Lying in his Shaare Zedek Hospital bed on Thursday night, lightly wounded by a pipe-bomb allegedly planted on the doorstep of his Jerusalem home by right-wing extremists, Israel Prize winner Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell said he was not intimidated, and warned in ominous terms of the perils he believes the country faces from within.
"If this act was not committed by a lone lunatic, but by elements representing a political persuasion, this is the beginning of the way to the crumbling of democracy," he said.
Sternhell, 73, a political scientist well-known for his work on fascism and an ardent critic of the settlement movement, fell victim to one of the worst incidents of political violence in recent years early Thursday morning but defiantly pledged that he would not be deterred.
"If the intention was to terrorize, then it must be made clear that they won't frighten me!" he said.
The attack, which police suspect was "ideologically motivated," was widely denounced by politicians and academics on both the Left and Right as a heinous crime and a blow to the very heart of Israeli democracy, which Sternhell said was in urgent need of protection.
"The act in itself points to the fragility of Israeli democracy, to the need to mobilize in its defense with determination and decisiveness," he said.
Damage to the home of Professor Sternhell in the pipe-bomb attack.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
The Hebrew University professor was in good condition at the hospital, where he had arrived at 1 a.m. Thursday with wounds to his thigh and leg.
He didn't need surgery, but only bandaging and antibiotic treatment. He may be released on Friday from the orthopedics department. His wife, Ziva, was at his bedside, and a number of professors visited him. He refused to be interviewed or photographed.
Police noted that fliers offering a NIS 1.1 million reward for killing anyone associated with Peace Now had been found near the scene of the attack.
"We have no doubt that this attack is a step up in violence against members of the left-wing in this country," Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said on Thursday. "That much is apparent to us, and we are investigating it as such."
One of Sternhell's neighbors said she heard the blast, and saw Sternhell's terrified reaction.
"I heard a 'boom' and went outside to see what was going on," she told The Jerusalem Post. "[Sternhell] looked terrified, but he was walking around on his own, and shortly afterward he went to the hospital. It was a surprise for all of us, though. [The Sternhells] are such nice, social people - it had to be ideologically motivated."
A special Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) unit that deals with right-wing extremists has reportedly joined the investigation into the attack.
Sternhell, who survived the Holocaust in Poland, is celebrated for his research on fascism and known for his vocal support of the Left.
As a regular contributor to Haaretz, Sternhell has expressed his objection to any Israeli settlements in territories beyond the pre-'67 borders, and has voiced comments seeming to advocate the use of violence by Palestinians against residents of such settlements.
In one of his articles for that paper he wrote:
"Had the Palestinians the least bit of sense, they would have concentrated their struggle against the settlements and would not plant explosives on the western side of the Green Line. In this manner, the Palestinians would themselves draft the solution that will be reached in any case."
The professor, who returned to Israel on Wednesday after a long period overseas, had reportedly been receiving threatening phone calls for several months.
Within two hours of the attack, officers arrived at the Tel Aviv home of Peace Now's secretary-general Yariv Oppenheimer. They performed security checks around his apartment and posted officers there until mid-morning.
"It was a bit intense," Oppenheimer said.
Sternhell is not a member of Peace Now, but he is a veteran supporter of the organization and recently addressed the audience at an event marking 30 years of Peace Now. He also wrote in Haaretz about a tour he had taken to Hebron with the group.
In a statement released to the press, Peace Now said Israeli authorities shared responsibility for the attack, for not cracking down on settler violence in the West Bank.
"Those who don't enforce the law on violent settlers... will find themselves with a Jewish terror organization in the heart of Israel," the statement said.
Oppenheimer told the Post that right-wing violence had been escalating over the past few years, particularly in the West Bank.
Far-right activist Baruch Marzel denied that his organization, the National Jewish Front, had been involved in the attack against the professor, but stopped short of condemning it.
"We are not condemning the incident, because in the past Prof. Sternhell expressed his view - that it was legitimate to hurt settlers," Marzel said.
News of the attack reached President Shimon Peres in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly meeting.
Peres said he condemned the perpetrators of so undemocratic and intolerant a demonstration of disapproval, and called Sternhell at Shaare Zedek Medical Center to express his shock and sympathy.
Peres stressed the urgency of bringing the attackers to justice before attitudes of this nature got out of hand, declaring that law enforcement officials must use every means at their disposal to locate them as quickly as possible.
"We must not allow such extreme and dangerous people to take the law into their own hands," he said.
Peres called on Israelis from across the political spectrum, from far right to far left, to rise as one against this kind of behavior.
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann also sharply condemned the attack, warning that "a politically motivated attack could undermine Israeli democracy and reopen wounds that have still not healed, and may never heal. This phenomenon must be uprooted."
David Ha'ivri, a spokesman for the Samaria Regional Council, said he suspected the flyers were part of a smear campaign on behalf of the Left.
