Israel Should Be Wary of Its Right-Wing Anti-Zionists

Yesterday, Israeli prosecutors filed an indictment against two Jewish teenagers for throwing stones at Palestinian homes and cars, and assaulting an IDF officer, in a West Bank village. Ben-Dror Yemini observes that the majority of residents of Judea and Samaria don’t approve of such behavior, nor does the Israeli right in all its forms. Indeed, he argues that their ideology should be seen as a form of anti-Zionism, opposed to the Jewish state and its institutions:

The hooligans responsible for these attacks don’t care for the law, the state, the military, or its soldiers who work tirelessly to protect them. It is not patriotism or love for their country that drives these radicals, but the burning fire of racism and hate. If there were only a few of them, the military would have caught them and put an end to this nonsense a long time ago.

But in reality, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands. They live in their own outposts, have their own rabbis, and even representatives in the Knesset who may formally object to their actions, but give them backing when they can. True, there have been cases when these videos [of these incidents] have been faked, staged, or edited for maximum provocation—but there is no denying the spike in violence.

Israel’s enemies are not only those who spread false information about the country’s alleged crimes, but those who live among us and choose to act as monsters.

Read more at Ynet

More about: Anti-Zionism, Israeli society, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Settlements

 

Israel Just Sent Iran a Clear Message

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.

Read more at Jewish Chronicle

More about: Iran, Israeli Security