The news in Israel today has been dominated by the story of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ridiculous statement about the Mufti being the one to convince Hitler to engage in the Final Solution. This news almost overshadowed the largely routine news of soldiers being stabbed run over and stoned in the West Bank. To most Israelis, especially those living in Tel Aviv the West Bank is a world away, however, the soldiers being attacked are our sons and daughters so it’s not easy to ignore.
It is a strange microcosm of our conflict that both sides need to lie and exagerate the evils of the other side. Just when you think it cannot get any lower, Abbas has to claim we have killed a kid who is alive and Netanyahu has to out do him by claiming that the Grand Mufti was responsible for the holocaust. When my twitter feed first started referencing the speech yesterday I thought he must have been misquoted and planned to contact the PM office to get the actual transcript- but alas he was not misquoted and reading it in context is just as bad as just hearing about it.
I really fear the level of hatred on both sides- ours and theirs. It has clearly reached new heights, fed by leaders on both sides. We have over the years done enough bad things to each other that its escapes me why our leaders have to make up falsehoods. The reality is grim enough. What is strange is that in both the case of Abbas and that of Netanyahu the facts they stated were not exaggerations but pure falsehoods that could easily be checked. I must say I am mystified.
The violence continues, many observers think it will go on for months or more. There does not seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. As I wrote this there was another attack in Jerusalem, another attempt to run over Jews, it failed the attacker was killed.
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