Progressives Won't Condemn Savage Massacre of Jewish Family in West Bank Settlement of Itamar

At Business Week, "Netanyahu Urges International Condemnation of West Bank Murders."



Good luck with that.

There's a Memeorandum thread now, and while hardly representative, not one progressive blog is linked there. Maybe later, although the left-wing sources I'm seeing so far are not only refusing to condemn the massacre, they're blaming the settlers for the violence, saying that:

It was the first killing of settlers since four adults were shot dead in a drive-by shooting near Hebron on the eve of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians in September. The talks stalled after three weeks following Israel's refusal to extend a freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a pivotal issue for the Palestinians.



The West Bank has seen few militant operations in recent years as the Palestinian Authority has stepped up security measures as part of its efforts to build the basis of a future state. Last month, Israel removed the infamous Hawara checkpoint, close to Itamar, in an indication of improved security in the area.



But there has been continued tension between Palestinian villagers and hardline settlers, with regular skirmishes over the destruction of olive trees. Settlers have pledged to resist the evacuation of unauthorised outposts, which Netanyahu said last week would be completed by the end of this year.



Itamar, home to around 100 families, is an intensely nationalist-religious isolated settlement deep inside the West Bank. Nationalist-religious Jews believe they have a divine right to the land irrespective of legal ownership.

Well, wouldn't want to tweak the story, eh, Al-Guardian?



And then there's the notoriously pro-terror Mondoweiss, who pooh-poohs the killings while announcing that he's for the boycott. Hello, distinction without a difference, dickwad. The same BDS types are pushing to end the blockade, which will facilitate the increased smuggling of arms into Gaza. Duh. And here's this from the comments:

Accuse supporters of justice in Palestine of having double standards for not denouncing Palestinians for responding in kind to the atrocities committed upon them by settlers? As I recall there was such a discussion on MW with several commentators quite critical of the above mentioned killing of four Jewish settlers. And didn’t human rights organizations condemn this taking of life, just as they do with settler violence against Palestinians? Yet the violence (by far mostly IDF/settler on Palestinian) continues, which suggests that condemnation alone isn’t a major deterrence. Not when settler violence includes land and water theft, house destruction, chopping down olive trees, putting up illegal walls, denying sick people access to hospitals (which kills), attacking peaceful protesters, kidnapping and imprisoning members of various political parties. If the Israelis really are serious about ending the violence, why don’t they cease and desist in perpetrating all these acts of violence? That would really give peace a chance. Instead what do they do? Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the Palestinians, waiting for one of them to break down and commit an act of violence, so that the settlers can leap up and shout “see, told ya so, they ain’t nothing but savages.” And they use this rationalization to justify squeezing down ever more on the natives, stealing more land, putting up walls and roads that chop the West Bank into tiny disconnected Bantustans, all the while so outlandishly righteous and self-serving. How to stop all the violence? Only one way, Justice for Palestinian, that’s how.

Nowhere in all of that is a condemnation of the killings. It's all Israel's fault. And of course "Justice for Palestine" is a euphemism for the extermination of the Jewish state, so the loyalties are pretty clear.



Sickening.



Of course, it's not the settlements, and it's not the olive trees, or whatever other faux-outrage of the progressive moment. Melanie Phillips comments, "And Still Western 'Liberals' Support These People":

We don’t yet know who perpetrated this latest atrocity. What must be emphasised however is that, quite apart from the open calls to genocide of the Jews by Hamas, as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said the ‘wild incitement’ by the Palestinian Authority against Israelis, perpetrated without remission through its educational materials, in its mosques and on PA-controlled TV, is directly to blame for creating the incendiary atmosphere of hysterical and fanatical hatred that gives rise to such savagery. Through these channels the PA indoctrinates its people into hatred of Jews and the glorification of mass murder of Israelis. As CAMERA has noted:

The brutal attack comes only days after a West Bank Palestinian youth center announced a soccer tournament named after Wafa Idris, the first female Palestinian suicide bomber, who killed an 81-year-old man and injured over 100 other Israelis... The killer undoubtedly internalized the message, reinforced time and time again, that it’s noble and heroic to kill Jews. The same goes for the person who planned the attack, and the one who transported the killer, and any other enablers.

In the light of this, the sickeningly ambiguous response by the Holocaust-denying PA ‘President’ Mahmoud Abbas was all too telling:

In a statement released by his office, Abbas ‘stressed his rejection and condemnation of all violence directed against civilians, regardless of who was behind it or the reason for it. Abbas added that ‘violence produces violence and what is needed is to speed up a just and comprehensive solution to the conflict.’ Earlier on Saturday, the Palestinian Authority said that there was no evidence of Palestinian involvement in the terror attack in Itamar.

Of course, a ‘just and comprehensive solution’ will only arrive when the Arabs stop promoting the genocidal murder of Israelis and the conquest of their country -- and when we no longer see as a result nauseating scenes such as in the picture above, where Gazan Arabs celebrated the murder of the Fogel family by handing out sweets.

Actually, we do now know who was responsible, or at least Fatah's al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades have claimed responsibility, to the desperate denials of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Aaron Goldstein, at American Spectator, responds to that:

The day I believe that Abbas, Fayyad and the Palestinian Authority want to live peaceably with Israel is the day they ... remove all anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli imagery from their televisions, their schools and their mosques and replace them with messages of acceptance and respect of Jews and Israelis. Until that day, I strongly maintain that the Fatah run Palestinian Authority wants to destroy Israel every bit as much as Hamas does.

And don't miss Assaf Wohl's piece at Ynet, "Following Attack, Leftists Must Decide Whether They're 'Useful Idiots' or Anti-Semites."



Also, more background at Ynet, "Horror in Samaria: Terrorist murders family of 5," and at New York Times, "Suspecting Palestinians, Israeli Forces Search for Killers of 5 West Bank Settlers."



And at Israel National News, "Photos of Fogel Family Murder."



RELATED: There is this, FWIW, at +972, "The entire activist Left must condemn the murder of the settler family":

The sheer viciousness of this cold-blooded butchery should have provoked furious condemnation from those unequivocally opposed to the targeting of civilians – Israel’s civil society, the Left and the activist (“radical”) Left. However, at the time of writing, only two organizations spoke out: B’tselem, which has done the most extensive work of documenting the opposite sort of violence – by settlers against Palestinians – led the way late Saturday morning, announcing on Facebook and on its website that it is “appalled by the attack in Itamar and strongly condemns it. Intentional killing of civilians is a war crime and is unjustifiable. The Israeli and Palestinian authorities must work to locate and bring to justice those responsible for the attack.” About an hour later, Physicians for Human Rights joined in, announcing that the organization “strongly condemns the appalling attack in Itamar and calls the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to act in order to bring those responsible individuals to trial. Once again we learn that fences and security systems are not a guarantee for security. Only brave steps towards peace agreement and putting end to the conflict will bring end to these murderous acts.”

The piece is updated with the announcement that two more leftist organizations have condemned the violence. But these so-called "activist" left groups obviously aren't authentically progressive, otherwise they'd be out with the Muslims in Rafah handing out candy in celebration.