I’ve been having a tough time sleeping these last few weeks. There has been a sudden increase in violence in and around Jerusalem. Palestinians have been killing Israeli civilians in public venues, using cars and other tactics. This violence has been encouraged by the Palestinian leadership and has been egged on by the Arab/ Muslim world. The quoted reason is Israel is threatening the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is quite far fetched.
The recent violence has escalated with two Palestinians entering a synagogue with hatchets and hacking to death four Jewish rabbis. The rabbis were in the midst of prayer. A fifth individual, a Druze police officer who was coming to stop the violence, was also killed. The two terrorists were cousins and part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is one of the groups that feed up into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that is also known as the Palestinian Authority (aka the Palestinian government in the West Bank).
I have seen postings on Facebook from our left leaning friends that trouble me quite a bit. One such individual posted a link to the Palestinian Ambassador for France explaining these acts as being caused by Israel’s oppression in the West Bank and that the Palestinian people are desperate and are under such difficult/ harsh conditions. I’m not an expert on Palestinian life, but I do think if you want peace that you negotiate and show that you can behave peacefully. Praising violence and rewarding these so called martyrs is the antithesis to what a peace oriented leader should do.
I feel only an immoral person would encourage such behavior of killing innocent civilians. I doubt any of us in the western world would bless or encourage our children to behave or think in such a fashion. So, why would the Palestinian Leadership encourage its people/ children to behave in such a fashion? Or worse why are there be people that excuse or praise such horror?
I have hoped for quite sometime that the PA could be different than Hamas, but alas it seems their leaders are wolves in sheep clothing/ suits. The question that needs asking is ‘Are they acting in concert with their society?’ If so, then can a peace oriented leader ever be formed from within the ranks of the Palestinian people, or will we continue to see killers as products of Arab society.
More importantly, these events have convinced me that much of this world (especially our left leaning friends) fail when it comes to critical thought, moral thought and comprehending the obvious. Blaming Israel or ‘The Jews’ for violence against them removes responsibility and accountability of the perpetrators. If you are one of our left leaning friends, I suggest you start retraining your perspective by checking out these few articles from different parts of the world:
- The Telegraph – Blaming Israel for Palestinian Violence
- Rudaw – America’s Relationship Problem
- The Sydney Morning Herald – Jews bear the brunt for naive hatred of Israel
If I were a Palestinian Arab, I would be very upset and disenchanted with the Arab leadership. It’s been over 20 years since Oslo, over 65 years since the formation of Israel and the Arab League has shown no progress. Israel is not leaving, no matter how many times the Arab leaders say push the Jews into the sea. It should also seem obvious that Israel will not accept Arab refugees returning to its land. So the Arab leaders should make peace based on realities, not the blue sky dreams they have been preaching. Of which, I feel peace should include the surrounding Arab countries granting citizenship to refugees that reside within their borders. These countries are part of the historic situation and should be part of the solution.
A timely and excellent speech by Ron Prosor, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, that was delivered on 24-NOV-2014. You can listen or read it from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website at:
– On the Question of Palestine