Israel Hayom..
25 March '16..
Like many others, I watched as tears flooded the eyes of European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini during a press conference in Amman. Like most of us, I empathized with her reaction to the wave of terrorist attacks in Brussels, the EU capital. In an opinion piece in Haaretz, journalist Rogel Alpher empathized, too, with "the rare moment of humanity" and "the most natural, healthy emotional reaction."
It was clear to me, however, that Alpher doesn't dispense compliments for nothing, and wanted to cash in. Indeed, after his compliments for this humane, gentle woman, came the attack on a "young macho [guy] at the Channel 10 foreign news desk," who Alpher said "expressed crude Israeli contempt toward [Mogherini]."
And the guardian of morality's anger wasn't reserved for the young macho guy; he had plenty for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee shortly after the Brussels attacks had the audacity to argue that terrorism in Belgium and Israel "was the same terrorism."
I never cease to wonder at the Christian morality dripping from the pages of Haaretz.
Salt in the wounds
I'm sure that Uri Misgav also identifies with Mogherini's tears and is mourning the Brussels victims of terrorism. I got the impression that that human emotion did not cause him any pain over the murders of Naftali Frenkel, Gil-ad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrach, who were picked up at a hitchhiking post and murdered by Hamas terrorists in the summer of 2014.
And not only did Misgav not mourn them, he even criticized their families, who asked people to pray for their sons' safety. His cynicism is so far gone that as soon as their bodies were found and before we had managed to take in the evil, he rushed to note that "the prayers didn't help."
Gideon Levy is also undoubtedly sorry for the Brussels victims. That same Levy stuck a knife through the hearts of the three boys' mothers, who went to Geneva to plead with the U.N. Human Rights Council to help save their sons.
Levy chided the miserable mothers: "You need a certain amount of gall to demand that the world take an interest in the fate of three abducted Israelis, and a certain amount of audacity to be disappointed when it remains silent."
With brutal cynicism, he rubbed salt into their wounds, adding that "the world has no reason to take an interest in the fate of Naftali Frenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gil-ad Shaer. ... It has no reason to be moved by the chilling words of Rachel Frenkel, who said that her Naftali was a good boy who liked to play the guitar and basketball."
Levy the moralist even went so far as to mock anyone who referred to the two 16-year-olds and the 19-year-old as boys. "Why not babies?!" he asked cruelly.
Zero condemnation of terrorism
But why do we have to look as far as Misgav or Levy? In a piece titled "An apology to my murderers" published not long ago, Alpher leaves a will that should be handed over "if a terrorist runs me over or stabs me."
"If I'm murdered in a terrorist attacks, I ask that my murderers be told in my name, if they are still alive, that I apologize. That I'm making up with them after my death. And if my murderers die, then I'm apologizing to them now, ahead of time," Alpher wrote.
It's hard to know if this will happen before or after he leaves the country, as he promised/threatened to do a year and a half ago. Alpher concluded that promise with the sweeping statement: "What goes for Tel Aviv goes for the communities on the Gaza border."
Nevertheless, despite Alpher's self-righteousness, it was impossible not to identify with the pain of the EU foreign minister. But along with the pain, she and her entire European community should be reminded that the evening of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, the son of peace activist Richard Lakin, who was murdered in a terrorist attack in Armon Hanatziv in Jerusalem appeared before the U.N. Human Rights Council.
He turned to the council members, to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and to the "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967": "You didn't publicly condemn Palestinian terrorism or the incitement by the Palestinian Authority, when feeds the deadly violence."
The council's response was to pass a series of resolutions that condemned Israel, made zero condemnation of Palestinian terrorism and choosing a new "special envoy" from two candidates who were vying with each other in their hatred of Israel. One expressed her amazement that the U.S. and Britain still hadn't bombed Israel, and the other took part in a conference that called to wipe out the state of Israel.
Cooperate? With whom?
One European Union representative did express concern over the one-sidedness of the outgoing envoy's reports and his concern with Israeli violations only and not violations by any other player. However, he criticized Israel for not cooperating with the report's author and now allowing him to receive the first reports about the situation in Judea and Samaria. With whom should Israel cooperate, in the European Union's opinion? With those who call for the State of Israel to be annihilated, or those who would be satisfied if it were bombed?
As sad as the senseless casualties in Brussels are, we should hope that the terrorist attacks will serve as a wake-up call for Europe. The assumption that terrorism can be restricted to Israel or even the Middle East is wrong.
Alpher is right -- what goes for Tel Aviv goes for the communities on the Gaza border, and what goes for them both goes for Brussels, Istanbul, and Paris.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=32635
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