A favorite phrase of the pro-Oslo camp was that, by definition, one must make peace with your enemy. Infinitely logical on paper, this simple concept was used to dismiss all the warning signs we should have noticed. The continued terrorism was one signal, but there were others; the incitement in Arabic, the funneling of funds toward terrorist activity, the glorification of suicide bombers in the schools, text books that deny our very existence, the discovery of tunnel after tunnel used to smuggle weapons, the arming of a security force that had no intention of pursuing peace, and so much more. All was attributed to the fact that the Palestinians were still our enemy and were thus entitled to behave this way. Our enemy, but partners in the making.
Even the initial wave of suicide bombings was considered part of the bumpy road we were expected to follow in our never-ending quest for peace. It has taken three years and more than 860 deaths for us to begin to realize that an enemy so intent on our destruction is not likely to be heading in the same direction on this supposed path.
In a similar use of twisted thinking, the letter by the ?rebellious? pilots says that they refuse ?to take part in operations in the center of populated civilian areas.? This, too, is infinitely logical on paper. They, too, ignore the facts that are so plainly obvious to the rest of us. In their letter, where is the condemnation of the Palestinian forces that insist on hiding in civilian areas? How do these pilots suggest we stop these terrorist masterminds from taking advantage of Palestinian youth as they booby-trap them and send them into our cities? How do they suggest we stop someone who is beyond reach of our justice system and won?t be touched by the revolving door of the Palestinian ?justice? system?
Where is the pilots? call to Palestinian parents to stop their sons and daughters from following a murderous path into our homes and cafes? Why is there no condemnation of the terror that requires the very response they are now refusing to deliver? They have no words for the Palestinians, who started this Intifada more than three years ago. They have only a list of the missions they will not carry out, the orders they will refuse. They will not fly. They will not fight. They will not defend. They address Israel and only Israel about a war we did not start, a war we cannot end, a terror we can only choose to fight in our cities or in theirs.
They reject the IDF?s current solution, but offer none of their own. Many of these pilots who have moved into the civilian aviation field owe their training and therefore their very livelihoods to the IDF. This, then, is how they thank the people of Israel. We trained them and they turned on us, telling us they will not defend our sons who are fighting below them, their brothers-in-arms. They will not attempt to stop those who would seek to murder and maim our civilians until these murderers enter our towns, when it is already too late.
Are we to continue to allow these terrorists to bomb our buses and malls, murder our babies in front of our eyes and do nothing? Apparently so, according to the pilots. After all, if we can?t hunt them down in their own areas, we will be forced to wait until they come to us. Palestinian parents proudly praise their young for the ruthless murder of innocent civilians, yet the pilots would have us place a higher value on the lives of these young men (and women) than their own parents do.
Sadly, we have accepted the world?s double standard for decades. We are not to bomb civilian locations without facing the world?s wrath, even as they who would kill us are not condemned for hiding in schools and churches and government offices.
They can murder our tourist minister, but we cannot even speak of ?removing? their president without a United Nations resolution? No action, simple words, and UN representatives couldn?t get to the great podium of Universal Nonsense fast enough.
While Great Britain can demand three months of quiet before accepting a ceasefire with the Irish Republican Army, we were condemned for holding to a seven-day requirement. Arafat can harbor terrorists in his Mukata, but we cannot touch him? Arafat can call for Jihad and martyrdom, but we are to call him a partner? While the US can target terrorists thousands of miles away in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq, we cannot target terrorists less than ten miles from our doors?
Why are Israelis so infuriated and disgusted by the action of a mere 27 individuals, all but two of whom aren?t even in a position to be asked to carry out the very targeted killings they have so publicly disdained?
The answer is quite simple. It is bad enough when the world applies this double standard, but when some of our own, those who claim that they were ?brought up to love Israel and to contribute to the Zionist ideal,? apply this double standard, the results infuriate us. They who flew our skies should understand how tiny and fragile a state we must defend. They who flew over Arab cities should understand the danger emanating from those areas, how close they are to our civilian areas, how the Palestinians allow terrorists to hide in their midst.
They who served in our army know above all others that we do our best to avoid civilian casualties, that our pilots have standing orders to avoid unnecessary harm and have the right to abort a mission if they deem it too dangerous to surrounding civilians. Pilots have aborted missions even when they could have hit their target successfully. Each of these men could easily have done the same. Instead, they chose to make this public spectacle, and thereby imply that they are more moral than their fellow pilots, that they alone care about the Palestinian civilians.
For this implication alone, these men should be condemned and ostracized.
I have heard calls to have them dishonorably discharged. One neighbor suggested they be made to clean toilets as their army reserve duty, another suggested assigning them to cook. As pilots, they have soared to the heights of our respect, now let them realize the depths of our anger and disgust. Perhaps the greatest punishment we can offer these pilots is our utter disdain for their hypocrisy, their cowardice, their willingness to inflict a double standard on Israel.
Even the initial wave of suicide bombings was considered part of the bumpy road we were expected to follow in our never-ending quest for peace. It has taken three years and more than 860 deaths for us to begin to realize that an enemy so intent on our destruction is not likely to be heading in the same direction on this supposed path.
In a similar use of twisted thinking, the letter by the ?rebellious? pilots says that they refuse ?to take part in operations in the center of populated civilian areas.? This, too, is infinitely logical on paper. They, too, ignore the facts that are so plainly obvious to the rest of us. In their letter, where is the condemnation of the Palestinian forces that insist on hiding in civilian areas? How do these pilots suggest we stop these terrorist masterminds from taking advantage of Palestinian youth as they booby-trap them and send them into our cities? How do they suggest we stop someone who is beyond reach of our justice system and won?t be touched by the revolving door of the Palestinian ?justice? system?
Where is the pilots? call to Palestinian parents to stop their sons and daughters from following a murderous path into our homes and cafes? Why is there no condemnation of the terror that requires the very response they are now refusing to deliver? They have no words for the Palestinians, who started this Intifada more than three years ago. They have only a list of the missions they will not carry out, the orders they will refuse. They will not fly. They will not fight. They will not defend. They address Israel and only Israel about a war we did not start, a war we cannot end, a terror we can only choose to fight in our cities or in theirs.
They reject the IDF?s current solution, but offer none of their own. Many of these pilots who have moved into the civilian aviation field owe their training and therefore their very livelihoods to the IDF. This, then, is how they thank the people of Israel. We trained them and they turned on us, telling us they will not defend our sons who are fighting below them, their brothers-in-arms. They will not attempt to stop those who would seek to murder and maim our civilians until these murderers enter our towns, when it is already too late.
Are we to continue to allow these terrorists to bomb our buses and malls, murder our babies in front of our eyes and do nothing? Apparently so, according to the pilots. After all, if we can?t hunt them down in their own areas, we will be forced to wait until they come to us. Palestinian parents proudly praise their young for the ruthless murder of innocent civilians, yet the pilots would have us place a higher value on the lives of these young men (and women) than their own parents do.
Sadly, we have accepted the world?s double standard for decades. We are not to bomb civilian locations without facing the world?s wrath, even as they who would kill us are not condemned for hiding in schools and churches and government offices.
They can murder our tourist minister, but we cannot even speak of ?removing? their president without a United Nations resolution? No action, simple words, and UN representatives couldn?t get to the great podium of Universal Nonsense fast enough.
While Great Britain can demand three months of quiet before accepting a ceasefire with the Irish Republican Army, we were condemned for holding to a seven-day requirement. Arafat can harbor terrorists in his Mukata, but we cannot touch him? Arafat can call for Jihad and martyrdom, but we are to call him a partner? While the US can target terrorists thousands of miles away in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq, we cannot target terrorists less than ten miles from our doors?
Why are Israelis so infuriated and disgusted by the action of a mere 27 individuals, all but two of whom aren?t even in a position to be asked to carry out the very targeted killings they have so publicly disdained?
The answer is quite simple. It is bad enough when the world applies this double standard, but when some of our own, those who claim that they were ?brought up to love Israel and to contribute to the Zionist ideal,? apply this double standard, the results infuriate us. They who flew our skies should understand how tiny and fragile a state we must defend. They who flew over Arab cities should understand the danger emanating from those areas, how close they are to our civilian areas, how the Palestinians allow terrorists to hide in their midst.
They who served in our army know above all others that we do our best to avoid civilian casualties, that our pilots have standing orders to avoid unnecessary harm and have the right to abort a mission if they deem it too dangerous to surrounding civilians. Pilots have aborted missions even when they could have hit their target successfully. Each of these men could easily have done the same. Instead, they chose to make this public spectacle, and thereby imply that they are more moral than their fellow pilots, that they alone care about the Palestinian civilians.
For this implication alone, these men should be condemned and ostracized.
I have heard calls to have them dishonorably discharged. One neighbor suggested they be made to clean toilets as their army reserve duty, another suggested assigning them to cook. As pilots, they have soared to the heights of our respect, now let them realize the depths of our anger and disgust. Perhaps the greatest punishment we can offer these pilots is our utter disdain for their hypocrisy, their cowardice, their willingness to inflict a double standard on Israel.