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October 10, 2003/Tishri 14 5764, Vol. 56, No.3
What would we do?EditorialImagine if a terrorist detonated an explosive device at a bustling restaurant in Central Phoenix during lunch hour. Picture the charred, smoky, bloody aftermath, the medics rushing the dying and wounded to ambulances and helicopters, and trained volunteers collecting the victims' flesh, bone and blood.How would we react? An actual attack occurred Oct. 4 at Maxim, a restaurant in Haifa. Nineteen dead. Dozens wounded. In the past three years, since the start of the current intifada, terrorists have murdered nearly 900 Israelis and shattered the lives of thousands more. Behind every numbered dead and wounded is a name and a face - and family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. The Maxim explosion devastated two families in particular. The Almogs and the Zer-Avivs each lost five family members - from three generations. A grieving grandmother's son reacted by rhetorically asking Israel's prime minister, "Are you listening, Sharon? Tell me, what will happen?" At a 30th annual memorial service for the Israeli soldiers killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Sharon declared, "Israel will not be deterred from protecting its citizens and will strike its enemies in every place and in every way." By ordering an air strike on Ein Saheb, an empty Palestinian terrorist camp, 12 miles northwest of Damascus, Sharon backed up his words with actions. As a result, Israel has faced worldwide condemnation. To his credit, President George W. Bush has supported Israel's actions, describing the air raid on the camp in Syria as a legitimate form of self-defense against terrorist attacks. Had comparable terrorist attacks occurred in Arizona in the past three years, we would have lost 723 family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues. What would we demand from Gov. Janet Napolitano? Would we insist upon fences? Checkpoints? Special identification cards? Retaliation? Would we be satisfied if our military targeted an empty terrorist training camp? Would we implore our governor to show restraint if we lost a co-worker, a friend, a child? Israel has a right to defend itself. In response to past terrorist attacks, Sharon increased checkpoints, directed incursions into Palestinian territory and authorized targeted killings of terrorist leaders. With the Haifa bombing, he sent a message to the Syrian government that supporting terrorist groups that attack Israel will no longer be consequence-free. Sharon's latest reaction has been criticized as reckless, a needless increase of tension. If the terrorist victim were our friend, our parent, our child, surely we would demand for actions to prevent another tragic loss. |
