The old evil spirits are coming out of the Jerusalem bottle. The seam line between east and west Jerusalem is obscured by darkness and a spirit of hatred hovers over the abyss. This is not the Jewish way, or the way of moderate Islam. Things can be different. They need to be different. People need to talk, to meet, to listen, to converse. But in this place, zealots from both religious are desecrating the name of God and uttering it in vain. They are picking apart Jerusalem's delicate seam line and tearing it into shreds.
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Passersby who are guilty of nothing more than being Jewish or Arab are being beaten, kicked, and stoned until bloody by rioters from both sides. No one is being held accountable or brought to justice. There is only a governmental and governability void. The majority on both sides of this conflagration remains silent. That's how it is with majorities – they usually do. But if this majority, who is us, doesn't speak out in a different voice, a sane one that rejects terrorism and violence – in any form and by any side – we will very soon find ourselves losing control on our way down a slippery slope.
A country that wants a united Jerusalem and a city of coexistence; a country that aspires to treat every person created in God's image equally and provide safety for all its citizens, cannot allow itself to "contain" events of the type that have played out in Jerusalem these past few days or wait until "the wave" subsides. It must take initiative and act.
A city that wants to live cannot accept the festival of hate and violence that has been held in its streets recently. Yahya Jardi, a Haredi Jew and father of nine who was on his way to evening prayers at the Western Wall was pulled out of his car in Wadi Joz and beaten until he was nearly unconscious. His car was set on fire. "I thought I was about to die," he said. Sheikh Jamal Al-Abra, the imam of Rahat who has spent years encouraging coexistence and mutual respect between Jews and Muslims, condemning violence and promoting brotherhood, was attacked in a similar manner by a group of Haredi Jews when he set out for morning prayers on the Temple Mount. He had to be taken to the hospital. Shekih Al-Abra is a religious leader and if all Islam adopted his approach, the reality of our lives here would look very different.
At Damascus Gate a Jew was beaten even after he was on the group. Masked Arabs swarmed around him, kicking him and hitting him with a motorcycle helmet. Fireworks were set off toward civilians on their way to Bar-Lev. Rocks were thrown at police in east Jerusalem. When the Jewish group Lehava held a march to "restore Jewish honor" in response to the loathsome anti-Semitic "TikTok terrorism," they hunted (I'm sorry, but there is no other word) Arabs, journalists, and "leftists" on which the crowd could vent its anger and frustration. The most disgraceful thing to take place in the city these past few days are the calls of "Death to Arabs," which mimic calls from the Muslim side, are spreading among Jews.
The territory is on fire, and it is longing for wise leadership and initiatives that will stop "containing" and start calming things down. In normal times, the prime minister would have brought in religious figures and local leaders and forced them to talk to each other. In normal times, the mayors of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Jaffa would have brought Rabbi Mali from Jaffa – also a man of peace – and the sheikh from Rahat together so they could preach a different message, one of conciliation and coexistence and loving one's neighbor like oneself. In a functioning state, the Jerusalem Municipality would take care to send public leaders, mukhtarim, and leaders from Jewish and Arab neighborhoods to the seam line to hold a conversation about togetherness, and open that conversation to the media.
We are moments away from this fire turning religious, and the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque taking center stage. Or even more dangerously, even claiming lives, as has already happened more than once. We really don't need to revisit those scenes.
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