Amos Schocken, publisher of Haaretz, answering readers' questions.
The last few days have seen more open battles inside the Jewish community over the illegal Israeli settlement project in the West Bank. The rhetoric is more bitter than ever. Apartheid, say the liberals. While conservative Jews describe the settlements as the heart and soul of Zionism. We'd like to predict a crisis in the American Jewish relationship to Israel, but who knows when that will ever happen.
To start with, on Friday,
Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken openly criticized the US Ambassador to Israel - former bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman - for perpetuating "apartheid" and violence through blind support of the settlement project.
As
JTA reports, the battle began when Gideon Levy published a
column in
Haaretz on the killing of a 29-year-old Israeli settler and called out Friedman for his personal financial support for the man's settlement, Har Bracha. "Describing Har Bracha, which means 'mountain of blessings,' as an Israeli land grab, Levy said it should be called a 'mountain of curses.'"
Friedman responded angrily: Levy and Haaretz have "no decency."
What has become of .@Haaretz ? Four young children are sitting shiva for their murdered father and this publication calls their community a "mountain of curses." Have they no decency?
Haaretz publisher Amos
Schocken backed his columnist up by criticizing U.S. support for apartheid:
Mr. Ambassador Gideon Levy is right. As long as the policy of Israel that your Government and yourself support is obstructing peace process, practical annexation of the territories, perpetuating apartheid, fighting terror but willing to pay its price, there will be more Shivas.
Comment: Oligarchs never miss a trick in the pursuit of profit.