Friday, July 4, 2014

Opuscula

What's special about
Kidnapping Israeli boys?

 

I don't mean to be unkind, but the expectations of Israelis that the world will condemn the kidnapping and murder of three yeshiva boys will not be satisfied.

Why should it?

Granted, the motives behind the kidnappings were either/both nationalistic and/or religious, but kidnapping - even for nationalistic or religiously motivated ideals - is not unique to Israel.

I was in Israel as the police and army searched for the kidnapped boys.

I was there when they were found and later buried.

I heard many average Israelis complain: Why doesn't Obama say something; why doesn't he condemn the kidnapping and murder of these boys? For the same reason he sat on the fence for so many days after the Islamist Boko Haram kidnapped 200 school girls simply because they wanted an education. (By the way, whatever happened to those children?)

Why? Because, sadly, the situation in Israel is neither unique or on a grand scale.

Does Netanyahu condemn kidnappings in the U.S. or elsewhere? Did Netanyahu or even Peres condemn the mass murders of children at schools in the U.S. and Europe?

In the U.S. alone there have been seven children, all but one less than 10 years old, kidnapped and murdered since February 2002.

Wikipedia has a list of kidnappings from around the world that dates back to pre-1900.

While the entries listing the victim as "murdered" - or in the case of the three Israeli boys, simply "killed" - perhaps even more sad are the ones whose fate is listed as "unknown.'

There is a succinct but definite semantic difference between "murder" and "kill." Refer to http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/63464/kill-murder-or-slay for a brief definition of the words as they commonly are applied.

ON THE OTHER HAND the internet is filled with instant outrage over the kidnapping, murder, and burning of the body of Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, 16, from East Jerusalem.

Both the US and UN condemn killing of Palestinian boy in Israel.

According to the BBC, The US and UN have condemned the abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager in Israel, which sparked fierce clashes in East Jerusalem.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called it "sickening" while the UN demanded justice over the "despicable act". (Is there a stench of double standard at play here? Kidnapping and murder is a "sickening" and "despicable act" ONLY if the act is against a non-Jew, otherwise the act goes without comment, without condemnation.)

Despite "Palestinian" condemnation of Israel, there so far has been no evidence that an Israeli - Jew or non-Jew - was involved. Burning a body according to Moslem belief precludes the dead male from acquiring his 70 virgins in the afterlife. Most Jews are unaware of this belief, so while it is possible the Moslem youth was a victim of Jews, it is not likely.

UNLIKE HAMAS/PA which celebrated the yeshiva boys' kidnapping and murder, Israeli police and military will hunt down and prosecute any Israeli - regardless of religious or political affiliation - who may have been involved in the Moslem youth's abduction.


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