verbal violence in Israel

[Leonard Prager]

 

I have been thinking a lot about the alarming level of verbal violence in Israel.  Nehemia Strasler wrote very pointedly on this subject in his recent HaAretz piece (the URL of the English version is

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=HaRav+Yosef&itemNo=550816) and I thought I would bring it to the attention of "Isaiah Forum" readers. The poisonous talk has come from the right (see Strasler's article) and the left. Not too long ago Jews started calling other Jews "Nazis" -- a contemptible comparison, no less a light than Leibovitz inventing "Judo-Nazi". These malice-packed names are in the courts now with all kinds of people suing one another. My general position is let them all rave unless there is proven incitement to real violence -- but there may be holes in that stance in specific instances. Legal minds need to go to work here. 

 

Yes, there is no lack of physical violence either: on women by murderous husbands, by schoolchildren on one another, among youths in night clubs --  not to mention Druse against Xians (the recent pogrom in Mrar) and of course the main ring -- conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. (I omit violence on the highway, a major problem in Israel that is nowhere near finding even a partial solution despite considerable efforts.) There is surely a relationship between the two kinds of violence, but how they interact is not at all clear. Verbal violence in Israel is more than a safety valve; we have evidence that it can be homicidal. Nehemia Strasler said a lot of what I think needs to be said. What he  did not mention and which greatly confounds matters is that in the interests of peace (and non-violence) it may be necessary to form a coaliton with that very same clerical party led by that dangerous mouth, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, whom he so accurately portrays.

 

Leonard Prager, Haifa