The killers we released are not deviants of Palestinian society. Rather, they are society itself.
By MARC BELZBERGPalestinian prisoners on a bus before release [file] 311 (R)(photo credit: Yannis Behrakis / Reuters)
Bassam Nasser’s op-ed in yesterday’s paper is a must read for every citizen of the world.Nothing could better illustrate the truth about the Palestinian society of Gaza.Nasser argues that it’s just not fair that we Israelis view the prisoners released in exchange for Gilad Schalit as terrorist murderers. After all, everyone in Gaza worships and idolizes them. We should understand that they are heroes, a source of pride and honor to their parents and families, the most eligible bachelors desired by every young Palestinian woman. Political and social organizations will seek out the released killers to advance their names and their agendas. They are not deviants of society, but rather society itself. They are lawyers, doctors, men and women, young and old, professors and illiterates.The picture he so proudly paints of Palestinian society, glaringly clarifies to all that the leaders of Gaza and its citizenry as a whole comprise one of the most despicable and detestable societies in the history of man.No Hollywood studio has ever created a villain as evil as the likes of Khaled Mashaal, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini or Hassan Nassrallah.No Hollywood writer has ever written a script about an entire society of evil, millions of devout clones of a murderous, deviant ideology and eschatology.The reality of Gaza today, and most of the Arab world, is too strange for fiction.If you don’t believe me, take a five-minute stroll past the Hass Promenade in Jerusalem, one of the city’s most popular tourist stops, and you will witness a nearly unprecedented celebration in honor of the release 1,000 of the most despicable human beings ever born. Their supporters are dancing on cars, galloping through the streets on horses, shouting and screaming for joy. For what? To welcome the woman who planned and drove the suicide bomber to Sbarro and murdered 15 young Jews and wounded over 100, for the “crime” of eating pizza in downtown Jerusalem. Other idols of their society include the person who murdered the Dickstein parents and their nine-year-old son, Shuvael, leaving behind eight orphans, aged one-to-17 years old.
Another of the terrific Palestinian role models who was greeted yesterday was the lovely man who walked into the Shabo home and machine-gunned three young boys while they were watching television, then murdered their mother in her bed at point blank range and shot the leg off another of her sons as he cowered, hiding under his mother’s bed.YOU CAN’T win a battle if you don’t know who the enemy is. I thank Nasser for so clearly describing the enemy we face; an entire society filled with hate, the desire to kill every Jew and every Westerner, with the hope of destroying the very moral ethic upon which we base our lives. It is an enemy with the primitiveness and intolerance that patiently executes its long term plan to violently impose a monolithic radical Islamic regime on every citizen of the world. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is their target.The enemy we must face up to is radical Islam. Or perhaps it is Islam itself? A number of years ago I participated in a small gathering with then US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, who said that the United States is deeply studying this question and hasn’t yet concluded whether the problem is only radical Islam or whether the ideology is so pervasive that it is Islam itself.
It is clear that Nasser and every Palestinian leader believe that Palestinian murderers are comparable to South African leader Nelson Mandela and India’s Mahatma Gandi. This is a loathsome comparison.Neither of those men ever held a gun in his hand or killed another human being. Mandela was convicted of planning violent resistance while fighting for equality in South Africa. Another victim of the apartheid government, Steven Biko, headed a totally pacifist, peaceful organization that united 70 other groups to promote “social upliftment” of black residents of Durban, and Gandi was known worldwide as a pacifist and vehemently condemned any violence.Assimilating the joy I feel for Gilad’s return home and the disgust and fear that I feel over the release into world of hundreds of the cruelest and inhumane murderers and killers society has ever known, my only solace is the gratitude that I have for being born and Jew and the pride I feel for having made the choice to become an Israeli. We have been handed a moral code from God and from all of our ancestors, a heritage of over 3,500 years that dictates a set of behavioral norms and societal ethics that prevent us from deteriorating into animals.Our instincts for right and wrong, honed over thousands of years of thought, debate and practice prevent us from ever falling into the trap of adopting radical Islamic ideals.It’s time for us, the People of Israel to be a light unto the nations to share with them the lessons of our tradition, the value of a human life, the horrible crime of murder, and the code of ethics we have received, upon which the whole world can live together in peace.The writer is the chairman of OneFamilyFund.org, Israel’s premier support organization for terror victims and the recipient of this year’s Presidential Citation for Volunteerism.
![Palestinian prisoners on a bus before release [file] 311 (R) (photo credit: Yannis Behrakis / Reuters)](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/176035 "Palestinian prisoners on a bus before release [file] 311 (R)")