The photo shows left-wing protesters demonstrating outside a conference held by Haaretz in London and extremist settlers who have broken into Husni’s compound–my Bedouin host where I sleep when I’m in the West Bank. They are insisting an Arab threw a rock and are arguing with the police to let them run amok in the houses.

What is the difference between these two groups?

If you answer, “What the hell do you mean? They’re at opposite poles of the political spectrum!” I say:

Extremist right-wing settlers believe that there should be no Palestine — the entire land should be Israel. Left-wing protesters believe that there should be no Israel. That 1948 was a mistake; it should be reversed and Israel should cease to exist.

Extremist settlers believe in violence as the best method to drive the Palestinians and Bedouin from their homes. In multiple Western nations, violent antisemitic attacks have escalated dramatically, with targeted shootings and fatal incidents recorded.

Extremist settlers think Israelis are all good; Palestinians are all terrorists. Protesters think Palestinians are good; all Israelis are terrorists. That’s why they’re protesting outside a Haaretz conference. They don’t distinguish between Haaretz and the extremist settlers, or me and you–we’re all evil.

I could go on, but you get my meaning. Both sides of the spectrum believe that their black-and-white judgments are absolutely right. Sure, most of the protesters aren’t violent, but if they had the power, they would take Israel away from us. That power has been given to extremist settlers by our rotten government. It’s their black and white certainty that is dangerous.

So are you one of those........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)