August 2, 2002

"The Cry of Hypocrites"

He refused to abide by past cease-fire agreements. He swore to keep sending suicide bombers to murder in malls and on buses. He concealed bombs in ambulances and brainwashed young girls and boys to surrender their lives. He was justly killed at the hands of an Israeli pilot, but the missile fired at Sheik Salah Shehada unfortunately killed nine Arab children. Shehada, the bloody terrorist, was responsible for the deaths of those nine children. They are among the hundreds, both Jewish and Arab, who have  died because of his passion to kill.

Kofi Anan, the Secretary General at the United Nations, condemned Israel's preemptive attack, as did the European Union and a few foolish Jews.

War is ugly, but the Talmud admonishes, "He who comes to kill you, rise and kill him." (Talmud Sanhedrin 72a) Self-defense on a personal level or a preemptive attack against one who has murdered and swears to murder again is, in all legal and religious systems, an obligation.

President Bush declared, "I want Osama bin Laden dead or alive." Thousands of American, British, Pakistani and Afghani forces began hunting Bin Laden and his cohorts. Who knows how many children perished when America bombed the cities and civilian populations of Kabul, Kanhadar and the encampments in Tora Bora? American forces continue to hunt bin Laden, and they will either take him alive or kill him. There will probably be collateral damage, especially if bin Laden is as ruthless as  Sheik Shehada, a cunning murderer who surrounded himself with children, knowing that Israelis do not intentionally kill children. In this case, Israeli intelligence, believing Shehada was alone, erred.

Kofi Anan and the European Union do not hesitate to call bin Laden a terrorist, but what do they call the leader of Hamas, who swore to send crazed suicidal murderers until they destroyed all of Israel? A "militant." Anan repudiates Israel but says nothing after each killing of Jewish children and adults by Shehadar's emissaries, the Al Aksar Martyrs Brigade, the Tanzim Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the other Arab terrorists.

The State Department declared Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al Aksar Brigade terrorist organizations. But The New York Times, the television networks, and all but one news magazine refer to them as "militants." In essence, they condone the criminal acts of these murderers, while only U.S. News and World Report stands alone in calling these organizations what they are--terrorists.

Yossi Sarid, the Meretz leader, called Israel's preemptive killing of Shehadar, terrorism. Let Sarid advocate negotiations and oppose retaliation, but if he condemns the IDF action against the head and founder of the Hamas terrorist unit, if he fails to see the attack for what it was--an act of self-defense and the moral and legal responsibility of a government to protect its citizens--then he should, quite simply, be ashamed of himself.

War, and for that matter, police action often demand the use of violence. Innocents may get in the way, but this is the tragic result of a world not yet rid of criminality. All governments, including the United States, have had to kill innocent people, including children, as part of their mandate to protect. Think of the deaths at Waco or Ruby Ridge. The United States government justified its actions in both these places as social responsibility.

Israel, too, is justified in its actions. It refuses to tolerate the indiscriminate murder of its people. The Israeli government should ignore the protests of the media and of other governments. The protests epitomize hypocrisy.

Shabbat Shalom