WONDER OF WONDER, CRIMINAL OF CRIMINALS

Wonder of wonder, criminal of criminalsMarch 30, 1995

Hebron, a city of about 80,000 Arabs, some of whom committed murder and were granted amnesty for one reason or another (Piece plans, etc.) harbors one of the most dangerous criminals the State of Israel has ever known.  He is so feared that he has been under house arrest for six months after having been imprisoned for six months.  The crime he was convicted for is so heinous that the court records have never been released to the public.  Not even the criminal was notified of his crime... he was classified as an “administrative detainee.”  And now, once again, this civil deviant is being sought after in order to issue him an additional six month house arrest order, (signed by General Ilan Biran, Commander of the Central Region, and Rabin’s right [excuse me, LEFT] hand man).  For three days the police and army have been staking out his caravan in Hebron’s Tel-Romeda neighborhood.  But, alas, they have yet to find him.  It’s not that he’s left the neighborhood, it’s just that they can’t find him. (It is a HUGE neighborhood - six families, around 30 children, at least one dog, some cats, and an army base.) 

   Tonight, as I was leaving Hebron for Kiryat Arba, our GMC drove into Tel Romeda to pick up some passengers.  As we were leaving, a group of at least 15 policeman started assaulting the area.  One of the people in the transit jumped out in order to warn ‘the criminal’ - the police are coming!  When the police saw him jump out of the vehicle and begin running toward the caravans, they charged forward like soldiers  from a battle brigade.  But it didn’t help.  They still didn’t find him.

    This morning they entered his caravan WHILE HE WAS INSIDE, but they neglected to knock on the door, so he threw them out.  Then he  jumped out the window, and continued to evade them, by driving past the soldiers who had been stationed at the entrance of the neighborhood, to make sure he didn’t escape.  And don’t think he wasn’t nice about it - he waved at them as he left.

    Of course they’ll eventually find him and issue him his next six months of house-arrest order.  Then, every time he wants to go to the dentist he’ll need signed permission from General Biran himself  - (teacher, can I go to the lavatory?)

                It is undeniably true.  Baruch Marzel was once the chairman of the “terrorist organization” Kach, after its first leader, Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdered in NYC by the same Arab terrorists that attempted to blow up the World Trade Center. Kach has now been outlawed, classified internationally as a “terrorist organization” on a par with the Hamas, the IRA, the Islamic Jihad Fundamentalists, and others.   Kach is undoubtedly more menacing than the PLO and Marzel more deadly than Arafat.  So I guess it stands to reason that he should not be allowed to walk free.

   Except for one thing.  Baruch Marzel is one of the nicest people I know.  He is also one of the smartest and the wisest people I know.  He has, over the years, personally, single-handedly, brought thousands of people to visit Hebron.  He is a true gem.  Living with his family in a caravan in Tel Romeda.  And he has managed over the last half a year to do from his caravan in Tel Romeda what people who travel around the world don’ t do.  He manages to do anything he wants.  And he succeeds. 

    You know what really bothers me.  It isn’t so much the bolshevism, expressed in the orders given by the ruling junta, or even the fact that the soldiers and police carry out the “orders” given to them without any qualms.  What bothers me is the obscene stupidity, so blatantly displayed, by all those who are supposed to be bright. 

    There is an interesting piece of Talmudic literature in one of the tractates.  One of the sages, who was clinically dead, but was revived, describes what he saw in the “next world”.  He says, “It was an upside-down world I viewed.  Everyone who was unimportant in this world was important there, and everyone who was important in this world in unimportant there.”   Maybe there are some people who should take a hint.