An Oct. 4 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein reports that “A prominent leader of the West Bank’s Jewish communities has accused Israel’s security forces of orchestrating a recent attack on an extreme leftist Israeli professor and then using the attack to demonize West Bank Jews ahead of an expected evacuation of the territory,” but fails to offer the background of the leader in question.
Klein wrote regarding the pipe bomb attack on that “extreme leftist Israeli professor,” Zeev Sternhell:
Settler leader Daniela Weiss today charged the attack was orchestrated by Israel’s Shin Bet Security Services to turn public opinion against the settlers.
“A settler would never have done a thing like that,” Weiss said. “It’s in Shin Bet’s best interest to create this provocation, in order to libel the settlers and thereby pave the way to settlement evacuation.”
What Klein doesn’t tell you: Weiss’ current criminal history. From an Oct. 3 Israel National News article:
Weiss was charged Friday with assaulting a police officer, interfering with legal proceedings and hindering a police officer in the performance of his duty. Police said she harassed and attacked police officers while resisting her own arrest. They also claimed that she “touched” a vehicle which earlier carried three Jews suspected of setting fire to an Arab olive grove at Kadum Thursday.
According to a report in Ynet, police claimed that they were in the process of dusting the car for fingerprints of the suspects and that by touching it repeatedly, Weiss was tampering with evidence. They also claimed that she resisted arrest by lying down under a vehicle and kicking police when they dragged her out from under it. They claim they were using “reasonable force.”
Seven other Jews, besides Weiss and Shilo, were arrested after police tore down the outpost of Shvut Ami, near Kedumim. Police forces continued visiting the site of the outpost during the night and prevented youths from re-establishing the point of settlement.
Isn’t Weiss’ background relevant to the issue of allegations of violence and criminality among Jews in the West Bank, which Klein has been focused upon of late?
It’s also worth noting that in all three of these articles, Klein makes sure to call Sternhell an “extreme leftist Israeli professor.” What does his ideology have to do with it? Is Klein saying the bombing was justified because of his beliefs?
Also, Sternhell is the only person in any of those articles whom Klein has identified by political ideology, even though many of the settlers and their supporters (like Klein) are right-wingers. Indeed, the words “right” or “conservative” are found nowhere in those articles.