Observations from Israel

GS Don Morris, Ph.d.


I sit here in Israel watching a drama unfold and I am stunned by responses of people who are witnessing the same event. After 10 years living here and granted I am a bit of an outsider (non-Jewish) from America, I am surprised at myself for being so stunned-I know better, this is the Middle East! The drama of course is the “swapping of prisoners” as both the government and the media portray the event unfolding before the world. The Israeli families are predictably shocked, angry, disgusted with the results and the local media can’t seem to get enough of these poor peoples’ reactions to the coffins now displayed on the television sets. It is bad enough that these two families and all of their extended members and friends have endured over two years of tortuous agony not knowing if their soldiers were alive or dead. Tragically today we know they did not survive and we in Israel mourn their loss. Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser have come home to their beloved country.

Within my stunned psyche, I am both bewildered and astonished by the silence. I am moving from television station to station, internet site to site and do not hear any outcry of the cruelty being put upon the soldiers’ families or even upon the people of Israel. The behavior of Hizzbolah, distinguishes them from Western humanity and no one mentions it at all. Hizzbolah are after all human beings, men, women, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters and even children. Yes, they are of the same flesh and blood as us but for one major difference. Who they are, what they believe and value and how they treat other human beings make them completely different from us. I find their values repugnant, vile and evil and contrary to anything I or my fellow Westerners value as honorable, humane and decent. This is the message that must be told over and over again until it is understood what we in Israel are fighting against-we are the canary in the mine of contrary human values. This description and analysis applies not only to the Hizzbollah leadership, but as well as to all who profess to be part of Hizzbollah including those outside of the movement acting as willing servants to their message. Too many pundits, academics and leaders use a socially approved strategy to suggest such descriptions apply only to the leaders-this is of course, nonsense.

For some, these are strong words, even –ist words as name calling is an act of irresponsible behavior. It affords the name caller to abdicate responsibility for addressing the concepts under dispute. Far easier to simply apply a socially dismissive tactic known as name-calling. Let us, for a moment analyze the “prisoner exchange” –don’t you just cringe when the media and others have the audacity to use this term?

Two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, went out on a routine fence patrol one hot July day two years ago. Not a new duty, they had done such patrols previously-they were simply asked to check on the status of our border. Mind you, they were inside Israel, on our side of the border, when they were brutally attacked by a Hizzbollah team of murderers. These people had illegally crossed over into Israel. Contrast this with the enemy terrorist, Samir Kuntar, who also illegally crossed over deep inside Israel on April 22, 1979 and murdered four Israelis: 2 police men, a father and his young daughter. Kuntar, 17 years old, was the leader of the terrorist murder squad-their intention and orders were to cause harm to innocent Israeli citizens. At midnight they broke into the Haran family home, and abducted the father, Danny, and his four-year-old daughter, Einat. The mother, Smadar, the two-year-old daughter Yael, and a neighbor hid in a bedroom crawlspace.
The terrorists took the hostages towards the shore and, when they encountered law enforcement officers and IDF soldiers, Samir Kuntar shot Danny Haran at close range and cold-bloodedly slaughtered Einat by bashing her skull against a rock with the butt of his rifle. In the hiding place at the Haran home, baby Yael suffocated to death from her mother’s attempts to keep her quiet so the terrorists would not find them.

In the gunfire battle that ensued on the beach, an Israeli police officer and two members of the terror cell were killed. Note that our soldiers were also in our sovereign country of Israel and were attacked by Hizzbollah terrorists. Israelis respect our neighbor’s borders, Hizzbollah has no such respect. They feel more than comfortable violating our internationally drawn border. Just as the 17-year old Kuntar did in 1979 when he brutally murdered the aforementioned family, Hizzbolah kidnapped and murdered our soldiers who had no warning or opportunity to defend themselves. They value death; we value and honor the sanctity of human life.
Kunter was caught, put on trial, convicted and placed in a prison where he was to spend the rest of his life. The Haran family only has the possibility of grief to this day. The Red Cross and so many others were allowed access to this killer and over the years photos and interviews were the norm.

Our soldiers were ambushed, murdered and then carted away for political bargaining purposes. The Red Cross was NEVER permitted to visit them, Hizzbollah never allowed any communication with our men (perhaps they were dead already) nor has any information been forthcoming about this event from Hizzbollah. Not only is this a violation of the Geneva Accords, it is also a violation of the latest UN 1701 agreement. Israel honored international law, Hizzbollah used it to its advantage and otherwise “spit in our face” by not abiding by it when it was to their advantage.
Today, Kuntar and several other terrorists, alive and well were returned to their home to a heroes’ welcome; our men returned in boxes. Furthermore, the disrespect for anything humane occurred at the moment of transfer. The Hizzbollah “spokesman” gave a brief speech in which he still refused to indicate if our men were alive and then directed people to a vehicle-the coffins were then unloaded-cruel, ugly and dastardly behavior.

We in Israel are mourning our soldier’s loss, we are praying for their families and friends while celebrations are part of today’s, tonight’s and tomorrow’s agenda in Lebanon. Hizzbollah and others in Lebanon are honoring murderers, liars, and those engaged in ongoing deceit. Held up as role models whose inhumane behavior is praised as something to be emulated and replicated, Hizzbollah is clearly demonstrating to the world what it values and what it holds dear to its soul. Those who are repulsed by this ongoing behavior had best find the courage to stand against them!