Against violence

A right-leaning Israeli mob in Jerusalem has called for revenge for the murder of three Israeli teenagers. A Facebook page demanding revenge has already garnered 37,000 likes. The page shows teenage girls with a sign reading "hating Arabs is not racism."

Israeli police have released clips from the mobile phone of Gilad Shaar, one of the abducted students - the audio was recorded shortly before he was killed. On this recording, the kidnappers apparently celebrate after the boys' execution.

After the three bodies of the teenagers were found, a Palestinian youth was murdered. It is suspected he was victim of a revenge killing by radical Israelis.

In response, Palestinian groups gathered in East Jerusalem, where stones and pipe bombs were thrown at Israeli police and cars set ablaze. The Israeli Air Force staged strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip. Rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel's south; Israel deployed additional troops to the Gaza border.

'Not my problem'

In light of the violence and hate crimes in the Middle East, the international community has very good reason to be shocked, said Maayan Dak. She's general coordinator for the Israeli non-governmental organization "Coalition of Women for Peace," which has been fighting Israel's occupation of the West Bank for 14 years.

She says violence is happening "every day and every night." But this has been largely ignored not just by other countries, but by Israelis as well: "Many Jewish Israelis just do not want to see the violence and they are trying to think it is not my problem now," she said.

That has contributed to a situation where many people don't truly understand how grim the situation in the West Bank is. They don't mean to cause harm by ignoring it, Dak added - this behavior is merely driven by a desire for normal life.

Yet, images of soldiers storming and destroying houses of Palestinians, soldiers threatening people with guns or even shooting at them are omnipresent in media reports.

Dak says this should be reason enough not to be naive about it. "It started thousands of years ago and it is going on every day," the 34-year-old said.

According to Dak, Israeli politicians are to blame, who make use of their power and position to promote violence. A Facebook page calling for revenge and the mad, irrational reactions of mobs on the streets are a result. The occupation also fuels aggression on the Palestinian side, the human rights activist added.

'Not in my name'

People in Israel should realize that they are also paying a high price: If rockets from Gaza come down on them in the south, it makes normal life impossible there as well, Dak pointed out. She says it's her civic duty to make clear that she is against such acts and that she doesn't agree with the radicals.

"It is very important for the people to say: this is not done in my name," Dak said.

On Wednesday (02.07.2014), people took to the streets in Israel, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and in Beersheba in the south, "saying this violence is not [done] in our name, this is not our way of living here. And we resist the racism," Dak said.

According to Dak, more than 2,000 people demonstrated in Jerusalem. "It wasn't only people from the radical left," she said. Religious Israelis were also part of the group, and they shared the message: "we do not believe in this kind of revenge."

Victims' families also against violence

That view is echoed by Rachel Frenkel. She is the mother of Naftali Frenkel, one of the three murdered teenagers. "There is no difference between Arab blood and Jewish blood," the family said in a statement.

These words could have a huge impact on public opinion, says Dak. It's all about setting a positive signal in times of hate. "I think it is very important that the international community and the Palestinians in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and in Gaza will know that there are other voices here," Dak asserted.

"There are people - Jewish people in Israel - who resist the occupation, that struggle against violence and oppression," Dak concluded.