Posted on 04/12/2002 9:54:05 PM PDT by Jean S
Since President Bush now has two sets of standards for which victims of terror can be avenged, I have a question for him:
What’s the difference between American victims of terrorism and Israeli ones?
Despite a cornucopia of well-fertilized lines from U.S. officials, it’s time to be intellectually honest. There is only one difference: The second group is Jewish.
That’s the only reason the U.S. can get away with scolding Israel for attempting to nip terrorism in the bud, while go full-speed ahead in Afghanistan.
Sure, Ari Fleischer and the rest of the White House spinsters can cast this situation through various phony prisms to make their limp case for this ludicrous double-standard regarding the response to mass-murder. They can say—as they do—well, Arafat won a (undeserved) Nobel Peace Prize, so we should deal with him. They can pontificate on how Arafat took part in (phony) peace negotiations in the past. They can come up with a million and one excuses and distinctions without a difference.
But despite self-flagellating U.S. diplomatic statements to the contrary, Israel is dealing with the same enemy as we are—the same enemy that utilizes the same unjustifiable, unacceptable, unconscionable tactics.
The Bush Administration claims it’s a different enemy—that Bin Laden is different from Bin Arafat or Bin Hamas or Bin Hezbollah. But they represent multiple heads of the same incubus—an anti-Western, Saudi- and Saddam-funded, Islamist incubus. If FOX News’ recent reports--that over 30 Al-Quaida fighters were on the ground assisting Palestinian militants and suicide bombers—aren’t enough evidence of that, how about Al-Quaida files purchased, vetted, and excerpted by the Wall Street Journal back in January?
A frightening summary of the files, obtained on the market in Kabul, published in the Journal, and posted on MSNBC.com, details the activities of the “Shoe Bomber,” Richard Reid--referred to by his alias, “brother Abdul Ra’uff.” Before trying to blow up a US-bound December flight from Paris with his high-tops, Reid went to Israel to try to do the same on an El-Al flight. About a month before 9/11, Reid a/k/a Ra’uff was casing out suicide bombing opportunities for Bin Laden’s Al-Quaida in Israel. It’s more than enough evidence that the identical group that blew up the WTC towers was looking for sites to blow up in Israel—and is likely heavily involved there now, beyond the 30-odd Bin Laden fighters.
In the files, Ra’uff reported to Al-Quaida superiors on the prospects for blowing up the holiest of Jewish religious sites, the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. He wrote that it would be an incredible moral victory for Al-Quaida Muslims. Just as blowing up the WTC was. He also reported on Israeli bus stations, noting which colors of buses carried the most Jews and would be the best bombing targets.
Same terrorist group, same types of targets. The only difference is the religion and ethnicity of most of the victims. As for Arafat, not only is he working in unison with the Al-Quaida crowd, but there’s ample intelligence he took part in the 1993 WTC bombings, and the 2001 version on 9/11. Senator Charles Grassley--later chided for disclosing information in Secretary Rumsfeld’s intelligence briefing to Congress--told the press that the briefing yielded solid intelligence that Arafat’s Fatah played a role in the WTC/Pentagon terror. And lest we forget, Arafat’s minions certainly cheered it on video, for every Al-Jazeera viewer to join along with at home.
There is no difference between Arafat’s actions and Al-Quaida’s; between Arafat’s victims and Al-Quaida’s. And there should be no difference in the response thereto.
But the double-standard against a proper response by Israel is allowed to proceed because anti-Semitism is more prevalent today than it has been since the era of the Third Reich. Sadly, Arafat’s Islamic World supporters are not the only active fomenters of the same venom spewed by the Nazis. The so-called “peacemakers,” the allies of the U.S. in Europe and elsewhere are showing signs of their revolting behavior that gave rise to Hitler.
Opinionjournal.com excerpted the Norwegian newspaper, “Dagbladet,” which reported that a friend of Norwegian Parliament member Jan Simonsen, was ordered yesterday by Parliament security guards to remove his jacket because a Star of David was displayed on the chest pocket. After the man, Ingmar Tveitt, talked in the Parliament restaurant with Parliament members he was sought out by security guards who asked him to come with them 'because they had received reactions' to Tveitt's Jewish star symbol. The guards escorted him to change his “offensive” clothing.
In France, Molotov cocktails and arsonists hit synagogues in Kremlin-Bicetre and Marseilles and flammable material is found in the Strasbourg-Cronenbourg Jewish cemetery. The Maccabi Bondy French-Jewish soccer team is attacked, as is a Paris school bus of Jewish kids. None of these victims are Israeli, and they aren’t in allegedly occupied territory, but they are attacked anyway. Because they are all Jewish. Even in Michigan--where Arabs and Muslims have their third highest population concentration outside the Middle East and claim they’ve fallen victim to post-9/11 harassment--only 4 anti-Muslim/anti-Arab crimes were reported in 2001, but 19 anti-Semitic ones, according to The Detroit News.
But these attacks on Jews, and a President unwittingly pawning off terrorism in the Middle East as a Jewish problem that’s acceptable--unworthy of a swift, harsh, military response--misses the point.
The latest Time Magazine, like President Bush, doesn’t get it, either. The April 8th issue features a story instilling fear in the reader that if we don’t remain “even-handed” against Israel, we’ll feel the Islamists’ wrath here in the U.S. The headline: “Could Suicide Bombings Happen Here?”
What was September 11th . . . a garden party? Suicide bombings are already here. And, whether it’s here or in the Middle East, it’s not acceptable against Americans or Jews.
I believe that America must act in It's own best interest, however, asking another country, which has for all intents and purposes, been in a state of war since it's inception over 50 years ago, to act against it's own best interest (i.e. suicide) is immoral. The simple fact is that Israel has tried numerous times over the years to live in peace with it's Arab neighbors. None of these Arab countries has wanted anything to do with the palestinians, since they forment trouble where ever they go. They've been expelled from Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Remember that they also sided with Iraq when Kuait was invaded. In fact, the Arab countries have purposely used the palestinians as "cannon fodder," forcing them into refugee camps within their own countries, refusing to allow them to "mingle" with others of their own kind, and always blaming it on the Jews. Yes, I did say Jews, not Israelis, not Zionists: The purpose of the Islamic militants is the death and explusion of every Jew, first in the middle east, then in every country of the world.
Debbie is right!
Mark
So the leader of a country, using military power to protect the safety of his citizens is being "selfish?" So killing Jews is good for the global economy? Keep talking...
Mark
And Arafat is a peacenick???
But hey, why scream about the plank in Arafats eye when you can scream about the sliver in Sharon's eye, right?
The simple fact that everyone needs to know to decide who's wrong in all this is: All the Israelis want to do is be left alone to live their lives and all the Palestinian leadership wants to do is kill other people.
If the attacks on Israel ceased for a year and Sharon was still sending in the military you would have a point. But since that's not the case, you don't. Face it, you are on the side of evil in this. It's really that simple.
Ah, I see. Pardon me for having tried to reason with you. You can go back to reading Mein Kampf now, I won't bother you anymore.
Hey, I'm not going to tell YOU! Judging by your posts, you'd probably tell the Saudis and spoil the surprise...
Click here: Islamic_Violence
Be sure and read this:
Muslim cleric calls for death of Arafat Says Israel should continue offensive until he's executed
and this:
Fouad Ajami: Don't Let Arafat Distract Us
and this:
The war that Arafat called forth (FOUAD AJAMI)
And on the oil Embargo:
You've got that backwards. Israel isn't asking us
to submit to terrorism within our boundaries.
America didn't elect Bush to support Israel
That's a silly statement, and you know it. Presidents
aren't elected on more than a handful of issues.
America can live perfectly fine without
Israel but absolutely can't live without
oil
Oil won't always be here. We need to increase
our nuclear generation capacity. In the meantime,
we aren't nearly as dependent as you imply on
Middle East oil. Israel is an ally, and you don't
abandon allies to their enemies without a fight.
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