Analogies

Speaking of Yad Vashem, its head has come down like a ton of bricks on Hebron settlers:

"The head of the council of Israel's central Holocaust memorial on Saturday assailed Jewish settlers who harass Palestinians in a tinderbox West Bank city, saying the abuse recalled the anti-Semitism of pre-World War Two Europe.

"A Yad Vashem spokeswoman told Haaretz that Lapid's comments do not reflect Yad Vashem's position.

"Yad Vashem Council Chairman Yosef Lapid's unusually fierce and public attack was prompted by Israeli television footage showing a Hebron settler woman hissing 'whore' at her Palestinian neighbour and settler children lobbing rocks at Arab homes.

"The spectacle stirred outrage in Israel, where many view the settlers as a movement opposed to coexistence with a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"Lapid, a Holocaust survivor who lost his father to the Nazi genocide, said in a weekly commentary on Israel Radio that the acts of some Hebron settlers reminded him of persecution endured by Jews in his native Yugoslavia on the eve of World War Two."

I should say my post below was meant as an attempt at understanding an aspect of Israeli society, not at a comprehensive picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

UPDATE: See Rinat for more on Hebron, including a video.