Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev's comments on the violence of settlers caused a firestorm, which only intensified when it was reported that he had a plan with Defense Minister Benny Gantz to recruit hundreds of soldiers and place them within police units so that officers would be sent to crack down on Jewish crimes against Arabs.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Rightly, so, many were outraged because he had essentially made the victim the aggressor and turned Israeli national priorities on their head by disparaging an entire segment of the population. His onslaught on settlers led to attacks from the so-called right-wing elements of the government.
But we have to keep in mind that Bar-Lev, for all the outrage that he unleashed, simply reiterated his well-known positions on the matter at hand. The real outrageous part is the fact that those who have railed against him were the very same people who joined forces with Bar-Lev to form a coalition. Why are they horrified now that he is pursuing an ideology that is not to their liking?
For the past 30 years, the settlement enterprise has been used as a chip for both sides of the political divide. In fact, for the Left, it has become a piñata. Anytime the Left's policies hit a roadblock, it's quick to lay the blame on the settlements. No peace? Because of the settlers. Israel's economy is suffering? Because of the money that goes to the settlements. Attacks on settlers? Because of the settlers. But somehow, a group of right-wing lawmakers has willingly suspended their ideology and blindly walked into a government with the Left, supposedly in the name of pragmatism and making baby steps on more construction.
The total lack of attention to the security of the Negev and to a whole host of issues affecting Israel's Jewish character, the judiciary's overreach, and Israel's relations with the US over Iran has not had this group rile up against their own government. Only a tweet by Bar-Lev merits such a response, apparently.
The artificial separation between the government's views and the status of settlements collapsed. It turns out that the government has all but adopted a whole host of measures against the settlements, like the UK's White Paper against Jewish settlement during the 1940s. The only thing the government has allowed is the increase in the number of settlers, but it must go beyond that. The first thing would be to finalize the authorization process for the outpost Evyatar. The settlers must adopt a policy of auto-emancipation rather than be content with the limited emancipation under the left-wing government. The path there involves an all-out effort to topple the government.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
