“Salvation will not come from outside”

Mertes said he knew from his own observation as well as from public opinion polls that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians were decent, civilized people who were firmly opposed to hate speech. “Salvation will not come from outside,” he added. “It must come from within civil society. What is needed is a ‘revolt of the decent majority’ against those who preach contempt and hatred, as well as against leaders who do not exercise their moral responsibility. The decent majority must tell them: ‘Stop exploiting the suffering of the victims and their families for your own political purposes! Stop tolerating hate speech against the other side! Stop demonizing and dehumanizing the other side!’”

As a role model, Mertes quoted the uncle of Naftali Frenkel, one of the three yeshiva students who had been abducted and killed by Palestinian terrorists: “There is no difference between Arab blood and Jewish blood. Murder is murder. There is no forgiveness or justification for any murder.”