The suicide protesters in many ways count on Israeli humanitarian instincts to prevail in a game of chicken. The Mavi Marmara incident and the Rachel Corrie death are prime examples. Corrie was killed accidentally because a tractor driver could not see her and the Turkish terrorists thought that the Israelis would retreat. Of course the suicide protesters can always count on the sympathy of CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, al Jazeera and the BBC. Miss Glick correctly points out that suicide protests (such as the Gaza flotillas) are another weapon in the war to embarrass, delegitimize and ultimately set the stage for the extermination of Israel.
by Caroline Glick
David Be’eri is either much admired or much hated, depending on how you feel about Israel and Jewish heritage. Be’eri is the founder and head of the Ir David Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to excavating, preserving and developing biblical Jerusalem, the City of David.
When Be’eri began his project in 1986, the City of David, located just opposite the Old City, was in shambles. Former excavations were hidden beneath heaps of garbage and debris.
Owing to his efforts, today the City of David is one of Israel’s most beloved tourist attractions. Some 500,000 tourists visit the site each year. Seventeen archaeological excavations have been undertaken there or are currently ongoing. Annual archaeological conferences at the site attract leading scholars from all over the world.
One of the keys to Be’eri’s success has been the close relations he has cultivated with the local Arabs. Hundreds of local Arabs have worked in the City of David on the various excavations.
But in the past few months, and particularly since the Obama administration began pressuring Israel to curb its sovereignty in Jerusalem, things have begun to change. Leftist groups including Peace Now, Ir Amim, B’Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Emek Shaveh have begun organizing frequent protests.
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Two weeks ago, the demonstrations morphed into suicide protests as activists set up a roadblock in the middle of the street, ambushed an Ir David security guard and began violently attacking him. In order to fend off his attackers, the guard shot his pistol and killed one of them. Using faux footage, the protesters accused the guard of murder in cold blood. The police rejected the accusation. Channel 2 initially backed up the protesters’ claim, but later its reporter recognized he had been used.
Last Friday, the violence was ratcheted up several notches when Be’eri was targeted by an ambush. As he drove to his home in Ir David with his 13-year-old son, the car in front of him suddenly hit the breaks.
Be’eri drove around the car and was greeted by an ambush of demonstrators who attacked him with stones.
Blocked from backing away by a car that had suddenly stopped, Be’eri had to decide between opening fire and driving through the protest. He drove through, hitting two of his attackers. Both were minors. Neither sustained serious injuries and were out and about within hours of the event.
The stone throwers were not the only people who participated in the ambush. Six or seven photographers and at least one employee of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center were also on the scene. The photographers hailed from the far Left Hebrew-language Walla web portal and from several European media outlets. They filmed Be’eri running over his attackers from multiple angles. They then quickly sold the story to the world as a tale of a vicious “settler” who ran over two innocent children on their way home from the mosque, just because he is an evil settler.
But as Ragones notes, “We were actually lucky that the media were there. The photos that were supposed to frame Be’eri showed clearly that the whole thing was a setup.”
Not only does the footage show that Be’eri was ambushed, it shows that the photographers were integral members of the ambush team. The children’s role was to provoke Be’eri into killing or injuring them by attacking him with rocks. The photographers’ role was to photograph the children getting killed or hurt.
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Then too, cases should be built against sponsoring organizations. Groups instigating violence should be banned.
Suicide protests, like suicide bombs, use violence to advance political goals. In Israel’s case, they are used to demonize the state and its citizens in a bid to coerce the government into acting in a manner that endangers it.
Bureaucratic and political tools should be employed to scuttle these efforts. For instance, in the aftermath of Friday’s ambush in Ir David, the media watch group Tadmit sent a letter to the Government Press Office requesting that it withdraw the press credentials from the photographers present at the scene. The GPO should act on Tadmit’s request and deny or remove press credentials from any self-proclaimed reporter or photographer that participates in violent, illegal activities aimed against the state.
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The local media initially ran the story of Be’eri’s ambush just as the leftist-Arab coalition wanted them too. Be’eri was portrayed as an aggressive, violent settler who ran over two innocent Palestinian children for no reason. But then the suicide protesters overreached.
On Sunday they ambushed and stoned a Channel 2 camera crew. Sunday night the truth was out.
But next time they will probably be more careful.
Suicide protests are the newest and, so far, most effective weapon in the political war against Israel. It is the task of the government and citizens alike to develop and implement strategies to blunt its effectiveness.
Read the whole thing here: Our World: The rise of the suicide protests
Tags: Caroline Glick
