May 18, 2001

"An End to Silence - It's Genocidal Terror"

Two fourteen-year-old Jewish boys in Israel were taken to a cave and stoned to death by Arab terrorists.  Barbaric, ruthless, the behavior of predatory animals and whatever else you can think of. . .it's all true.  The silence of decent people the world over is deafening.  And the stillness of our Jewish voices in the United States is reminiscent of Holocaust times.  These murders go well beyond the political conflict.  They are the direct result of Bashar Asad's call for vengeance against Jews and the virulent anti-Semitism blaring from front pages of Arab print and media news.  The general apathy with which American Jews are treating the terror against us in Israel is egregious.

Many Americans rage at Bob Kerrey's admission to the killing of civilians in Vietnam.  In war, killing is excused, though war itself is inexcusable, and in Vietnam, the murdered civilians were in the midst of a firing zone where crazed and exhausted soldiers killed out of fear and command.  When Arab propagandists compare the murder of these fourteen-year-olds to Israel's response against young stone throwers, their lies are equal to th crime itself.  These boys were not throwing stones at anyone. . .they  were simply two friends walking alone in the desert when apprehended and subjected to a heinous death.  Stone throwers may as well be firing guns.  The rocks are as lethal as bullets, and don't let anyone tell you differently.  The murder of the fourteen-year-olds was more inhumane than gassing in Auschwitz.    

Can you imagine the terror and fright?  The pain and horror the boys must have felt in the last moments of their lives as they were being stoned?  Ay, yes, but in the Holocaust six million were murdered. . .I am afraid the murder of one innocent life is more than my limited emotions can cope with.  If there are five and one-half million Jews in the United States, then each one of us should have been out in the streets shouting "enough."  "The voice of your brother cries out unto you from the ground." 

I hear these youngsters crying.  It's haunting. 
They stand there,
Their cold grey hands extended,
Reaching for my numb heart.
Silently, they implore me,
"Speak," for but one word will 
Break the darkness,
And, in mute silence, I turn away.
The souls of the eyes,
Haunted by the shadows,
Beseech me, but I turn away
For I cannot bear to look
At the brethren I have failed
The children of the night. 

(Shoshana Grossman)

We dare not fail the memory of these children.  These acts warrant universal condemnation, but more important, we must insist that the Government of the United States recognize that the Palestinians are engaged in terror and not war.  Their acts are genocidal and must no longer be tolerated.

Shabbat Shalom