[ by Charles Cameron — two manifestations of the extreme right in Israel ]
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**

I don’t think too many people will argue that deliberately burning famiies in their homes is less than brutal. My question to ponder here is how brutal human-on-human violence of that kind is, compared with the symbolic impact of rehearsing a longed-for but long-unpracticed ceremonial, accompanied by prayer that the holy places of another religion may be flattened so that the ceremonial may once again be held in its place of origin.

The first is clearly a simple act of murder, the second a presumably legal practice-run for the full restoration of Temple sacrifice.

If I were a Palestinian, I might perhaps be more frightened by the former; as a citizen of the world and as a poet, I find the latter more troubling — as well as considerably more complex.

Sources:

New York Times, Israel Says It Has Uncovered Jewish Extremist Cell in West Bank

Jerusalem Post, Hopes for Temple Mount to be ‘flattened’ expressed at Passover sacrifice