There are times, especially when encountering grief, that we are told that anger is an acceptable and expected emotion. A warning to those who are about to read this post, I am ANGRY. Shabbat is soon to descend upon us, and the tranquility of this may bring comfort, but until then, wrath and fury remain.
The news of the massacre in Mossad Harav Kook last night was horrific. That a person can bring themselves to enter a hall of study and open fire on people learning their sacred tradition is sickening in the extreme. That a whole society can then pour accolades onto that person, celebrate the death of innocents, hand out sweets to children, and allow their leaders to issue media statements in support of wanton murder, is beyond sick. It is socially immoral and destitute beyond the comprehension of human values. But it does not stop there. That the media around the world can bastardize the coverage of this, deliver messages of tacit justification, cycle of violence equivalence, and remove the context of this attack through gross impersonalisation, is indicative of just how far the values of humanity itself have lost all moral bearing.
They say there are only two degrees of separation. I have already encountered two people known to me personally who in turn personally knew the victims of today’s massacre. I have stood in the building where this occurred and prayed. It could have been me, or my children who were learning talmud, and murdered for no other reason other than the fact that they were Jewish. Its been happening for thousands of years, and action is now needed by Israel to show strength and resolve. Our nation must say, we will no longer tolerate this madness.
I was driving this morning with the radio on, and made the mistake of listening to the news. I started with 6PR. The news broadcast included the following statement “Israel claims the attack was terrorism……. and recognises it as a response to Israel’s incursion into Gaza”. I then switched stations to ABC 720, and amongst an incessant ramble of news was the statement “Certainly there were no signs that a terrorist attack was imminent”.
Those were the only statements I managed to scribble down. There were others that were as equally obscene. What a chutzpah! Can 6PR not bring themselves to state the obvious, that they have to couch their coverage in terms that only one side claims this as terrorism? Does this imply there is an alternate view, or that the matter is open to interpretation? As for the ABC, have they not read the consistent statements that Hamas have issued? Did they not manage to report the Gaza protests with kids who cannot read were given signs to hold that say “Death is coming”? By the way, they did manage to recall enough (and soften the tone of the coverage) by politely noting that this was the first terrorist attack in Jerusalem for more than a year.
The crass reaction to this runs further. Not even the United Nations is capable of being able to define this as terrorism and condemn it. The United States still call for peace, although 400 missles in the past two weeks have been fired from Gaza into Israel.
In short the political correctness is way out of hand. If the western world does not recover its moral fortitude, and the media do not recover true objectivity, balance and perspective, then we are on the slippery slide towards oblivian.
I am about to leave for my Local Synagogue. As is the case most weeks, cars passing along the street will probably yell anti-semitic remarks at me as they see a Jew on the Sabbath. Yet I will walk into Shule, and daven for some clarity, some understanding, and some hope that the values of the world in which we live can still accomodate the free thinking, spiritually infused ideals that I choose to hold.
To our brothers and sisters in Israel, may you find comfort amongst the mourners of Jerusalem. May your political leaders defend you by necessary means from the genocidal mania of the ideologically perturbed. May the world be able to see that Israel is a strong Jewish nation that will act as any other nation would to defend itself from missiles, terrorism, and hate.
To our cousins of the Christian and Islam faith. May you join with the Jewish people to pray to our creator, our one and only G-d who gave us all life and a world to share, who created great spiritual leaders such as Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. May we all share freedom of religion, peace and understanding. May we share our common values and respect our common differences. If we can accomplish this, we will see no more bloodshed, no more conflict.
To the terrorists of Hamas, Hizbollah, Al Asqua and the governing Palestinians who support them – may your lack of sanctity for human life be avenged. May those who you seek to murder take the opportunity to remove you from our precious world before you have the opportunity to further destroy us.
May this Sabbath bring joy to our solace, and may the nation of Israel bring peace and redemption to the righteous.