Photo: The smoldering remains of trees burned by arson in Samaria. Credit: HaYovel | Justin

Those who oppose Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria typically rely on all kinds of antisemitic falsehoods and double standards to make their case. The latest in the effort to demonize Israel at every turn is the misrepresentation and exaggeration of so-called “settler violence.”

Check out this Washington Post headline from November 29, 2021: ‘Hate crime’ attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians spike in the West Bank. The article relies on data from a United Nations report that cataloged some 400 incidents of violence 302 against property and 108 against individuals) by Israelis in 2021. But when Arlene Kushner (Arlene from Israel www.arlenefromisrael.info) began researching alleged settler violence she found major problems with the UN report:

What I am finding as I research this is:

• Failure to confirm that alleged attacks really happened as reported
• Failure to put alleged attacks by “settlers” into context
• Provocation – deliberate stirring up of a situation
• Attempts to equate the severity of such alleged attacks by “settlers” with attacks on Jews by Palestinian Arabs
• Attempts to convey the impression having Jews in Judea & Samaria is a problem – this feeds the push to make way for that “two-state solution”
• Drawing on the alleged “settler” attacks in order to level either implicit or overt criticism against the government…

The corporate press and United Nations’ reports on “settler violence” are anything but objective or fact-finding. They’re based on an Israel-hating agenda and are brimming with “anti-Zionist propaganda.” As Moshe Dann writes: “Using a psycho-linguistic trick, these people equate ‘settlers’ with ‘violence.’ It’s easy and it works. They never talk about Arab violence or provocations that lead to confrontations. Only Jews are blamed.”

Not only are the accounts of so-called settler violence suspect and often wrong, but the severity and number of the attacks cannot be equated. The difference starts with how violence is looked at in each culture. Violence is roundly condemned by the Israeli government and the vast majority of Jews. In the Palestinian culture it’s the opposite. The government incites the people and rewards brutality. Murderers are celebrated and paid—the more Jews they kill, the more money they receive.

David Weinberg recently contrasted “settler violence” with what Israelis experience on a regular basis. In a column titled 'Settler violence' is isolated, Palestinian violence is daily, he writes “According to an important new study published this week – which unsurprisingly was ignored by the global media, by the UN, by 'human rights' NGOs, and even by American Jewish organizations – over the past year there were over 4,000 rock- and bomb-throwing incidents in Judea and Samaria, perpetrated by Palestinian extremists and terrorists against Israeli Jews.” And Palestinian attacks are not just far more frequent, they are also significantly more violent.

By and large, the Jews of Judea and Samaria are about peacefully reclaiming and restoring their land, not claiming victimhood and vowing to push another people group into the sea. Any isolated violence does not represent at all the movement of those who are fulfilling prophecies of redemption and turning Israel’s deserts into gardens.

Contrary to what you read in mainstream media, supporting the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel is actually key to ending the violence! It’s only as Israel is restored that we will see the days that Isaiah spoke of: “No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, ​​but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.” Let's do all we can do make this beautiful prophecy reality!

__________________________________________________________________________________________

A great video from The Israel Guys to watch on the issue: 

• ▶️ THIS ATTACK SHOULD NOT Be Labeled “Settler Violence”