Israel Erupts: Hostage Families Storm the State
As cars are torched and people clash with police, the rage exposes not only deep fractures in Israeli society but also a movement driven by instinct without vision, one the media dares not fully confront.
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Today’s torching of cars and trash bins, along with the violent eruptions led by hostage families and their backers, should shock no one, it was inevitable.
Those who decided that the lives of a few dozen people outweigh the collective national security could hardly be expected to stop at merely setting a dumpster or vehicle on fire. The Prime Minister, thankfully, is well protected by the Shin Bet and police, but what happened today was unprecedented even compared to the Gaza disengagement, when tens of thousands of peaceful Jews were expelled from their homes without cause.
What is striking is that we are watching people fight for a reality that will generate more of the very suffering they claim they are trying to prevent. The only thing one can say, despite all the criticism of Netanyahu and his circle, is that these demonstrators have no long term vision and no restraint. And yes, this reflects the broader Israeli culture today, not least the press that cheers on its own degeneration.
Imagine for a moment if settlers, religious Zionists, or the ultra Orthodox had burned luxury neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The story would have dominated the headlines for weeks. The media would have branded it a pogrom, just as the American media framed January 6 as the darkest day in human history. But in Israel, what is permitted to hostage families is denied to bereaved families.
Of course, the root is a basic human instinct to cling to life. Yet when this instinct is exercised without acknowledging the price of life, that it is paid by Israel’s soldiers and children, then impatience eventually erupts in violence. The only faint consolation is that the Shin Bet has already made arrests, and we can hope those responsible will face trial.
Democracy in Israel, if it exists at all under the dominance of the Supreme Court, is not a monopoly of one political camp alone.
If the Israeli media truly believes its own complaints, it should begin by looking inward. It vilifies loyal and religious Jews while decrying foreign bias against Israel, applying the same distorted lens to the political right and the religious public it complains the world puts on Israel as a whole.
What it condemns abroad it practices at home, and perhaps such coverage could shift attitudes so that we no longer have citizens allowed to riot and others forbidden from doing so.