The Itamar Terror Attack and the Double Standard of the ‘Pro-Peace’ Left (Updated)

The Itamar Terror Attack and the Double Standard of the ‘Pro-Peace’ Left (Updated): At +927 magazine (of all places), Dimi Reider notes that many left-wing, pro-Palestinian activists and organizations have either ignored or been noticeably subdued in their response to the vicious terrorist attack against an Israeli family in Itamar:

The activist Left’s confused and muted response reveals a shameful double standard — one that is not necessarily thought-out and intentioned, but one that needs to be urgently confronted and weeded out. It demonstrates that despite political awareness and commitment to human rights and international law, our community has yielded to one of the most common afflictions of a conflict area, and dehumanized an entire community, consciously or subconsciously rendering it second-class, semi-legitimate target for brutal violence.

While some major left-wing groups like J Street and Americans for Peace Now have condemned the attack, organizations like the Foundation for Middle East Peace, the Shalom Center, Tikkun, and Meretz USA have yet to speak out against it.

Other alleged “pro-peace” activist organizations have regrettably used their statements on the brutal murder as an excuse to criticize the settlements and the Israeli government.

The Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, for example, expressed its “deep sadness and sorrow” over the killing, but then added that it viewed the attack “as a part of the escalation generated and mobilized by the policies and actions of the Israeli occupation. These policies created the circumstances for committing these heinous actions. Therefore, we believe that the Israeli government bears full responsibility for the occupation and its consequences.”

The Jerusalem Fund’s Palestine Center has used the murder as an opportunity to post “Random #Israel Settler Violence facts” on Twitter, and promote its “ongoing research project” on “settler violence.”

These organizations are usually vociferous in their condemnation of the Israeli military defense and settlement construction, and their lack of a strong response to a Palestinian terrorist attack is appallingly hypocritical. Reider writes that the activist left “must find a way of loudly and unreservedly condemning atrocities” committed against Israelis living in the settlements. And the fact that he even needs to point that out is a sad testament to a movement that claims to care about peace.