OneJerusalem.com

A pipe bomb exploded this morning on the front door of Prof. Ze’ev Sternhell, wounding the professor’s leg. The bomb had been attached to the doorknob and was activated when Ze’ev opened the door.

Prof. Sternhell is a left-wing commentator and winner of the 2008 Israel Prize in political science. Fliers found in the vicinity of his house promised 1 million shekels to whomever hurts members of the Peace Now organization!

Right-wing extremist Baruch Marzel says his people had nothing to do with the attack, yet refuses to condemn the act.

I don’t know if the purpose of this terrorist act was “only” to intimidate Prof. Sternhell or to seriously hurt him. It doesn’t matter. I expect everyone and anyone in the political arena, from his leftist friends to the most far-right extremists to condemn this attack and to find and prosecute the perpetrator.

Luckily Sternhell only suffers light injuries, but it could easily be a different case if he had opened the door from a different angle, or if his wife had been the one at the door, or one of his two daughters.

There is no one who should speak more loudly against this divisive phenomena than Binyamin Netanyahu. He is the most respected and popular politician from the right of the political map, and by crying out against Jewish terrorism he could quickly diffuse the tensions. The extremists might even actually listen to him. He had been silent before Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Now he mustn’t repeat that mistake.

P.S.

If extreme-left-wing politician Dov Khenin is to be elected Mayor of Tel-Aviv in November, then the contrast between mostly Orthodox right-wing Jerusalem to mostly secular left-wing Tel-Aviv will probably heighten even more.

P.P.S

Paul McCartney’s historic performance in Tel-Aviv is happening tonight! I find it saddening that this memorable day also marks yet another deterioration in inner Jewish relations.