Silverstein on Kuntar
David Lange
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Anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein sees the lesson of the recent terrorists-for-corpses exchanges as “Give them more!”
The lesson Israelis should learn, indeed must learn to avoid the terror attacks and the necessity for having national martyrs like Regev and Goldwasser, is precisely what the Olmert government seems to be learning–but far too late in its tenure. The only solution is a negotiated settlement. Start with Syria: return the Golan and Shebaa Farms. Insist on Syria turning off the spigot to Hezbollah and ceasing its meddling in Lebanese internal affairs. Insist that Syria turn off the arms flow from Iran that travels via Syria into Hezbollah armories.
Ok, so the guy is misguided at the worst, you may be saying. But it get worse. In the comments, he then posits that the IDF’s crimes could be worse than Kuntar’s crime (smashing in the skull of a 4-year-old girl):
In this blog, I have written a great deal about young IDF soldiers & Border Police who commit crimes almost as heinous as the one Kuntar committed. If you consider that the IDF weaponry is far more sophisticated than Kuntar’s then the crimes could even be seen as more heinous. I focussed on Kuntar in this post because he was freed yesterday.
Followed by this response to a commenter who had the gall to say “Most daming [sic] for his people is the fact that in their “civilization ” a murderer of Jews will always be treated as a hero and has never and will never be put on trial.”
Perhaps we could expect Arabs not to treat their own murderers as heroes & to try them in court when Israeli soldiers & police are not allowed to kill Palestinians civilians w. apparent impunity. What should Arabs believe about an Israeli “civilization” in which soldiers kill civilians and are almost never punished?
You have a twisted, racist view of Arab civilization.
There’s also this comment from Silverstein on a blog that tries to mitigate Kuntar’s crime on the basis he was 17 years-old at the time, and had been a child soldier from a broken home before he left to become a “fighter” (hat tip: Soccer Dad).
Brava and I agree. Thank you for your humanity which is always bracing & reassuring. And for pointing out Kuntar’s status as a child soldier at the tail end of the Lebanese civil war. This puts his crime into a diff. context (while not excusing it).
Of course, Silverstein ignores the fact Kuntar has had years to reflect on his actions, and has returned to Lebanon without remorse and determined to kill more Israelis.
True, Silverstein does not go so far as to applaud Kuntar, and does admit he is a murderer. But once again, he cannot unequivocally condemn Kuntar’s barbaric act without putting it “in context” and comparing it to the IDF’s conduct (an odious comparison).
Richard Silverstein, you should be ashamed of yourself.
But are no doubt not.
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David Lange
