Has Israeli society failed to confront its intolerance?
Murder of Palestinian baby and stabbing spree at Jerusalem Gay Pride parade renews debate about settlement expansion.
Thousands have protested in Israel against the killing of a Palestinian baby in a firebomb attack and last week’s stabbing during Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered strong words of condemnation.
Keep reading
list of 4 itemsPalestinian Prisoner’s Day: How many are still in Israeli detention?
‘Mama we’re dying’: Only able to hear her kids in Gaza in their final days
Europe pledges to boost aid to Sudan on unwelcome war anniversary
Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Sunday, he pledged zero tolerance for what he called “all kinds of extremism”.
He went on to say: “In the past days, we have witnessed two despicable crimes. Our policy towards these crimes is zero tolerance. I have instructed the security services and law-enforcement authorities to act with all the legal means at their disposal to catch the murderers and to bring the stabber and the arsonists to justice.”
However, Palestinians say Netanyahu’s words are contradicted by the facts on the ground: the arson attack in the occupied West Bank is a by-product of his government’s policy of settlement expansion, and unless that root cause is stopped and reversed, these kinds of crimes will continue.
On Inside Story, we ask: Has Israeli society failed to confront its own intolerance?
Presenter: Nick Clark
Guests:
Jeremy Saltan – Knesset insider and contributor on Voice of Israel.
Gideon Levy – Columnist for Haaretz newspaper and author of the book The Punishment of Gaza.
Sahar Vardi – Jerusalem activist and organiser at Free Jerusalem.
Published On 3 Aug 2015