The killing of Iyad Al-Halak in Jerusalem broke the heart this weekend. The harsh images of George Floyd's recent breaths in Minneapolis also made the insides. They are both civilians, both killed by police. Their death, tragic and infuriating, is part of a long history of violence.

But this is where the similarity ends, and given the direction of the flow on social networks over the weekend, this may have to be explicitly stated: the attempt to create symmetry between Jerusalem and Minneapolis is manipulative, and largely irresponsible. Knesset member Aida Thomas Sliman from the joint list asked "those who are shocked by the murder in the US, look closely - a whole people groaned under occupation without being able to breathe."

Opinion leaders have worked hard to frame the shooting in Al-Halak as a demonstration of institutional racism in Israel, and many have even indirectly blamed the Minister of Public Security. Others have known that it was "murder," and some self-branding wizards were already hurrying to tag: #ArabLivesMatter, the local equivalent of #BlackLivesMatter - a call for police protests against blacks in the United States. 

This is not just righteous populism, but manipulation of consciousness. The shooting in Jerusalem, shocking as it may be, does not happen on racial grounds, but in the context of a national conflict, which unfortunately produces terror. Just this week there were those who explained to us that the intifada is a natural result and a must for sovereignty talk. This is the reason for the presence of police in Jerusalem, and this is the backdrop for tensions. 

It is precisely this background that is endeavoring to conceal the comparison between Al-Khalak and Floyd, and is an integral part of the semantic blurring of the Jewish-Arab conflict. It's convenient to frame it in terms of racism, and it's also clear why the left is going there. Because when the conflict is framed in terms of racism and apartheid, it is very clear who is bad and who is good, who is cruel and who is the victim, who should be punished and who is compensated. 

The parallel between Minneapolis and Jerusalem compares to her editors a semblance of sophistication, but is part of a familiar rhetorical method for shaking up the debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for escaping its complexity. Ayman Ode did not have to wait for the unfortunate shooting in Al-Halak to tweet, in English, a declaration of solidarity between the Palestinian struggle and protests in Minneapolis; He did so on Friday. The advantages of the analogy are clear: it implies that the Palestinians, like the blacks, are the innocent victims of an evil regime; And their struggle is part of the opposition to colonialism; Zionism - like apartheid, slavery and racism - is another wing of Western imperialism. And with racism and colonialism there is no point in arguing. 

Significantly, this tactic also does injustice to the black struggle. The pathos-based solidarity statements disguise a calculated effort to asset the legacy of human rights struggles and define their values ​​to cover Palestinian responsibility for violence. You can call it Blackwashing of Palestinian Terror; To paraphrase the whitewashing, the code name for laundering the occupation in which Israeli culture is often accused. 

Above all, the speed with which the Israeli left rides the tragedy and makes it the equivalent of racial crime in the United States reflects the fact that even 25 years after Oslo, the left's representatives and speakers still escape a complex reflexive discussion of the unique nature of regional violence.

Al-Khalak is not a local Floyd, and that in no way makes his death at least tragic.