Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
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Jewish
Terrorists?
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Dear
Gil:
When
I heard on the news that two Jews had
been arrested on charges of plotting
to blow up a mosque, not in the West
Bank or Gaza, but in L.A., I was
appalled.
What
do I tell people about these militant
American Jews? I am really struggling
with this. The argument that it was
only a few is moot. There were only 19
terrorists on the planes Sept. 11.
This situation is a bad reflection on
Jews, and we do not need that now or
ever.
Please
help. How do I explain this?
L
Dear
L:
The
answer is that these Jewish nut cakes
are truly a handful...who are
immediately labeled by Jewish
leadership as disgusting and evil
people. They absolutely and totally do
not represent Judaism.
But
you might say "that's what Arab
and Muslim say about 'their'
terrorists."
The
deeper answer then, is to look at the
societies were these people come from
and ask: How prevalent is the problem?
How does the society respond? What do
they teach their children?
In
the case of Jews, the answer is clear.
First of all, there is no such thing
in Judaism as a holy war. As for
individuals, terrorists are
rare....suicide bombers nonexistent!
Further, the Jewish community reaction
to a rare instance of a Jewish act of
terror is immediate condemnation,
revulsion and disdain.
Take
for example the memorial some fanatics
made to Baruch Goldstein -- the mad
man who murdered 29 Arabs in Israel.
The memorial was so loathsome to
Israelis that the Israeli Knesset
passed a law making memorials like his
illegal. The Israeli army and police
dismantled the memorial with the
support of the Israeli Supreme Court.
This was the official response of the
Israeli government.
The
point being that Jewish fanatics who
target innocent people and promote the
use of violence are broadly condemned
and are considered pariahs by
virtually all Jews.
This
in contrast to near silence on the
part of Muslim clerics the world over
to decades of terrorist acts and
suicide bombings. At best, we
sometimes hear that slaughtering
civilians or suicide is outside of
Islamic thought...but then the acts
are justified for one reason or
another.
For
example, Yasser Arafat's appointed
Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Akrameh
Sabri recently said "These
rulings [fatwas issued by Muslim
religious leaders in Egypt and Saudi
Arabia against suicide attacks] came
as a result of international
pressure...Resistance is legitimate
and those who give up their lives do
not require permission from
anyone."
Far
beyond this, violence is widely
glorified, promoted and taught in the
Arab and Islamic world. I could give
you endless examples. Here are a few
that are beyond belief: Recently in
the West Bank town of Nablus, An Najah
University actually had an
"art" exhibit proudly
portraying the horrific suicide
bombing of the Sbarro Pizza shop in
Jerusalem! The exhibit had tables
covered with blood and body parts
celebrating the murders!
Such
an exhibit is utterly beyond
conception in the Jewish world...yet
it was sponsored by a Palestinian
institution of "higher"
learning!
Or
how about Osama Bin Laden's
spokesperson who was quoted as saying
"thousands of young Muslim
martyrs are looking forward to death
as much as Americans look forward to
life" Can you even fathom such
thinking? No place in Judaism would
you find such a thought. Judaism would
consider this a sinful utterance and a
desecration of God.
Well
documented are many stories of
Palestinian children and parents
teaching and learning with pride about
being suicide bombers!
Sadly,
I could go on and on with examples.
But I'll end with the words of
columnist Norah Vincent who summarizes
my point well:
"Palestinians
(and, post September 11th, much of the
Arab world) hold the rest of the world
to a moral standard they themselves
neither uphold, nor share. They cry
for justice, and yet theirs is a
culture in which justice is utterly
partial ...They want life, and yet
they devalue human life at every turn,
both the enemy's (making no
distinction between civilians and
combatants) and their own (proudly
raising their youngest children to be
suicide bombers) ...Who could forget
the hideous spectacle this past
September of Palestinians celebrating
in the streets upon hearing that
thousands of civilians had been killed
in the World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks? ...It truly boggled the mind
that any people, no matter what their
cause or sufferings, could rejoice
openly and unashamedly in the deaths
of thousands of innocents...And what
we saw on television was, according to
wire reports, only isolated pictures
of what was in some places widespread
jubilation by thousands."
In
contrast, Jews will vocally and
publicly decry violence against
innocent victims...as I do now in
condemning those horrible people who
would attack a mosque! Further, as
Golda Meir once said, and as we teach
our children every Passover, the death
of our enemy is not a cause to
rejoice.
Thank
you for your question. Hope this
answer helps.
Gil
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© Copyright Gil Mann
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