Jewish Israeli stone throwing refers to Israelis throwing stones, either by settlers at Palestinians, or by Haredi Jews who believe the territory belongs to them and wish to police it from any opposition. The activity among Israel's Hareidi circles has been documented in Jerusalem since the early 1970s. Stone throwing has been used by Israeli settlers to prevent Palestinians from using roads the settlers consider theirs. It has been claimed that the Israeli military and police have been more lenient when it comes to stone throwing by Israeli Jews than by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs, leading to the growth of the practice.
Contents
History
Stone throwing played a role in the creation of Israel, both in fighting the British armed forces, and Palestinian Arabs, the latter of which have their own history of stone throwing. In 1947 after the Jewish Irgun had kidnapped and killed two British sergeants - hanging their bodies in a grove of trees with an anti-personnel mine underneath, British soldiers rampaged in Tel Aviv in retaliation, vandalizing shops and cars. Young Jews in Tel Aviv responded by taking to the streets and stoning British military patrols. The events and their aftermath came to be known as the The Sergeants affair.
In the aftermath of the Deir Yassin massacre of 1948, carried out by the Israeli Irgun and Lehi militias and that resulted in over 100 Palestinian villagers killed following Israeli attempts to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem by Palestinian Arab forces during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine, Palestinian survivors were loaded into trucks and then paraded through West Jerusalem while Jews spat at them and threw stones at them.
Haredi attacks against property, involving both stone throwing, vandalism and arson at bus stops, broke out in 1985-1986 to protest posters showing what they regarded as immodest women.
Jewish Orthodox Israelis threw stones at passing cars throughout 2009 to protest infractions of the Sabbath. Large scale protests broke out, involving stone throwing in June and July in response to the opening of a car park near the Old Quarter of Jerusalem. On 9 August, the Jerusalem city mayor Nir Barkat was stoned by dozens of ultra-orthodox demonstrators who held him responsible for the car park's opening.
Reasons for stone throwing
Throwing stones at cars operated in violation of the Jewish Sabbath is practiced among the ultra-Orthodox community of Jews, such as the Hasidim community. At the request of the Jerusalem police, the practice was halted during the first intifada. In Mea Shearim women who sport ‘immodest dress’ have often been subject to stoning.Members of the Women of the Wall protesting in order to secure women's rights to pray at the Western Wall have also been subject to stoning by the ultra-Orthodox.as have demonstrators for gay rights. Sometimes, the Haredi stone throwing has a political nature, to protest the arrest of prominent members of the community arrested on suspicion of things like money-laundering and tax fraud. Palestinians in Shuafat's refugee camp have been targeted by the ultra-orthodox from Ramat Shlomo, the Hassan Bek Mosque in Jaffa was stoned in October 2000 by Jews, who tried to set it on fire, in the wake of demonstrations and rioting by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians elsewhere in Israel, including local rioting and stone throwing in Jaffa.
Critical responses and reactions
Peter Beinart writes that similarities exist between political reactions in Israel and the United States to stone-throwing protests by Ethiopian Israelis and Afro-Americans. One condemns the violence, but calls are made to look into and attend to the problems that give rise to such episodes. He then asks why Israeli attitudes are different if the stone-throwers are Palestinians. In the former instances, he argues, the grievances behind the violence are acknowledged and promises are made to redress them. The IDF website brands all Palestinian stone-throwing as 'unprovoked', and as 'threats to the stability of the region', and yet Beinart thinks it absurd to characterize behaviour by 'people who have lived for almost a half-century under military law and without free movement, citizenship or the right to vote,' unprovoked.
In May 2015 The Netherlands warned its citizens about travelling near West Bank settlements in the following terms: "Jewish settlers live in illegal settlements in the West Bank... These settlers organize on a regular basis demonstrations close to the roads. These demonstrations are sometimes violent. This happens when settlers throw rocks toward Palestinian and foreign vehicles." The warning specifically identified the hills around Hebron and Nablus as potentially dangerous, where the "extremist settlers are liable to be hostile."