Israel Matzav

Defining Terror

And this is our foreign minister? Oy vey....

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has decided that 'Palestinians' who target soldiers are not terrorists. She made her statement on ABC's Good Morning America program in the US, and repeated it this morning on Israel Radio (as far as I can tell, the "Nightline" referred to in the article is Channel 9 in Australia's Nightline, and the interview was replayed there).

This is a statement that never should have been made. It gives aid and comfort to the terror organizations. As far as I am concerned, the only attacks that are not terror are attacks against soldiers on the battlefield. The way that Foreign Minister Livni (Hashem Yerachem - may God have mercy on us) phrased this, it seems that attacks on 'soldiers' anywhere - in or out of uniform - are legitimate. This is a country with a civilian army, where anyone who does reserve duty can be termed a "soldier.' This statement was just plain stupid.

Palestinians who target soldiers are not terrorists, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio on Tuesday.

Livni said in a "Nightline" interview that attacks specifically against soldiers could be seen as "more legitimate" than attacks on Israeli civilians. [Only on the battlefield. CiJ]

When asked if she was justifying killing or kidnapping soldiers, Livni said that she had spent years attempting to convince the international community to stop portraying terrorists as "freedom fighters." [In other words, she didn't answer the question. I will answer it. Killing soldiers off the battlefield is terrorism. Kidnapping soldiers is terrorism. CiJ]

"They should stop trying to 'understand' them," Livni insisted. "No one can tell me that a terrorist who blows himself up in a restaurant or in a nightclub has a 'justifiable' motive."

"A terror organization is a terror organization, and we will fight them," Livni declared.

The foreign minister said that she was not trying to make light of the danger to which Israel's security forces are exposed on a daily basis. "They are all our children," she said, referring to the soldiers.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:59 AM