And then came MK Michael Ben-Ari...

I am listening to the radio this morning, trying to make sense of the yesterday's demo in the Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood.

Over a thousand people demonstrated on Wednesday in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood against the influx of migrants from north Africa. The demonstrators held signs calling for the deportation of the migrants, one of which read "(Prime Minister) Bibi (Netanyahu) decide - Sudan or Israel."

The demonstration ended in violence this time:

Police arrested a total of 17 people during and after a protest against African migrants in south Tel Aviv Wednesday night. Among those arrested were 11 minors and six adults. The arrests were made for rioting, attempted assault, possession of knives and looting store fronts.

There is no doubt that influx of migrants who are not taken care of by the government (in any sense of the words "taken care") and gravitate to poorer neighborhoods of our cities cause friction, violence and problems like this one. There is no doubt that both points of view that say Deportation is inhumane and Keep our Israel Jewish have a grain of truth in them: how to reconcile the two is the big question, currently causing a big headache to the people dealing with the illegal immigration.

This, however, is the gist of the problem, looked upon from a height of a communication satellite. The way that the yesterday's demo descended into violence, though, is something one can stick one's teeth into. Notice that "Among those arrested were 11 minors..." - the category of population that is most easily incited to rioting and violence. And when this group of "demonstrators" is subjected by inflammatory demagogy by our lawmakers or, let's be frank - by our rabble-rousers - the results are to be expected.

So this is what I hear in this morning radio reports and what is (only partially and scantily) appearing in the main newspapers. Three names are reported most frequently: MK Miri Regev (Likud), MK Danny Danon (Likud) and MK Michael Ben-Ari(National Union). Why I am not surprised? Of all possible rabble-rousers these three are guaranteed to be there, when demagogy, incitement and cheap populist rhetoric are the name of the game.

Danon:

The infiltrators are a national plague, and we must deport them immediately before it's too late... the state of Israel is engaged in a war against an enemy state composed of infiltrators and located within Israel.

Miri Regev:

...the Sudanese are a cancer in our body.

But these two were just an appetizer. Because then... then came MK Michael Ben-Ari...

Update: a few words of sanity from the Knesset:

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also criticized the MKs. "When the masses are raging, leaders must curb the rage instead of spreading it," he said during a meeting with the US ambassador.

"It's OK to protest and demand a solution from the government but once cannot be dragged into incitement and use words the anti-Semites use against us," he said.