We are the good ones: Even an organized antisemitic campaign will not change the truth
In recent days, an orgy of hatred against settlers has developed, which is also significant among some of the "Democrats" elected to the next Knesset. This hatred has deteriorated to the point of blaming settlers for the violence they themselves experience as an integral part of their lives. Against this, one must remember: in the world in general, and in our region in particular, there are good and bad, on a black and white level.
A handful of people settle in a very remote place, a place where the overwhelming majority of the public has not been, and would not even be able to identify its location on the map.
In the society from which the settlers came, there is a fierce dispute over whether it is worth settling in this place at all, and whether this settlement contributes to national goals. On the political level, the legal and international status of the region is not clear at all, the borders in the region are not agreed upon, and a decision regarding their future is not on the horizon. The region is infested with hostile settlements and gangs of rioters who constitute a clear majority against that handful of settlers. Recognize it? This is Tel Hai, 1920.
The differences between the eras and situations are very significant, however, some of the basic principles of the past are valid and even need to be renewed in our days.
First, in the world in general, and in our region in particular, there are good and bad, on a black and white level. Not everything is a complex and complicated reality or blurred and hazy shades of gray. And in this context, we are the good ones and they are the bad ones. The Jewish settlers are the good ones, and the rioters in the village opposite are the bad ones. Even a well-organized antisemitic campaign, known for several years now, of so-called "settler violence," will not change the truth. Letters from "former officials" will not change this either.
Second, settlement does indeed determine borders, even in our days. When the Jewish majority in the Galilee became a minority, we began, rightly, to speak in terms of the loss of the Galilee. Why, actually, a loss? After all, the Galilee is under the sovereignty of the State of Israel, under our control, why does it matter who lives there? But in Zionism, settlement is a cornerstone. And therefore, in the days when it was still a value to be proud of and not a term forbidden for use, we spoke, and it is appropriate to speak today, about the Judaization of the Galilee and the Judaization of the Negev. And yes, also the Judaization of Judea and Samaria. Even if the current distorted incarnation of the Labor party carries the banner of opposition to this.
The disease of self-hatred
Parts of us have long lost touch with those basic principles, and therefore their historical associations are distorted when they speak of so-called "Jewish terror." About a month ago, a letter from "former senior officials" was published in The Guardian (24.06.26) regarding a danger described as "Jewish terror." We will not repeat the nonsense that regularly comes out of the automatic petition generator of the "former officials," where only the date changes according to needs. More important is their historical association: "The crimes of Jewish terror in the territories resemble similar crimes and pogroms committed against our people by other peoples in Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries."
The "former officials" who suffered from the disease of Jewish self-hatred remembered the "Storms in the Negev" in the 1880s, the city of slaughter Kishinev in 1903, and the Petliura pogroms in Ukraine after the First World War.
Not a month had passed since the previous letter, and the automatic petition and letter generator of the "former officials" rushed to send a letter to Donald Trump. To the "SAVE US" calls from 2023, the terrible statement was added, implying that "Jewish terror" could lead to "results even more catastrophic than the Hamas atrocities on October 7."
Now it is understood why and how an orgy of hatred against the settlers has developed in recent days, a significant part of which is also evident among some of the "Democrats" elected to the next Knesset. This hatred has deteriorated to the point of blaming the settlers for the violence they themselves experience as an integral part of their daily lives. In the worst case, there was also justification for seizing weapons and describing the attack as part of a just struggle of the Palestinians. Even in the pogroms of the past, it was common to blame the Jews for the pogrom they themselves underwent. In our days, the settlers have become the Jews of the "Democrats."
It only remains to return to the famous words of Berl Katznelson from 90 years ago:
"Is there a people among the nations whose sons have reached such a distortion, mental and spiritual, that everything their people do, all their creation and all their suffering, are despicable and hateful, and everything their people's enemy does, every robbery, every murder, and every rape, fills their hearts with a feeling of admiration and devotion?"
