How has the Lord covered with a cloud the daughter of Zion in His anger! He has cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.
The Lord has swallowed up unsparingly all the habitations of Jacob; He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and the princes thereof.
He has cut off in fierce anger all the horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy; and He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about.
-- Eicha (Lamentations) 2:1-3
Reading the news and the blogs today, the words of the prophet are echoing in my brain. I really am at a loss for words, so I'm going to pass the buck -- sort of.
Boker Tov Boulder has posted a lot of devastating photos, and commentary as well. These things just ought not to be.
As I've said before, though, I have terribly mixed feelings about the conduct of both sides in the battle over these admittedly illegal outposts. Everyone is behaving badly. In my book, there's no excuse for throwing rocks and cinder blocks at police. It's disproportionate, inappropriate, despicable. I can't imagine what sort of response a protester can expect to such actions, other than more violence. But the response surely appears to have gone way beyond what was necessary. Again, disproportionate, inappropriate, despicable.
Shai has wise words to share. So does Dave at Israelly Cool. And Ze'ev at Israel Perspectives has these observations, which are to weep for, and these, which go well beyond my own view of things but are worth sober consideration.
Ay yai yai. What is happening to us?
