“Settler Violence:” The Latest Fabricated Buzz Phrase for Singling Out Israel

Violence by groups of hooligans or by any other religious, cultural, or national group is illegal, cannot be condoned, and must be condemned and duly punished in accordance with the law.

This is a clear societal norm in any civilized society, applicable whether committed by marginal groups of politically motivated youths, by politically and racially incited mass demonstrators in major cities, by religious groups, or by football or other sports hooligans at sports events. Violence should not be tolerated.

Regrettably, the international tendency to generalize and negatively politicize anything connected with Israel appears to be characterizing isolated instances of violence by marginal and irresponsible groups of youth from settlements, as if it is officially-sanctioned Israeli government policy of encouraging and generating violence against Palestinians. This has become the buzz phrase “settler violence” that is now being attributed to Israel.

This buzz phrase, as well as the tendency from which it is generated, is totally misguided and malicious.

To characterize isolated instances as a systematic government-sanctioned and inspired policy of violence against Arabs, and to dub it “settler violence,” tailor-made to apply to Israel, would appear to be ingenuine and contrived.

To characterize this as if it is an international crime attributable only to Israel, and to present this as a reason for overall condemnation of Israel, is no less misguided and malicious.

There exists no Israeli policy encouraging or sanctioning violence against Arabs. Such violence is clearly illegal, and as in any normal society, law enforcement bodies are required to act against it. While laxity in such enforcement may well warrant criticism and require more assertive action by law-enforcement authorities, this cannot and should not be seen as indicative of any officially sanctioned policy of sanctioning violence. As such, the term “settler violence” is misguided, ill-advised, and malicious.

Use of Buzzwords Against Israel

Use of buzzwords and catchphrases appears to have become the international pastime when it comes to finding excuses to vilify Israel.

Not a day goes by without international leaders, parliamentarians, the UN, international organizations, media outlets, highly organized and orchestrated demonstrations in major world capitals, as well as showbiz celebrities, liberally repeating internationally recognizable catchphrases and buzzwords to associate Israel with some element of international criminality. These include such false and contrived buzzwords and catchphrases as “genocide,” “Apartheid,” “colonialism,” “illegal occupation,” “mass starvation,” “indiscriminate violence,” and the like.

Such use of anarchistic templates taken from age-old human rights abuses by colonial powers attempts to maliciously transpose these abuses onto Israel in order to equate Israel with the same element of international criminality. Deliberately coining and using such buzzwords carries a clear intent to mislead the public into attributing negative and criminal connotations to Israel.

The incessant and widespread repetition of such phrases and terms in all and any discussion and reporting of events and developments in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is legally inaccurate and blatantly misleading, emanating from acute ignorance as to their genuine meaning as well as a lack of knowledge and awareness of the actual facts and legal background of the various issues.

“Sports Hooliganism”, “Hooliganism in Demonstrations” and “Settler Violence” – What’s the Difference?

The buzz-phrase “settler violence” aims to single out Israel and impute a deliberate, officially-sponsored policy of violence against Palestinians, to be deliberately distinguished from any other form of violence.

The absurdity of such a negatively connoted buzz-phrase dedicated only to Israel is particularly blatant when one compares this with the massive swath of reported incidents of sports hooliganism throughout the world, and mass-hooliganism at political marches and demonstrations on campuses and on major throughfares in Western capitals.

Thousands of instances of football hooliganism are regularly reported annually in European and South American football involving assault, criminal damage to property, use of weapons, and staging illegal pyro-shows at stadiums, use of signal flares and smoke bombs and physical violence against supporters of rival teams in addition to post-game riots including car burning, and shop windows smashing, often rooted in social conflict, political and racial tension. ¹

However, such instances of violence and fatalities from hooliganism, documented over the years in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Australia, Egypt, Canada, the U.S., and other countries, have not caused those countries to be internationally condemned and branded as countries sponsoring sports violence, in the same way that Israel is being so branded.

Interestingly, such hooliganism is not new. One of the earliest instances of sports hooliganism occurred in 532 AD during the “Nika riots,” when supporters of local chariot racing teams revolted against the Byzantine Empire’s leader, Justinian. At least half of the Empire’s capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) was burned by the rioters, and 30,000 people were killed. Soldiers under the Roman generals Narses and Belisarius trapped the rioters in the Hippodrome and slaughtered them.²

In those wide-ranging historic and current instances of violence, including fatalities and use of weaponry during sporting events and mass demonstrations and marches, generated by national, ethnic, and religious tensions and large-scale fatalities, there have never been references to any form of institutionalized, state-instigated “football-hooligan violence” in those countries.

Similarly, widespread reports of extreme violence and hooliganism at political marches and demonstrations on campuses and on the streets have become a regular phenomenon in major Western capitals.³

Yet sporadic instances of violence by marginal groups of youth living in Israeli settlements are considered by large elements of the international community to be institutionalized and government-sanctioned “settler violence.”

One may wonder why such European and South American countries hosting football matches at which hooliganism is a given and constant factor, are not condemned by the international community as states officially sanctioning and condoning such violence?

And similarly, one may wonder why political hooliganism at demonstrations and marches in the West, including violence against law enforcement officials, defacement of national historic monuments and memorials, and attacks on foreign embassies, do not merit equal condemnation as being officially sanctioned violence by the states concerned?

Double Standards and Singling Out

European and North American politicians are on record condemning isolated incidents of violence by hooligans in Israel “as a factor undermining security in the West Bank and the region and threatening prospects for a lasting peace.” They call upon “Israel, as the occupying power, to protect the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank and that those responsible for the violence must be brought to justice.” ⁴

By the same token, one wonders why there has been no similar expression of international condemnation against the phenomenon of hooliganism and violence throughout the world’s sports communities, and against the mass demonstrations, as factors that genuinely undermine local security, social and cultural harmony, national and religious integrity, and peaceful coexistence?

The absence of equal criticism for far more serious and widespread outbreaks of violence, as opposed to the constant singling out of Israel, as if Israel maintains an official policy of sanctioning violence, is noteworthy and speaks for itself.

Conclusion

Employment of the buzz-phrase “settler violence” to attribute to Israel an official government policy of sanctioning violence against Palestinians by isolated groups of Israeli youth is no less absurd and unrealistic than labeling sport-hooliganism in Europe and the Americas, and violence at mass demonstrations, as officially-sponsored, government-sanctioned violence.

This particularly pernicious buzz phrase of “settler violence,” as well as all the other buzz-phrases leveled against Israel, is frequently voiced by international leaders who are completely ignorant and unaware of the facts, and are easily influenced by slanted and openly partisan propaganda.

This regrettable penchant for wild generalization in criticizing Israel is no less applicable in the light of the recent blatantly false and malicious blood libel published in the New York Times, accusing Israel of sexual violence against Palestinians.

It cannot be denied that the tendency to single out Israel emanates from a wide range of historic, economic, social, religious, and partisan political interests generated by international politics, coalitions, and interests, not to mention even older blights singling out the Jews and their national aspirations.

But this is no justification for the rabid hostility automatically demonstrated against Israel, for no reason, within all sectors of the international community.

* * *

Notes