Warning To Europe: Stop Appeasing Terrorism
"You're next, buddies." So said Chen [pronounced khen, and meaning grace or favor] Keinan this week, addressing herself to the European audience in an interview with CNN. Chen, whose mother and baby daughter were murdered in a terrorist attack in Petach Tikvah nine days ago, said, "You are appeasing terrorism! And you hope that if you tolerate it, and try to understand its motives, and you give it reasons, whatever they are… The more fear you show, the faster it's going to be on your doorstep - and then, G-d help you, because you gave it legitimacy."
Excerpts from the CNN interview with Chen and her husband Lior follow (Hear the audio excerpt):
CNN: Can you give me some idea of the feelings that you are going through right now?
Chen: Do you have children?
CNN: I do.
Chen: Do you have a mother that you love, that loves you? Just close your eyes for one second, but be honest, yes? Just close your eyes and try to imagine the pain, try to imagine them without a skull. That's the last sight I saw of my daughter - on the pavement, no skull, in a puddle of blood. If people who have children will have the guts to close their eyes and imagine it for one second - and I know it's hard - they'll know the horror. There is no other way to explain it - it's horror and my heart is bleeding. That's all I can say. That's how I feel.
CNN: How do you [Lior] cope with something like this?
Lior: Really, sometimes I think that my wounds - they help me cope. Because I had a piece of metal this big [shows him] stuck in my face. And when we sit and cry about Sinai, people come over and ask me how I feel, and I can say that I feel better [physically], because yesterday I had a lot of pain, and today less. But in everything that I look at, even your shirt and buttons, I think of how I buttoned Sinai's clothes [voice breaks] and how I caressed her and how I tried to save her until the last moment when she had only reflexes. And I think of Ruti, her grandmother, and how she loved her… The only way to cope is to try to lose the thoughts for a second, and think of something else - even to do this interview, and yet a minute later I see her smiling face, or I see her a second before she died sipping on soda water. So there is really no way to cope.
I just want to tell everybody that they shouldn't keep even one eye closed when they sleep, because what we Israelis know today, they will know tomorrow. Every country, mainly in Europe, has its minorities and has it problems. And one day, it will come! This is the time to stop it, and to avoid babies being scattered on the streets. That is my way to cope, to try and put and end to it even though I know that that will not be the case. Even after Sinai, four people have already died in terrorist attacks in Israel [in the Itamar high school and south of Ofrah; he was speaking before the Megiddo bus attack], and I wish that all the parents and all the people who got hurt from terrorism, even in Europe, come out and speak…
CNN How do you [Chen] feel about the people that did this?
Chen: I think it's all about education. I still believe a person is born pure. A baby is born pure. But, I was never taught to hate! This is not my way, this is not my mother's way, this is not my father's way. Even now I can't hate [voice breaks]. I wish I could! It would have helped me, but I can't. What can I do? It would have helped me, but I cannot hate. And I think that they [the PA] are raising a generation of kids brought up on hate, and I don't see any hope, not for the next 20 years, if what their kids are taught from text books - are horrific things. Horrific.
CNN: How do you see the future? How do you see this unfold?
Chen: I'll tell you how I see the future: I think Israel is like the canary in the coal mine, and that's what the Europeans - and I am sorry, I know this goes to Europe, and I said different [more positive] things to America [on CNN-USA] - but we in Israel are dying *now.* We are slaughtered on a daily basis, but - you’re next! You're next, buddies.
I understand that you have a lot of Muslim minorities.
That’s OK, everybody should live where he wants - but you are appeasing terrorism! And you hope that if you tolerate it, and try to understand its motives, and you give it reasons, whatever they are… I ask the Europeans: Do not tolerate murder! I don’t want to use the word terrorism, because it’s banal.
Do not tolerate murder, do not appease the terrorists! Not for oil, and not because you're scared - because the more fear you show, the faster it's going to be on your doorstep - and then, G-d help you, because you gave it legitimacy. And my baby’s blood is just as precious as any French blood -- G-d help these hypocritical people..." |
