Armyless in Gaza

Ha’aretz has a bit more about the mass rally at the Temple Mount (site of the al-Asqa Mosque and Dome of the Rock) currently being planned by the Israeli far right. I assume this is the same proposed action that WorldNetDaily advertised just a few days ago, although WND gave April as the date, while Ha’aretz and the BBC both suggest July. And while WND’s Jerusalem correspondent presented the event organisers as simply a band of patriotic and pious Israelis, Ha’aretz’s Uzi Benziman offers an alternative description that more likely reflects the view of most Israelis:

The Temple Mount loonies…

The plan is to disrupt the Gaza pullout by creating the need for a massive police and army presence in Jerusalem; and Benziman objects that most of the diversionary protestors will not even be Israelis, but American Jews who will be going home afterwards:

…there is a huge difference between active Jewish involvement, including physical participation, in Israel’s internal affairs, and intervening in its international struggles. Israel is, first and foremost, the state of its citizens. And the right of these citizens to determine Israel’s destiny – including its borders and national security arrangements – precedes the emotional affiliation to Israel of the Jews of the world.

In other words, the Arabs of Umm al-Fahm are, of course, part of the public that will determine the fate of the disengagement; the Jews of Brooklyn are not.

But can some of the “Jews of Brooklyn” really be blamed if they fail to understand this? No doubt politicians on the Israeli far right have been lobbying them for support; MK Benny Elon has even managed to encourage a delusion among millions of American Christians that their views about Israel are more important than what actual Israelis think.