I recently wrote a strongly worded condemnation of the
fire-bombing of a passing car containing a Palestinian family. Although I don’t believe that those responsible have been arrested
and caught there are strong suspicions that this horrendous act was carried out by neighboring
Jews – settlers located in the West Bank and living among Palestinian villages. As I said, if that proves to be true, these
people are no less criminal than any arsonist. Especially if they deliberately
set fire to a vehicle with innocent human beings inside. There is no place in
hell low enough for people who do these kinds of things.
But... it did not shock me that there were apologists for them responding to
that post. As I see it that is part of the problem.
And now only one week later it happened again. Only this time it wasn’t arson. From the
Forward:
On August 17, a mob of several dozen Israeli Jewish teenagers — some reports say as many as 50 — assaulted four Palestinian youths in the center of Jerusalem in an attack that the Jerusalem police have labeled an attempted “lynching.” The young people shouted “death to Arabs” as they chased down and beat the Palestinians. One of the four victims remains in critical condition after being resuscitated.
I cannot tell you how much this disgusts me. And if the relatively short interval between
these two events is an indicator, it seems like this type of thing is
increasing.
I have been accused of only looking at our own bad apples.
And not criticizing the Arabs when they do similar things to us – or worse.
The fact is that they do. I clearly recall the merciless and torturous beating to death of 2 Israeli reservists who took a wrong turn into
Ramallah, a more or less upscale Palestinian city on the West Bank. These two innocent young
men were literally beaten to death. I don’t recall anything that brutal happening
before or after since the Holocaust.
My gut reaction at the time was to see every Arab as a
primitive savage. After all Ramalah was
filled with home-owning successful Palestinians. They seemed so much more
enlightened then those living on farms and small villages. Ramallah was supposed to be a model city for
the future of how a Palestinian State could look. That people like this could
do what they did was so shocking, that I was ready to wipe out the town if I
had it in my power to do so. When the Fogels were massacred by Palestinians expressing
only pride and no regret at what they did, I had a similar feeling.
But what these Jewish teens did was the same thing. Maybe they
were frustrated at the constant threat of terror. Maybe they remembered what
happened to those two innocent soldiers in Ramallah back in 2000. Maybe this
was some kind of revenge attack against something that happened to a family member
of friend. Or maybe this was pent up frustration and anger. Maybe, maybe, maybe…!
The bottom line for me is that not only should these boys be
prosecuted, they should be given the maximum sentences allowed by law and made
examples of! Jews do not kill innocent people! Jews do not beat up innocent people
and yell “Death to Arabs”! There is no excuse for what they did and no defending
them!
Yes, we must be realistic about Palestinian hatred of us…
and ever vigilant to the kinds of attacks that occurred to the Fogels and those
2 soldiers in Ramalah. Not to mention the constant threat of violence by
Islamist terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Suicide attacks were common fare in Israel just a few very
short years ago. And rockets are still being fired indiscriminately into populated
civilian areas. They have
proven time and again how much they hate us and wish to rid the Middle East of
us by any means necessary. Including annihilation.
Even though the State of Israel has done a good job of
curbing that type of violence, ignoring Palestinian machinations about our
demise is done at our own peril. Israel needs to remain vigilant. But it is just
as much of an imperative to eradicate this evil from our own midst. Along those
lines it behooves all of us not to shout angry and hateful rhetoric at - or about Palestinians.
That only encourages the extremists to
do the kinds of things these teens did.
Not every Palestinian is evil. Not every Palestinian wants to
annihilate us. In fact I truly believe that the vast majority of them are
willing to settle the conflict once and for all and get on with their lives.
Much as they may still hate us and wish we were gone, most Palestinians know
that we aren’t going away.
Recognizing that - they are willing to live in peace with a
Jewish state rather than continue as we are now. We need to recognize that. And
ultimately make peace with them. Although that cannot happen as long as organizations
like Hamas and Hezbollah are around - that should be our ultimate goal.
But if things like this keep happening, there is no hope of
that. Aside from the absolute immorality of it things like that will only
increase the hatred between us to the point of no return.
