The report quickly made the rounds in the Israeli and Palestinian media, along with pictures of a bloodied and battered Abu Sharikh. The claim that he had been the victim of a racist attack by Jews was particularly sensitive, coming just two days after the death of Ali Dawabsha in an attack believed to have been carried out by Jewish extremists Friday.
The leader of the Arab Joint List party MK, Ayman Odeh, rushed to issue a condemnation and blame right-wing “incitement.”
There is only one little problem, however. Sharikh lied:
But while Abu Sharikh’s wounds were indeed real, his story quickly proved to have been fabricated
Police soon arrested the three suspects – all of whom were Arab residents of the city.
Not only did he lie, he lied specifically to defame Jews in order to incite violence against us.
Furthermore, we have no idea who killed Ali Dawabsha. It might have been Jews, but why would we be so quick to rush to judgment without significant evidence? We were told that this was a “price tag” attack and that the word “revenge” was scrawled in Hebrew on a wall of the house. Well, can we think of any reason why a Palestinian-Arab might ever want to commit violence against another Palestinian-Arab? Is it possible that someone else in the Land of Israel may know enough Hebrew to scrawl a few words on a wall, besides a Jew?
Is it even possible that the culprit was a non-Jew? According to what I read in the media they seem to have largely concluded that they know that the savages were Jewish. Just how do they know this?
I do not know if Jews are innocent of this heinous crime and that is not what I am arguing. What I am arguing is that you do not know either, but if one insists upon laying blame at Jewish feet with virtually no evidence, what does it say about ones inclinations toward Jews? And what does it mean that so many Jews are eager to go along with it?
The Narrative
As for the narrative above concerning Israeli-Jewish crimes against the “innocent indigenous” population, it is pure bullshit, as we say in the United States. It is the “Palestinian Narrative” comprised entirely of wild exaggerations and straight-up lies. It is the kind toxic anti-Zionist / anti-Jewish gibberish that many on the Left, and within academe, love to fling around like confetti.
What is true, however, is that this so-called “Palestinian narrative” of perfect victim-hood is having its intended effect on much of the rest of the world and thereby, inevitably, upon the tiny Jewish population. The Jews are among the most self-reflective people on the planet. This is generally a good thing, but it is not always a good thing. All virtues have their corresponding vices and the corresponding vice of “self-reflection” is paralysis and self-doubt.
The truth of the matter is that most peoples in the world are considerably more savage than are the Jews. I apologize if that sounds self-congratulatory, but one need only take a quick gander at the neighborhood around Israel to determine the truthfulness of the claim. But only the Jews fret to the degree that we do. We are now convincing ourselves, with much encouragement in the Muslim world and the West, to think that the rare acts of political violence by random Jews represents some sort-of terrible stain on the Israeli Jewish soul. There are all sorts-of “well-meaning” people who want to help the Jews overcome our alleged Nazi-like inclinations and they are perfectly happy to smack us over the head with a shovel in order to teach the lesson.
