Monday, February 26, 2007
Taking Revenge in Advance
My latest posting on the Israel National News "Back to Sanity" blog (4 Adar 5767):
On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority terrorists attempted to blow up Jews in Tel Aviv's central bus station. When the would-be bombers were captured, the Islamic Jihad announced that it was to be their operation and it is part of a renewed bombing campaign they're calling "Winter Thaw". They threaten many more attacks on Jews and, possibly, Americans.
A short time after the bomber and his accomplices were caught - coincidentally, I am sure, *wink, wink* - Israeli special forces found and killed the Arab terrorist responsible for making the bomb that didn't go off (and many others besides).
Then, Islamic Jihad announced that it considers the death of its bomb-maker - who had just provided the tool intended to kill a lot of Israelis - as a "crime". Not only that, but the "crime will not pass without revenge and revenge will come soon."
Wait, wait, wait.
They already said they are going to attack us left and right anyway. So, how will we know when their attack is "revenge" or just part of the "regular" attacks we are intended to be hit with now?
Did the Islamic Jihadists sit around this afternoon and say to themselves, "We were going to carry out 10 terror bombings, but NOW, for revenge, we are going to carry out ELEVEN! Feel our vengeance, you Zionist pigs!"
I hope readers of this blog will allow me to shamelessly quote an article I wrote for National Review Online in 2002:
"Perhaps the word 'revenge' also has a different meaning in Arabic than it does in English. Fourteen people have been killed in several terrorist attacks since the assassination of [Hamas terror leader] Shehadeh in Gaza ten days ago. Every Palestinian Authority faction, not just the Hamas, has taken part in recent attacks, all claiming that their actions were 'revenge' for Shahadeh's death. The only trouble is that, during an equivalent ten-day period prior to the Shehadeh assassination, a total of 15 people were killed by PA-based terrorists. Were they victims of 'preemptive revenge'?"
And I returned to this theme (and phraseology) in 2004, as well:
"Was that attack - designed to kill hundreds, at least - preemptive revenge for the death of Ahmed Yassin one week later? Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu calls such things as the threats of 'revenge' for the Yassin assassination 'reversal of causality.' It is a common feature of Arab propaganda efforts on every front in our bitter conflict."
So, here we are again - another Arab cry for a "revenge" that they were planning to carry out anyway, if only they could.
Many people - including some Israelis, especially those on the political Left - hear the Arab cries for "revenge," then note that those cries are followed by terrorist attacks, and reach the completely ridiculous conclusion that Israeli air- or ground-strikes eliminating terrorists somehow "provoke" the Palestinian Authority Arabs to carry out more terrorist attacks. Such IDF successes, we are told, breed more suicide bombers.
Well, I might be convinced that's true... if I had severe short-term memory loss.
On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority terrorists attempted to blow up Jews in Tel Aviv's central bus station. When the would-be bombers were captured, the Islamic Jihad announced that it was to be their operation and it is part of a renewed bombing campaign they're calling "Winter Thaw". They threaten many more attacks on Jews and, possibly, Americans.
A short time after the bomber and his accomplices were caught - coincidentally, I am sure, *wink, wink* - Israeli special forces found and killed the Arab terrorist responsible for making the bomb that didn't go off (and many others besides).
Then, Islamic Jihad announced that it considers the death of its bomb-maker - who had just provided the tool intended to kill a lot of Israelis - as a "crime". Not only that, but the "crime will not pass without revenge and revenge will come soon."
Wait, wait, wait.
They already said they are going to attack us left and right anyway. So, how will we know when their attack is "revenge" or just part of the "regular" attacks we are intended to be hit with now?
Did the Islamic Jihadists sit around this afternoon and say to themselves, "We were going to carry out 10 terror bombings, but NOW, for revenge, we are going to carry out ELEVEN! Feel our vengeance, you Zionist pigs!"
I hope readers of this blog will allow me to shamelessly quote an article I wrote for National Review Online in 2002:
"Perhaps the word 'revenge' also has a different meaning in Arabic than it does in English. Fourteen people have been killed in several terrorist attacks since the assassination of [Hamas terror leader] Shehadeh in Gaza ten days ago. Every Palestinian Authority faction, not just the Hamas, has taken part in recent attacks, all claiming that their actions were 'revenge' for Shahadeh's death. The only trouble is that, during an equivalent ten-day period prior to the Shehadeh assassination, a total of 15 people were killed by PA-based terrorists. Were they victims of 'preemptive revenge'?"
And I returned to this theme (and phraseology) in 2004, as well:
"Was that attack - designed to kill hundreds, at least - preemptive revenge for the death of Ahmed Yassin one week later? Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu calls such things as the threats of 'revenge' for the Yassin assassination 'reversal of causality.' It is a common feature of Arab propaganda efforts on every front in our bitter conflict."
So, here we are again - another Arab cry for a "revenge" that they were planning to carry out anyway, if only they could.
Many people - including some Israelis, especially those on the political Left - hear the Arab cries for "revenge," then note that those cries are followed by terrorist attacks, and reach the completely ridiculous conclusion that Israeli air- or ground-strikes eliminating terrorists somehow "provoke" the Palestinian Authority Arabs to carry out more terrorist attacks. Such IDF successes, we are told, breed more suicide bombers.
Well, I might be convinced that's true... if I had severe short-term memory loss.
