« I Miss the Blacklist | Main | Target: England »
April 23, 2007
Feeding the Beast
The Prisoners’ Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council presented 10 suggestions for action “and the most prominent was the call for further kidnappings of Zionist soldiers as a solution to end the prisoners’ suffering,” according to a report by Hamas's Al-Aqsa Television.
The Hamas statements indicate that they see the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held hostage, as effective policy, since Israel has already offered to release Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails. However, due to Israel's insistence on releasing only a limited number of terrorists in exchange for the single soldier, Hamas believes that kidnapping more Israeli soldiers is necessary to release the thousands of imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. As Sa’id Siam, former interior minister, explained: “There were suggestions to repeat the kidnapping operations of other Israeli soldiers… the capture of the [single] soldier will not be [enough] cause for the release of over 10,000 prisoners.”
Click here to read the entire story and view the video.
Yesterday, Seraphic Secret pointed out a simple rule of psychology that applies to warfare: that which is rewarded is repeated.
The Arabs have, time and again, kidnapped Israeli soldiers (not to mention journalists and other civilains) and been rewarded for these crimes against humanity through prisoner exchanges.
These exchanges are profoundly dangerous; they make Israeli society less safe, and strengthen the hand of terrorists everywhere.
The Israeli government claims that the Arab prisoners who are exchanged for Israeli soldiers have "no blood on their hands."
This is patently false; a terrorist who provides logistical and financial support also has blood on his or her hands as an accesory. Making such fine distinctions will only serve to buttress the nihilistic reasoning of terrorists and their enablers in the west.
But more to the point, prisoner exchanges only serve to make targets of every single Israeli soldier and every Israeli civilian. Never forget that Israel is the canary in the coal mine as far as terrorism is concerned. The violence that begins and is tested in Israel, eventually spreads to the rest of the globe. The modern age of terrorism began with airline hijackings by so-called Palestinians. These terrorists were treated with kid gloves, they were celebrated instead of being killed. Of course, the consequences were blindingly obvious: soon, every thug with a petty grievance was hijacking planes and being labeled a "revolutionary" by the chattering classes.
We have been in the grip of Arab terrorists ever since.
Several airlines made under-the-table deals with Yasser Arafat, paying him hundreds of millions of dollars not to hijack their planes. The airlines should have fought back, like Israel's El Al Airlines, and increased security, creating corporate cultures that refuse to surrender to global terrorism. For in the end, the airlines have made us less safe with their foolish and short-sighted policies of cooperation and appeasement.
Homicide bombers first made an appearance on the streets of Jerusalem, and of course the apologists for jihad rushed to defend the indefensible. Now, homicide bombers are doing their bloody work in Iraq, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco. Terrorism is a virus, and once used and excused against Jews, well, you can be sure that justifications will be found to use the most vile forms of violence against the most innocent of people—with the most elegant of arguments.
These prisoner exchanges teach the terrorists that only through hideous violence will they achieve the incremental goals they openly preach: the eradication of the Jewish State.
Past prisoner exchanges ensure future kidnappings and worlds of misery for innocent families.
There is no absolute solution to terrorism and kidnappings. Violence will always be with us. History is quite clear on this matter. Our job is stand against evil and never let the terrorists be viewed as anything but a foul blight on humanity.
Finally, Israel must resist the impulse to take the easy way out and enter into a Faustian pact with the terrorists who run the so-called Palestinian territories, in truth, a corrupt, crime-ridden Soprano-like thugogracy.
A wise state should know enough not to feed the beast.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at April 23, 2007 12:55 PM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.