Israel Hayom..
27 June '14..
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.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8897
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