The Third Intifada Myth

It's very easy to get fixated on the events of the day.

They sweep over us and overwhelm our senses. Rocks. Car terror. 

The Palestinian Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee has declared a one-day strike against the Jewish sector of Israel. No school. No shops.

These are Arab citizens of Israel we're talking about. But their leaders despise Israel no less than the Palestinian Arab leaders of Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the west bank).

The troubles in Kafr Kana (in the general vicinity of Haifa) set off the latest crisis. It began Friday into Saturday when police shot Kheir a-Din Hamdan who had attacked their cruiser van while it was on routine duty in Kafr Kana.

Hamdan tried to break the windows of the van and to stab the cops. He had a knife. It was dark. It was late. But there were Israelis to threaten and kill.

Maybe the cops could have shot him in the feet rather than in the upper part of his body since when they got out of the cruiser Hamdan began backing away. 

In response to Hamdan's demise the local Arabs rioted. Maybe because they feel Hamdan has a right to stab Jewish police. Or because, anyway, he didn't succeed..so what's the big deal?

The Arabs say that if Hamdan had been a Jew the police would have allowed him to stab them. Yeah. Right. I invite any Jew (particularlyAmerican and European) to test that theory -- if they believe it.

“The police executed Hamdan in cold blood, without having any reason," is what the leaders of the Arabs sector in Israel are saying.

Up and down Israel – including here in Jerusalem – the Arabs are rioting. They have 100 reasons to riot.  1000 reasons. 

Certainly Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah thugs have encouraged it. And Hamas has encouraged it. In fact, no Arab voice has discouraged it.

Think about that: No Arab voice has discouraged it violence.

Not all Arabs, of course are rioting. Most went to work. Most could not go to school. 

So there is an unquestionable sense of tension all over. The Arabs are mobilized and feeling frustrated: They Jews just won't go away.

"Our" "Israeli" Arabs are impacted by the militancy and irrational nuttiness sweeping the "neighborhood." 

They are susceptible to conspiracy theories even on the best of days.  

They are convinced that the Jews will rebuild their Temple and dislocate them from the Temple Mount – which is the 3^rd holiest place in Islam.

I'm glad to see more Israeli leaders and holy men including one of the Orthodox chief rabbis urging Jews not to visit the Temple mount for now. 

The status quo was that Jews could visit the Mount but not pray there because it "offends" the Arabs. 

Lately some messianic Jews craving Temple Version 3.0 want to have another go. They don't care if it inflames 1.6 billion Muslims. They hear God's voice telling them it doesn't matter.

Our messianics have little support among the general population, or among the Orthodox population, and have zero support from the Israeli authorities. 

But they hear God's voice. Or they listen to rabbis who hear it. Whatever.

But their ravings play into the hands of the Arab fanatics. I guess fanatics feed off each other.

Meanwhile, having nothing to do with the Temple Mount the Arabs in Syria, the Arabs in Iraq, the Arabs in north Africa, the Arabs in Lebanon, the Muslims just about everywhere are aggrieved and killing each other. 

In Pakistan. In Somalia. In Afghanistan.  

None of that will go away even if God forbid the Palestinian Arabs manage to get rid of Israel -- or if old ayotallah Ali Khamenei's wet dream comes true and the Jewish state is nuked...

The Muslims still will not stop the war of civilizations. The war of civilizations that manifests mostly within Islam itself.

So it is not clever for Jews to unite them against Israel by making an issue of the Temple Mount at a time when the entire Islamic civilization is already awash in fanaticism and blood-letting.

Here's the bottom line: There is no 3^rd intifada.

And truth be told there was no second or first intifada.

It's one big long intifada.

The Muslim Arabs opposed Israel's existence since the beginning of the Zionist enterprise.  Before there were "settlements" and the "occupation."

It's just one long continuing intifada with interruptions for Hudnas and double-dealings and tactical arrangements like Oslo in 1993.

Islam in its 21^st century incarnation is not a civilization that believes in getting along with other civilizations; in live and let live.

Whatever the particular issue or crisis or cause of any given day — the fundamental problem for the Muslim Arabs is that they reject the idea of sharing any part of the vast Middle East with non-Muslims. 

And, increasingly, they are unwilling to share any part of Europe with non Muslims either. Hence the plot against the Queen in Londonstan.