by Hillel Fendel, former editor of Arutz-7's IsraelNationalNews.com.
A grave murder that happened three days ago has barely been
reported – in Israel, and certainly around the world – thus spotlighting
another aspect of the great myth of what is known as "settler
violence"
Shmuel Sherman, an 18-year-old Land of Israel pioneer, was
brutally murdered by Palestinian Arabs this past Saturday. His brother Daniel,
20, was significantly injured in the event, when an Arab pick-up rammed their jeep,
which flipped over and down the mountainside.
The two brothers were driving a patrol jeep on a dirt road
encircling the fledgling outpost of Shuva Yisrael, east of Homesh. At one
point, Daniel, the driver, said he saw an Arab-driven pick-up, "and the
driver identified me from below. He waited for me on the side of the road, and
then when I passed him, he made a U-turn and began to speed up towards me - and
then as soon as there was a curve with a cliff, he purposely banged me from
behind and sent me careening off the cliff."
Possibly, though not exclusively, because of the Iranian bombs
that injured dozens of Israelis in both Dimona and Arad just a few hours later,
the murder was relegated to the less-important slots in the news sites and
broadcasts - until it practically disappeared altogether.
The youngster was engaged in the holy work of protecting Jewish
national lands when he was maliciously felled in the line of duty. A friend of
his said, "Yehuda was a full-fledged soldier without a uniform. Without ranks
on his shoulders, he assumed the responsibility of a top officer. He patrolled
the area every day in order to guarantee that these expanses remain in Jewish
hands. He understood that Israel's security begins here, in these open areas in
which our grasp is still much too sparse."
The Zionist Response
Without the presence of Shuva Yisrael, the newly-rebuilt Homesh, with its ten
families, would be a lone enclave surrounded on all sides by Arab villages. Seventy
families originally lived there, before Ariel Sharon's unilateral withdrawal
(Disengagement) in 2005. On the night of the murder, Sherman's friends
established three new Jewish outposts in the vicinity, as a "Zionist
response" to the murder. They immediately began a fund-raising campaign
for the purpose – "to deepen our roots precisely where the enemy sought to
uproot them," the organizers say, "and to solve the problem of the
sparse Israeli presence in these open areas."
Another reason why the story has largely been overlooked is likely because it contra-indicates the running narrative of Jewish settler violence – although, in fact, the Palestinian violence against Israelis in these areas is many times higher. In addition, though statistics purporting to show intense Jewish violence are widely circulated, the actual number of such events, many of which are in self-defense, is a fraction of the reported numbers.
Opposing the Blood-Libel
Well-known mainstream
Israeli reporter Kalman Liebskind has written an authoritative Hebrew article,
entitled, "The Blood Libel of 'Settler Violence' - Time to Let the Facts
Speak." The article begins:
"A study by Regavim
[the leading movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands
and resources, acting to prevent illegal seizure of state land] crushes to
pieces the data presented by the United Nations and left-wing
organizations…"
Some of the findings of the
Regavim report:
** Among the U.N.-reported
8,332 incidents of violence "involving Jewish settlers" against Arabs
between 2016 and 2023, only about 10% can reliably be considered in any way
unprovoked Jewish violence. A full 1,361 of them were nothing more than Jewish
visits to the Temple Mount or clashes there between Israeli policemen and Arabs
who rioted there.
** Among the incidents
reported was a protest by "right-wing extremists outside the Tel Aviv home
of the Justice Minister [in which] one activist was arrested for insulting a
policeman."
** Others were physical
altercations in which the only injury was to a Jewish man. This one, like many
other similar events, was recorded as "Jewish violence" and not Arab
violence. Why? That's one way of phrasing the question – but another way is,
"Why not?"
** Similarly, dozens of
cases involved Arab attacks against Jews, including security guards, who
responded in self-defense and wounded or even killed their attackers. These,
too, were puzzlingly recorded as "Jewish violence" and not Arab
violence.
** Over 1,700 incidents
were listed as "Jewish entry" to areas claimed to be Arab-populated
in the framework of hikes, patrols, or placing of infrastructures and the like,
with no violence or damage.
** In short, only 833
actual reports of Jewish violence were registered, over a 15-year period. Not
that these are acceptable, but they certainly do not indicate that the
half-million-strong Jewish population of Jews deserve the be labeled "violent,"
as is widely-accepted around the world.
For the sake of the Jewish people in the State of Israel, the Regavim report
must be widely circulated. See www.regavim.org.
In addition, these articles provide more information:
https://www.jns.org/opinion/oshy-ellman/the-settler-violence-lie by Oshy Ellman.