The Jewish community also have their madmen. In the early hours of 15 August, approximately fifty Israeli settlers entered the Palestinian village of Jit in the West Bank to commit a massacre on its inhabitants. It is impossible to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas and look lightly upon such horrors. One cannot be outraged that some refuse to label as "terrorism" the horrors of October 7, and not label as "terrorism" the attacks of August 15, under penalty of being part of the problem. Lastly, one cannot denounce the influence of anti-Semitic speeches on weak-minded individuals who act without denouncing with the same force the influence of extremist speeches on fanatics who, to relax, go break Arabs in a neighbouring village. It must be said: the 23-year-old Palestinian who was shot dead on the night of August 15 is a victim of Jewish terrorism. And whether you are Jewish or Arab, left-wing or right-wing, whether you say "West Bank" or "Judea-Samaria", whether you live in Jerusalem, Paris, London, New York or Ramallah, all consciences and primarily in Israel, must rise up against such a crime.
Indeed, this is the case. Despite downplaying the seriousness of the situation with terms such as"troubles", "riots", "events", and with the notable exception of Itamar Ben Gvir, whose provocations have been considered a direct challenge to peace as the appointment imposed on him as "Minister of National Security" in Netanyahu's government. Key figures in Israeli politics, including President Isaac Herzog and the Prime Minister himself, as well as the IDF spokesperson and even the ultra-religious supremacist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have all unequivocally condemned the settlers' attack and called for the application of the "severity of the law". It would have been good if the Palestinian Authority had shown the same unanimity in condemning the events of October 7. Indeed, while it is clear that this is a terrorist act, it is unfair and untrue to speak, as some do not hesitate to do, of "state terrorism".
In truth, it is not just the future of Israel that is at stake in this tragedy, but the future of what this small country represents. What have these settlers done by going to an Arab village to sow terror and death? They have, for one evening, vindicated those who see Zionism (and a democracy undermined by the presence of extremists in its government) as a "racist" and "genocidal" project. Even worse: the settlers who descended on a village on August 15 are no better than Hamas’s hitmen, their actions are no less reprehensible. In doing so, they have put Israelis in great danger: that of behaving like their enemies. Because in this endless war, the only defeat to be feared is not military. The only defeat would be if the asymmetry of a free world at war against an infamous terrorist organisation is followed by the equivalence of two bloodthirsty hatreds, or a pogrom that answers to another. True victory does not depend on armies, but on the collective ability to overcome the temptation to become the twin of the aggressor.