Dorine, the violence between Israel and the Palestinians has spilled over into the US. It's heartbreaking!
Zionists adopt tactics they claim to abhor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 4/7/02
"Never let any man drag you so low as to make you
hate him."
From time to time, that imperative was pulled from
the cupboard of cliches my mother kept handy for
rearing four children.
I think of it now because of the venom --
name-calling, denunciations and death threats --
heaped upon a Jewish family in Brooklyn, N.Y., after
their son's impromptu breakfast last weekend with
Yasser Arafat. The spate of hate-filled messages
grew so threatening that Doreen and Stuart Shapiro
have been forced to flee their home and go into
hiding.
The campaign of terror against the Shapiros started
after news reports about their son Adam, 30, a
Middle East humanitarian worker. A resident of
Ramallah for three years, Adam has worked for
"Seeds of Peace," a program for Arab and Jewish
youth that teaches tolerance.
In an interview on NBC's "Today" show, Adam said
he helped to persuade Israeli military authorities to
allow ambulances into Arafat's compound to tend the
wounded after the Israeli siege began. Later, Adam
found himself trapped inside the compound. Last
Saturday morning, according to news accounts,
Arafat offered Adam breakfast as a gesture of
gratitude for his intervention.
Simple enough, you'd think. While many might
disagree with Adam's decision to live among
Palestinians and advocate their nationalist
aspirations, any people who believe in democratic
values would support his right to hold those views,
right?
Apparently not. Noah Shapiro, Adam's brother, told
reporters that e-mail messages wished a "fiery
death" to his family; a Web site, he said, listed
personal information about his family and urged
action against them.
Undoubtedly, those threats came from supporters of
Israel, many of them Jewish, who have long
denounced Arafat and the terrorism that he has, at
the very least, tolerated. They probably consider
themselves law-abiding and upright folk who would
never sink to the tactics of bloodthirsty savagery and
wanton destruction displayed by Palestinian suicide
bombers who blow up shopkeepers, schoolchildren
and families at Seder.
Perhaps Shapiro's critics should take a good look in
the mirror. Their hatred of Palestinian extremism has consumed them, eating away
at their own sense of decency and justice -- allowing them to flirt with the very
tactics used by the terrorists they vilify. Palestinian extremists, after all, are well
known for their intolerance of anyone labeled a "collaborator." Palestinians believed
to be cooperating with Israeli authorities are often treated to mob justice -- brutal
beatings, summary executions, anonymous graves. Is that not what the Shapiros'
critics are also threatening?
The tragedy of this otherwise small tale lies in its profound implications for the state
of Israel: Even before the latest military incursion, some Israeli army reservists had
begun to question the relentlessness of their military tactics against a largely
impoverished civilian population. While the targets of Israeli tanks and commandoes
are often well-armed extremists of Hamas or Hezbollah, the targets are also, too
often, young boys armed only with rocks and bottles. How can any soldier sent out
to kill young boys maintain his humanity?
Israel gambled on Ariel Sharon -- a notorious hard-liner whose military strategy in
Lebanon in the 1980s had left Israel's reputation sullied -- because he promised to
deliver peace and security. He has failed spectacularly.
Worse, his heavy-handed tactics have started to corrode the decency, humanity and
moral authority of the nation he seeks to defend. This is what my mother was trying
to help me understand: Sinking to hatred only leads you to become that which you
most despise.
accessatlanta.com
Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. |
