On June 12, three Israeli teenagers hitch-hiking in Judea and Samaria were kidnapped by terrorists. One of the lads placed an emergency call through to the police. It was probably the last thing any of them did before they were murdered. The bodies of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Sha’ar and Naftali Fraenkel were found in a shallow grave covered by rocks 18 days later.
It could be that their killers meant to murder them immediately or they may have been potential kidnap victims, intended for an Operation Gilad Shalit mark II. Right now I feel sorry both for Gilad Shalit and for the parents of those people who have died and will die because of this senseless, inhuman betrayal.
One thing is for sure, however, and that is that Israel will be taken onto a new path as a result of this latest crime against the youth of the State. The police have been discredited, and even though the result would not have differed had they had immediately taken actio,n their job will now be made much more difficult to carry out, and the danger to them in investigating future alleged disappearances greater than ever.
Nor has the Western Press disappointed. Adjectives such us retribution, retaliation and revenge are what are usually applied to Israeli actions. The world has become too accustomed to Jewish subservience in the face of persecution and we are too few in number to be more than marginally, politically relevant. We have turned the other cheek for most of the last couple of millennia and are now demonized because the Jew dares to fight back. Of course a measured, ‘proportionate’ response is what is now needed. But ‘proportionality’ is always the adjective of failure used by Israel’s critics to describe any armed reaction to disproportionate Arab or Muslim actions. And here is the problem.
We act as if history is not a teacher by whom we should all be guided. We have lost the propaganda war. The world is bored already by nearly 200,000 deaths in Syria over three years of civil war. But the violence that plagues Iraq and elsewhere throughout a world populated by Muslim extremists is not unusual nor is it new.
That conquering zeal has often been gory because intermittently there have arisen Muslim theological psychopaths, and they demanded renewal. Their reinterpretation of Islam was inevitably characterized by a “return” to strict observance of the Koran and the Hadith (the alleged sayings of the Prophet) which then encouraged the sick mind, for whom there exists no concept of proportionality. They therefore have never had a need to show restraint in their commission of one atrocity after another. Until that is, they were stopped. No one is stopping them now. The world does not care what happens in Syria nor does it care about Sudan, Somalia, Egypt or Nigeria; but it never forgets to lecture us on how to behave or to demand that we tread carefully for their sake (and not ours). And I can understand this too.
The Western world defines a refugee as anyone who can make it to our Western shores without a passport, or it may as well define them as such because few asylum seekers are returned to their home country. And it is profitable. Western demographics are in crisis. Citizens of the developed world no longer reproduce at a rate that covers their level of mortality so we need cheap imported labor to maintain the efficient running of the state. The upward mobility of immigrants means that the demographic crisis is ongoing and exacerbated by a clash of civilizations within nations. Immigrants become voters who must be feared for their voting power. So if Israel is blamed for unrest within the Western World’s mushrooming Muslim population, it follows that the State of Israel will also be instructed on how it should behave when confronted with treason and insurrection inside of its own borders.
The differing reactions both in Israel and elsewhere were also, to be expected. Israel is a tiny country and any tragedy affects everyone. The entire country may not have been in a state of shock, concern, mourning and despair, but collectively, most of us were in such a state. A time of crisis is the time that normal nations experience national unity and such was the feeling of solidarity that wrapped its comforting arms around Israel. There were calls to topple the Palestinian authority. Especially when Palestinian men, women and children were photographed handing out sweets to celebrate the kidnapping. And lots of selfies were taken showing a three fingered version of the Quenelle. Palestinian editorial cartoons were wholly supportive of the kidnapping. It took four days for the European Union to condemn the kidnapping and reports surfaced of a conspiracy by the boys themselves to hide and provoke trouble. Prominent British antisemites, some of them mainstream politicians and clergymen, pronounced the kidnapping to be a Zionist conspiracy.
In Israel, a fringe of mindless and hateful people did respond with calls to violence, but most Jewish Israelis would be not simply appalled by such behavior but also, openly disgusted. Israel must cut out this plague of incitement from our side. The State is what defines us and the rule of law is what sanctifies us or damns us all. Anything else is the road to compartmentalization (tribalism) and civil war.
Following the discovery of another kidnapping-murder, this time of Arab youth Muhammad Abu Khdeir, the bereaved family of Eyal Fraenkel issued a statement: “There is no difference between blood and blood. Murder is murder, whatever the nationality and age. There is no justification, no forgiveness and no atonement for any kind of murder.”
The contrast between us and the Arab World could not be greater.
In the extended version of the call the Israeli teens made to the police, gunshots are heard followed by the murderers joyful boasting and singing in celebration at their success at “bagging three”. While the international press prominently displayed the denials of guilt expressed by Hamas they conveniently ignored any mention that Hamas has, since the release of Gilad Shalit on 18th October 2011, constantly incited its supporters to carry out further abductions. Hamas cheered the kidnapping. The depravity displayed in this celebration of bestiality, celebrating the ‘others’ pain, was a reminder to all in Israel that its war is an existential one against the forces of darkness. The Koran explicitly cheers the killing of Jews and the doctrine of abrogation is used by its apologists in the West to explain the inexcusable. If we choose to complain, the good Muslim may take any passage in the Koran and point to one that contradicts it. And the Islamic Fundamentalist can do nothing wrong. Palestinian society is morally bankrupt. There are few Arabs with the courage to stand up to the theological psychopath or secular exploiter of this religion of conquest and hate. The recent example of Palestinian Professor Mohammed Dajani (Al Quds University) who faced abuse, intimidation and death threats after he took 27 students to Auschwitz (and was forced to resign because of it) underlines the distance separating us from the bigoted Islamic nation.
Senior Palestinian Authority official Abbas Zaki on March 14, 2014 said: “Allah is gathering the Jews (to Israel) so we can kill them.” Incitement is always rewarded.
The mother of one of the two Hamas operatives Israel has named as suspects in the murder of the Israeli boys stated that “my boys are all righteous, pious and pure. The goal of my children is the triumph of Islam.” She further stated that if as adults any of her seven children wanted to die for Islam she would be proud and overjoyed. Here is another part of the problem. If your definition of “righteous, pious and pure” is to murder babies, children or even adults then by definition the religion that preaches this theology of death is not a religion of peace but a religion of violence and immorality.
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States “Michael B. Oren” said: “One of the sources of Israel’s moral strength has been our refusal to resemble our enemies in their obsession with revenge and blood. I categorically condemn all acts of violence and racism which dishonor the memory of our three precious boys”.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-16)
It seems to me that between the quotes of Palestinian mothers, Hamas officials and senior members of the Palestinian authority, the extract above from the Christian Bible is all we need to know about the Arab world and its addiction to a religion that cleaves to principles defined by exclusion, apartheid and death.
Its acolytes in the developed world have much to shame them.
