Israel Matzav: Letter from Father of Terror Victim from Paradise Now

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Letter from Father of Terror Victim from Paradise Now

I received the letter below from Yossi Zur, father of Assaf Zur HY"D, who was one of the victims of the suicide bomber depicted in Paradise Now:

(Hat Tip: Harvey in Efrat)

Last night the Palestinian movie "Paradise now" won the golden globe award. The movie is showing the route that two young Palestinians take in becoming suicide murderers until the minute they board a children bus in Tel Aviv.

The movie looks professional. The movie was done with great care for details and is extremely dangerous not only to the middle east but to the whole world.

My son Asaf, almost 17 years old was a high school student in the eleventh grade learning computer sciences, one day after school he boarded a bus in Israel to get back to our home. On the way a suicide murderer from Hebron, 21 years old, a computer sciences student in the Hebron Politechnik exploded on the bus.

17 people were killed, 9 of then school children aged 18 or less.

My son Asaf was killed on spot.

I looked at the movie trying to understand what is it trying to say, what message does it carry?

That the murderer is human? He is not.

That he has doubts? He has none. After all he is willing to kill himself with his victims.

That the Israelis are to blame for this brutal killing? Are the Israelis to blame for the twin towers in New York, the night club in Indonesia, the Hotel in Egypt, the shop in Turkey, the restaurant in Morocco or in Tunis, The hotel in Jordan the underground in London the train in Spain And the list goes on and on.

What makes this movie award worthy? Would the foreign reporters that awarded this movie the golden globe would do the same if the movie was about young people from Saudi Arabia who learn how to fly in the USA and then take Islamic ritual in preparations for their holy mission to crash airplanes into the twin towers in New York. Would this movie get an award then?

The movie is trying to say that Suicide murderers are a legitimate way when you feel you exhausted all other means. But a suicide murderer who boards a bus kills 15 or 20 people, so how about a suicide murderer who walks into a city with a biological bomb and kills 10,000 people or 100,000 people is that still a legitimate way? Where does one puts the line?

The world should put the line at one person, killing of even one person is not legitimate. My son was almost 17 years old, he loved surfing, he loved loud music. He is now gone because a suicide murderer decided it's legitimate to blow him self up on a crowded bus.

Encouraging film makers to hide behind the award and say that the world declared suicide bombing a legitimate way without looking at the massages the movie carries and the implications makes the award decision makers part of the evil chain of terror and co participates in the next suicide murders weather those kills 17 people or 17,000 people.