My feeling and thoughts are as chaotic as the scenes in Sinai, even hours after three explosions turned a Sukkot vacation into a nightmare for thousands of Israelis. As always, there is grief. I watched as a little boy was placed on a stretcher beside his sister, as both young children tried to cling to their father. The boy's hands were bloody, the father's shirt and pants stained with the blood of his own children. Through the sound of sirens came the quiet, panicked word, "Abba" ? father. One man comforting two children while thousands of Israelis awaited word about their loved ones.
I watched journalists broadcasting from Eilat because they, like so many others, couldn't get to the devastation and the view from so far away was quite frustrating. The endless line of ambulances, the streaming crowd of humanity coming across the border, all told the story of a tragedy occurring beyond our view. Once again, it was an attack targeting Israelis and once again it was on foreign soil. Once again, our rescue workers swung into operation without a thought to the distance, the danger, the problems they would encounter, because, once again, Israelis needed them and they went flying into the darkness on the other side of the border.
Beyond the grief and the shock of the apparent devastation, there was anger. Sharper and more intense than is normal in these circumstances. Amazingly enough, I am not angry at the terrorists. At least not abnormally so.
I have come to the conclusion that there are certain patterns of nature you cannot change. My cat is going to try to jump on my kitchen table if I leave food unattended. This is his nature and I cannot change that. My dog will need to be walked in the morning and again at night. She will bark when she wants attention. This is her nature and I cannot change that. And terrorists will seek to terrorize, to murder, to maim. That is their nature and we have no option but to accept it or eliminate them. Whatever rights they claim as human beings, they forfeit by their indiscriminate, murderous acts and it is not by accident that I compare their actions to the way in which animals are accustomed to behaving.
The anger, this time, was directed at my own people. More than 10,000 Israelis crossed into Egypt during the Sukkot holiday, despite specific warnings that a terrorist attack was imminent. They took their young children, knowing (and choosing to ignore) the danger.
So, as I am angry at them, I am angry at myself because it is wrong to be angry at the victims. You should never blame the victim when the only thing they did wrong was try to seek a normal life, a vacation in the sun. This is what I have told others time and time again. Do not blame them for taking buses, how else can they get where they need to go? Do not blame them for sitting in a cafe, they too deserve a few hours of distraction. Is it fair to blame the victim because they didn't anticipate the cruel inhumanity of those whose hatred defines their very existence?
Shortly after Palestinian terrorists attacked an Israeli school bus, killing two teachers and wounding several children, Adam Keller, a spokesman for the ultra-left-wing Gush Shalom organization said, "The Palestinians are conducting a war of independence. It was irresponsible of the settlers to bring children into the area [Gaza]. It's irresponsible for them to live there and to have brought children into the world." This is what Keller said about 8,000 Israelis settlers living in Gaza.
I thought of Keller's insensitive remark and wondered what Israelis would think if someone from the Right would come out now and say the same of the approximately 10,000 Israelis who chose to spend the holiday in Sinai over this tragic holiday weekend. I can't help but wonder how many Gush Shalom and Peace Now activists were in Sinai.
It is, I have said many times, the ironies in life that can bring us to our knees. Keller felt it irresponsible that 8,000 Israelis had chosen to remain in the homes they have built over generations, at first encouraged and supported by a number of Israeli governments and only abandoned and ridiculed by the last few (starting with Yitchak Rabin, continuing with Ehud Barak and ultimately facing the final abandonment by Ariel Sharon).
Will Keller condemn those who went to Sinai for irresponsibly ignoring intelligence warnings, for taking their children there, for endangering soldiers, police and rescue workers who were forced to undertake a rescue operation under abysmal conditions and without the security net of our own armed forces?
Or will Keller remain quiet, unaffected by the tragedy that claimed so many lives? So the anger remains, at my own people for failing to listen to the warnings. At people like Adam Keller and Gush Shalom for believing that all the Arabs want is their independence, rather than our destruction, and for continuing to blame those who simply want to remain in the only homes their children had ever known, to live in our land without falling victim to terrorists and murderers, and those who simply wanted a few days of holiday on a clean, sandy beach.
Even more, I find that I am angry at myself for finally being angry at the victims, who deserve my compassion and not my anger, who deserve my prayers and not my contempt.
I am angry with the Egyptians for failing to anticipate and protect those who had placed their lives, however foolishly, in their hands; and I am even more angry that they delayed rescue teams for precious periods of time in the name of bureaucracy and pride. For it could not have been for security reasons ? those were blown apart in Taba and Ras A-Satan.
And finally, I am angry at the Sharon government for once again failing to protect our people, for failing to close the border with Sinai and risk public annoyance. They say that the Temple Mount is in danger of collapsing and the Israeli government will risk the anger of the Arabs to ensure their safety. They will limit admittance during the month of Ramadan so that those who go to pray can do so without being harmed, yet they did not care enough about their own people to close the border with Egypt and risk public disapproval. How sad that our government leaders have lost their ability to lead.
I watched journalists broadcasting from Eilat because they, like so many others, couldn't get to the devastation and the view from so far away was quite frustrating. The endless line of ambulances, the streaming crowd of humanity coming across the border, all told the story of a tragedy occurring beyond our view. Once again, it was an attack targeting Israelis and once again it was on foreign soil. Once again, our rescue workers swung into operation without a thought to the distance, the danger, the problems they would encounter, because, once again, Israelis needed them and they went flying into the darkness on the other side of the border.
Beyond the grief and the shock of the apparent devastation, there was anger. Sharper and more intense than is normal in these circumstances. Amazingly enough, I am not angry at the terrorists. At least not abnormally so.
I have come to the conclusion that there are certain patterns of nature you cannot change. My cat is going to try to jump on my kitchen table if I leave food unattended. This is his nature and I cannot change that. My dog will need to be walked in the morning and again at night. She will bark when she wants attention. This is her nature and I cannot change that. And terrorists will seek to terrorize, to murder, to maim. That is their nature and we have no option but to accept it or eliminate them. Whatever rights they claim as human beings, they forfeit by their indiscriminate, murderous acts and it is not by accident that I compare their actions to the way in which animals are accustomed to behaving.
The anger, this time, was directed at my own people. More than 10,000 Israelis crossed into Egypt during the Sukkot holiday, despite specific warnings that a terrorist attack was imminent. They took their young children, knowing (and choosing to ignore) the danger.
So, as I am angry at them, I am angry at myself because it is wrong to be angry at the victims. You should never blame the victim when the only thing they did wrong was try to seek a normal life, a vacation in the sun. This is what I have told others time and time again. Do not blame them for taking buses, how else can they get where they need to go? Do not blame them for sitting in a cafe, they too deserve a few hours of distraction. Is it fair to blame the victim because they didn't anticipate the cruel inhumanity of those whose hatred defines their very existence?
Shortly after Palestinian terrorists attacked an Israeli school bus, killing two teachers and wounding several children, Adam Keller, a spokesman for the ultra-left-wing Gush Shalom organization said, "The Palestinians are conducting a war of independence. It was irresponsible of the settlers to bring children into the area [Gaza]. It's irresponsible for them to live there and to have brought children into the world." This is what Keller said about 8,000 Israelis settlers living in Gaza.
I thought of Keller's insensitive remark and wondered what Israelis would think if someone from the Right would come out now and say the same of the approximately 10,000 Israelis who chose to spend the holiday in Sinai over this tragic holiday weekend. I can't help but wonder how many Gush Shalom and Peace Now activists were in Sinai.
It is, I have said many times, the ironies in life that can bring us to our knees. Keller felt it irresponsible that 8,000 Israelis had chosen to remain in the homes they have built over generations, at first encouraged and supported by a number of Israeli governments and only abandoned and ridiculed by the last few (starting with Yitchak Rabin, continuing with Ehud Barak and ultimately facing the final abandonment by Ariel Sharon).
Will Keller condemn those who went to Sinai for irresponsibly ignoring intelligence warnings, for taking their children there, for endangering soldiers, police and rescue workers who were forced to undertake a rescue operation under abysmal conditions and without the security net of our own armed forces?
Or will Keller remain quiet, unaffected by the tragedy that claimed so many lives? So the anger remains, at my own people for failing to listen to the warnings. At people like Adam Keller and Gush Shalom for believing that all the Arabs want is their independence, rather than our destruction, and for continuing to blame those who simply want to remain in the only homes their children had ever known, to live in our land without falling victim to terrorists and murderers, and those who simply wanted a few days of holiday on a clean, sandy beach.
Even more, I find that I am angry at myself for finally being angry at the victims, who deserve my compassion and not my anger, who deserve my prayers and not my contempt.
I am angry with the Egyptians for failing to anticipate and protect those who had placed their lives, however foolishly, in their hands; and I am even more angry that they delayed rescue teams for precious periods of time in the name of bureaucracy and pride. For it could not have been for security reasons ? those were blown apart in Taba and Ras A-Satan.
And finally, I am angry at the Sharon government for once again failing to protect our people, for failing to close the border with Sinai and risk public annoyance. They say that the Temple Mount is in danger of collapsing and the Israeli government will risk the anger of the Arabs to ensure their safety. They will limit admittance during the month of Ramadan so that those who go to pray can do so without being harmed, yet they did not care enough about their own people to close the border with Egypt and risk public disapproval. How sad that our government leaders have lost their ability to lead.