Thursday, May 31, 2012

Judge A Society By It's Reactions to Evil

I first wrote this earlier in 2012, but in light of a recent August 2012 lynch mob attack by Jewish youth on an Arab in Jerusalem I decided to rework the article:
About 15 or more years ago, I heard the American talk radio host Dennis Prager make the following comment:
"A community should not be judged by the actions of individuals from that community, but rather by the reaction of the community to those individuals".
A few years later, a small group of
Islamic terrorists would hijack and fly planes into the World Trade Center & Pentagon, and the world would finally fully understand just how rabid extreme elements in the Islamic world had become. I did not then and I do not now believe that all followers, or even the vast majority of followers of Islam in anyway support the Islamists, and the reaction of most Muslims was the same as the rest of us: horror and revulsion. However, I also remember that in the Palestinian Territories and Gaza the people danced on
the streets in celebration. Prager got it right,
and those images, (shown on the right) and watched around the world, said more about the Palestinian community than anything they had said or done previously.

A few days ago a group of Israeli youth, some as young as 13, attacked and almost beat to death a young Arab man. After their arrest, the young thugs have shown little or no remorse for their actions. The reaction from Israeli society however has been telling:

Israel's Prime minister Netanyahu said:"This is something that we cannot accept – not as Jews, not as Israelis. This is not our way; this goes against our way, and we condemn it in word and deed. We will quickly bring to justice those responsible for this reprehensible incident,"
he said. "We will be persistent in our complete opposition to racism and violence."

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat condemned the incident: "I fully condemn any form of violence, both physical and verbal, and I'm sure that the police will find the attackers. Barkat urged everyone to "sustain coexistence in the city, work towards appeasement and thwart violence
, along with Jerusalem's silent majority and everyone who seeks coexistence."

Judges, ministers, rabbis, opinion writers, educators have all loudly condemned the attack, and the Israeli 'street' seems in accord with the sentiment.

This reaction to such a depraved attack allows us the opportunity to see if the Palestinian people have moved forward since 9-11. How do they look on what Pres. G.W.Bush would call "evil doers" in their society in 2012? Have they rejected terror in their earnest desire to negotiate peace with Israel and join the family of nations? The Israeli govt. recently released the bodies of a number of Second Intifada Palestinian 'suicide' (or rather homicide!) bombers to the Palestinian Authority in one of a number of recent 'gestures' of good will. I could be wrong, but I am fairly confident based on recent history, that what we'll then see is a glorification of people whose last living act was walked into cafe's, restaurants, schools and hospitals, with bombs tied around their waists. These bombs were packed with nails and other shrapnel, designed to hurt as many people as possible. The terrorists chose their targets carefully, aiming for civilians, often with as many women and children involved as possible. Few if any attacks seemed to be aimed at The Israeli Defense Forces , or evil 'settler' Israeli's, who the Palestinians are today telling us are the real enemy of peace.

The effect of these mass murders on Israeli and Palestinian life is felt to this day: The security wall & check points that the Palestinians have sought so much international sympathy for having to endure, were erected as a defense against these terrorists, and they have been highly effective, ending the wave of bombings and therefore saving many hundreds of lives, but
there is no doubt they have made life harder for Palestinians. Israeli life now includes regularly standing in lines to be checked for bombs when we go to the cinema, shopping mall or even simply coffee shops.

The idea that the Palestinians can make heroes of people who blew up school kids at bus stops, teens & tourists in cafes, & old ladies with their shopping bags is so beyond abhorrent I don't have any clean adjectives to use here! The image above is taken directly from a recent prime time program on Palestinian TV . The terrorist pictured killed 37 Israelis including 13 children!

I know that people everywhere will be horrified by the glorification of these terrorists, but the problem is that beyond Israeli & Jewish press, I doubt anyone is going to hear about it, because it is very likely the international media is going to ignore it, as they have ignored the Palestinians naming streets, parks, squares and recently a football tournament after suicide bombers in the past.

Prager was absolutely correct, you can only judge a community by its reactions to the acts of evil and that is why we have to make certain that when the Palestinians, or anyone else, celebrates mass murderers, we make damn sure the world hears about it! We have to use social media to make sure people understand that the Palestinian Authority not only does not condemn Islamist terrorism, it actively supports it, publicly glorifying the terrorists, teaching their 'heroism' in the classroom, and encouraging a new crop of murderers to take up bomb belts, all the while supporting their pro-terror embryonic state with international aid. We must make as much noise as possible, so that the media cannot ignore what is about to occur. The only way people worldwide can understand the Arab Israeli conflict, is to understand the societal context of this conflict and turning terrorists to into saints is as contextual as it gets!

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