Many bloggers love to paint the settlers as a stereotypical, monolithic bunch.
Besides from the usual rhetoric describing how we hate and abuse the Arabs by stealing their land, shlep around huge arsenals of weaponry in which to terrorize the Arabs, we obviously all have long beards, huge soup bowl crocheted kippot, crooked noses, believe in Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates river, and are responsible for all of Israel's ills since we started our settlement movement in 1967 to conquer the land. (not to mention the special ingredients in our hand-baked matza)
So how is it, that a settler who kills 4 Palestinians last year, doesn't fit the mold?
An Israeli settler who shot and killed four Palestinian civilians in the West Bank in an attempt to scuttle Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip was convicted Monday in the Jerusalem District Court on four counts of murder.
...
A driver who transported Palestinian laborers, Weisgan grabbed a gun from a security guard at the end of the work day last August after asking him for a drink of water, and then opened fire at the workers in his car at close range, killing three instantly and mortally wounding a fourth, who died later on the operating table at Jerusalem's Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem.
The chilling four page charge sheet calls the unexpected shooting rampage near the West Bank settlement of Shilo, "cold blooded and premeditated" murder.
The indictment says that the attacker systematically sprayed five or six bullets at each of his victims, whom he knew well, at one point even refilling his spent cartridge as he sought out his last victim.
All the way at the end of the article is the statement: A father of two, Weisgan, who lived a secular life in a predominantly religious settlement, has since appeared in court donning a skullcap.
You will be very hard pressed to find any settlers who approve of this sort of activity. In fact, even in the most "hard core" settlements, this sort of behaviour is just plainly unacceptable. It's wrong. I wonder what goes on in this person's head that causes him to do something like this; his family life will be over. He won't raise his kids anymore. He'll probably spend the rest of his life in jail. So what has he accomplished?
Nothing, except give good headlines to the Israeli Media about "Jerusalem court convicts settler of 2005 murder of 4 Palestinians" and "Settler convicted of murdering 4 Palestinians".
The JPost is the only site to remove "settler" from the equation, with their headline, "Jewish terrorist convicted of murder."
Yet the current picture of him is even more disturbing -- he fits the perfect stereotypical image of Haaretz and Ynet.Yet, when he committed the murder, he didn't look like this at all...he was a secular Israeli living in a settlement. Yet all the press can do is keep hammering into our heads...settler, murder, settler, murder.
What caused this secular Israeli to go "off the derech" and murder 4 Arabs?
Perhaps he read Haaretz and YNet too often, and the message "settler" equals "murder" somehow permeated into his head?
And only AFTER he killed these Arabs, did he decide to become religious...why is that?
The cynics will say that the religious settlers adopted him after he proved himself -- yet if that's so true, and the settlers are so bad...then why isn't this commonplace behaviour among religious settlers?
Simple.
We don't fit the stereotype that Haaretz and Ynet try so hard to ram down your throat.
**Palestinian Baby-Eating Settlers means Settlers who eat Palestinian Babies, for those who didn't quite understand the grammar.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael
Mike: The article itself states "A father of two, Weisgan, who lived a secular life in a predominantly religious settlement, has since appeared in court donning a skullcap."
ReplyDeleteWhen the story first broke a year ago, the point was made that he wasn't religious.
Mike: Sorry, you are correct. I updated the article to include Ynet as an accomlice. The quotes are from there as well.
ReplyDeleteJameel - your information is highly inaccurate, which is not surprising considering the sources.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like a semi-first hand account from the man who disarmed him after the incident and sat speaking to him about it for a half hour (as he was threatening to kill himself in front of the makolet), I'll be glad to provide you with a contact.
Further, to point out an example detail, I believe they were shot with the man's personal pistol, not a stolen Uzi, so 5-6 shots per person is BS.
Akiva, please have your friend write his version, and give it to Jameel to post, so we can all read it.
ReplyDeleteAkiva, please have your friend write his version, and give it to Jameel to post, so we can all read it.
ReplyDeleteHe worked with them, understands Arabic. He wasn't just the 'driver." There was a lot of tension at work between the Arabs and Jews.
ReplyDeleteHe had a lot of friends in Shiloh and Shvut who were shocked.
maybe he found religion in jail.
ReplyDeleteWell, the stereotype you speak of so angrily might have been broken down somewhat at the time or since, had there at some point been an official condemnation of this murder from any "settler" source. But there wasn't- so is that Haaretz/Ynet's fault too? Seriously- isn't your anger misplaced? Disengagement notwithstanding, couldn't Moetzet Yesha/the various Rabbanim have used this tragic incident as an opportunity to unite and condemn it and all others?
ReplyDeleteMike mentions there's no mention of it on Arutz7: That's the icing on my point's cake.
"5-6 shots per" target?? It sounds a little far fetched to me.
ReplyDeleteIf it was a Glock
17 with a +2 mag extender, then he had 19 rounds to work with.
"one point even refilling
his spent cartridge as he sought out his last victim" We can assume this means he swapped out the
empty mag for a fresh one.
That means he had a max total of 18 rounds
for the first 3 targets, 1 round in the fourth, reload, and continue.
Anyone with basic pistol
training knows you don't stop shooting until your target has been neutralized.
This is assuming that he was working with the standard +2 mags and that he had access to the security guard's 2nd mag.
I personally carry the, Glock
33 round mags I always worry more about running out
of targets then bullets.
Akiva: I didn't provide any "information" -- every since item of data is quoted directly from the newspaper sources. If they are wrong...then they are the ones who are wrong (not me :)
ReplyDeleteB"H Jameel, please remind me why I am supposed to care about what the Am HaAretz, IDIOT Ahranoth, or the West (Ma'ariv, D"A: Erev Rav) Newpapers think about me, or for that matter leftists or mamlachtim. I don't have the time nor desire for any PR campaigns. I'm more concerned about what HaQodesh Baruch Hu thinks.
ReplyDelete