Why did Israel betray its victims?
Shavua tov u'Moadim l'simcha - a good week and a happy holiday to all of you.Giulio Meotti is a journalist with the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, and now writes a weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the encyclopedic new work, A New Shoah. The Untold Story of Israel’s Victims of Terrorism. In this column he wonders why Israel has betrayed its terror victims by doing the terrorists for Gilad trade.
The Israeli government is saying to these families: “We are sorry, the social pressure was too high, the Arab spring gave us a chance for a deal, this is a political game”.To answer the question, perhaps it's because we as a nation do not honor the dead.
Next week, when most of the Israelis will share Shalits’ joy and concern about the mental health of their son, let’s hope that many others will remember the aftermath of the suicide attacks: the victims arranged near the carcass of the bus, the bodies placed in black bags, the Polaroid photos, the remains of a stroller, the scattered gray matter on the windows nearby, the Nazi number tattooed on the burned arms, the acrid odor of burned flesh and hair, the teeth and the DNA by which the victims were identified, the little pieces of jewelry that were everything a mother found at the morgue, the school notebooks, the military berets, the tennis shoes, the kippot of every color and the officers’ insignia.
Next week someone should lay a flower near the thousands of plaques bearing the names of innocent Jews displayed along streets, schools, synagogues, cafes, restaurants, markets, parks and gardens.
Despite the war for survival, Israel’s economy is booming, democracy is solid, immigration is growing and demography is thriving.
But the State of Israel betrayed its victims. It's a process that began when Yitzhak Rabin called Ofra Felix, a wonderful Israeli girl killed by the terrorists in 1995, "a victim of the peace process".
The Talmud says that in Israel, the dead protect the living. Today it's less true.
The question everybody has to answer is: why?
Read the whole thing.
The picture at the top of this post is the number 19 bus in Jerusalem, which was blown up by a suicide bomber on January 29, 2004.
One of the 11 people murdered in that attack was Yechezkel "Hezi" Goldberg, HY"D (May God Avenge his blood), whom I knew when we both lived in the same Jerusalem neighborhood. Follow that link to see just how abandoned Israel was until Canada elected Stephen Harper Prime Minister. Hezi was a man who performed many acts of kindness. I knew him as the go-to guy for a Jerusalem kindergarten that accepted both 'normal' and 'mentally challenged' kids, but when I Googled his name while doing this post, I found out that he did other acts of kindness of which I was not aware. May his memory be blessed.
Labels: Giulio Meotti, terror victims, terrorists for Gilad trade
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:14 PM
2 Comments:
the lesson is, no more terrorist prisoners
sent these directly to the 72 virgins
Israel is the only country in the world that has no Victims Of Crime law.
I don't believe this deal would have gone through if Israel's terrorism victims had been allowed to send videotaped "Victim Impact" statements to the government ministers, the media and the Shalit family.
The government would be forced to consider the likelihood of any damage that might be inflicted upon them in considering any trade of imprisoned terrorists for living Israelis held hostage by them.
Its too late to affect the current deal. But it should get people to act to reform Israel's absurd justice system in which the needs of the murderers come first and the victims needs come last.
Its time for Israel to honor the dead as much as it looks after the living.
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