Ahmad Tibi: For the Glory of Israel

Ahmad Tibi, a member of the Israeli Knesset for decades, loves to find tidbits he can use to beat down the country that pays his salary and supposedly to which he owes allegiance as an MK. Yet recently he eulogized a terrorist from the Knesset podium and he praises martyrs on both sides of the Green Line. As a former advisor to Yasser Arafat, it is clear where his loyalty lies.

Here is his latest Twitter Post, a video showing a soldier beating the legs of a Palestinian man, apparently the father of the young boy next to him. The boy, perhaps 10 years old or so, runs off in fear. The single sentence of his Tweet reads: For the glory of the State of Israel and her police.

לתפארת מדינת ישראל ושוטריה. pic.twitter.com/76TTUSbMgB

— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) April 17, 2022

I suppose he wants us to think that this was gratuitous violence against an innocent man who was just standing by with his young son.

Except – when you look at the beginning of the video you can see the boy has a knife in his hand.

There is not much chance this knife was brought from home in order to partake of the sacrificial Passover lamb some Jews said they were bringing to the Temple Mount. And it is much too early in the day for the Ramadan iftar meal that begins after sundown. But since the police do not seem to have relieved this boy of his eating utensil all we can do is hope it does not find its way into some Jewish shoulder or back.

I must admit, however, that this video does not show any “glory” regarding the Israeli police — see how the father in the video walks normally away after seemingly having been hit a number of times with the baton? He could not have been hit very hard nor is it likely that this display of minimal response to a potential threat will have any deterrence impact whatsoever.

But that is not the “glory” Tibi was inferring. And by not disqualifying Tibi and other MKs who openly denigrate Israel and her institutions, who openly call the entire State of Israel an occupier, we continue to invite their public bullying, not only in Arabic but also in Hebrew and English, giving their allies, our enemies, additional public relations ammunition with which to batter us both within Israel and around the globe.