Instant proof... no waiting!

Usually when commenters and I disagree over matters of opinion (e.g. over how the Israeli or international public might react under some set of hypothetical circumstances), we are left to agree to disagree. 

After all, opinion is just that, and arguments surrounding hypothetical scenarios are maddeningly difficult to prove or disprove.

So when several of the commenters on yesterday's post hypothesized about what the public reaction might have been if the terror victims had been from an Israeli community inside the green line, we all knew that the discussion would likely remain purely academic.

However, the Palis are nothing if not helpful.  Just a day after the original terror attack, our 'partners in peace' were nice enough to move the discussion out of the hypothetical realm and into that of reality.

Yesterday a car carrying a husband and wife - Jewish residents of a Jordan Valley community insidethe green line - came under fire from a passing car between Rimonim and Kochav HaShachar in the Binyamin region (located outsidethe green line). 

The husband (who was driving) was wounded by the gunfire and lost control of the car.  His wife was injured in the subsequent roll-over/crash caused by attack.

As if made to order as a test case to advance our little academic discussion, we now have a real-life case of car travelling outside the green line (i.e. where it had no business being, according to some opinions), but the injured parties are residents of a community inside (i.e. on the 'good/kosher' side of) the green line.

So far I can't see any real difference in the reaction from the Israeli left or from media outlets abroad (effectively disproving my hypothesis that attacking settlers was the best formula for avoiding widespread condemnation).  The reaction seems to be almost universal ennui.

Of course it may be that the location of the attack (outside the green line in 'occupied territory'... boo hiss!) is the key to staying under the world's revulsion threshold (which actually supports at least part of my thesis) rather than where the victims are from.

Isn't it nice that we live in such accommodating times that we seldom have long to wait for our theories to be tested in real life (or death)?

/sarcasm