Asher Vizgen, found guilty of murdering four Palestinian workers who worked in the aluminum factory at Shiloh in August 2005. He [received 4 life sentences and… ] an additional 12 years for attempted murder.
Vizgen – resident of the settlement Shvut Rahel and father of two – claimed that he carried out this heinous act in a bid to stop the disengagement and with the thought that his actions would encourage others to follow suit. (Aviram Zino)
Maniacal prick!
Edit:
On August 18, 2005, at 4:45 p.m., as he was driving the four Palestinians out of Shilo, Weisgan stopped at the entrance gate to the settlement, stepped out of the car and approached the security guard’s booth; the guard was under the assumption that Weisgan came to collect the Palestinians’ identification cards, which they deposited there at the start of each workday. Weisgan then asked for water and snatched the guard’s loaded M-16 rifle.
He then approached the vehicle and fired 5-6 bullets at each passenger from close range and began to run back to the factory with the intent of killing another Arab worker.
One of the injured Palestinians chased after Weisgan while shouting “Asher, what are you doing?†Weisgan turned around and fired a few more bullets at the Palestinian but missed.
The settler eventually made his way to the factory and opened fire at the remaining Palestinian worker from short range. At this stage Weisgan ran out of bullets, replaced the magazine and shot the injured Palestinian in the head and chest.
A few minutes later Weisgan came running out of the factory and turned himself in to a security officer who arrived at the scene.
Since I live in Shilo, I must add a comment.
1) It was a terrible, unexcusable act of betrayal against people who worked with us.
2) Won’t find many people in Shilo who justify what he did.
The news, by the way, is a week old at least. I wonder why your language bothers me. He is no worse than Muhamed Dahlan, Abu Abbas or most of the rest (yes both Dahlan and Abbas took part in planning murders). I guess because I met Asher several times although I never really talked with him. What he did was evil, but he himslef did not seem evil. It is very spooky for me.
Spilling innocent blood is wrong, spilling any blood, even in self defence is no joy within itself. Let’s pray that this will be a better one.
I agree with ST, although I guess Asher technically qualifies as a “maniacal prick” it seems a bit flippant to refer to him as such, when his crimes are so heinous and morally repugnant. Let me qualify: murder is wrong, etc etc, but something about this crime just gives me chills.
Let this be a good example to the non-Jews, specially our muslims cousins: to the Jews who kill inocents we throw them into jail, be it Igal Amir or Asher Vizgen (I mean no mather if the inocents are Israelis or Palestineans).
What are the others doing with their “Maniacal Pricks”??? Apart from voting them, carrying their images and calling them heroes??
So Ahmadenijad is a maniacal prick, and an obviously unstable jew who kills four palestinians is also a maniacal prick? Isn’t that carrying the equivalency a little too far? Who else was/is a maniacal prick? George Bush? Hitler?
He’s a terrorist. Pure and simple. I don’t know why any language used about him offends anybody. He murdered innocent people to make a political point. Israel justifiably targets Palestinians like him for death if they know about a pending attack where they’re involved.
Actually, Vizgen is more of a prick than Ahmadenijad at this point, although the slimy antisemitic PM of Iran has more potential. And yes, Yigal Amir is in the pantheon of maniacal pricks.
By the way, this language is not mine. I’m quoting Mobius.
You’re hiding behind Mobius? As if that were an excuse? He’s getting more lefty-liberal-pansy with every passing minute. I guess his new year’s resolution to start hating Jews as much as he hates Republicans.
Who the fuck is hiding? I’m just letting you know who invented this phrase.
TheMiddle: Are you out of your mind? Don’t you know the difference between, one the one hand, the president of a country who is intending to develop nuclear weapons to destroy another country and, on the other, a single individual who murdered four people? How can you possibly place them in the same category? What is wrong with you? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were one of those people who felt so guilty about being Jewish that you go out of your way whenever possible to point out the sins of Jews. Really, this is absurd.
I read the article but the general structure of a settlement is a bit unclear and odd to me.
I mean, is it only West Bank where they have such restricted areas with armed guards, requiring ID card check-in/check-out and escorts when inside the area? I guess in there it’s due to security demands. Or are the settlements like that everywhere?
Yes HebrewBeast, one is a murderer and one isn’t. Both used to be potential murderers, you see, but so far I’ve only seen one act on his impulse to murder others. Should I withdraw my critique of the other one as a maniacal prick because he’s not a murderer but merely an antisemitic slimeball who leads a 60 million person nation using antisemitism as a strategy for progress? Do let me know because I value your considered opinion.
Finnish, you don’t mean to ask whether the settlements are like that everywhere because, of course, you don’t believe that Tel Aviv or, say, Kibbutz Ramat Rachel are settlements, right? You mean to ask, if I understand, whether this was in an outside-the-Green-Line community that we call “settlements” for a whole bunch of reasons, right? The answer is that yes, they were apparently entering a community that resides in the West Bank, and those often – though not always – have fences, gates, watchmen, and sometimes soldiers for protection. Inside the Green Line you are more likely to encounter these types of barriers around Kibbutzim but the threat they face is minimal compared to what those who live in the West Bank face.
Then again, the majority of suicide bombings take place inside the Green Line and most attacks in the territories are on individuals who are outside of their communities and therefore far more exposed.
By the way, HebrewBeast, that is one impressive IP number you’ve got there.
Themiddle, no, I don’t think Tel Aviv or Ramat Rachel are settlements… I’m glad you could parse my question successfully.
You see, I always imagined the settlements (meaning for example those small places somewhere in West Bank) to be like really small towns with houses which look exactly alike, but never did I imagine real fences, gates, armed guards, etc. I do think it makes sense to have them, though.
THe bottom line here is that the Arab side support killing innocent civilians, in that they don;t have consideration for any Jews to be living in Israel as legitimate to start w/ thus, any Jew is not an innocent civilian according to them. Whereas, The Israelis, bisach hakol, want to live and let live.
This is the problem basically that the Israelis face.
Sen. McCarthy: I almost never post, but your juxtaposition is so ridiculous that I felt compelled. So everyone is a potential murderer? Are we in a bad sociology class at Vassar College? One is a genocidal antisemite who wants the bomb and the other is a deranged human being who, for some reason on that day at that moment, decided he would strike out. And now we’re going to compare one isolated individual (not even a member of any kind of movement, mind you) to the president of a country with a GDP of $568 billion and a population of 68 million? A person who said he would like to take out the entire state of Israel, 6 million people? I don’t get you.
It’s not his fault, HebrewBeast. Middle’s parents made him go to Vassar.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Vassar!! 😆
HebrewBeast, if you want and if it’ll make this silly debate go away, why don’t you create a system where we acknowledge that terrorists, even Jewish ones, are maniacal pricks as are antisemites, particularly those who run countries. You can simply have different levels of prick. You can have the 4 incher, the 6 incher and the
Ron Jeremy9 incher.Does that satisfy you?
Let’s say that Weisgan is a 4 incher type who took this murderous, terrorist action and acted on it the way, um, some people (not you or I, of course) would use a Porsche or Ferrari as a penis extender. You can figure out the rest. Enjoy.
Refer to Judea and Samaria, the “West Bank” as a geopolitical unit does not exist anymore, as part of the Hashemite kingdom.
Hey, the sociology class I took was one of the better ones, or at least one of the classes I can remember! And Vassar is (or was?) the central temple of the Cult of the Individual, I don’t think anyone’s parents make them go there… Lit Crit, on the other hand… gack.
Haven’t convinced me. I guess I’m overage for your humour.
For Finnish and theMiddle: Many communites or settlements have fences and guards both sides of the green line. Even Rosh HaAyin has security patrols, is fenced, and has limited security at its entrance (how many people live in Rosh HaAyin? About 40 thousand today). Ramat Rachel also has a fence and security at its entrance. So do most kibbutzim and the list is endless. Why do we need security? Against theft and murder. But I disgress.
Shilo and Shvut Rachel have a joint entrance that also serves the local industrial area for about two years. Asher was of course well known to all and so no one had second thoughts when he asked to borrow some water at the gate. Some of the workers he murdered had been working in the same factory for at least ten years which makes it all more traumatic for us.
Is Asher a terrorist? Could be a case of semantics, but I doubt he fits the definition entirely. He belonged to no organized group, and differs little from other murderers in the States (ever hear of going postal?). It was a hate crime and a terrible crime.
Incidently, the murders took place not far from the home of Abu Sukar, the murderer who exploded a refrigerator in Kikar Zion about 20 years ago murdering 18 people. Abu Sukar was released about 2 years ago as a “peace gesture”. He is know a paid offical of the PA.
Just to sum up; these guys are not “Pricks”. They are murderers and that is just bad enough.
ST, it pains me to call Weisgan a terrorist. I don’t see an alternative. If this were a Palestinian who had witnessed a targeted attack on terrorists that also injured or killed innocent bystanders (I say this as someone who supports very specific targeted killings, by the way) and then decided to go into Shilo and murder 4 Israelis at random, you and I would both call him a terrorist. That’s because we have come to define terrorism as the intentional attack on non-combatant targets for political or religious reasons. Sometimes, a Palestinian who is “unaffiliated” with any group might decide to take action against Israelis. Is that not terrorism? How is Weisgan different other than that you know him.
I think it’s interesting to note how upset people are regarding the use of the term “maniacal prick” which Mobius, in what must have been a fit of inspired composition, saw fit to create. I guess it puts the use of the term and our biases into some perspective since the people to whom I’ve applied it are a Jewish murderer and terrorist as well as a couple of serious antisemites, one of whom may be seeking the physical destruction of Jews.
Middle –
I have no problem calling this guy a murderer, a maniacal prick, and/or a terrorist by your definition (although there is a valid point in that one side openly endorses and lionizes such acts, and the other side roundly condemns it – he really is a terrorist without a backing movement, which is significant).
What bothers me more is the not-so-subtle use of the word “settler” in the ynetnews article you quote.
Incidents like this are used to smear the entire settlement movement – when in fact the majority of Israelis in Judea and Samaria recall – and still hope for – times when there was more openness and cooperation with the Arab population.
The reality is that these settlements – like many others – still employ local Arabs, and sometimes work side-by-side with them.
The reality is the dozens of such industrial zones at which hundreds, if not thousands, of Arabs go to work daily with no incident.
And the reality is that before the intifadas and waves of terrorism (known euphemistically as “the Oslo years”) many more Arabs did so – both in little Israel and Judea/Samaria.
Unfortunately incidents like this are blown out of all proportion, and used to discredit an entire segment of Israel’s population.
Ben David, incidents like this are blown out of proportion precisely because they support a wider-spread perception of people and their activities. Of course Weisgan is an anomaly and that is precisely why you are reading and hearing a lot more coverage of him than of, say, a suicide attacker. That isn’t a bad thing. If people neglect to mention that he was unusual among the larger population of settlers, I do not believe it is for the purposes of slander but rather because it needn’t be said in the first place.
“Pollard spied for Israel; all US Jews are suspect in their loyalty.” Those who think it are the ones who will think it anyway, and those who won’t will be those who have a broader understanding of people. But I see no reason to justify anything I say or do because of Pollard’s unfortunate and illegal actions. On the other hand, I do feel obligated to prevent another instance of a “Pollard” and will speak out against it. I would think and hope that many settlers will take the same position with regard to Weisgan.
Asher Weisgan did all of Israel a favor. The Arab enemy hates us; and our only reasonable defense against their genocidal intententions is fear.
I also resent you referring to Jews in Eretz Yisrael as “settlers.” Jews are the indigenous people of the Land of Israel; they are not “settlers.”
Why do you adopt the enemy’s propaganda? Propaganda designed to remove Jews from their Land; and justify murder.
Asher Weisgan is a son of Israel; and, therefore, part of G-d’s plan. May G-d bless Asher Weisgan and may he regain his freedom very soon!
Dear god.
Gotta second you on that “Dear God” middle. Maybe even “jeez”.
And in the wake of all this, when the issue of West Bank settlements is back in the news, Israel’s wily Nobelist Mr. Peres continues his long career of carefully sensing the prevailing winds…
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060928-124203-9860r