish state in an otherwise Arab Moslem Middle East. This is why they attacked us in 1948 and on every other opportunity."