Settlers have a dream

Ha'aretz had a report yesterday on how a setllers' leader, Pinhas Wallerstein, has compared the settlers to Martin Luther King's freedom riders. The first thing that struck me about this comparison is the sheer hypocrisy of people seeking racial supremacy likening themselves to people who fought against racial supremacy. Did Ha'aretz notice this? Apparently not.

From the beginning, the Yesha Council heads have borne a false tone in their clumsy effort to appear as the standard-bearers of the civil disobedience propounded by Mahatma Gandhi, King's role model. For King, breaking the law meant sitting in "whites only" bus seats. The Yesha leaders' attempt seems like a public relations chicanery, not an authentic worldview. After all, the Yesha Council heads cynically change their tactics on a daily basis: One moment they declare their intention to force their will on the country, the next moment they decide to sing songs of brotherhood and unity. One day they define their goal as bringing down the government; the next, as embracing the public.

You see? The racism inherent in zionism is taken as read. For Ha'aretz the trouble with the settlers is their challenge to the state.