Thirty one years have passed since twenty high school students on a field trip were murdered, and dozens were wounded in the northern Israeli town of Maalot.
May 15, 1974, the 26th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, was a day of horror and mourning for the people of Israel. The news of Maalot - of the teenagers slain in the Netiv Meir school by Arab terrorists who made their way from the Lebanese border - hit the war-torn people of Israel like a bolt of lightening.
Prime Minister Golda Meir had the grim task of relating the news to a stunned and horrified nation. She stated that the terrorists exploded grenades before Israeli soldiers entered the building. The terrorists opened fire upon the ninety children held hostage as they tried to escape. She announced the death toll - twenty children - and declared that Israel, "will do everything in its power to cut off the hands that want to harm a child, an adult, a settlement, a town, or a village." An Israeli military spokesman put it aptly when he stated, "There is no retaliation for the lives of 20 children." Indeed, their tragic deaths were beyond reprisal.
As the victims were being laid to rest, in the same cemetery as young victims of a school bus ambush three years earlier, thousands converged upon the northern Galilee town to mourn, grieve and express their outrage.
Following the massacre, United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim expressed shock and condemned the act. However, it was also the UN Security Council that condemned Israel for retaliating against terrorist bases after the Kiryat Shemona attack one month earlier, which took eighteen lives.
The reaction to Maalot from the Arab world was silence. But Arab leaders were quick to condemn Israel following its retaliatory raids against the terrorist bases the following day. Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ismail Fahmy, who for weeks was threatening Israel with another military strike if it continued to retaliate for acts of terrorism, predictably labeled Israel's acts as 'terrorism'.
In the United States, 'disengagement' was (then and now) the commonly used term for Israeli withdrawal. Plans were proposed suggesting that Israel relinquish portions of the Golan Heights to Syria. Just days before Maalot, the Israeli cabinet had convened for four and a half hours to discuss territorial concessions to Syria in light of recent disengagement proposals. Shuttling from the Soviet Union to various Arab countries, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was urging the Israelis to make concessions in the name of 'disengagement.'
Following Maalot, President Richard Nixon, as well as Kissinger, offered scathing condemnations of the massacre, while the United States Senate adopted a resolution urging all nations to "take appropriate action" against the terrorists. Still, the talk of 'disengagement' and the pressure upon Israel to make concessions continued.
Prime Minister Golda Meir had expressed the hope that the "international community would once and for all recognize the true nature of the so-called Palestinian liberation movement." Certainly, the world community had already witnessed an abundance of ghastly acts of Arab terror, and had failed to draw that conclusion.
Since Maalot, there have been countless more funerals for victims of Arab terror, countless more grieving survivors. Israelis continue to mourn and ask themselves how many more tears must be shed, while the world community continues to demand more concessions.
The young victims of Maalot must be remembered. Their deaths should serve notice that Arab terror must be defeated.
In their memory, may terrorism finally be eradicated from the face of the earth.
May 15, 1974, the 26th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, was a day of horror and mourning for the people of Israel. The news of Maalot - of the teenagers slain in the Netiv Meir school by Arab terrorists who made their way from the Lebanese border - hit the war-torn people of Israel like a bolt of lightening.
Prime Minister Golda Meir had the grim task of relating the news to a stunned and horrified nation. She stated that the terrorists exploded grenades before Israeli soldiers entered the building. The terrorists opened fire upon the ninety children held hostage as they tried to escape. She announced the death toll - twenty children - and declared that Israel, "will do everything in its power to cut off the hands that want to harm a child, an adult, a settlement, a town, or a village." An Israeli military spokesman put it aptly when he stated, "There is no retaliation for the lives of 20 children." Indeed, their tragic deaths were beyond reprisal.
As the victims were being laid to rest, in the same cemetery as young victims of a school bus ambush three years earlier, thousands converged upon the northern Galilee town to mourn, grieve and express their outrage.
Following the massacre, United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim expressed shock and condemned the act. However, it was also the UN Security Council that condemned Israel for retaliating against terrorist bases after the Kiryat Shemona attack one month earlier, which took eighteen lives.
The reaction to Maalot from the Arab world was silence. But Arab leaders were quick to condemn Israel following its retaliatory raids against the terrorist bases the following day. Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ismail Fahmy, who for weeks was threatening Israel with another military strike if it continued to retaliate for acts of terrorism, predictably labeled Israel's acts as 'terrorism'.
In the United States, 'disengagement' was (then and now) the commonly used term for Israeli withdrawal. Plans were proposed suggesting that Israel relinquish portions of the Golan Heights to Syria. Just days before Maalot, the Israeli cabinet had convened for four and a half hours to discuss territorial concessions to Syria in light of recent disengagement proposals. Shuttling from the Soviet Union to various Arab countries, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was urging the Israelis to make concessions in the name of 'disengagement.'
Following Maalot, President Richard Nixon, as well as Kissinger, offered scathing condemnations of the massacre, while the United States Senate adopted a resolution urging all nations to "take appropriate action" against the terrorists. Still, the talk of 'disengagement' and the pressure upon Israel to make concessions continued.
Prime Minister Golda Meir had expressed the hope that the "international community would once and for all recognize the true nature of the so-called Palestinian liberation movement." Certainly, the world community had already witnessed an abundance of ghastly acts of Arab terror, and had failed to draw that conclusion.
Since Maalot, there have been countless more funerals for victims of Arab terror, countless more grieving survivors. Israelis continue to mourn and ask themselves how many more tears must be shed, while the world community continues to demand more concessions.
The young victims of Maalot must be remembered. Their deaths should serve notice that Arab terror must be defeated.
In their memory, may terrorism finally be eradicated from the face of the earth.