While nothing should surprise us anymore, it’s still jarring to read headlines that say, “Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is calling for Ramadan to be a month of terror.” It doesn’t seem so long ago that violence was considered a bad thing, representing a departure from civilized society, where everyone is encouraged to resolve disputes through peaceful means. The stark contrast between those who would resort to inflicting pain and wreaking havoc among the public as opposed to those who are willing to sit together, mediate, and air their grievances in a courteous and productive way says everything you need to know about the state of mankind. In fact, nothing speaks louder.
Concerning these two sides of Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (the latter already showing its hand by its name), one of the entities has chosen to terrorize people to achieve its desired goals. It constitutes the highest form of bullying and an attempt to seize full control while taking away the rights of others.
The threat here is that PIJ could open up another front in this terror war by significantly escalating attacks in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and ramping up its fight in Gaza. In this effort, there is an impassioned call for the unification of Israel’s Arab neighbors to join forces and for employing violent means to launch a full-scale onslaught designed to overwhelm the Jewish state. But that fight is meant to take place not only on the battlefield.
Just this past weekend, a Jewish man was stabbed in Zurich, a relatively quiet place where such attacks are almost unheard of. While repeatedly knifing the man, who was visibly identified as an Orthodox Jew, the 15-year-old assailant shouted,” Death to the Jews.” He was also heard saying that he was “acting on behalf of Al-Aqsa.”
During the same weekend, a separate incident took place in Paris when a kippah-wearing Jew, upon leaving his synagogue, was punched, kicked to the ground, and called a “dirty Jew.” And yet another attack involved an Orthodox Jewish dentist who was murdered in San Diego by a Muslim former patient. Were these three attackers heeding the call for violence on the battlefield of day-to-day life?
Advocates of violence are hailed as 'freedom fighters'
Most disturbing is that there remains a compliant and willing constituency completely unopposed to the use of violence and ready to employ it as a justified means of winning for their side. Once upon a time, we would have looked upon them as mentally imbalanced, dark forces who warranted being institutionalized to prevent them from harming others as well as themselves. But nowadays, through image rebranding, these advocates of violence are hailed as “freedom fighters” whose cause requires brute force and destruction, all for the legitimate acquisition of territory and supplanting those who stand in their way.
That is the twisted and distorted thinking that has evolved over time, making it more palatable to view violence as an act that is no longer stigmatized but, instead, has become acceptable. The current reality is that war, which was once fought between the combatants of two rivaling factions, has now moved into society at large, affecting children, the elderly, families, young people, and pretty much anyone who has a pulse.
And although these innocents didn’t sign up for battle duty, they are nonetheless the ones who are susceptible to the insidious form of tyranny, which is exactly what happened on October 7.
Rather than taking their fight to the Israeli military, the Hamas terrorists picked on the weakest among us, using the most violent methods to overpower civilians who were incapable of fighting back. Unarmed, unprepared, and unsuspecting, they became the victims of cowardly terrorists who resorted to tormenting ordinary people.
And this is the real call for violence – not necessarily targeting avowed terrorists but directed at 15-year-old boys or Jew-hating Parisians otherwise going about their business. This is the audience that is being implored to join the fight on everyone’s turf – whether in supermarkets, malls, schools, or on the streets. See a Jew; attack a Jew.
It is a truly dark day for humanity when violent means become commonplace, invading the tranquil moments and spaces of everyday life, all because one group covets what the other has. Is there not enough land mass on planet Earth or enough drive, motivation, and creativity to fuel success for all when led by decent, hardworking, and resourceful people who are committed to finding productive paths for their own kind?
For those willing to reduce themselves to hurting others in order to take something away from them, they must also be ready to incur judgment for their lack of conscience, morality, and humanity. Their base actions attest to a hardened indifference toward others who were created in the same image, their fellow humans whom they are willing to slaughter, torture, murder, and annihilate.
MAKE NO MISTAKE. If their violent efforts help them succeed in securing whatever they are after, they will have been conditioned to repeat those tactics each time they are met with any resistance. Violence will be their go-to method of empowerment in order to achieve all of their aspirations. Sadly, it will also become a bottomless pit of despair for anyone who stands in their way.
Consequently, whenever there is a call for unity in violence, there must be a simultaneous and unrelenting call for humanity, decency, and the peace that everyone invokes but to which few are truly committed to working towards as the only means to a worthwhile society.
Violent methods must be roundly rejected and called out as the hallmark of insanity, mental deficiency, cruelty, oppression, and the end of a normal and healthy society.
Those who remain silent, hoping for the phase of terrorism to blow over, will be caught up in an unstoppable whirlwind because the darkness of evil tends to exact massive destruction before the light of dawn can begin to overshadow the shambles that remain.
If you’re for peace, decency, morality, sound thinking, mutual cooperation, and respect for the rights of others, raise your voice; if you don’t, you will be forced to endure what is surely coming unless it is stopped in its tracks now.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal and the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, available on Amazon. It is based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs.