'Barak's words may lead to incitement'

Eli Yishai says Labor head's comments on "tumors" in the population were "unfortunate and dangerous."

By SHELLY PAZ
Yishai brill 248.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Yishai brill 248.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Right-wing politicians expressed their dismay and anger Sunday at Defense Minister Ehud Barak's remarks on violence by Jewish extremists. Barak, speaking Saturday night at a Tel Aviv rally marking the 13th anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, implied that extremists were responsible for the violence permeating Israeli society. "We used to call them wild weeds, but now they are tumors with secondary growths," Barak said in his address to the rally. "This is no longer a warning sign, it's a threat to democracy, the IDF, the police and to all the authorities of a normal society." Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai demanded that Barak apologize. "This is a miserable statement. It incites against the Right, a sector that constitutes the majority in Israel. This is an attempt to exclude this sector from the consensus," Yishai said, before the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "I call on Barak to apologize and I oppose any sort of generalization. His words can lead to incitement instead of to unity," Yishai added. Barak's remarks stood in marked contrast to those by President Shimon Peres and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, who preferred to call on the sector that "doesn't see itself as part of this memory" to come to Rabin Square next year and condemn violence. MK Uri Ariel (NU-NRP) said plans to meet with Rabin's daughter Dalia, as well as with the director of the Yitzhak Rabin Center, which organizes the annual rally, to examine ways to make the rally more attractive to right-wingers. "Many people like me and Likud supporters don't go there, not because they have forgotten [the assassination] but because they feel like they are being judged," Ariel told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. He added that he believes this can be changed. "It won't be easy and it won't take one year, either, but in time and after several general rallies that condemn violence, it will happen," Ariel said. Barak's remarks were divisive and untrue, Ariel said. "Barak is trying to enhance his image before the elections but he is directly responsible for the violence in Judea and Samaria. Instead of acting to stop it, he comments on it, as if he were a commentator and not the defense minister," Ariel said. Sources close to Barak said in response that the right-wing political factions are so wrapped up in the upcoming election campaign that they are willing to ignore the intelligence on violent actions against soldiers and policemen by a growing group of Jewish extremists in the Judea and Samaria. At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also touched on the violence issue. "We want to hope that what gave rise to the atmosphere that, in the end, allowed someone to murder the prime minister, has changed within public discourse in the State of Israel. I am not sure that this is so," Olmert said. "I am not sure that the atmosphere has changed ... that the incitement has changed ... that the attempt to delegitimize a political line that does not jibe with the expectations of a section of the public has changed, and that the situation today is better than it was on the eve of Yitzhak Rabin's murder," he added. Both the nation and the government need to do some soul-searching on the matter, the premier continued. "We must ask ourselves if we are really doing what needs to be done, if we know how to fight the forces that threaten the stability and integrity of Israeli democracy," he said. In a related development, the Tzav Pius group, which promotes dialogue between different sectors in Israeli society, released a survey showing that 50 percent of Israelis believe that another political murder will take place. The survey was released in advance of the state memorial day for Rabin, observed on 12 Heshvan, the Hebrew anniversary of his murder, which falls Monday. According to the survey, 57% of the secular respondents and 37% of the religious and haredi respondents believe that a political murder will occur again. The survey further found that 46% of all Israelis (55% of the secular and 25% of the religious) think that the Israeli society has not done enough to prevent another, similar murder. "The survey's results express alienation and polarization in the Israeli society," said Tzav Pius director Aliza Gershon. "Instead of solving the disputes via discussion, there is a fear that some people might take this polarization to the extreme. We are all obligated to prevent this from happening," Gershon added. A memorial ceremony for Rabin will be held Monday at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem at 2 p.m., to be followed by the state memorial ceremony at 3 p.m. for Yitzhak and Leah Rabin on Mount Herzl, and by a special ceremony in the Knesset's final plenum session before it disperses for elections.