"You Should Understand Them": Inside Israel's Settler Culture

By Israel Shahak

(The, article reprinted below by Israeli journalist Oleg Netzer in the Tel Aviv daily newspaper Davar reports that in a December meeting with Israeli occupation authorities "an important religious Jew stood up and said that no one should be surprised ij religious settler goes into some Arab village and mows down 30 to 40 people. " article, published Jan. 20, 1994, five weeks before the Hebron massacre in which so) 30 Muslim worshippers were killed as they knelt in prayer in a mosque, is an enlightening commentary on the culture of the militant Jewish West Bank settlers from which Dr. Baruch Goldstein emerged to carry out the killings on Feb 25.)

Some seemingly serious persons such as the expert on the extreme right wing, professor Ehud Sprintzak, and the populist TV commentator Dan Margarit have challenged us. They demand that the Israeli public, especially the government, should understand the religious settlers in these hard times they are enduring. Indeed, we really should try to understand them.

Try, for example, to understand those settlers, about 10 of whom dance in a circle of joy with Uzis on their shoulders, in a photograph before me. One of them, Shimon Yifrach from the settlement of Neve Dekalim, had shot a Palestinian school girl to death. The dancers in the photo were celebrating his release following his questioning.

Understand them: they know their comrade shot a girl to death (he was later convicted by the Supreme Court), that he had fired from inside a car in which several of these dancers were riding. They know just how their comrade killed a girl, without being in any danger himself because they had turned the car around and gone back to shoot at the girls who threw stones.

Understand their calamity now: they fear that they will no longer be able to kill people, especially children, and be immune from punishment. They might have to move within Israel where the social environment might no longer indulge the random shooting of girls.

In the attempt to understand the settlers one must, of course, rely only on the facts that shed light on them as a group, and not consider the "aberrations." If Rabbi Moshe Levinger said, when he was on trial for killing an innocent person, "I did not kill, perhaps I should say that I did not have the privilege of killing, " he represents a group.

Try to understand those Jews who believe that it is not only a right but also a privilege to kill unarmed Arabs. Geula Cohen also represented a group when she stated: "It is inconceivable to me that an Arab raising a stone should not meet a bullet."

Try to understand those whose basic attitude toward their surroundings is standing with their fingers on the trigger in the face of unarmed people, with no fear of God, and with all the might of the state of Israel behind them. Try to understand the bitter cry they voice today: "Don't give guns to the Arabs!"

Really, try to delve deep and understand the group reflected in an event that took place only one month ago, one of the last meetings of the commander of the general command, the late General Nehemia Tamari, with the settlers' leaders. An important religious Jew stood up and said that no one should be surprised if a religious settler goes into some Arab village and mows down 30 to 40 people. "Do not be surprised if there is a murderous terrorist action by one of our impatient comrades who could not bear the situation any longer." So reported the settlers' leader, Tzvi Katzover, to the press following the meeting.

I conclude that, despite the fear that has gripped thesettlers, we have there a group that is very sure of its superior strength. That assurance was unmistakable at the very event directed at improving their security, when they warned the general that he should not be surprised if a single Jew would enter a village and mow down 30 to 40 people. There is no doubt that the mentality of absolute rulers who hold in their hands the lives of the ruled and can do with them whatever they please has seeped deeply into the settlers' psychological fabric. They should be understood.

It must also be understood that the ideology and the moral climate that the participants in that meeting represent incite settlers to commit violent acts against defenseless people. Not one of the participants was shocked at the fact that this important religious settler thus described the settler public among whom he lives.

If I had been in the shoes of the spokesman of the settlers at the meeting, I would have immediately added a demand that all heads of the Judea and Samaria Council should locate such potential murderers in order to fulfill the biblical commandment about "removing evil from amongst yourselves. " I would also have requested urgent assistance from Shabak (Israel's internal security agency). But in his own eyes this spokesman for the settlers is a victim of the government's policy "which he can no longer bear." Understand him.

And it is very important to understand that the settlers consider themselves to be the chosen among the Jews. Let us take for example that "important Jew" who, if he becomes impatient, would no longer be able to bear the situation without mowing down 30 to 40 people. He did not think, and rightly so, that he might disgust his audience. Even Katzover, the head of the ,Hebron District Settlers Council, did not consider that possibility when he went to tell the story to the press. They know the nature of the all-forgiving nation.

The settlers consider themselves to be the chosen among the Jews.

The mentality of being "the chosen" is a permanent pattern in the settlers' reactions. They did not hesitate to provoke, accuse and denounce even Shamir's government because they thought that they would be supported by everyone except traitors. Even the young man from the Golan Heights who traveled to the Clinton-Assad meeting said that he not only represented the Jews, but also the real, hidden Rabin.

Thus Katzover could state the "attorney general's guidelines are merely meaningless words," while their real approach is expressed in their curse, "May all the houses of the Arabs become rubble." Understand them. They would not insult Israel and the army had they feared it would ruin their relations with the authorities. Up to the agreement with the Palestinians, they were thinking that they were loved unconditionally by all Jews, that Jews are indebted to them and that opposition to them is only from Gentiles and the few Jews who slavishly imitate the Gentiles. Now, in my view, they are torn between the feeling that they are still loved by almost all the Jews and the fear that perhaps they are loved no longer, or never were.

These are just a few examples of the information that the religious settlers supply about themselves. They enable anyone concerned about our future to understand them. I invite you all, especially the psychologists, to express your opinion on how these people should be treated.

This article was translated by Israel Shahak for inclusion in his monthly newsletter "Translations from the Hebrew Press. " Subscriptions are $25 per year in the U. S. A sample copy may be obtained at no charge from Middle East Data Center, P.O. Box 33 7, Woodbridge, VA 22191.