Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Gaza: Moderately righteous kills

by Ami Isseroff

19.12. 2007

Yesterday was a good day for the IDF, and for Israel's most decorated soldier (AKA Oslo traitor in some quarters) moderate* Defense Minister Ehud Barak of the moderate Israeli government. About 11 immoderate Palestinian Islamic Jihad war criminal terrorist scum were granted their wish, and are no doubt enjoying their reward of martyrdom. In this I have to agree with Bradley Burston - good riddance to bad rubbish.

The killings will surely evoke a great deal of hypocrisy. First off the mark was moderate Palestinian Authority spokesman, the moderate Palestinian Nabil Abu Rodeineh. He came out moderately in defense of the Islamic Jihad:

... Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rdainah condemned the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which killed 11 Palestinians Monday night and Tuesday, calling them a "terrible crime."

On Tuesday, nine Qassam rockets and twelve mortar shells were fired on Israel, but the moderate Abu Rudeineh didn't even issue a moderate condemnation. The strikes against Islamic Jihad work in favor of the moderate Palestinian government of the moderate West Bank Palestinians, and they must all be quietly and immoderately cheering whenever Israel eliminates one of their enemies. Thus, it may be justified to conclude that moderate Abu Rdainah is immoderately full of crap.

Sorry Rabbi Michael Lerner and the Tikkunistas, I don't feel any compassion for them. They wanted martyrdom, so they got it. If you are religious, the prayers to say over such people are "Baruch shepitranu,"(thank the Lord for eliminating this menace) and "Shehechiyanu." (thank the Lord for keeping us alive to see this day) Their reading of the Qur'an says "Kill the Jews wherever you find them." (It doesn't say that in the Qur'an, but that's how the radicals distort it). So my reading of secular humanism is "Kill the Islamic Jihad wherever you find them."

Sorry, moderate Palestinian Committee on Human Rights, I can't join in your protest of "extrajudicial killings." If you you do not like extrajudicial killings, then apprehend your own criminals. When Qassam rockets kill children in Sderot, PCHR does not protest extra-judicial killings. Presumably, the moderate PCHR believes that before they wounded the three year old child in the Western Negev kibbutz Zikkim, the wise ulema of the Islamic Jihad held a trial and decided that the toddler is guilty of being a Jew, so it was not extrajudicial punishment.

But following the victory celebrations, we have to consider realistically what these killings may accomplish and what comes next. It makes senses that these major strikes are meant to put off the need for an even more major and decidedly immoderate Israeli invasion of Gaza (see this analysis for example). But moderate Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told General Jones, here to oversee Israeli compliance with the roadmap, that Israel is bracing itself for the inevitable response of the Islamic Jihad. This response has already been promised, and it has already been legitimized by the moderate Abu Rudeineh, moderate spokesman of the moderate President Abbas of the moderate Palestinian government.

Israelis have been seeing reruns of this movie since about 1954. A moderate terrorist attack provokes a less moderate response, which provokes a bigger terrorist attack, which provokes a bigger response, in an inevitable progression, often over a period of years. The result is often an immoderate war. Israel's dilemma is that an invasion, which will almost certainly be stopped by the moderate Security Council before it can eliminate the immoderate Hamas and Islamic Jihad, would most certainly unite the moderate Palestinian government of the moderate Mahmoud Abbas with the immoderate Hamas, and then Israel would be left with no good policy options.

Ami Isseroff


*Readers will remark on my immoderate use of a certain adjective. In current journalese that adjective has become firmly attached, in Homeric fashion, to the word "Palestinian," referring to any Arab from the West Bank or anyone connected with the moderate Mahmoud Abbas. Any Palestinian politician who is not intent on immediately blowing up every Jew in Israel is honored by that adjective whenever his or her name is mentioned. "Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas" will soon become a classic commonplace of international idiom, taking its place with "The brave Achilles," "The calm Patroclus" and "Honest Abe Lincoln." Google returns over 38.000 references for "Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas," but less than a thousand links for "brave Achilles." Perhaps association of the term "moderate" with the Israeli government and its ministers will provide some balance.

Original content is Copyright by the author 2007.

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