No Moral Equivalence
Philadelphia
he death of a child can
never be accepted with
equanimity. When such an
event occurs, there is no
greater tragedy for both the family
and society as a whole. Each life is
precious. Grief over such a loss is
unbearable and immeasurable.
But when we look at recent deaths
in the ongoing war between Israel and
the Palestinians, it would be a. mis-
take, as many in the media have done,
to merely add up the deaths of Arab
and Jewish children who became the
latest casualties and see a moral equiv-
alence between the actions that led to
them.
In so doing, lumping accidents of
war and deliberate homicides together
T
Israel's military
has done
everything in its
power to limit
Arab deaths.
only obfuscates the truth about this
terrible conflict. Even worse, it is
being used to fuel a drive to get the
Bush administration to issue a call for
Israel to make further concessions to
the Arabs.
In one incident last week, two Jew-
ish boys, including one who was an
American citizen, were set upon by
Arabs while they were hiking not far
from their home in the town of
Tekoa. The two were brutally
butchered, and left in caves where
their pitiful corpses were so horribly
mutilated, they were unrecognizable
to their families.
In the other incident, an Arab baby
was killed when an Israeli tank shell
that was fired into her village struck
the child and killed her while the
infant's parents sought to flee he
scene of the fighting.
For some who follow the region's
idiosyncrasies, the Arab child who died
deserves to be mourned as a yet another
martyr" to the Palestinian cause.
"
Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor
of the Teivish Exponent in. Philadelphia.
He can be reached via e-mail at jto-
bin@jewishexponent.com
The story of
the infant's death
seemingly testifies
to what Secre-
tary-General of
the United
Nations Kofi
Annan and U.S.
Secretary of State
Colin Powell
JONATHAN S.
have alleged is
TOBIN
Israel's recent use
Special
of "excessive"
Commentary
force.
Any death,
especially that of a child, is unaccept-
able, but the assumptions that lay
behind this argument, as well as the
charges of "excessive force," are funda-
mentally false. Israel's attacks into
Gaza, such as the one that resulted in
the Arab child's death, is a reaction to
a campaign of terrorism on the part of
the Palestinians. The child's village was
being used as a launching pad for
mortar attacks on Jews in Gaza, as
well as on Israeli towns inside Israel's
pre-1967 borders.
What nation would not try and
eliminate the source of those attacks?
Why then is it "excessive" for Israel to
do so? That such actions bring casual-
ties, including those who are com-
pletely innocent, is awful. But the
responsibility for the death of that
Arab child lies not with Israel, but
with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
and the rest of the Palestinian Author-
ity who seek to make their children
targets for Israeli defensive measures.
Cold-Blooded Murder
On the other hand, the attack on the
two Israeli boys was cold-blooded mur-
der, pure and simple. The assertion of
the P.A. that the presence of Jews in
Tekoa is a provocation to Arabs and that
terror against those Jews, whether young
or old, is to be rationalized if not
applauded, is outrageous.
In fact, far from showing that the
two sides are morally equivalent when
it comes to child casualties, these two
stories make it all the more clear just
how different the two sides are.
Israel's military has done everything
in its power to limit Arab deaths. It
sought to avoid this conflict, with
Israel's previous government even
offering astounding concessions in the
hope of signing a comprehensive
peace agreement. Given the fact that
Arafat responded by launching a war
of attrition via terrorism makes it clear
that his regime is completely uninter-
ested in making peace.
Rather than sniping at Israel, as
Colin Powell has done, the United
States should be doing its part to see
that the murderers of an American cit-
izen are brought to justice. Indeed,
last week's act of terror should remind
us of the State Department's uncon-
scionable policy of offering rewards
for the apprehension of terrorist mur-
derers of all American citizens, except
those killed by Palestinians.
Instead of offering rewards for the
capture of the murderers, our govern-
ment may wind up rewarding them by
issuing a call for Israel to freeze the
building of housing_in the territories.
Such a policy would be a major boost
to Arafat and other sponsors of anti-
Jewish terror. Rather than unfairly
place the onus for making further
demands on Israel, President George
W. Bush should be making it clear
that terrorism will not gain the Pales-
tinians any advantage at all.
❑
What Israel Means To Me...
Eugene Driker
Partner in the Law Firm of Barris, Sott, Denn and Driker
Israel is not simply the historical home of the Jewish
people, but the embodiment of our people's will to
survive and to thrive, no matter what challenges
we've had to face. Israel's rebirth after the Holocaust
is yet another example in our 3000 year history of
the strength of Jews to overcome the most difficult
obstacles in the pursuit of a just society. While
Israel's current problems may at times appear
insolvable, its people are committed to maintaining a
modern, vibrant democracy and to search for peace
in a sea of largely hostile neighbors. No matter what
differences may exist between Israel's leaders and
Diaspora Jewry on any particular issue, my family
and I stand firm in our support of that nation, whose
values are so closely tied to our own.
A■
IN
A1111111•11
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5/18
2001
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