Posted on 04/01/2002 4:09:55 AM PST by SJackson
Life is full of choices. Choices both micro and macro. We all make personal choices every day. Some choices are inconsequential -- we choose to order chicken over fish in a restaurant, we choose to wear a blue sweater as opposed to a green sweater when we get dressed. Other choices are eminently more significant -- we choose to go to school or cut class, we choose to pay for an item in a store or to shoplift, we choose to brake for a pedestrian or run him over.
The act of choosing, by definition, requires that we must decide one thing over another. Usually we can't have it both ways, although there are exceptions. In a restaurant, a person might order fish while his dinning companion orders chicken -- that way they can share and enjoy both foods, thus avoiding having to choose one over the other.
Most often, however, when confronted with possible options, one must make a choice. We can't go to school and not go to school at the same time -- we can't pay for an item and shoplift that same item -- it's one or the other. We make a choice -- hopefully it's an intelligent one. There are a multitude of ways to do good and there are just as many ways to do bad. It's all a matter of choice.
On Wednesday evening, some Palestinians made a choice to send a suicide bomber into the Park Hotel in Netanya, a coastal town in Israel, where a Passover Seder was taking place. 20 people attending the holiday celebration were killed. Another 120 were wounded. Evil people made a conscious choice to kill innocent civilians -- yet again.
President Bush responded to Wednesday's slaughter with the following statement: "I call upon Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to do everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing." Sorry, Mr. President, not strong enough.
To illustrate just how weak that statement is, what if President Bush had addressed the world following the September 11 attack on the U.S. with basically the same words: "I call upon Mr. bin Laden and the Taliban to do everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing."
A quote worthy of Neville Chamberlain. How much fear do you think that would have instilled in our enemies? How much confidence would Americans have had in their president? How about zero. Our country needs to make a clear choice, once and for all, to boldly and loudly support Israel over the Arab terrorists in the Middle East. Not just for Israel's sake, but for ours. It's well past time that we stop pandering to the very people who wish to see us dead -- right along side the Israelis. We need to fight not only the terrorists who attack us, we must fight the terrorists who attack our friends. And the closer you look, the more obvious it becomes that these terrorists are one and the same -- Islamic fundamentalists and secular Arab militants who want to destroy Western civilization.
It's no secret that the Palestinian Authority has been supporting suicide bombers and teaching anti-Jewish hate for years. It's no secret that Iran and Iraq are in cahoots with these Palestinian terrorists. And it's no secret that Saudi Arabian money has been funding terror worldwide. Fundamentalist Islamic Arabs, whether they are called Saudis or Palestinians or anything else, will never be satisfied until every Jew in the Middle East (and maybe the world) is dead. When they talk about "occupied territories" they mean all the land that constitutes Israel!
Yes, we Americans are dependent on Arab oil, and maybe that was once reason enough to pretend that those people were our "friends." But times have changed and we, like Israel, are now engaged in a war for our very existence. We need to make the choice to end our reliance on Arab countries right now. We need to choose serious energy conservation, as well as drilling for oil in Alaska, while continuing to explore new ways to meet our energy needs in the future. But one thing's for sure -- we've got to make the choice to stop supporting Arab regimes that support, sponsor and cultivate terrorism.
Passover is one of Judaism's most important holidays. The massacre that occurred should have ignited an explosion of anger and disgust from every civilized country on earth. You can well imagine the outcry if America or Israel had perpetrated a similar act on Islamics during Ramadan. Of course, it wouldn't happen because neither America nor Israel target innocent civilians at any time, let alone on a religious holiday. We choose not to engage in terrorism.
Choices are not always easy. Sometimes is it difficult to know which path is the right path to travel down. But sometimes the choice is a no-brainer. Choosing to support Israel, our true friend and the only democratic government in the Middle East, should be an easy choice. The only option is supporting terrorism.
JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman.
'course, the terrorists who attack our enemies are waaaay down on our list of "Things to Eradicate"...
Ouch. Terrorists don't attack our enemies!
Just as revealing was the reaction from the European media. In the American press, you read things like: "An observer to the bomb-blast scene described a dead young girl, perhaps 10 or 12, lying on the ground with her eyes open, looking as if she was surprised." For Europe, on the other hand, the main significance of this development was that it was "unhelpful" to the "peace process". Before I'm accused of being more upset about dead Jewish than dead Muslim kids, let me say that I take people at their own estimation: in the Palestinian Authority schools, they teach their children about the glories of martyrdom; indeed, the careers guidance counsellor appears to have little information on alternative employment prospects; at social events, the moppets are dressed up as junior jihadi, with toy detonators and play bombs. It's not that I place less value on Palestinian lives, but that Chairman Arafat and his chums in Hamas do. So does Saddam Hussein, whose government (the subject of an admiring article in this week's Spectator) gives $25,000 to the family of each Palestinian suicide bomber. So does the Arab League, which at last year's summit passed a resolution hailing the "spirit of sacrifice" of the Palestinian "martyrs" and thus licensed Wednesday's massacre. As for the "peace process", those Europeans who, just a few months ago, were urging the Americans to cease operations for Ramadan evidently feel no compunction to demand from Chairman Arafat and his dark subsidiaries any similar "bombing pause" for Passover.
In the days after September 11, we were told that Muslims had great respect for their fellow "people of the book" - ie, Jews and Christians. This ought to be so: after all, the dramatis personae of the Koran include Abraham, Moses, David, John the Baptist, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It's one thing to believe that the Israelis are occupiers and oppressors and that the Zionist state should not exist. But no Muslim with any understanding of his shared heritage could in good conscience blow up a Passover Seder. It marks a new low in the Palestinians' descent into nihilism - though, as usual, the silence of the imams is deafening. As for the nonchalance of the Europeans, that too should not surprise us: in my experience, the Continent's Christians, practising and nominal, find the ceremonies of Jewish life faintly creepy, notwithstanding that these were also the rituals by which their own Saviour lived.
But this year, when the Christians' solar calendar and the Jews' lunar calendar have coincided and Easter and Passover fall together, it's a safe bet that George W Bush will make the connection. The first time I ever heard him speak, he spoke openly about his faith and about Christ in a way that would be unimaginable for a British politician. He will know all the details - "the baby tried to crawl away, but it died, too".......................
Before I'm accused of being more upset about dead Jewish than dead Muslim kids, let me say that I take people at their own estimation: in the Palestinian Authority schools, they teach their children about the glories of martyrdom; indeed, the careers guidance counsellor appears to have little information on alternative employment prospects; at social events, the moppets are dressed up as junior jihadi, with toy detonators and play bombs.
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