A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist, no matter their stripes

One of the most contentious arguments you can have with a fellow Zionist centers around the role, influence and prevalence of extreme right wing "hill-toppers" amongst the settler community and how to deal with the threat they pose to Israel. The classification of settlers and settlements is about as divisive as it gets and much of the nuance and differences is glossed over by international opinion, media and politicians in the treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The vast majority of Israeli "settlers" live in major, well defined settlement blocs that are widely recognized as areas that will be kept by Israel in any final status agreement with the Palestinians. They live in these settlements for a variety of reasons including cheap housing, government subsidies and religious/zionist beliefs. They are not breaking any Israeli laws (international law is more complicated) and will almost certainly never be asked to leave their homes. Outside of these blocs are both legal (again according to Israeli law) and illegal settlements. Most of these are populated by religious Zionists that are wholeheartedly against any concessions or evacuations. Increasingly they have been fighting evacuations and settlement freezes by the IDF as ordered by the Israeli government and courts by means of an organized resistance dubbed the "price tag," which calls for any attempt by the Israeli government and security services to be met with violent attacks on Palestinian property and civilians and perhaps most surprisingly, violence directed at the IDF who protects them.

The issue has come to a breaking point in my mind. I can no longer dismiss right wing radicals as a fringe element that whose behavior can be explained as isolated and swept under the rug. The threat posed by radical Jewish settlers is real and very worrisome. These elements believe their actions are sanctioned by religion and choose only to obey the rule of the state when it suits their interests. They have no qualms about using violence against Palestinian civilians, or Israeli security forces. They have openly called for a policy of retributive "price tags" to be inflicted upon Palestinian civilians in response to any Israeli policies that target their illegal activity. Their actions are not only illegal, but an ugly manipulation of Jewish ethics that is an embarrassment to me as a Jew.


They have calculated that outside of murderous attacks on Israelis, the government will choose to pursue a policy of containment rather then risk the can of worms that is reigning in these extremists. So far they have been disturbingly correct. The IDF, Border Police and Shin Bet (internal Israeli security service) have made only nominal reactionary steps towards the evacuation of illegal outposts, arrests of provocateurs and defense of Palestinian civilians from malicious and often unprovoked attacks on property and persons rather then deal with the situation head on.

I want to clearly make the distinction between "settlers" living in major settlement blocks that Israel fully intends to keep as part of a land exchange in a final agreement and those living beyond the rule of law. These extremists should be exposed as such and policed with the same diligence that Israeli security applies to Islamist internal threats. Whether a fundamentalist finds their justification in the manipulation of Jewish or Muslim beliefs is of no consequence. In fact, it can be argued that the Jewish fundamentalist threat and the difficulties in dealing with it is a greater existential threat to Israel. When Israeli citizens choose to break the law and threaten the security of Israel, they should be dealt with quickly, firmly and with full conviction. These extremist elements are an embarrassment to Jewish ethics, Israeli society and a true threat to Israeli security and stability.