The Jewish-Arab conflict has traditionally been defined as a conflict between two nations. In 1920 the relationship took its first violent turn (the four-day 1920 Palestine riots on the streets of Jerusalem) which was organized, and this violence remains organized. With all the despair that comes along with the bloodshed, we can find small comfort in the fact that the violence was never religious. But what the law-breaking "hilltop youth" are doing exacting their "price tag" on mosques could easily deteriorate into a Jewish-Muslim war. It is a strategic escalation of the conflict which diminishes the likelihood it will ever be resolved. The attack of mosques is not just lawless and negligent, but also devoid of any logic. The perpetrators of so-called "price-tag" acts are angry with Israel's government, the High Court of Justice, the defense minister and rights groups all clearly Israeli bodies. Their struggle is internal the Prophet Mohammed and Islam have no hand in it. So why are they attacking mosques? Is it because of some twisted assumption that institutional Israel is somehow acting in the service of the Palestinians? This is a terrible perversion but not a single rabbi has publicly declared that not only is violence against Arabs strictly forbidden it is also unjustified. Faced with these circumstances, it is Israel's duty several times over to employ an iron fist against these arsonist inciters. It would have been justified to declare these mosque desecrators terrorists, and even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to do so he must still treat them as though they are terrorists. He must order Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to put the security of mosques above all else. There is a map of sites within Israel that are holy to Islam the police, or volunteers, should be deployed to protect these sites as the highest priority. Attacks against mosques could prove to be disastrous. They could open up a Pandora's Box and encourage hotheads on the Palestinian side as well, making it impossible to rein the conflict in. Therefore, in the battle to eradicate these attacks, the state should employ even the most problematic and complex legal tools at democracy's disposal, those reserved for emergencies. This is an urgent case of Israel protecting its very existence. We need to do this for our sake no less than for the sake of the freedom of religion. The last thing this country needs is a made-in-Israel Kristallnacht.
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