Anti-incitement law necessary

Haim Shine, israelhayom.com

Shine image from article

For years now, Israel has been facing a multipronged campaign, comprising security, diplomatic and public diplomacy avenues.

The Palestinians insistence on behaving like victims receives a sympathetic ear from most of the international community. A strong Jewish power in the land of Israel contradicts ancient world views, as the world, which has become accustomed to seeing Jews and victims, finds it difficult to accept that Jews have the right to defend themselves.

The West's value systems has become so ambiguous it can no longer tell the good guys from the bad guys; between heinous murderers and innocent victims; and between terrorists and soldiers putting their lives on the line to defend civilians.

The current wave of terrorism has underscored a longtime, familiar phenomenon: Foreign nations offer substantial direct and indirect funding to organizations working within Israel to gather information and manufacture worldwide public opinion, by which Israel could be maligned, IDF operations could be compromised, and soldiers and officers may face criminal charges overseas.

These organizations represent Israel's worst detractors, and their operations are carried out under the guise of concern for moral values, but it is well known that those who are merciful to the cruel end up being cruel to the merciful. Those who fund such groups deserve no credit.

It is time for the legislator to regulate these organizations' operations. No normal country allows foreign entities to intervene in its internal affairs via local agents.

The government bill currently debated strikes the proper balance between freedom of speech and occupation and a democracy's right to defend itself. The demands for detailed financial records listing the scope of foreign funding, stricter record keeping, and wearing proper identification badges when lobbying in the Knesset, are perfectly proportionate.

Terrorists see any Jew as a legitimate target, as seen by the incident where a bus carrying Breaking the Silence activists was stoned. I doubt this incident would be an eye-opener for those foreign entities, whose operations support -- most likely inadvertently -- the terrorists themselves.