Even in our own vicinity, we have terrible realities to face
Now that it's been confirmed that the culprits in the murder of Abu Khder were Jewish, Chana Rosenfelder wrote about why we have to look at just how screwed up our own society tragically is:
The arrests and confessions of several Jewish youths in the kidnapping and murder of an Arab teenager should make us all look in the mirror.She's got some good points.
So, too, should the murder of two children by their Jewish father; the murders of tens of women each year by their husbands or boyfriends; stabbings at nightclubs; rapes in junior high schools; the trade in women; the arrests and convictions of important politicians and soldiers for corruption, rape, bribery, deceit, etc., and more.
There are, unfortunately, many issues in our highly imperfect country that need to be addressed. And if we have any dream of becoming a true light unto the nations, then each area must be addressed in the most serious and sincere forums. Not to make a headline, not to get a photo opportunity, but to truly make a difference. Someone must set a zero-tolerance policy for these crimes, and put together a taskforce that will find root causes and make suggestions for action that will make a difference. And then -- the hardest part -- those ideas must be implemented. [...]
We are a wonderful nation, warm and loving. We have been massacred by ruthless enemies for hundreds of years. Here in Israel, our neighbors train their children to kill us, our "peace partners'" educational TV programs educate their preschoolers to dream of the day when they can get weapons and kill Jews. Thankfully, we are not in that league, and there is no reason to compare an individual act by a Jew against an Arab to the war that the Arabs outside and inside the Green Line have been waging against us for decades. We aren't there; we aren't even headed in that direction.
But we are headed in a direction that gives way to murder. Our Knesset members yell at each other and call each other names. Our police officers and mental health professionals are not given the tools to vent their emotions, so that the people in their care become their victims. We tolerate the use of Holocaust imagery and language in everyday speech. Posters declaring any and all political issues as "something to go to war against," all these and more remove any inhibition from the expression of violence. And when violence, even verbal, is condoned, it leads to more violence, and even murder.
We can and must use this murder of an Arab child, an act that no one can accept as the product of Jewish upbringing, to remind ourselves that our goal as a society is to be a model of lawfulness. Not just in our dealings with minorities, though that too has a special commandment in the Torah. But also, in our day-to-day lives -- how we wait for a bus, how we express disagreement, how we drive and park our cars.
This murder must make us all, each and every one of us, take a step back and ask: Does my behavior reflect a respect for law? Do I embody consideration? Am I kind? Thoughtful? Trustworthy? Honest?
Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Jerusalem, jihad, Knesset, misogyny, Moonbattery, terrorism, war on terror
