The threat of (Jewish) terrorism

Larry Derfner By Larry Derfner September 21, 2011 | Edit

Israel’s number one journalist, Nahum Barnea of Yediot Aharonot, wrote the following today about the immediate prospects for violence in the West Bank as a result of the UN showdown::

“Surprising as it sounds, the IDF and Israel Police both figure that the greatest danger at the moment is not from the Palestinian side, but from the Jewish side. ‘Price tag’ operations by settler extremists are spreading. Eight mosques have been attacked in the last two weeks with no arrests of any culprits being made. The Shin Bet stands helpless in the face of these events. While the Palestinian leadership is calling for restraint, Jewish extremists are fanning the flames, which are liable to sweep thousands of Arabs up on both sides of the Green Line.

“This is the danger – and the failure. It is keeping senior security officials awake at night.”

Larry Derfner

I was a columnist and feature writer for The Jerusalem Post, as well as the correspondent in Israel for the U.S. News and World Report, for many years. I wrote feature articles for the Sunday Times of London during the second intifada, and have been writing for American Jewish publications since 1990. Politically, I would describe myself as an ultra-liberal Zionist; as journalist Bradley Burston put it, I’m “probably as far left as a centrist can be.” I was born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Israel in 1985.

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