Maariv Newspaper
12/05/2008
In a country where the justice system is political, a media that makes no room for a flow of opinions, where half the nation finds no place in the media discourse, it should come as no surprise that the only communication tool left them is the rock.
The youth gathered at Beit Hashalom in Hebron have skipped school these past 2 weeks but the lesson they received from the government of Israel in civics was more than they could have ever received in the classroom. The conclusion of the lesson is that in a place where the government uses democracy to advance its own agendas, the only venue of protest left is that of violence.
This youth was witness to Ariel Sharon lying to his voters and was rewarded by receiving a wild round of applause from the media for it.
They saw how the majority of Likud members voted against the disengagement and couldn't conceptualize how the media could enthusiastically encourage the prime minister to ignore the results of the vote while at the same time say that these are the laws of democracy!
This youth looks on with despair at its leaders appealing over and over again to the Supreme Court and being turned down while the extreme Left registers nearly 100% success in its appeals.
They see the riots of the Druze in Pkiin, who go on a burning rampage and assault policemen over a celluar antenna, receive the sympathy of the media reserved for the victim.
They see how when Arabs in Acco set fire to a yeshiva, the media takes an apologetic tone with them while signaling them (the right wingers) as the enemy.
They also don't understand how when Arabs desecrate the Jewish cemetary in Hebron, the mass media do not find the desecration worthy of mention but when a Jewish youngster does the opposite the item is reported in every news outlet and he is termed a neo-nazi.
These youths do not understand how the journalists of the State of Tel Aviv set out on a Holy War against the destruction of the mythological basketball hall of Ha'Poel Tel Aviv and the blazing trail of words used to fight against the intent to tear down the kiosk where Bialik drank his first coffee, while viewing them as madmen for wanting to live in the city of Patriarchs.
When the Po'el Tel Aviv and Bialik's 2 sugars weigh more importantly than Avraham Aveinu, then the youth asks, who here is the abnormal one - us or you in the State of Tel Aviv?!
When they see in the surveys that half of the citizens of Israel think like them, but do not have even a sliver of representation of that half in the media, they realize that something here is fake. And they are no longer willing to play this game.
And this youth observes and internalizes sadly that the only language understood here is violence. When Palestinians murdered Jews they got Gush Katif. When Israeli Arabs rioted in October 2000 they received the embrace of the Ohr Commission. The residents of Kfar Kassam know they are exempt from the television agra because no policeman or official dare go in and take away their television (if he wants to get out with his life). The Bedouins build wherever they feel like knowing very well that in order to tear down even one wall, Israel would have to mobolize an entire division of reservists to do the job.
A qualitative group of people, that volunteers and contributes to society, feels a growing siege strangling them under the cover of a fake democracy, and its healthy segments, of whose youth arrived in Hebron have internalized it.
In a country where the justice system is political, a media that makes no room for a flow of opinions, where half the nation finds no place in the media discourse, it should come as no surprise that the only communication tool left them is the rock.
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