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Richard L. Benkin is an independent author and activist. He has penned manuscripts on the Temple Mount; East European Jewish Life; and Miriam, the true hero of Exodus. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and lives with his wife and daughter in suburban Chicago.
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By Richard L. Benkin
August 24, 2003
In the aftermath of the recent terror attack in Jerusalem, the world is "shocked" and "outraged." Even Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned it. After all, who could not be outraged by this callous and heinous action-except, of course, the Arabs who live in Gaza and the West Bank. They shot off fireworks to celebrate it, and their terrorist leaders competed to see which one would claim credit for it.
Yet, even before all the victims had been identified, we began seeing that phrase - that amoral and misleading phrase - among the press, diplomats, and other purveyors of appeasement that rankles every single friend of Israel. That expression is the "cycle of violence." The phrase in an anathema to us because it portrays a situation of moral equivalency between Israel and the Arabs. That portrayal not only insults the victims; it is a false piece of disinformation, as well. It equates the assassination of Hamas murderer, Abu Shanab, with that of eleven-month-old Shumel Zargari. There is, however, another "cycle" all too common these days. If not a cycle of violence, it surely is one that abets violence. Here is how it goes.
Step One is a brutal and murderous attack on innocent Israeli civilians. It usually includes the murder of children, young marrieds, or pregnant women, just to make sure we understand its genocidal aim. Step Two is shock and outrage that follows the evil act. Step Three involves words of condemnation and condolences for the victims and their families. In Step Three-A, if you will, many of those speakers also counsel Israeli "restraint" at the murder of its citizens and caution that we must not let it derail whatever happens to pass for a peace process at the moment. Now, Step Four proceeds simultaneously with Three and continues during Step Five. The Arabs attempt to spin the terrorist attack as somehow Israel's fault. It may begin with empty condemnations - empty in that they never result in action. They are followed by warnings that any Israeli response will only lead to more violence, and then attribute the entire problem to "the occupation," "settlements," or the Arabs' "humiliation." It really does not matter which one they chose-either to them or their sycophants. Step Five involves the Israeli government meeting to decide on its response to the murders.
We come in at Step Six: the speculation step. As the other steps proceed, we all begin predicting what Israel might do and usually how the United States will respond, as well. Oh, there are passionate editorials telling us that the most recent attack is so heinous that all civilized people now recognize the face of evil in these terrorists. We're sure to read that the attack crossed some invisible line, and so demands a firm Israeli response, usually a military one. We're sure that one will come.
And when it doesn't, we wonder why our leaders in Jerusalem and Washington cannot see what we see. For in Step Seven, after words of caution (both private and public) from its best friend; Israel announces some "measured" or "limited" response - which nonetheless wins condemnation from the usual suspects in the UN and the EU. This brings us to Step Eight. The victims are buried - and forgotten by most of the world. The outrage subsides. And an emboldened Arab bloc presses for more Israeli concessions as it plans its next act of terror. Israel's friends return to our defensive mode, too busy blocking attacks on the state's very existence. And Israel itself? Whether deluding itself or bowing to realpolitik, it goes back to the negotiating table and eases up on its security - which ultimately brings us back to Step One and a new "cycle of violence."
The press and other talking heads, however, have it all wrong. Their cycle of violence allegedly goes from Arab to Israeli violence and back again. The real cycle of violence, however, goes from one Arab act of terror to another.
Unfortunately, only a couple days after the shock and awe, we already are witnessing this cycle of terror - appeasement - more terror. If the response coming out of Crawford, Texas was open to interpretation, Foggy Bottom's was not. Secretary of State Colin Powel fired the first shot in the war against moral clarity saying, "The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off, and we have to make both parties understand that? Both sides should commit themselves to going forward." Appeasement is rearing its ugly head even now. An editorial by the Chicago Tribune is typical. It begins by attributing the dashing of hopes to a "bloody spiral of attack and retribution," then follows with an excruciating attempt to portray parallel Israeli and Arab moves toward peace. The Tribune follows that with an incredulous call for Israel to refrain from action "when the next, inevitable suicide bombing occurs."
This lack of moral clarity only emboldens the apostles of terror. After the bombing, Palestinian PM Abbas at least went through the cosmetic moves of ordering an investigation into the bombing - as if he did not know who was responsible-and supposedly had shouting matches with his longtime friend, Yassir Arafat. As the apostles of appeasement hold sway, he would do nothing more without Arafat's approval. Then, the PA met and considered further moves, but not to dismantle terror. Unabashedly stating its true sense of values, its communique stated that Arab security moves are "linked to ousting the (Israeli) occupation from our Palestinian land." The Arabs reward terrorists, and we thank them for it!
For instance, as expected, major U.S. Jewish groups issued denunciations of the terror, but they tended to ring hollow and pray for the peace process. One analyst writes that major Jewish organizations believe that the so-called road map is Israel's best chance. They urged U.S. and Israeli leaders to "stay the course," and give Abbas the chance to do what he thus far has refused to do. Israel's announcement of "pinpoint" attacks on terror do not even seem designed to destroy the terrorist infrastructure among the Arabs who are no doubt preparing ways to minimize their impact. So expected is the Israeli response that the terrorist's families emptied their house immediately after the bombing. And when one of Israel's minimalist responses was to kill a Hamas mass murderer responsible for the terror, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Israel had no right to do so. Yet, he offered no succor to the dead and maimed adults and children who rode the Number Two buses that night.
In truth, peace will not even be a dream until we address the roots of war: Arab rejection of Israel's right to exist; their continued anti-Semitic incitement in every one of their major institutions; their denial of any Jewish right to Jerusalem; and their insistence on a phony right of return that would spell the death of the world's one Jewish state and the region's only democracy. Until they become pre-conditions to any negotiated peace, we will continue to see this terrible cycle of violence and will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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