THE TRAGEDY:
Three young Israeli kids in their teens are murdered: Eyal Yifrach, 19; Naftali Fraenkel, 16; and Gilad Shaar, 16. They were known to have been hitchhiking home from a Jewish seminary where they had been studying near the town of Hebron. They were last seen getting into a car at about 10.00 pm on June 12, 2014. Their bodies were found under a pile of rocks two and a half weeks after they were last seen near the village of Halhul just north of Hebron. Some reported they had been shot.
After their disappearance a huge manhunt was conducted by Israel which resulted in 400 arrests. Israel has named two persons as the chief suspects in the murder. They are Marwan Kawasmeh and Amar Abu-Eisha who are thought to be members of Hamas, the Palestinian organization deemed a terrorist group. Both men are presently at large. Both men have previously been in Israel prisons.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said these teenagers “were abducted and murdered in cold blood by human animals.”
THE CALL FOR THE VENGEANCE:
Netanyahu has also said: “Satan has not yet created vengeance for the blood of a small child, nor for the blood of pure teens that were on their way home to see their parents, and who will never see them again.”
Israeli ministers, including Danny Danon, the hard-line deputy defence minsiter, demanded sweeping action to “eradicate” Hamas,“We will not stop until Hamas is completely defeated. The homes of the terrorists must be demolished and their arms caches destroyed.
Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing Jewish Home party, wrote “there is no forgiveness to the murders of children” and “this is the time for actions and not for talk.” Yisrael Katz, the transportation minister said Israel must “act with all our strength against Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank and teach Hamas a lesson.”
David Pearl, a leader of the community council in Gush Etzion, called on the Israeli government Monday night to deport anyone connected with terrorism to Gaza or Jordan. “How is it possible that two terrorists were allowed to walk freely and kill our boys?” “Such people and their entire clan need to be put on trucks and sent out of Israel.” He added, “We have had enough.”
THE INITIAL VENGEANCE:
Prime Minister Netanyahu said “that, already, hundreds of Hamas activists have been arrested, dozens of institutions in Gaza have closed and homes have been demolished.”
Israeli soldiers break into the homes of Hamas operatives and suspected kidnappers Marwan Qawasameh and Amar Abu Aisha in Hebron and detonated the houses.
THE SECOND TRAGEDY: ANSWERING THE CALL FOR VENGEANCE:.
An Arab teenager Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, 16, was forced into a car in his East Jerusalem neighborhood and was murdered. He was burned alive by those listening to their leaders. His body was found in a Jerusalem forest.
THE CONTINUING VENGEANCE:.
Prime Minister Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian group Hamas for the murder of the three Israeli teenagers. He launched attacks against the citizens of Gaza.
In a like manner Arabs in East Jerusalem blame Israel for the death of the Arab teenager. They launched attacks with rocks against the other citizens of Israel. Arabs in Gaza launched rocket attacks against Israel.
Israel attacks by July 12 had hit over 1,100 targets in the Gaza strip. Hamas has fired 100s of rockets from Gaza into Israel injuring a handful of Israelis.
DEATH TOLL AS OF JULY 12. 2014
Israeli dead: 3 teenage boys.
Paletinian dead: 1 boy burned alive, over 125 including women, teenagers and children in air attacks.
2002: 167 Palestinians: 6 Israelis
2008-09: 1,166 Palestinians: 13 Israelis
OUTCOME:
More Palestinian deaths; more people brought into the cycle of hatred.
Jesus’ teaching of live by the sword die by the sword seems to be invariably ignored by everyone in the Middle East. General Haydn was on the BBC the other day talking about this tactic ( bombing) by Israel saying it’s not going to get anyone to a resolution of the outstanding issues. How do you construct a comprehensive peace? He said destroying Hamas was a fantasy. Today’s actions seem to be a repeat of two years ago. What did that accomplish? Israel bombed Lebanon back in the eighties trying to destroy the PLO. How effective was that. Sen. Mitchell pointed out that the technological advances in rocketry make the Israeli position more and more precarious. Time is not on Israel’s side. Now is the time for a deal. Britain never wanted to have the IRA part of the peace process but eventually relented and got to the Good Friday accords. They should let the Palestinians vote for their representatives and accept as a negotiating partner whoever they chose. Britain didn’t compromise their security by dealing with the IRA. Israel can negotiate with anyone without endangering it’s position. Brzeshinski’s two state plan, with no right of return by the Arabs to Israel, a demilitarized state with the 67 borders could be a fair settlement. Without an army, navy or air force Palestine would pose no threat to Israel’s existence. Are their more radicals in Gaza after this action than there were before? This problem has been festering for 40 years. Where is the leadership in both communities to settle this? Where is the international leadership?
NC:
I didn’t know that was one of Jesus’s teachings; I thought that had something to do with the Old Testament. I agree with Hayden – the invasion of Gaza is not news, it has happened three times in the last five or six years. The result is nothing changes except the population of Gaza residents is lowered a bit. The guy on CNN Wolf Blitzer keeps reporting that since the invasion one Israeli soldier has been killed; apparently no Palestinians have died despite the ongoing bomb blast we see on TV.
I agree that Israel should negotiate with Hamas in the same way the IRA was brought into negotiations by the British. The nonsense of negotiating with the other Palestinian group should stop.Israel if it really wanted peace could have it; Hamas agreed to a cease fire if only the eight year blockade of it would be lessened. Israel rejected it.
The threat the Palestinians present is the rockets that do little harm. It seems to me there’d be no rockets if the Palestinians had a little bit of freedom rather than living in the huge concentration camp which Gaza is. This invasion by Israel will create more radicals. The problem has festered for almost 70 years; the Israelis are too smart to have allowed this unless it was in their interest.
As for the leadership, the Palestinians have had little and those who pretended to be leaders were in the main incompetent if not corrupt; the Israeli leaders know that war is good for popularity as it is for most leaders. Internationally the attention of the leaders is to their own problems, most trying to keep their economies afloat.
Does pointing this out make u an anti Semite? Israel thinks so and wants others to think the same.
After WW2 we should have given Montana or some place like that for a Jewish nation.
If I was a Palestinian kid I’d be throwing rocks too. Hamas are no Hamas.
I want to throw up when I hear Israel defending shooting kids to death because they threw rocks at their well equipt army.
Ernie:
The label anti-Semitic is too easily tossed out. It’s a good way the blind supporters of all Israel does use to stop discussions of opinions they don’t want out there. What happens is once the label is used the topic is changed from what’s at issue to the discussion of the person who wanted to discuss the issue. It’s a clever way to prevent opposing ideas from being put forth. Since there is no way to prove a negative; that is that I am not anti-Semitic, if some choose to suggest I am there is little I can do about it.
The manpower equation in the Israel/Palestinian conflict has always favored Israel. Israel has a complaint with the rockets being shot into its territory but it should not be left at that. One should ask why is Hamas doing it. Do they have any gripes with Israel like having been blockaded for eight years by Israel?
Any fool knows that killing more Palestinians makes more Palestinian terrorists. So I assume the leaders of Israel know this. So the question is why does Israel want to persist in this endless cycle of violence. Is it to more easily take more of the West Bank? Is it that war is of benefit to those in power? Or merely is it a way to keep the Palestinian population in a position of servitude and in check?
NC writes time is not on Israel’s side. I’d hope Israel used the time to make a just peace with the Palestinians. To date it has failed to do this.