Friday, November 12, 2004
Somewhat missing the point
In a better world, the PLO chief would have met his end on a gallows, hanged for mass murder much as the Nazi chiefs were hanged at Nuremberg. In a better world, the French president would not have paid a visit to the bedside of such a monster. In a better world, George Bush would not have said, on hearing the first reports that Arafat had died, "God bless his soul."
God bless his soul? What a grotesque idea! Bless the soul of the man who brought modern terrorism to the world? Who sent his agents to slaughter athletes at the Olympics, blow airliners out of the sky, bomb schools and pizzerias, machine-gun passengers in airline terminals? Who lied, cheated, and stole without compunction? Who inculcated the vilest culture of Jew-hatred since the Third Reich? Human beings might stoop to bless a creature so evil -- as indeed Arafat was blessed, with money, deference, even a Nobel Prize -- but God, I am quite sure, will damn him for eternity.
...
It would take an encyclopedia to catalog all of the evil Arafat committed. But that is no excuse for not trying to recall at least some of it.
Perhaps his signal contribution to the practice of political terror was the introduction of warfare against children. On one black date in May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children.
Thirty years later, no one speaks of Ma'alot anymore. The dead children have been forgotten. Everyone knows Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the names of his victims?
I think Mr. Jacoby forgets a few key points.
". . . as we forgive those who trespass against us . . ."
Point 1. We are forgiven as we forgive those who trust those against us. That's not optional. That's not something you can do if you're feeling nice. It's something you have to do. You have to let it go. You have to let it go.
"Judge not lest ye be judged"
Point 2. Don't don't don't don't say who's in hell, or you're sure that God will damn someone. That's called a curse. That's not nice either, and more to the point, how the hell do you know? We are called to love those who hate us. Christ, abused, tortured, and crucified, prays for the very people who did it, as he is bleeding to death on the cross. It is the only thing we can do, love those who hate us. Nothing else is civilized. Don't go after Bush for being a good Christian.
God bless his soul? What a grotesque idea! Bless the soul of the man who brought modern terrorism to the world? Who sent his agents to slaughter athletes at the Olympics, blow airliners out of the sky, bomb schools and pizzerias, machine-gun passengers in airline terminals? Who lied, cheated, and stole without compunction? Who inculcated the vilest culture of Jew-hatred since the Third Reich? Human beings might stoop to bless a creature so evil -- as indeed Arafat was blessed, with money, deference, even a Nobel Prize -- but God, I am quite sure, will damn him for eternity.
...
It would take an encyclopedia to catalog all of the evil Arafat committed. But that is no excuse for not trying to recall at least some of it.
Perhaps his signal contribution to the practice of political terror was the introduction of warfare against children. On one black date in May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children.
Thirty years later, no one speaks of Ma'alot anymore. The dead children have been forgotten. Everyone knows Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the names of his victims?
I think Mr. Jacoby forgets a few key points.
". . . as we forgive those who trespass against us . . ."
Point 1. We are forgiven as we forgive those who trust those against us. That's not optional. That's not something you can do if you're feeling nice. It's something you have to do. You have to let it go. You have to let it go.
"Judge not lest ye be judged"
Point 2. Don't don't don't don't say who's in hell, or you're sure that God will damn someone. That's called a curse. That's not nice either, and more to the point, how the hell do you know? We are called to love those who hate us. Christ, abused, tortured, and crucified, prays for the very people who did it, as he is bleeding to death on the cross. It is the only thing we can do, love those who hate us. Nothing else is civilized. Don't go after Bush for being a good Christian.
