Today I heard the horrifying news of a bloody massacre carried out by Palestinian terrorists at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva - the deliberate murder of eight religious seminary students and the wounding of many more.
The attack itself was a major strike at one of Israel's most sacred sites.The yeshiva was founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, and is a major symbol of religious Zionism.
The murderer who crept into this sacred place had an automatic weapon, no doubt one of those given to Fatah by the Americans. He also had a bomb belt that he obviously intended to detonate to increase the carnage, but was fortunately shot down before he could detonate it.
Before he was brought down, he fired off an estimated 500-600 rounds for several minutes at the unarmed students, many of whom fell still clutching the bloodied copies of the Holy books they were studying.
The terrorist had a blue Israeli identity card and is said to have come from an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem.
This is a particularly heinous attack on young men who were guilty of no harm to anyone. As yeshiva students and full time religious scholars, they were even exempt from Israel's military service.
The dead were identified as: Yohai Livshitz, 18, from Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo; Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar; and Neria Cohen, 15, also from the capital, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel, Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Maharta Taruno, 26, from Ashdod. May their innocent blood be avenged in G-d's own time a hundredfold.
Needless to say, there were widespread celebrations throughout the Palestinian areas. Hamas called this `an heroic act'.
Believe it or not, I don't blame the Palestinians in the least.
They simply are who and what they are. If a vicious dog repeatedly attacks the people in a neighborhood, who is to blame? The dog,or the local animal control officers who continue to allow the dog to roam free and thus enable it? And should we really blame the dog for not showing the least bit of remorse when he repeatedly suffers no pain for what has become business as usual, even sport?
No.
I blame the government of Israel.
I blame them for continuing to play with the lives of Israel's people in the name of a so-called 'peace process' that is nothing more than genocide, drop by drop.
And apparently I'm not the only one that feels that way.
Rabbi David Shalem, 43, is the director of the Institute of Talmud Studies inside the yeshiva, where he has spent the last 22 years. Weeping over the deaths of his young students he said, "Tomorrow instead of religious lectures there will be funerals," he said, then shouted: "Let the government go to hell! Write that down. Let the government go to hell!"
I accuse Ehud Olmert,Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak directly of complicity in these deaths, and of failing in the primary mission of any government - to protect its people.
The Palestinians, for the most part, act like wild beasts devoid of what we normally think of as humanity. That's why they've been forcibly kicked out of almost every country in the Middle East. Led by their patron saint and hero Yasir Arafat, they have made an industry and a trade out of murder and a virtue out of destruction, and they will continue to do so until they receive some of the same pain they have given to so many others. And yet, it isn't the Palestinians but the Israeli government that continues to allow this to continue.
That's who truly has innocent blood on their hands this night.
I have to say that I'm baffled at the actions of the Israeli government and I'm seething in anger at the actions of the American government. The actions of both of the American and Israeli governments are unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteI can do nothing about what the Israeli government does, as I'm not an Israeli citizen. I can do my small part to change the actions of the American government. I'm not sure it will make much of a difference but I did not vote for either McCain or Obama in the Presidental primary. I think they are both to much a part of the establishment to do much to change American policy toward Israel. I pray I'm wrong of course, as either McCain or Obama will likely be the next President regardkess if what I have to say about it.
I voted for Huckabee. Being a Baptist minister he is much more likely than any of the other major candidates to understand the stakes. Also, evangelical Christinas face discrimination in American society. As such, they often have been able to "think outside the box" better than other more established people are. Also, while the discrimination directed against Evangelical Christians is no where close to the hatred that is currently being directed against Jews, a Baptist minister like Mr. Huckabee will probably be better able to relate to Israel's position than will an establishment candidate like Obama or McCain ever could.
Of course no one knows what a politician will do until they are elected and get into office. It seems quite common for a politician to say one thing and do another. As such, my analysis that suggests that a pro-Israel American should vote for Huckabee could be completely wrong.
I will continue to pray for the leadership for both America and Israel. Much wisdom is needed here on the part of all of our leaders.
While the actions of the American governemt are appalling and evil, I can at least understand why they are doing what they are doing. The American military is in terrible shape right now. It is almost broken and morale is low on the part of the military and on the part of the American people. In a conventional fight with the Palestinians, other nations such as Russia, China, and many others would take the side of the Palestinians and fight the Americans. America's only chance would be a prayer. In a conventional fight, America does not match up well with its enemies right now. In a nuclear confrontation, Russian forces that have been upgraded in recent years are vastly superior to the American side. As such, the only chance for America to prevail is through a prayer.
Since the battle is the Lord's the fact that our enemies are more powerful than us makes no difference. The walls of Jerico fell. The Israelistes entered the promised land in spite of the presence of giants. I don't mean to sound pessimistic. With God's help we can prevail. Enlisting God's help will begin with recovering our Judeo-Christian heritage that once made us great.
While appeasement on the part of the Americans and Western Europeans is evil, I can at least understand it. When one examines the vast power of the enemy and what it would cost to defeat it, I cn understand why many fall for the siren song of appeasement. Thankfully some of us understand tha appeasement will never work. May these evil people who wish to appease our enemies be removed from power post haste.
In Israel's case this is totally baffling. If Islamic terrorists set up bases in Canada or Mexico and began bombarding America with missles, the American Government would hold the Canadian or Mexican gvoernments fully responsible and the people of those respective countries would be held responsible for the actions of their governemnts. If the American government allowed such a situation to continue, Governemt officials up to and including the President would be removed from office. The American military would have long ago done everthing in its power to make the bombings stop. This is up to and including draining the entire nuclear arsenal. Yet when Israel is bombarded in this manner from Lebanon or from "Palestinian" territories the Israeli govenrnment does nothing.
In order to prevail, we are going to need a return to the Judeo-Christian concepts that made America and Western Civilization great and we will need to jettison the appeasement mind set.