On Tuesday night, according to eye witnesses, a black
car stopped near Mohammad Abu Khdeir, 16, from the upscale Beit Hanina
neighborhood of Jerusalem and then took off with the boy inside. Some time
later, the family reported him missing.
By early Wednesday
morning, his burnt body had been found in the Jerusalem Forest area.
~~~~~~~~~~
What happened next should not surprise us, as infuriating as it it:
assumptions are being made far and wide that this boy was killed by Jews in
retaliation for the terrorist murders of the three students.
Unfortunately, we are seeing this even among some Israelis, who, imagining
themselves righteous people, are thumping their chests in an ill-advised and
premature “mea culpa.”
~~~~~~~~~~
One of the most egregious of the accusations came from Secretary of State
Kerry, which should really, really not be a surprise. We know by now quite
well who is our friend and who is not. There is not even a pretense of
evenhandedness. Rather, his bias is exposed for all the world to see.
~~~~~~~~
Yisrael Medad put out a comparison of what Kerry said after our boys were
found dead, and what he said now (with all emphasis from Medad):
Then:
“The news of the murder of these three Israeli teenagers...is
simply devastating. We all had so much hope that this story
would not end this way. As a father, there are no words to express such a
horrific loss that shakes all people of conscience. We
pray for these boys and their families, and together we grieve with all
of the people of Israel. Knowing that Naftali was also an
American citizen makes this an especially heavy blow.
“We condemn this despicable terrorist act in the strongest
possible terms. The killing of innocent youths is an outrage beyond any
understanding or rationale, and the perpetrators must be brought to
justice. This is a time for all to work toward that goal without
stabilizing the situation.”
And now:
“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms
the despicable and senseless abduction and murder of Muhammad Hussein Abu
Khder.
“It is sickening to think of an innocent 17 year old boy
snatched off the streets and his life stolen from him and his
family. There are no words to convey adequately our condolences to
the Palestinian people.
“The authorities are investigating this tragedy, a number of Israeli and
Palestinian officials have condemned it, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has been
emphatic in calling for all sides ‘not to take the law into their own
hands.’
“Those who undertake acts of vengeance only destabilize an already
explosive and emotional situation. We look to both the Government
of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take all necessary steps to prevent
acts of violence and bring their perpetrators to justice. The
world has too often learned the hard way that violence only leads to more
violence and at this tense and dangerous moment, all parties must do
everything in their power to protect the innocent and act with reasonableness
and restraint, not recrimination and retribution.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The difference in over-all tone between the two statements – the far more
passionate distress when referring to the killing of the Arab boy – is fairly
obvious.
But what we must pay closest attention to are certain key judgmental words:
vengeance, destabilize, recrimination, retribution. He has Israel tried
and convicted on this, without evidence.
There we were, showing a nobility in our behavior with the funeral.
But it wasn’t allowed to stand.
And – naturally – Abbas is referring to the murder of this boy as an
Israeli “war crime.”
~~~~~~~~~~
There will in the end be a final conclusion arrived at by the police, but
my absolute conviction is that he was murdered by Arabs. Allow me to share
the evidence for this:
First, the body was burned. This is not the way Jews would operate.
Then, there is a report given by a “senior former police officer” that the
family of the boy was well-known to police sources. “It’s a problematic
family with internal clashes that have been going on for many years....I know the internal conflicts in that family, and we need to
wait and not rush to connect the murder of the Arab youth with the abduction in
Gush Etzion."
~~~~~~~~~~
Palestinian Arab culture is clan-based. If you are interested in
further information, to help you understand what might be going on, you might
want to see this:
“Arab culture addresses security through ‘balanced
opposition’ in which everybody is a member of a nested set of kin groups,
ranging from very small to very large. These groups are vested with
responsibility for the defense of each member and responsible for harm any
member does to outsiders. If there is a confrontation, families face families,
lineage faces lineage, clan faces clan.”
~~~~~~~~~~
There have been other suggestions that the boy’s murder may have been an
“honor killing” necessitated in the killer’s view by the fact that the boy is a
homosexual, which brings a shame to the family that must be rectified.
~~~~~~~~~~
Credit:
Ma’an
Palestinian Arab culture is “honor-shame”
based.
An honor killing is the homicide of a member of a
family...due to the perpetrator's belief that the victim has brought shame or
dishonor upon the family...usually for reasons such as refusing to enter an
arranged marriage,
being in a relationship that is disapproved by their relative...or
engaging in homosexual
relations. (Emphasis added)
~~~~~~~~~~
Lastly, we have reports from several sources of
conflicting information provided by the mother and the father, including claims
regarding an attempted kidnapping of the boy’s younger brother some days
before this incident. See, for example:
“On Tuesday, police said,
the mother called police to say that ‘settlers’ had tried to kidnap her younger
son. She said that individuals had stopped a car in front of her house where she
was sitting with her son, and that they tried to grab him. She managed to hold
onto him, she said, and they left, at which point she called police.
“Officers arrived a few
minutes later to take her statement, in which she said ‘settlers’ had tried to
kidnap her son, but could give no details. However, a few minutes later the
father arrived, and he disputed his wife, saying that it was Arabs who tried to
kidnap the son.
“Police asked the father
if he was positive regarding the identity of the would-be kidnappers, and he
said he was. When they asked him to file a police complaint, he said he would,
but that he would come down to the police station later on to do so in order to
be able to comfort his son. He never showed up, police said, who contacted him
several times asking him to file the complaint – but to no avail.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The charge that Jews killed this boy has sparked
severe riots in certain Arab sections of Jerusalem in and near the Shuafat
neighborhood and in Beit Hanina.
Credit:
Hadash Parush/Flash90
Rioters did damage to the light rail station in
the Shuafat neighborhood and threw rocks and homemade bombs at the police.
Additional police forces had to be called out.
I pause here to point out the difference
between the way we Jews responded to the death of the three boys and the way
Arabs are responding here. Unfortunately, this difference will
not be noted by mainstream media sources.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jerusalem Councilman Aryeh King charges that the
murder of the boy was planned in order to incite unrest.
I cannot speak to this, but what seems certain
is that the fact of the murder was used to inflame anger and
promote rioting. Please note that the rioting is making it difficult for
the IDF to continue with its actions against Hamas in Judea and Samaria –
something else that might well have been taken into consideration when the
unrest was fomented.
~~~~~~~~~~
It goes without saying that the sooner the
police can reach a determination as to who was responsible the better. But this
becomes a bit like trying to put feathers back into a ruptured pillow.
I’m betting that any conclusion other than that
a Jew did it will not be accepted on the street within the Palestinian Arab
community, and that the mainstream international media that is covering this
story now will make much less hoopla when it is announced that the boy was
murdered by one of his own.
My prayer is that our government has the
determination and the courage, once this quiets down, to continue to pursue with
full vigor the actions against Hamas that must be pursued.
We cannot – must not- be intimidated
either by Arab violence or by libels directed at us by officials in the
international community.
~~~~~~~~~~
I end with a lovely story,that demonstrates the
difference between how we Jews are truly responding to the deaths of the boys,
and how the Arabs in the street are dealing with the news of the death of an
Arab boy:
“Combat soldiers from the
Kfir Brigade's Lavi Battalion, which specializes in counter-terror operations in
Judea and Samaria, have taken upon themselves to fulfill the Jewish commandment to wrap tefillin daily for the merit of the three abducted and
murdered teens' souls.
“The tefillin were donated
by the Chabad house in France headed by Rabbi
Shmuel Azimov...the son of Rabbi Chaim Hillel came to Israel specifically to
give the tefillin to the soldiers.
“Chabad stated that in the
coming weeks it will distribute dozens of pairs of additional tefillin to IDF
combat soldiers.
"’We see in this a supreme
mission for the sake of the IDF soldiers who work day and night for the people
of Israel and the land of Israel, and for the elevation of the souls of the
murdered, may G-d avenge them,’ added Chabad.
"’Even if you cut
off these three flowers you never will succeed, because there's a continuation.
There's Gilad, Naftali and Eyal in all the people of Israel and the whole
world,’ said Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau at the funeral. Addressing G-d, he
added ‘No one can defeat this people,
even in hard moments they stand before You in prayer.
...They don't give up on an eternal
tradition.’" (Emphasis added)
Credit: Lubavitch
[Chabad]
Traditional Jews believe that to take upon themselves an additional mitzvah
(commandment) elevates the soul of a departed one.
Each and every day we should remind ourselves of who we are and bless the
Almighty for that difference.
~~~~~~~~~~
And, my friends, I look to each of you to share the truth about what is
happening with regard to this ugly situation.
~~~~~~~~~~
© Arlene Kushner.
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