‘Israeli government responsible for heinous arson attack’

The burning to death of an 18-month-old Arab toddler, Ali Saad Dawabsheh, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by ultraorthodox Jewish settlers shows that Israel has its own Daesh as well. 

If any side is to be blamed for such a horrible crime of arson, it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had been surreptitiously  encouraging “price tag” groups since he ran for office. 

Rabbi Meir Kahane and the Kahane Chai group had started a culture of hate against all Arabs in Palestine. He issued religious edicts to allow the murder of innocent Palestinians, irrespective of whether they are Christians or Muslims, children or  men. His followers, including many rabbis, formed six underground religious militias in Nablus, Hebron and other West Bank cities. 

What motivates them is not the pleasure induced by gazing at flames, and it is not psychological  pyromania that gives them gratification. They consider it their sacred duty to kill and burn non-Jews living in the “promised land”, in an effort to cleanse the area before the imminent arrival of the Messiah (Ezekiel,20:34).

Israeli authorities have always refrained from inflicting harsh punishment on ultraorthodox arsonists in fear of losing their parliamentary support in the Knesset elections. 

In 2010, there was an arson attack against a mosque in the village of Yasuf by criminals from the nearby Gush Etzion settlement. The Israeli government did not indict one single person for that crime or bother to take elementary investigative measures. 

According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, nine Palestinian houses have been subject to arson attacks by “price tag” extremists during the last three years. Confident that the prime minister needs their support eventually, these rabbis and their followers assume they can commit any crime with impunity.

The firebombing of the Palestinian toddler’s home in Duma, near Nablus, in which his parents and brother were critically injured as well, has sparked international condemnation. But such condemnation will not deter Netanyahu from following the same course of courting extreme right-wing orthodox groups that he needs for his political agenda.

During Netanyahu’s rule, Israel has assumed the role of a world power that does not care for what the United Nations decrees. Nor does Netanyahu currently give much attention to what Washington or Moscow demand. His arrogance of power has reached such a degree that the life of an Arab toddler does not mean  much.

It is true that Palestinians can appeal to the United Nations, and file complaints at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the European Union, or the Vatican, but Netanyahu will continue his aggression since he disregarded 39 Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli practices in the occupied territories.

The question might be asked: Would the death of an Arab toddler impede Netanyahu’s pipe dreams of a grand world design?