Jerusalem Day violence exposes dangerous culture of impunity in Israel

Jerusalem Day should be a proud and joyful day for Israelis and Jews around the world, celebrating the reunification of the city.

Unfortunately, it has become a day of racist rage for the far-right thugs who terrorize the city's Arab residents and one of shame for many Israelis or Jews, who see the Israeli flag, desecrated together with Jerusalem, become a synonym of Jewish supremacy.

Thanks to the demonstrations against the judicial overhaul, the Israeli flag has been reclaimed by the democratic Israel, right, center, or left-wing.

But it remains tainted on Jerusalem Day by the thugs who use it as a rallying cry for their extreme nationalism and outright racism.

Thugs exist in every democratic country.

The same impunity is at hand in the West Bank, where violent settlers have been terrorizing Palestinian civilians for months now, with minimal consequences.

When Defense Minister Israel Katz revoked administrative detention for the settlers upon taking over Yoav Gallant's position as his first order of business, he sent them the unmistakable message of impunity.

In other words, he is the minister of the settlers, who therefore benefit from a de facto judicial impunity from Katz and active political support from Smotrich. What could possibly go wrong?

The assault on Lior Amihai, the head of Peace Now, in the West Bank on Jerusalem Day, is a direct consequence of such a culture of impunity.

The violence by extremist settlers is indeed not only directed at Arabs but also at the Jews, whom they deem a “fifth column†or an “enemy from within.†The logic at play is the same: a thuggish mentality that knows no bounds and wants to implement a far-right, racist agenda at any cost, including violence.

As elections loom, there is a genuine danger of violence aimed both at Arabs and at such “traitorous†Jews in the next few months, as the fear of losing power may trigger them to take measures to create chaos, assault Arabs, and intimidate their opponents while they still can.

It is also difficult to imagine that such thugs will quietly accept the outcome of the elections and not do everything in their power to disrupt them, from intimidating Israel's Arab citizens to attacking Zionist opposition lawmakers in order to deter them from building a coalition with Arab parties after the election.

And it is dubious that the current government whose fate hangs in the balance, is deterring extremist settlers from carrying out any actions that could help them remain in power.

These violent and racist thugs know it, and so does the government that has empowered them. That makes the stakes of the looming elections all the more decisive for the future of the State of Israel as both Jewish and democratic.