I ask myself: Has Israel learned nothing during its 61 years as a modern state? In my previous Postcard, I recalled the 1974 Maalot Massacre in which 105 children were taken hostage in a school. A soldier, three members of one family and 22 boys and girls were murdered on that day, 35 years ago.
In front of my eyes, the black and white photos of the ninth, tenth and eleventh graders pass, 18 young women and four young men on a school trip, their lives just beginning to blossom, when the Angel of Death came to visit and took them away.
Back in the 1970s, Israel was a nation of one united front. There were clear boundaries – we, Israelis, with a home, a family and a country to defend, and they, terrorists wanting to destroy us, willing to smash the skulls of four year old children and murder any Israeli Jew with pleasure.
Three decades ago, “Right” or “Left,” Israelis all understood they were equal targets of vicious attempts at annihilation. The country was led by a generation of giants who participated in the creation of the modern state. All are now gone. Something has happened in Israel since then.
If Israel learned anything from the Maalot massacre, it would have been that decisive action is required; the immediate cost – as horrific as it may seem at the time – would pale in comparison to the long-term price bound to be extracted; and there can be absolutely no room for second thoughts.
Three decades have passed and the trees surrounding the graves have grown. They provide shade for those who visit to remember and ponder. Now Israel seems to have forgotten the lessons.
A reader from Israel who emigrated from America in 1983 responded to “35 Years After,” recounting his own experiences of the last 26 years, the life cycle of a complete generation:
Every time we try to appease the world, show that we are not like our enemies (hiding BEHIND civilians), sign agreements with European names, withdraw, announce ceasefires, play nice, make goodwill gestures, Jews die and or we get condemned by this world body or that human rights group. Sometimes they die in large numbers, sometimes individually, but any show of Western fair play, "goodwill" always results in Jews being murdered. That's the way it was in 1904, 1914, 1924 and 1934.
The main message of Ma'alot is not just the murder of Jews on a school outing in 1974. The main message should be how Socialist-Secular Nationalist Pan-Arab fanatics (PLO, now called the PA) are as murderous in their aims and means as their religious-Muslim fundamentalist brothers (Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc.) today. NOTHING HAS CHANGED since 1974 except that Arafat received the Nobel Prize for Peace and the world bows passively to the maniacal warlords in Teheran today. Ma'alot has been repeated hundreds of times over again and the world STILL could care less, moreover, the Israeli leadership itself has fallen into the same malaise since 1993 and Oslo.
Palestinians are not freedom fighters. They are the worst type of terrorists. Under Nobel Laureate Arafat, they learned and perfected their methods of operation. At times they still lynch and burn, tear off limbs for all to see and learn. They stone their own women and their enemies to death. Often they send others to explode themselves in the midst of the enemy. They graciously offer 72 virgins as a reward yet do not volunteer themselves for these missions.
Deep within their hearts, today’s Palestinian terrorists have not changed. In practice they prefer weapons of diplomacy of the imagination, make-belief arguments and a mass marketing campaign never before implemented so effectively. These have proven to be equally as useful as the animalistic savagery they so enjoy.
Why risk being labeled “terrorists” when some Israelis and many “human rights activists” can be utilized to work for their cause— as evil as it truly is? In an effort to bring about the destruction of the Jewish State, the enemy has creatively disguised its stated motives when talking to the West. In Arabic, they tell a different story altogether.
Posing as “freedom fighters” yearning for a country, they receive countless billions in aid, almost none of which finds its way to new infrastructure or other improvements. Instead, funding is used to build and supply a military force and to indoctrinate the children with only one purpose—the destruction of the Jewish State.
There is no hope or even a chance for peace, only a specific goal to eliminate the Zionists, Israel and the Jewish State. Thus, the “plight” of the “Palestinian People” and the “right of return” are but ruses, effective weapons in an arsenal designed to destroy.
The misguided, supporting this so-called “struggle for freedom,” are guilty partners. They are unaware they may, one day, face the same treatment now employed in this so-called “pursuit of freedom.” When the day comes, they will discover they are as expendable as the Jews.
The sword’s swift action will not be less exciting to the evil perpetrators than now. Only then the head they will be holding in one hand or rolling on the ground will be their collaborator’s, not only the focus of their hatred today.
Human rights activists and Israelis beware: This freedom exists because Israel and the United States of America allow free expression, speech and thought. Try exercising such rights in Iran, Lebanon, Syria or Lebanon. You will meet your fate very quickly.
The results of the last attempt at “free” elections, demonstrations and rebellion in Iran are being felt — by the Iranians themselves and all those stand with them — to this very day. If you want a worthy battle, help the multitudes in Iran rid themselves of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Such action will benefit the world. Do not fight Israel. It is the last fort that remains between the Jewish people and one more evil enemy; it is the last fort that remains standing protecting all of us.
