The Hell We Have Wrought
In this video, shot by a 16 year-old Palestinian child, an Orthodox Jewish settler in Hebron taunts her Palestinian neighbor, repeatedly calling her a whore.
ynet reports,
The Abu- Aisha family in Hebron has been suffering at the hands of their neighbors from the nearby Jewish settler community of Tel-Rumeda for a along time now. A video filmed by 16-year-old Raja Abu Aisha and obtained by B’Tselem depicts a confrontation with a woman resident of the “Ramat Yishai†neighborhood in Tel-Rumeda.
Members of the Abu Aisha family claimed that the quarrel was just one example of the suffering they endure on a daily basis.
Taiseer Abu-Aisha, 43, told Ynet that he had filed between 200 and 300 complaints in recent years, but police did nothing to stop the harassing.
Abu-Aisha and his extended family live in a two-storey house. “The cage you see in the video is where we live. Not once do we open the door and not hear curse words or get stones and eggs thrown at us,†he said. “The latest fashion during this cold winter – the settlers spray us with cold water using a big fire hose located near the house.â€
Abu- Aisha said “hell†is not a strong enough word to describe what his family is going through.
[Update] Haaretz identifies the woman in the video and discusses Israeli public outcry over the episode.
Excellent. Now even more people will, hopefully, recognise that Fundamentalism (Israeli or Palestini) is the problem. It’s a cancer on any nation and should be purged from mainstream society for being the caustic ideology that it is.
Give safe cultural harbor to these types and their corruption will only spread amongst your community, awaiting some period of economic or social weakness, ready to pounce and establish that well known human-sin: tyranny of the so-called “enlightened” few. See the cancer for what it is.
—rob adams · January 11th, 2007 at 8:25 am
After viewing the footage, I feel SO PROUD to be Jewish and Israeli… You know what they say: “Derekh eretz kadma laTorah”… I am also so thrilled to know that the billions of shekels since 1967 have been funneled away from social services and education to build and protect the settlers in Hebron and other embedded political settlements is MONEY WELL SPENT … I feel all warm and cuddly knowing that the Jewish woman who yelled “SHARMUTA” at a fellow human being, a mother spoken to in this manner in front of her children, considers herself a devout and religious woman … What a GREAT DAY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE!!!
—DrDan · January 11th, 2007 at 9:44 am
This is a distressing video, but on the other hand, we don’t have footage of the innocent men, women, and children slaughtered in their own homes in Tel Rumeida over the years. I’ll have more respect and sympathy for the poor palestinians of hebron when Jewish children can walk the streets without fear of being shot dead.
—Captain CoolPants · January 11th, 2007 at 10:12 am
care to provide any evidence of palestinians attacking jewish residents in tel rumeida in their homes or shooting at them while they’re walking around?
because i have way more documentary evidence of the children of tel reumeida attacking palestinians. the parents intentionally use children under 12 to throw stones, glass bottles, or otherwise kick, punch and spit at palestinians and international activists.
—Mobius · January 11th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Captain CoolPants’ comments reminds me of the antisemite who criticizes Jews for being dishonest - and when confronted with the fact that other folks (i.e., Irish, Italians, Americans) manifest dishonest behaviour too, replies: “Yes, but we’re talking about the Jews!!” …
I fail to see the connection between (CoolPants’ failure to) excoriating the repugnant behaviour of Hebron settlers CAUGHT ON TAPE and the dire security situation Hebron Jews find themselves in (BY CHOICE, I might add)… unless the settler woman was cursing the Palestinian woman because this Palestinian woman was threatening Jewish children?
—DrDan · January 11th, 2007 at 11:01 am
exactly which one was doing the screaming in the video? And can we be really sure of the context?
Or are we just happy to have some evidence to collectively malign the Orthodox?
—yaaziel · January 11th, 2007 at 11:18 am
yaaziel — why is it that every single comment you’ve ever left on jewschool is one which tries to make excuses for anything bad we ever report an orthodox person doing?
are you incapable of recognizing the fact that orthodox people are capable of doing horrible things?
—Mobius · January 11th, 2007 at 11:28 am
very disturbing, to say the least.
—Herbert · January 11th, 2007 at 11:29 am
I’ve been to enough homes on Shabbat - and I’m talking about friends and family…moderate folks - who refer to Palestinians as animals, scum, nazi’s…I’ve heard it all. And when confronted on their biases, they justify ‘em by what they’ve done to us. And as far as I know, none of ‘em have actually spent any time with Palestinians.
—shtreimel · January 11th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I think that we can at the same time recognize this very disturbing behaviour of a fellow Jew while also wondering what happened before this video clip starts. It’s not making an excuse for this episode of “Haredi Girls Gone Wild” any more than Mobius is making an excuse for anti-Semites when he sites Israel’s wrongs as a possible trigger.
—crammed · January 11th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Dude, get these
http://www.prospect.org/web/pa.....leId=12360
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/co.....n_students
—The Town Crier · January 11th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Mobius for posting hte video. I have read all about it, and have heard audio clips, but being without a TV, I had not yet come across it on youtube.
As to the context of this altercation, it pays to read up on the history of Hebron. While 1929 is what the stettlers will talk about, if you read about our military policies in the region since the outbreak of the intifada, you might be a bit distured.
—Josh Frankel · January 11th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
here is what some friendly folks did to internationals in Hebron: they shouted “we killed jesus and we’ll kill you too, ” covered them with spit, and smashed a young swedish woman in the face with a bottle and cheered:
http://web.amnesty.org/library.....of=ENG-346
“On 18 November, Tove Johannsson, a 19-year old Swedish human rights defender, was assaulted by Israeli settlers as she accompanied Palestinian school children through an Israeli army checkpoint near the Tel Rumeida Israeli settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron.
“The attack against Tove Johannsson, a volunteer with the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), a solidarity group of peace activists, was witnessed and documented by several other international human rights defenders. They reported that the group was surrounded by up to 100 Israeli settlers who spat at them, kicked and shoved them, while Israeli soldiers standing at the checkpoint nearby took no action to prevent the attack.”
“Tove Johannsson was then hit in the face with a broken bottle by an Israeli settler, and sustained a broken cheekbone and a fracture near her eye. Her colleagues reported that as she fell to the ground, a group of settlers who were watching the attack clapped and cheered and some tried to take photos of themselves next to her bleeding face, giving the camera a ‘thumbs-up’ sign”
pictures here: http://www.palsolidarity.org/m.....on-day-06/
—xisntox · January 11th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
here is the video with english subtitles:
http://players.mediazone.co.il.....static.asx
also:
http://www.btselem.org/english.....070111.asp
11 Jan. 07: B’Tselem: Don’t make one Hebron settler into the scapegoat
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem calls on Israeli authorities not to make the settler, Yifat Alkoby a scapegoat for law enforcement failures in the West Bank . Alkoby was summoned for questioning following the extensive airing of a B’Tselem video in which she is seen assaulting and swearing at women and girls from the Abu-’Ayesha family, in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. The incident, as grave as it is, is only the tip of the iceberg of the daily violence committed by Hebron settlers, against their Palestinian neighbors, under the protection of the army.
The attacks in Hebron are carried out in full view of Israeli soldiers, who are unable or unwilling to stop them. The Hebron police, who have received hundreds of complaints about settler violence, are also well aware of the situation. The fact that the Defense Minister and the security establishment feign ignorance and mobilize to respond to the problem only following the public controversy generated by this video is outrageous.
The widespread settler violence in Hebron is not the result of a specific failure of one kind or another, but is the consequence of a consistent and longstanding Israeli policy to ignore harm to Palestinians, which is aimed at encouraging them to abandon parts of the city.
—xisntox · January 11th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
a friend from breaking the silence was giving a tour in hebron the other day when he started telling the story about tove. a soldier walked up and interrupted him. “are you talking about the swedish girl? let me tell the story. i was there…” he then recounted the ISM’s version of events word for word.
—Mobius · January 12th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Shtreimel,
Why dont you take a walk through Ramallah and present yourself as a Jew trying to get to know these civilize, peace loving people.
There are no excuses for abusing Palestinians. Period. It is immoral, unJewish and counterproductive.
Also there are no excuses for Palestinians to throw bombs into crowded thoroughfares (yesterday), randomly shoot into peoples windows, strap bomb belts to their sons and daughters, fire kassam rockets into Sderot (everyday), cut our soldiers into pieces when they accidentally stroll into the wrong part of town, or stone teenage boys to death for taking a hike.
—Merliner · January 12th, 2007 at 4:37 am
“care to provide any evidence of palestinians attacking jewish residents in tel rumeida in their homes or shooting at them while they’re walking around?”
mobius, you’re a piece of drek.
i’ve been there for shabbes and the home i stayed at, had bullet holes in the kitchen and other areas of the home and the owner is missing his fingers from gunshot wounds.
is this okay?
what about shalhevet, Hashem yikom domoh?
and the countless other assaults on the jews of chevron?
when goyim kill us no one makes a peep, but when we fight back and kill them, everyone goes meshugah.
and who makes the biggest hoo ha? none other than apologist yidden like you.
you’ve created a special standard for yidden.
you’re a shtik drek and chutzpenyak.
and those piss activists are staight up anti semites.
do you ever see them helping poor israeli famalies? never.
rachel corrie yimach shmo, had it coming for her. lowlife.
—jacob · January 12th, 2007 at 7:08 am
mobius,
I’m sorry if you feel I have a slant pro-O. I just didn’t see any evidence in the video of anything more reprehensible than a woman using foul language with a hysterical neighbor. Perhaps it’s a horrible actionable crime. I just found the content of the video, well, chaotic and ambiguous, and the heaping of abuse on the Orthodox that followed in the postings, a rush to judgement. I don’t see a Rodney King here. And yes, I perceive a certain eagerness to show allegedly observant people in a bad light. Perhaps I should, as an American, just shut up and let others dictate the conversation. I’ve worked in the media, and I know how a snippet of film can be used to distort a story. Clearly there is more going on than what was in the post. I was reacting to the post, and the trumpeting that followed.
—yaaziel · January 12th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I wonder what good the whore-naming-woman hoped to create in this world with her actions? …and in front of children?
Unfortunately, that’s the only context that matters in regards to such filthy rhetoric. That’s the only context that will ever matter.
—rob adams · January 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
“I wonder what good the whore-naming-woman hoped to create in this world with her actions? …and in front of children?”
yeah, what will the children think? see the following from “Ghost Town” by Meron Rapaport:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/646948.html
Babies as shields
“It isn’t true that we see a crime and don’t deal with it,” says Commander Eli Zamir of the Hebron Police, who speaks of the settlers as “them.” “But we have a serious problem here. They have understood where our weak point lies - and that’s the use of children under the age of criminal responsibility, under the age of 12. They do that on purpose. The children throw stones, break walls. The children are the tactical arm, and even the strategic arm, of the adults.” Their strategic goal, according to Zamir, is “to expand the area in which they live.”
But if the children are a problem, the use of babies makes Zamir’s blood boil. He says that he heard about this custom - of using babies - the moment he arrived in Hebron four years ago, but he understood its significance only when he was in charge of handling a conflict in which four mothers from the Jewish settlement placed their babies in front of them, as a shield from the policemen. “I watch television, and I have never seen any population on earth that uses babies,” he says. “I don’t understand by what right these mothers use 1-year-old babies, by what right they endanger them. I said here at the station: Find me the section in the law books that will enable me to prosecute them.”
—xisntox · January 13th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Jacob, from where does your virulent hatred of Rachel Corrie come? She was a non-violent activist who stood in front of a bulldozer (made in the USA), in an attempt to prevent a home from being demolished.
She was crushed, in response.
Low life? We should all be such ‘lowlifes.’
—miriam · January 13th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
rachel’s sin was to defend the untermenschen, thus reminding us that their lives are of equal worth to that of a westerner. rachel’s sin was to make us look bad for killing her, and refusing to conduct a fair, transparent, and credible investigation (the words of the US State dept) into her death, thus suggesting we have something to hide.
—xisntox · January 14th, 2007 at 6:18 am
i still want to know what the other soldier who was never allowed to testify had to say
—Mobius · January 14th, 2007 at 6:54 am
where was rachel corrie when yamit was being destroyed?
where were these piss activists when jews were being kicked out of their homes that they spent a lifetime building?
i dont really care if you think that they dont legally belong there, its wrong to do it just like its wrong to kick an arab out of his home.
i also might think abit differently if i’d see these activists bringing candy and fruit to the children of chevron.
but alas, we’re dealing not with peace activists, but with european and american anti-semitic nazi bastards.
so what do you expect when one stands in the way of a bulldozer?
of course she’ll get run over.
i just wonder how many of you would make a tzimes if a jew were to get run over protesting gush katif.
yes, rachel corrie should rot in bowels of hell together with hitler yimach shmom.
—jacob · January 14th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
kiss my ass jacob
—Mobius · January 14th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Jacob, I’m standing on one foot: What is hateful to you, do not do to others.
Now, please, go and cleanse yourself with study…
—miriam · January 14th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Kol haolam kulo gesher tzar me-od…
Sheesh, someone took the railings and made a cage for their neighbor. Now what?
—Michael Bergman · January 14th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Nice, comments! Great points of view! But why are most of the comments made from peoples arround the world and not by israelians? How can you say any word about the conflict and not living there every day? How?
By the way, I’m from germany.
—powtac · January 19th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
powtac– maybe b/c english blogs mainly attract people from english speaking countries?
as for myself, while I’m american, I have lived in Israel for two years, have studied, lived, and worked with israelis, and am functionally fluent in hebrew. I have also visited both settlements (including kiryat arba/ hevron) and palestinian towns and cities.
but even if I hadn’t, I’d still give consider myself to possess the right to an opnion on the subject, so long as I was reasonably well informed.
(editors– yeah, i usually leave my name; I’m not here cause I don’t think my parents read this, but in case they do I’d rather not explain my hevron trip)
—nameless · January 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
To easy for critics; you are not living and bear and suffer what these jews suffer; you have immediately forgotten all the arab “civilians” attacks, murders…poor of you, need to repair the memory.
—Abraham · February 5th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
So….
I suppose, by that logic, there are plenty of Palestinians who should be harassing Israeli mothers and calling them whores in front of their children.
Are you actually seeking to justify that kind of behavior? Because I’m pretty sure the leaders of your country criticized it as well.
—Balaam's Donkey · February 5th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Hi, i am Palestinian, not living there at the moment.. but i was at the beginning surprised to see such video in ‘jewish’ website ( to be honest, i am not sure if i am correct).. i saw the comments.. it is surprising at the first glance.. but it gave me hope!!– i really think with the NON-fundamentalism IN BOTH sides.. WE CAN LIVE .. hope is still exists!!!!
Peace to ALL
—malek · February 12th, 2007 at 5:46 am
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