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Brad Lander is currently on a selfie tour of Judea and Samaria. Here he is on a comfy bus ride guarded by IDF soldiers—Lander was with a group of foreigners seeking to provoke clashes between Jews and Arabs during the olive harvest, and the IDF accompanied him away from the area where he was trying to start a war.
Lander’s fun trip turned sour, however, when he practically begged the IDF to arrest him and they refused. Lander told the friendly IDF soldiers that he wasn’t yet a congressman, just a candidate for Congress, hoping they would put him in handcuffs or give him some anti-Zionist photo op. But the IDF didn’t care that he wasn’t that important; they treated him with respect anyway. All they required of him was to follow the law.
Lander’s disappointment was palpable. Over the past week or so, a particular pattern has taken place. American activists join Arab Palestinians in rock-throwing attacks and other provocations against Jews in the area, Jews respond with their own acts of violence, the foreign media print only the Jewish violence, and more conflict tourists are incentivized to join a conflict on the other side of the world.
Jewish shepherds and farmers have had their animals stolen, others have seen their animals poisoned. Settlers have blocked roads, trapped Palestinians inside their houses, and committed their own disreputable acts of violence and provocation. It’s a genuine cycle of violence, with a complicated back story: The Palestinian rejection of statehood has left Judea and Samaria in a state of limbo. Jews and Arabs thus try to create facts on the ground in a competition over land.
The other day, a Palestinian appeared to be caught on video trying to kill Knesset candidate Fleur Hassan by throwing a football-sized jagged rock through her car window while she and others were driving through Judea and Samaria. Brad Lander did not volunteer to drive Fleur Hassan around in an act of protective solidarity because such anti-Israel activists are there to provoke, not prevent, violence.
Lander’s stunt was reminiscent of the self-humiliation ritual performed by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna. In July, Khanna’s vehicle was temporarily stopped by the IDF in a military zone. Khanna had been trying to provoke settler violence, failed, and his companion released video showing that Khanna’s story about being detained was a fairytale.
Khanna is an interesting case, because while France was burning over the past week in a series of riots that had spread across Europe, Khanna tweeted his approval:
“From the high schools of France to the streets of Madrid to the universities of Tirana, young people are telling their governments the same thing: in an age of massive wealth inequality, they want a future they can believe in… The is what happens when nations let wealth and power accumulate in the hands of a few. This is what happens when young people lose hope in their future.”
The two incidents are more alike than one might think. Those who obey a violence-first doctrine support such violence everywhere. Khanna’s show of giddiness while Europe burned was entirely consistent with his attempt to spark conflict in Judea and Samaria.
Nor is it just a coincidence that many of those burning Europe carried Palestinian flags. In the hands of a Palestinian, it is the flag of a national movement. In the hands of left-wing rioters, it is the flag of an ideology. In anybody’s hands, it is a flag of destruction.
There is one more aspect to the repeated Democratic pilgrimages to Palestine, and it tells us much about the perpetrators’ intentions. All these activists desperately want Jews to behave badly. They want to believe that the Jewish state itself is worse than anybody has reason to think. This requires incitement and provocation and carefully curated video clips.
On the other hand, dangerous and unethical behavior comes naturally to Lander & Co. As does the shamelessness required to post that behavior on social media for all to see.