The Real Terrorists

The Real Terrorists

August 7, 2005

What do you expect would happen if you gave a child a loaded weapon? Almost undoubtedly, at some point, the child would pull the trigger and the gun would discharge. Anyone standing in front of the barrel would likely be hit.

Many years ago I read Sharon's autobiography, which so describes the death of his first son, Gur. I haven't looked at the book in many years, and have little inclination to seek it out. However, to the best of my recollection, the way Sharon tells it, a friend have little Gur, (about 11 years old), an old rusty gun to play with. Little did he know that the weapon contained a live bullet. I don't remember if Gur pulled the trigger, or if a friend of his did so, but the result was that Gur was fatally wounded, and died almost immediately. The incident was labeled 'an accident.'

But it's clear enough. If you put a gun in the hands of someone not responsible for his actions, such as a child, tragedy is imminent. And those responsible, whether their act was intentional or unintentional, are the people who allowed the weapon to reach the little fingers of the little boy or girl. The child cannot be held responsible for 'killing,' rather the parents or anyone else who didn't take the necessary safety precautions.

A few months ago a 19-year old named Eden Natan-Zada was drafted into the Israeli army, as are most young Israel men. Natan-Zada underwent the usual proceedings, which includes a personal interview. For some reason, the interviewer saw fit to send him to an additional interview, this time with an army psychologist. That person, following the interview, recommended that Eden Natan-Zada receive a psychological profile of 45, which would forbid him from carrying a weapon, and that his military service be closely accompanied by an army psychologist.

These recommendations were ignored. Natan-Zada began a regular army basic training course, which, after a short period of time, he deserted. According to his parents, they informed military police where their son was, warned them, and pleaded with them, to find him and take his rifle from him. These pleas went unheard. The result was Eden Natan-Zada's attack and murder of four Arabs last Thursday.

Now, I ask you – who was responsible for Eden Natan-Zada's attack? This young man, mentally unstable, who was 'marked' by military psychologists, should never have handled a weapon. An automatic rifle should never have been placed in his hands. The only real difference between Eden Natan-Zada and Gur Sharon was their age. The result of Gur Sharon's loaded gun, was his own death. The result of Natan-Zada's loaded gun was his own death, together with four other people. Clearly, neither one of them should have had a gun, and clearly, both of them should still be alive today. Clearly, the criminal negligence of others led to the tragic results in both cases.

However, too many others, led by Israeli cabinet ministers and the Israeli media, fail to understand simple facts of life. Israeli radio, television and newspapers are full of vicious accounts of the 'Jewish terrorist.' Eden Natan-Zada has been labeled a 'mechabel' – a terrorist, in the same category as the worst of Jew murderers from Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and others. What hypocracy!

Such an act clearly cannot be condoned. Shooting people is not a solution to the problems faced by Israeli society, whether they be the conflicts between Israelis and Israelis, or the conflict between Jews and Arabs, between Israel and the Arabs. In fact, despite the fact that thousands of Israelis are legally armed, (including most residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza), the number of Jews who have taken the law into their own hands is miniscule. And this, despite the thousands of Jews attacked, wounded, maimed and murdered by Arabs, year after year. However, random killing of innocent people is wrong and perpetrators must be apprehended, tried and punished. Of course, preferably such attacks should not occur in the first place.

But to compare a clearly mentally unstable 19-year old with bloodthirsty terrorists, to label him a mechabel, is outrageous. Israeli hysteria reached such proportions that: Defense Minister Mufaz forbad Natan-Zada's burial in a military cemetery, Central Command General Yair Naveh forbade his burial anywhere in Judea and Samaria, and the Rishon l'Tzion mayor, (where he had lived and where his family lives), forbad his burial in that city. The funeral should have taken place on Friday, but the family had no where to bury their son (who too, was murdered by crazed, rioting Arabs.) The father, interviewed on Israeli radio, was told on Friday afternoon, at the morgue, that 'the body belongs to the state' and that 'he should leave before the police arrest him.'

Only this morning was an agreement reached, allowing the family to bury their son, sometime today, in Rishon l'Tzion.

Clearly, Israeli politicians are standing on their heads in order to appease the Arabs living in Israel. They are petrified that, due to the murder of four Arabs by an Israeli, the entire Arab population will rise up and revolt. This, in and of itself, isn't so bad. The problem is that it could delay the planned expulsion/abandonment of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Sharon wants to avoid that at all costs. According to media accounts, Sharon himself called the families of the murder victims to personally console them. I wonder - when was the last time Sharon called Jewish family members of murdered Arab terror victims?

The other aspect, which was all but ignored until this morning, is the fact that Eden Natan-Zada was murdered after being apprehended and neutralized by Israeli police. Can you image the headlines in the Israeli daily press if… ARAB MURDERED BY JEWISH EXTREMISTS FOLLOWING TERROR ATTACK.  The Jewish victims would have been quickly forgotten – all that would be spoken and written about would center on the brutal, lawless, lynch of an Arab. FIND THE MURDERERS, INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEES, ADMINISTRATION DETENTION, EXTREMISTS, EXTREMISTS, EXTREMISTS.  That's all we would have heard, were the case reversed. This morning the media is starting, slowly, to relate to the issue. During one radio interview it was stressed that the police would begin an 'investigation' because 'police were attacked, hit by rocks and had gasoline poured on them.' They forgot to mention that the attacker himself was murdered – that the police were 'unable' to prevent his killing.

There are those who are traveling back in a time tunnel to the days of Yoram Skolnick, who shot and killed a captured terrorist who had planned on killing children in a Hebron Hills regional school. Skolnick spent many years in jail. But we need not go back so far.  What about the supposed 'lynch' of an Arab a few weeks ago, in Gush Katif. Shimshon Cytrin is being accused of attempted murder, etc. etc. when it crystal clear that just about everything attributed to him did not happen.

This is the classic Israeli double standard. Kick yourself as hard as you can, even though you don’t deserve it, and 'make nice' to the enemy, appease him, and maybe he'll leave you alone. Or at least, he won't take revenge. As if they need any excuses.

These events – Natan-Zada, Gush Katif and the Northern Shomron, Cytrin, and other such atrocities are all symptoms of the sickness which has invaded our collective body, and is eating at us from inside. Eden Natan-Zada was not a terrorist – he was a victim of real terror – terror initiated by Ariel Sharon and his cronies. They are responsible for the last week's attack – they are the essence of the cancer destroying the State of Israel. They are the real terrorists.