When I read that the IDF “strongly condemns” the​ recent​ killing of three more Palestinians in the West Bank, I didn’t know whether to laugh at the hypocrisy or cry at the moral abyss my country is descending into. 

The hypocrisy continued when the day after the incident, ​Israeli ​Police Commissioner Dany Levy arrived in the West Bank, and instead of addressing the epidemic of violence and killing emanating from the ​illegal ​outposts, ​he ​declared with great pathos​ –​​ ​alongside the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan​ –​ that we will stand for “sovereignty and governance​,​​ ​because we have no other state​.​” ​Levy did ​not ​say ​a word about the six Palestinian fatalities ​that​ week​. This declaration is not entirely ​surprising​ considering that for Levy,​ “governance” has long been an empty slogan​; ​within Israel, he has raised his hands ​in surrender in the face of​ Arab crime organizations, and ​beyond​ the Green Line, he is indifferent to Jewish nationalist criminal organizations. 

​​In the West Bank, the Israeli police are nonexistent, and the army is usually absent in these instances, except for settlers wearing uniforms and brandishing weapons, who often join and sometimes lead the rioters. ​Meanwhile, ​Avi Bl​uth​, ​the head of ​IDF Central Command, ​claim​s​ “there will be no tolerance for citizens who take the law into their hands,”​ ​​yet we still see no evidence to support that claim as settler terrorism continues to run rampant.​​ 

​​​While​ we are preoccupied ​now ​with Iran, the pogroms in the West Bank continue and intensify​: ​​​​​​Yinon Levi was documented shooting to death Aida al-Dalin in the village of Umm al-Khair, whose crime was pointing a camera at Levi. ​Shamefully, Levi​ spent ​just​ a few hours in detention​ and received​ a lenient indictment of “negligent homicide​.​” ​This statistic is in stark contrast to the 93.6 percent of ​investigations​ ​into violence perpetrated by​ ​West Bank ​Palestinians ​that are carried out ​incessantly while​ ​​Palestinians remain under administrative detention awaiting indictment​. 

Yinon Levi is an example of the partnership between the IDF and ​Jewish ​criminals​ in the West Bank​, ​as recently witnessed by the IDF holding an official ceremony ​on Levi’s​​​ illegal farm.

Anyone who wanders around the West Bank these days will encounter dozens of new “outposts,” overlooking every Palestinian settlement and Bedouin community. ​​T​hese ​outposts​​ ​are funded by the state and the army, which approve and assist in the establishment of their infrastructure and the paving of their roads​. At the same time, they serve as launching pads for violent settlers who descend daily on the nearby villages​. I​n some instances, the settlers​ curs​e ​and intimidate; in ​others, they​​ loot​; and in the truly worst cases, ​they kill innocent Palestinian civilians​​. 

The​ self-styled​ “​s​hepherds” in ​these​ outposts are not alone. They are messengers of a much broader political ​​campaign​​​ ​of “cleansing” the West Bank of its Palestinian residents​ –​ first ​in ​Area C, then Area B, and eventually ​everywhere​. 

There are those in Israel who will say that this is “the Palestinians’ problem,” but the truth is the opposite. The Palestinians are indeed the ones who are physically harmed, but the cancer of criminality that is seeping deep into Israeli society, leadership, and even the army is the gravest danger to our security and​ our moral​ future.

I returned last week (with a few days’ delay) from a visit to Washington, where I met with congressmen and women and Jewish community members for whom the State of Israel is close to their hearts – and I saw how they are increasingly struggling to speak in praise of the country they love so much. They have no way to explain the daily crimes in the ​occupied ​territories and the support ​the Jewish terror​ militias receive from the government and, unfortunately, also from the army and the police. 

Every ​Palestinian ​village​r​ ​who​ is expelled, every house that is burned, and every person who is killed distances more ​diaspora Jews​ from the State of Israel. In the end, the settlers may ​achieve an​ ​Area ​C free of Palestinians, but they will leave all of us not only in a moral abyss but also without the solidarity of Jewish and other ​​communities​​​ ​in the United States​. We will ​lose those​​ who grew up loving Israel and now feel that the ​Jewish ​state is betraying them and the values it claimed to represent. 

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)