The daily Yedioth Ahronoth wrote that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has “chutzpah,” after he noted that it’s human nature to oppose the occupation. The man is already sweating out of fear that he will be called an anti-Semite, with all the tragic consequences this would have on his professional future. Well, he can relax. In Israel “chutzpah” is not a dirty word. On the contrary, it’s a source of pride, and Israeli chutzpah is already famous worldwide — even in its Hebrew pronunciation.

Still, “chutzpah” is the right description not for Ban, but for “human nature,” which dares to oppose the occupation. After all, we can understand “human nature” when it opposed the British, French or Dutch occupations, but not the Israeli occupation. Israeli chutzpah does not tolerate anyone who treats it with chutzpah.

On the other hand, it turns out that according to the Israeli establishment, human nature differs from one nation to the next. For example, the police have decided that the nature of the Arab is to be a murderer. That was apparent when they visited the home of slain taxi driver Amin Shaaban, the third victim of Nashat Melhem (the Israeli Arab who killed two Israeli Jews in a January 1 shooting spree in Tel Aviv, before also killing Shaaban.) The police automatically assumed that Shaaban, an Israeli Arab, was a partner in Nashat’s crime. After it turned out that just the opposite was true, the police shared the information they had with the victim’s family, which led to the realization that Shaaban’s smart watch had been stolen by Nashat. If the police had made a different assumption, namely that the nature of the Arab is also to be a victim – heaven forbid – they would have discovered that fact during the critical first hours after the shooting. That would have enabled them to apprehend Shaaban several days earlier, and end the affair without driving an entire country crazy, with all the incitement against Arabs and danger to civilians’ lives.

If human nature is determined by one’s profession, it turns out that the nature of those in charge of internal security is feigned innocence. As we know, the police want very much to fight crime in the Arab street, but can’t do so without the cooperation of the residents. Well, the Arabs are being asked — in the name of proving they are good citizens — to catch the criminals, hand them over to the police, and not forget to ask for a receipt, too.

What a pretense of innocence. In this country, where infants say the word “security” before the say “mommy” and “daddy,” the police can’t fight crime among the Arabs!

And then comes Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, with infuriating “chutzpah.” Erdan is asking to give the police some credit even before they have rolled up their sleeves to fight crime. The minister warns the Arab members of Knesset to support the police. And the Arabs, who have amassed some experience in these matters, are afraid that if they break out in song and joy to encourage the trigger-happy police, then instead of 13 Arabs who were killed in October 2000 — when the lives of police officers were not in danger, according to the Or Commission — the number of dead will multiply this time.

In Israel Hayom, the newspaper belonging to the country’s sponsor Sheldon Adelson, a headline on Friday’s front page read: “The chutzpah of the Arab MKs.” These are MKs who met with the bereaved families of those who carried out stabbing attacks. These families simply want help in bringing the bodies of their loved ones for burial. If Arab MKs mobilize for this humane act, in Israel it’s considered support for terror. But when Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked meets with the Jewish family of one of those detained for the crime in Duma (in which a Palestinian family was burned to death in an arson attack on their home), that’s ethical.

In Israel it’s not the families of the terrorists but the terrorists themselves who are sheltered in the warm bosom of the establishment. Ze’ev Hever, a convicted member of the Jewish terrorist underground of the 1980s, walks around the corridors of power and sits with all the VIPs, a beacon of the settlement movement. And Haggai Segal, another convicted member of the Jewish underground, is a sought-after guest in the media.

When there’s no shame, even a Jewish terrorist is king.