A Short Conversation With a Resident From the South Hebron Hills

Last Sunday, I had a short conversation with a resident from the south Hebron Hills. I asked this resident about the attack in March on the Palestinian village adjacent to the resident’s village.  The resident did not know anything about it and asked where I had read it. I replied it was reported by Haaretz, the Times of Israel  and B’Tselem (an Israeli human rights organization) besides in papers world-wide. I added that there had been other attacks as well. The resident deflected this by saying they all came from the same source. (These attacks have been reported by the IDF, hopefully, a credible source.) The resident then went on to list Arab actions toward the settlers such as throwing rocks at their cars and shining lasers in their eyes when they are on tractors and other machinery. When I replied that their actions come from Palestinian anger over their land being taken from them, this resident stated that the Arabs have 30 some other countries in which to live. When I questioned  this reply, the resident ended the telephone call.    

For your enlightenment from the Times of Israel, August 7, 2023:

In a live broadcast on the Ynet news site near the Gaza border, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that violence by settlers in the West Bank against Palestinians was spurring more Palestinians to carry out acts of terror.  Hagari said that amid a rise in Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank in recent months, “there has also been an increase in nationalist crime and nationalist terror.”

“It’s terrorism, there’s no other way to say it,” said Hagari, the top spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces.  “Let there be no doubt, these things spur the civilian [Palestinian] population to terror. The nationalist crime and nationalist terror… push civilians in the Palestinian Authority who are not involved in terror — to terror,” he said.  “This phenomenon needs to be addressed. As soon as this phenomenon is avoided, there will be less terrorism in general,” Hagari added.

This Israeli has courage. This Israeli has integrity.