On one very important level there is absolutely no difference between the Palestinian bombers and the Israeli attempted bombers that you mention in your post. They are both murderers of children. They are all despicable and they must be stopped.
In that respect, these extremists are no different from the Catholic extremists in this country who bomb abortion clinics and murder doctors who perform abortion. They are no different from the anti-gay extremists who bomb gay nightclubs, or the disenchanted 20 year old idiots who blow up buildings like McVey, or plant pipe bombs in mailboxes to kill farmers, or the Unabomber. They are all lunatics who need to be stopped.
The difference is not about them it is about US. How do we deal with the lunatics? In this country we hunt them down like the animals that they are. We tirelessly track them, arrest them, prosecute them, and throw them in jail. They are not accepted as members of the community. They have revoked their rights as citizens. Moreover, anyone who assists them in committing these acts of terrorism is guilty of conspiracy. These people are also prosecuted and punished. This is the rule of law.
The fact that the Israeli settler extremists were arrested and are being prosecuted suggests that a similar rule of law exists in Israel. In your first post on the subject, the deputy internal security minister is quoted as saying, "These are a gang of murderers who wanted to set off their bomb close to a school. That would have put all of the children of Israel at risk."
Federman is clearly a dangerous person. His acquittals however, should have no bearing on our judgement of him. If the justice system in Israel is fair - and I sincerely hope that it is - then he was acquitted of crimes that he did not commit. The article you posted speaks of him doing 20 months in prison for an act of arson. 20 months is not exactly a revolving door. It also says he spent an unspecified number of months in administrative detention after another Israeli terrorist murdered Palestinians. I hope that the Israeli justice system will prosecute him fully if he is guilty of conspiracy in this latest bombing attempt.
Contrast this with the Palestinian reaction to the Palestinian homicide bombers. These madmen are treated as saints. They are celebrated and their families are paid large sums of money in gratitude for their "sacrifice". As I wrote the other day, there is 76% SUPPORT for these lunatics among the general Palestinian populace. Arafat never arrests conspirators unless absolutely forced to do so by Israeli and U.S. pressure.
The difference is not in the nature of the terrorists. There are extremists and murderers everywhere. The difference is in our condemnation of them and our tireless pursuit of them. If the Palestinians cannot grasp the notion that support - or even tacit approval - of terrorism is wholly unacceptable, they cannot possibly be able to participate as peaceful members of the community of nations. |
