by Dror Eydar
1. The man destined to
become the biggest hero of ancient Greece was just a newborn when his
mother, Thetis, baptized him in the River Styx. The water covered the
baby's body and made him invulnerable -- except for his heel, by which
his mother held him. Indeed, Achilles became a great hero, defeating the
legendary Troy. But just before Troy was vanquished, Paris fired a
poisoned arrow into Achilles' vulnerable heel, killing him. Since then,
the term Achilles' heel has come to mean a point of weakness in any
body, whatever it may be.
The Israel Defense
Forces are big and strong. That is a well-known fact. But terrorism
cannot be combated with conventional army warfare. Terrorism aims to sow
fear and make people afraid of everyday tasks. The abduction of three
boys while they make their way home from school is not "battle," as
serious an incident as it may be. It is a strategic attack that has put
an entire country on edge. It was the abduction of only two Israelis
that sparked the Second Lebanon War.
It seems that as the
years went by, the terror organizations managed to hone in on Israel's
Achilles' heel: abductions. More than bombings. A bombing happens, then
it is over. An abduction is an ongoing attack. Using psychological
warfare and with the help of radical groups and useful idiots they
ensure that the wound continues to bleed until the final objective is
achieved: surrender and release of murderers. The same murderers who
will mastermind the next attack, and, of course, the next abduction.
A successful abduction
is the final link in a well-known chain. But the preceding links are not
automatically associated with efforts to defeat Israel. Here's how this
phenomenon may work:
2. The checkpoints set
up in Judea and Samaria are there to catch wanted terrorists, to force
terror operatives to take alternate routes and thus limit their freedom
to travel from one place to another or to move weapons from one place to
another. In other words, checkpoints are there to save Israeli lives.
Contrary to the false "apartheid" propaganda, it is the Jews who are
forbidden from traveling on certain roads, while the Palestinians are
free to use any road they please. In certain places there are
checkpoints, but most of them have been removed due to massive pressure
applied by Machsom Watch and other leftist groups. The authorities
called it a "calculated risk." One of the checkpoints that was removed
used to be located on an inner Gush Etzion road linking the Jewish
communities. It was from this road that the three boys were kidnapped
two weeks ago.
The fewer the
checkpoints, the greater the risks. When terrorists attack, a curfew is
imposed on a specific area. Immediately the leftist groups cry out
against what they describe as collective punishment of innocent people.
It won't help to argue that the curfew (or blockade) is actually meant
to apprehend the culprits and protect the population from unnecessary
harm. After the horrific murder of the Fogel family in Itamar in March,
2011, Raya Yaron of Machsom Watch was filmed helping a woman in the
village of Awarta in the northern West Bank. She was there with other
left-wing activists to support the residents of the village as they
faced IDF operations. The only thing was that the Palestinian woman
turned out to be the mother of Hakim Awad, one of the Fogel family
murderers.
Next, the Israeli
soldiers locate a terrorist in one of the houses, either on his way to,
or coming back from a terror attack. They can storm in, risking setting
off booby traps, or they can ask a neighbor, who is also a relative, to
go into the house and get the suspect to turn himself in. In all the
times that this was done (save one) the residents of the house refrained
from harming their relatives. But no. Much to the benefit of the
terrorist, Israel's High Court of Justice has outlawed what has come to
be known as "neighbor protocol", following a petition submitted by
Adalah -- the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel -- and the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel. So what ends up happening? Our
soldiers risk their lives, and some lose their lives.
If Israel apprehends a
suspect who possesses vital information that could save a life (a
ticking time bomb), he will be taken in for questioning, where he will
enjoy another courtesy: it is forbidden to shake him in efforts to
extract the information. Another High Court decision resulting from a
petition submitted by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel,
the Center for the Defense of the Individual and ACRI.
So, if you can't shake,
what can you do? The bomb is ticking, isn't it? The answer is (almost)
nothing. At least can we hold the terrorist for a month, two months,
until he agrees to talk? Administrative detention? No way, the leftist
groups will yell, and petition the court.
In the event that we do
manage to collect some information from a suspect, or even a
confession, crafty lawyers from this or that organization will come
along and secure a plea agreement that sweetens the terrorist's
punishment. And where can one find a prosecutor who will refuse a plea
agreement and stick to the letter of the law?
3. Finally, the
terrorist ends up going to prison. He is then immediately offered the
assistance of the Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs, funded
directly by the Palestinian Authority (in other words, partially funded
by the American taxpayer). The terrorist's family is financially
supported by the PA, as is the prisoner himself. Meanwhile, you know who
embark on a mission to ensure improved conditions for the poor
terrorist while he is in prison.
In an interview last
week, former head of the Israel Prisons Service, Shlomo Toizer,
confessed that the Palestinian security prisoners enjoy better
conditions than Israeli criminals in Israel's jails.
So once the terrorist
is cozy in his prison cell, the efforts to shorten the sentence, or even
secure a pardon, begin. A senior Justice Ministry official remarked
that every prisoner needs a "projected release." Thus, the pressure on
the Justice Ministry and on the president mounts. The Israeli Arab MKs
also make their voices heard.
Then, if the pardon
efforts fail, the abduction comes. It is the age-old dilemma of which
came first, the chicken or the egg: Sometimes the abduction happens
because we couldn't get the vital information out of the ticking time
bomb, thanks to you know who. And now there is an Israeli captive in the
hands of a terrorist organization.
As we all know, it
doesn't end there. Once the Israeli civilian, or soldier, is abducted,
the leftist mechanisms launch another campaign aimed at ending the
abduction ordeal not by vanquishing terror, but by surrendering to it.
When Gilad Schalit was
abducted in 2006, a petition was signed by some 100 habitual petition
signatories, calling for the release of the kidnapped soldier. Most of
the signatories belonged to the radical Left, which, prior to the
kidnapping, fought against the soldier to prevent him from using the
"neighbor protocol" or from shaking suspects. Now the soldier was
suddenly their brother, and it wasn't long before Schalit became a "son
to us all." Then there were marches, and calls for securing his release
"at any cost." We mustn't abandon him, they said. Don't worry, the IDF
is big and strong, it will know how to handle the wave of freed
terrorists, they said. Then came high schoolers' petitions, and (false)
rumors of a dramatic decline in enlistment to the IDF. It was
pandemonium.
Anyone who thinks that
the prime minister, as powerful as he may be, can withstand such a
massive empire built over the course of so many years, is sadly
mistaken. A prime minister is the sum average of all the different
vectors of the state. We can stop this campaign against Israel's
security and our righteous path only if we, as a society, support our
government, refuse to yield and erect an iron wall of morality and
values to ward off this group before they tear us apart. We must fight
against this chain, whose links I presented above.
Incidentally, you will
not be surprised to learn that all the leftist organizations mentioned
above, along with other radical left-wing groups, are funded by the New
Israel Fund. Check the latest NGO Monitor report for proof.
One last comment: As I
write this, I learn that a legal precursor of a High Court petition has
been filed against the state's plan to demolish the home of Ziad Awad, a
terrorist who killed senior Israeli police officer Baruch Mizrahi on
Passover eve. Who submitted the petition? The Center for the Defense of
the individual. Over the last two years, the center has received
$200,000 from you know who. It is their method.
Dror Eydar
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8897
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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