While most Israelis were preoccupied with their army’s attacks in Syria, with the harsh budget, and with the royal family’s extravagant trip to China, something much worse sneaked under the radar: On Monday, Israel’s government passed a resolution, based on the infamous “Prawer plan”, that calls for the forced evacuation (i.e. ethnic cleansing) of some 40 thousand Bedouin citizens of Israel from their homes in the southern Negev region.

Supporters of the plan like to talk about Bedouin “incursions” on public and private land in the Negev. Answering this requires a brief history lesson: In 1948, the leadership of the embryonic State of Israel approached the leaders of the Bedouin tribes within the proposed borders of the state with a proposition: You, the Bedouins, refrain from joining the fight against us or helping our enemies in any way, and in return we Jews, after we win, will honor the status-quo regarding your grazing, living and annual migrating lands. The Bedouins faithfully kept their end of the bargain. In return, the natal State of Israel stabbed them in the back, refused to allow those of them who fled the battles to reunite with their tribes, and evacuated those who didn’t flee from the vast majority of the Negev into a small triangle of land around the city of Beersheba.

Despite this betrayal, most Bedouins became loyal citizens, and many of them serve in the IDF, especially as scouts of matchless skill. These are the facts, so don’t give me any “incursion” crap. Yes, Bedouins tend to make light of real estate and zoning laws (which naturally are made for the benefit of non-nomads). These violations can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis through the courts, and not by racist collective punishment. Furthermore, all the acreage ever illegally appropriated by Bedouins since the inception of the state pales in comparison to the vast areas stolen from them in the early fifties.

Now the Biberman-Bennett-Lapid government seeks to outdo that treachery, and expel tens of thousands of citizens from their abodes. Why? Because it wants to settle Jews in their stead. Such an act has a name under international law. It is called ethnic cleansing, and it is second only to genocide in the list of crimes against humanity.

This may pass quietly. Bedouins are famous for theןר long memories when it comes to grudges. They are perfectly capable of swallowing the bitter pill now only to retaliate in several decades, when it will hurt the most and seem to come out of the blue. But somehow, I doubt it. Resentment over state discrimination within the Bedouin community is close to boiling over as it is and this repugnant step, which is expected to easily pass muster in the Knesset, could well be the last straw that ignites a Bedouin Intifada.

And if that happens? Israel and every last one of its citizens who stood by will have richly earned it. Let every bulldozer driver know, upon arriving to demolish a family’s home, that the bullet in his brain will be utterly deserved. Let every policeman backing up that driver know that he has honestly come by the crowbar to the cranium. Let each and every one of Israel’s ministers most sinister know that if they end up like the odious Rehav’am Ze’evi, that will be nothing but poetic justice.

And those who want justice without bloodshed? Let them form a human wall to block the larceny. Maybe when the racists see that their plan will cost Jewish blood as well, they will have second thoughts. It’s not at all certain, but it’s all we have.