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Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010April 29, 2002
Primate loses moral compass on PalestineSuicide bombing is unvarnished wickednessCHARLES MOORE
SPECIAL TO THE WCR
On April 5, Michael Peers,primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, posted a document on the Church's Website, essentially declaring solidarity with the Palestinian terrorists who have been sending their children on suicide bombing missions to kill Israeli civilians. "Some see Israel as a nation under domestic threat from terrorists," Peers wrote. "Others see the Palestinians as a people under threat from the terror of the state of Israel. . . . We stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice because that is God's call to us." Peers continued: "The British promise in 1916 of a Palestinian state has not been fulfilled. What has emerged instead is a state, Israel, whose armed forces are experienced by many as an instrument of terror, and a people, the Palestinians, whose desperation has led increasingly to acts of violence that have themselves offended against God's justice and created obstacles to peace." So, in Peers' estimation, Israel is to blame for Palestinian schoolgirls slipping on Semtex undies and blowing themselves to bits in crowds of Israeli grannies and kiddies. As for the Balfour Declaration, which I presume Peers is referring to (it was actually in 1917), it is specifically a "declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the cabinet," in which "his majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object." Not exactly the definition of "Palestinian state" that Yassir Arafat would endorse. I have no sympathy for people who encourage their children to detonate themselves in crowds of unsuspecting people (I do have sympathy for the hate-indoctrinated children), then accept cash payoffs for their "sacrifice." Cold-blooded, deliberate murder is unvarnished wickedness, and with suicide thrown in, it becomes mad-dog criminal insanity. To not denounce it is to condone it, and that makes those who refuse to denounce it moral, monsters as well. No civilized culture would countenance such things. As for Arab leaders like Saddam Hussein who pay families of suicide bombers between $10,000 and $30,000 a bang in blood money, U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" comment is an understatement. The Israelis represent the side of civilization, civil freedom, order, democratic accountability and the rule of law; the Palestinians, terrorism, mayhem, murder, and warlordism. I'm not suggesting that the Israelis' record is lily-white, or that the Palestinians may not have some legitimate grievances, but deliberately murdering civilians blows their credibility as far as I'm concerned. Since 1948, the Palestinian Arabs have been a militarily-conquered people, but they have been treated much more fairly than Jewish minorities in any Islamic thuggocracy. Arab citizens of Israel can vote in real democratic elections (which are exceedingly thin on the ground in Islamic states), and to stand for election themselves and sit in the Knesset if elected. They can work and prosper economically within the Israeli economy. They can practise their religion without interference. If they are unhappy with these conditions, they are also free to emigrate. Israeli military policy is that soldiers are not to use live ammunition against rioters not armed with guns unless their lives are in direct danger, and even in that case, their orders are to aim at the assailants' legs. An Israeli reservist named Eli, called up March 29, commented in an email: "Our battalion commander speaks - we are to conquer Tulkarem. The mission - to destroy the terrorist framework that has been set up there. He is very clear about the targets - those who have arms and who try to kill us. "We must not injure men women and children who are not involved in the terror - we must not lose our Zelem Enosh - our respect for innocent human life he tells us." "Moral equivalence?" Hogwash! How many Israeli parents dress their kids up in high explosives and send them off to blow themselves up in crowds of Palestinians? Maybe if they would renounce and denounce murder and terror, the Palestinians would get a more sympathetic hearing. However, they still educate their children with maps showing Israel erased and Palestine expanded to the Mediterranean, which reveals their true agenda. Michael Peers ought to be ashamed of himself. |
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