Right to Defend is not "NEWS"
Valley Patriot Israeli Correspondent
Ian Pinkus

JERUSALEM - I recently arrived back in Israel after my yearly vacation visiting  family back in New York over the Passover holiday. During my month-long vacation away from the turmoil here in the Holy Land, a number of things occurred that came as a bit of a surprise to me. Israel had targeted and succeeded in killing several terrorist leaders, and, not surprisingly, our war-mongering Palestinian cousins up the street (you know, the ones of a recently made-up nationality who believe more in killing the Jews than actually achieving statehood) swore "revenge".
 
After thinking about the events that had occurred, something struck me as different from the normal escalation. Israel had outlined a policy of defense, and still failed to follow through with it. The Ariel Sharon government has promised to those living here that he would stop Palestinian terrorism, and yet he recently released hundreds of captured suspected terrorists and accessories to terrorism in the interests of peace. This is not what struck me as odd, though. The Palestinians have cried revenge for their dead terrorists even though they routinely target civilians, and every day plan the next bombing, G-d forbid. This also does not strike me as odd.
 
What surprised me was the U.S. response: a recent statement from the White House recognizing Israel’s “right” to defend itself from terrorism.   Don’t get me wrong, I voted for President Bush and I believe strongly that putting a Democrat into any office should be considered conspiracy to commit acts of terror. But it is a bit disconcerting to me that such a statement from the administration is considered newsworthy. Think about what that means that this is news: The United States recognizes England’s right to prevent terrorism within her borders. Now substitute the word Israel for England. This should not be a news story.  

I believe that the reason this was considered newsworthy is because we have unfortunately reached a point where we live with and accept terrorism. The Israelis have become numb to it, and the Americans have become numb hearing about it. There is hardly an outcry anymore when we here of a bus exploding, G-d forbid. Just a calm question of how many injured, how many killed, and what bus route it was, (in case we might know someone). The American media has become just as desensitized, accepting Palestinian terror on a regular basis, and treating the Palestinians as victims of Israel.   The U.S. statement of our "right" of self defense was newsworthy because it is a message to the American people, the Israeli people, and all the good people of the world who hope for peace, that we can no longer be desensitized to the idea of innocent people losing their lives to terrorism. We must take a stand in saying that it is wrong and that it will not be tolerated.  

We can no longer afford to live with the fact that Palestinians are terrorists and that’s the way it will continue to be. That statement should have been made a long time ago, but it is a refreshing new policy which says that the terrorists are wrong, people have a right to defend themselves, and nobody should become desensitized to what is happening. Every innocent civilian killed at the hands of a brainwashed Palestinian terrorist is somebody’s son, father, mother, daughter, husband, wife, sister, or brother. The U.S. statement is a step in the right direction, to recognize that those lives are not expendable and that senseless killing will not be tolerated.  

I hope that by the time I take my next vacation back home to the States, the killing has stopped and the biggest story in the news has to do with the falling price of gasoline.
 

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