September 19, 2003

"Loose Talk Can Cost Lives"

An important member of Prime Minister Sharon’s cabinet announced for all the world to hear that Israel was seriously considering killing Yasir Arafat. This official explained that killing was an option along with exile. The news of Arafat’s death would be a harbinger of peace for the Israelis and the Palestinians. Arafat incites violence, suicide murders and is the grand master terrorist of the world. Removing him from life would be a blessing but let G-d or some Arab do it. Israeli leaders should exercise better judgement. Prime Minister Sharon publicly rejected this "option" but it must never again be suggested.

Arafat was declared irrelevant and the United States government supports that position. And look who has made him relevant again, the very same Likud leaders who so glibly announced the option of killing the Palestinian leader. From heads of state, pundits and politicians everywhere came harsh warnings. It is important to listen to some of the things that were said prior to Sharon’s rejection of the idea.

A distinguished Catholic scholar I know asked why Israelis are so "arrogant and stupid." Jews are rightfully opposing Mel Gibson’s production, "The Passion", a story about the crucifixion of the Christian Messiah. Jews, this Catholic scholar argued, would once again be falsely portrayed as responsible for the killing of Jesus. This accusation, he continued, caused the deaths of millions of Jews and now Israel wants to make the same kind of a martyr out of Arafat. I could not agree more. Killing Arafat is an ill-conceived suggestion and uttering these words publicly is most irresponsible.

Let us just imagine Israel killing Arafat. The streets of Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Bagdad, Cairo, and throughout the Islamic world would rise in rage and hate for Jews. The Security Council would condemn Israel and the world media would quickly remind their readers and listeners that those who killed Arafat have used murder throughout their history as a solution to their problems. Antisemites will crawl out of the woodwork and I leave the rest to your imagination.

"Nuke them—bulldoze them into the sea" and all other outrageous and simply stupid statements are fodder for our enemies. In a world that continues to shrink as a result of the Internet and new technology in telecommunications, every word counts. Wars are no longer won on a battlefield of armor. In the halls of propaganda where today’s victories are achieved, loose talk can cost lives and strengthen the hand of the enemy.

If Arafat is to become seriously irrelevant, his name must disappear from the Israeli and Jewish vocabulary. This tyrant is a megalomaniac and a pathological terrorist. There is nothing he would love more than a Jewish threat to kill him. On television Arafat looked like "warmed over spit" but when the threat to his life was made public, this Egyptian weasel who calls himself the leader of the Palestinian people returned to life.

Jews have been condemned for being vindictive and vengeful. Our Torah was ostracized for its vendetta against Amalek but we have repeatedly proven that we are the most forgiving of all people. The Talmud long ago determined Jews to be "the merciful children of the merciful." Jews today more than ever before thirst for peace and quietude.

Philosophers on the street corners of Flatbush, Teaneck or in any other community of devoted Jews are not going to solve the painful complexities Israel is faced with. Israel will win, but winning means peace and not the killing of our enemies.

Yes, Arafat will never make peace with us and to retain his power, he will continue to agitate and to evoke violent emotions amongst Arabs. New political facts on the ground however will soon completely change the Middle East. Now that the United States has permanently entrenched itself in Iraq, Arab radicals are suffering a terrible setback. The rules are changing and the game will be quite different and Arafat’s schemes will be ignored.

The righteous victims of terror, whose blood is upon the soil of our land form pools of red in the souls of every decent person in this world. The voices of our brothers and sisters cry out from the earth’s innards "put and end to the terror," they shout. My soul reeks with pain and fury. How dare they violate a universal commandment against murder? How dare the scribes of today’s media legitimate these terrorists by calling them militants and how dare loose Jewish tongues exacerbate this painful war with foolish invective and irresponsible rhetoric!

Shabbat Shalom