Moral question-marks
The IDF words-laundromat is working full power. Despite the closed military zone warrant that has been issued yesterday evening, the Israeli media are rather busy covering the exhuming of the Hizbullah combatants bodies. IDF radio reported earlier today, that the code name chosen for the execution of this part of the Israel-Hizbulla deal is “Moral Superiority” (“Elyonut Musarit” in Hebrew). However, it’s not that clear what’s actually so moral in collecting enemy bodies from the battle field in order to trade them in the future. The same obviously goes for Hizbulla.
But this is actually nothing new – maybe even a wartime routine. This cemetery near Amiad has existed long before the recent war, and it’s likely to contain more than these 190 bodies. Therefore, moral – and especially in the context of the 2006 war – is probably not the key element in the Hizbulla-Israel affaris, on each of the sides.
It took utterly short time until voices have started to be heard calling for the demolition of the house of the terrorist who committed the bulldozer attack in Jersualem last week. Minister of Defence Ehud Barak even summoned for demolishing the terrorist’s family home with the same bulldozer. More humane voices offered “only” sealing the house, in order not to hurt other families living in it.
This way or another, the desperate cry for revenge, of the kind Israel used as means of punishment for years, probably once again mostly expresses the helplessness of the Israeli government when dealing with suicide terrorists. Obviously, a different kind of helplessness the terrorist himself felt when he decided to do the worst thing a human being can do.
No, there’s no comparison, of course. However, for the sake of the whole region and at least to their own citizens the Israeli leaders owe a much better way of dealing with the extermists who time after time seem to set the tone. None of the Israeli then ministers ever thought of demolishing or even sealing Baruch Goldstein’s home. And for a good reason – his family cannot and shouldn’t bare the blame, nor the punishment for him. Many Israelis in favour of tearing down the house of a terrorist’s family say this is a measure meant to intimidate future terrorists. PM Olmert, Barak and other politicians have already expressed their support, mainly hoping to satisfy the Israel right-wingers.
History, however, has obviously already proven that dozens of demolished houses haven’t prevented dozens of other terrorist attacks. Some would even say these ruins ignited new attacks as part of this bloody circle. Others who support this punishment as a so-called solution claim that the family “must have been aware”, or even supported the terrorist act in some way. But if that’s the case, in a democratic state, the one which still contains the Zur Baher neighborhood, this kind of accusations would necessarily result in an indictment – either against the family conspiracy or against the defamers.
