By Marney Blom
Yesterday I sat in a room of 50 journalists representing some of the largest global media organizations. After brief presentations from Dr. Dore Gold, Israel’s Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Security Cabinet Member, and Ofir Gendelman, the PMO’s Spokesperson to the Arab Media, the floor was open for questions from several pre-selected reporters.
The day prior, the nation had experienced a level of violence reminiscent of the second intifada. The media were eager to hear the Israeli government’s response to the escalating situation, and details concerning practical measures being implemented to curb it.
Not surprisingly, one journalist asked a question reflecting the popular perception of Israel’s modus operandi when responding to attacks of terror.
“Is Israel not guilty of using excessive force?”
With the announcement of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s hopes to bring calm in his upcoming visit to the region, the finger of blame is being pointed at Israel. Ever expanding settlement activity and alleged reports that Israel is using excessive force have been cited as causes for the current upswing of Arab Palestinian initiated terror attacks.
“This is our duty to defend our citizens – Jews and Arabs alike. The complaint is that we aren’t using enough force … as we [haven’t] managed to bring the situation back to normality,” responded Dr. Yuval Steinitz. “This blame of excessive use of force that is being used vis-à-vis Israel more easily than vis-à-vis other democracies that defend themselves sometimes in similar situations … is an insult to intelligence.”
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