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Last update - 11:34 17/03/2008
To the Westerner who 'understands' the terrorist
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Hamas, Burston, anti-Semitism 

To the Westerner who "understands" the terrorist:

Spare us the explanations.

Spare us the learned, sociology-drenched justifications.

Spare us the reasons why you "get" Palestinians when they gun Jews down in cold blood.

Spare us the chapter and verse on how the plight of the Palestinians is at the root of Islamic terrorism the world over, and if the Palestinians were to receive full justice, Islamic terrorism would pass from the world.

Spare us.

You may well believe, with the blind faith of the hopeful and the fear-stricken, that when these people are through with the Jews, they won't come for you.

Think again.

Spare us the post-modernism and the radical chic and the guff.

Open your eyes.

When a gunman walks into a Jewish religious seminary at the main entrance to that part of Jerusalem which has been Jewish since 1948, and which was stolen from no one, pay attention.

When he opens fire on religious students hunched over books in a library, firing and firing until blood soaks holy book bindings and open pages of Talmud and the whole of the floor, pay close attention to the reactions of the self-styled people of faith who run Hamas.

Spare us the conclusion that the only reason Hamas kills Jews, and that its underlying motive for encouraging others to do the same, is to force Israel to agree to a cease-fire.

Spare us the "Israel's policies are responsible for the bloodshed" and "the seminary is, after all, an ideological bastion and symbol of the religious right" and all the other scholarly, arrogant, condescending and amoral ways of saying "they had it coming to them."

Spare us the understanding for the motivations of the mass murderer who kills with God on his lips. Spare us the understanding of the words of the Hamas official who says that after all the Israeli killings of Palestinians, the Jerusalem killings are "our only joy."

Spare us the sight of the thanksgiving prayers for the great victory, prayers that began in Gaza City mosques just after the slaughter of the Jews. Spare us the sight of the sweets being handed out by little children to motorists in passing cars in the Strip, sweets to celebrate the young Jews dead on the floor, the young Jews dead at their desks, the Jews killed for the crime of being Jews in that place of study and worship.

Spare us the righteousness of those who condemned Baruch Goldstein for entering a holy place with an assault rifle and murdering Palestinians, but who can understand why a Palestinian might do the very same thing,

Open your eyes.

Last week, when Israeli forces drove into Gaza, and some 120 Palestinians were killed, many of them were gunmen, but with children making up another sixth of the total, one grieving father spoke with quiet eloquence, saying "Other places in the world, when this happens, there is a great outcry. When this happens here, the world is silent. No one cares."

He's right. The world has grown content to let Palestinians die. The reason is not simple callousness. And it is not, as Hamas proclaims to its followers in Gaza, that the Jews control the world media and world finance, and thus Western government as well.

The reason is terrorism.

The world has grown weary of the Islamist's creed, that only the armed struggle can resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that the only proper resolution is the end of Israel.

Even the Israeli left, which for decades championed the Palestinian with courage and determination, has, in large part, had it with the Palestinians. The reason is terrorism. The reason is murder. The reason is that the rulers of Gaza are people who see an intrinsic value in the killing of Jews for the sake of increasing the number of dead Jews in the world.

The rulers of Gaza cannot bring themselves to accept the concept of sharing the Holy Land with the Jews.

The best that the rulers of Gaza can do, is to bring an end to hope among their own people and ours as well.

They believe that the Jewish state is temporary, and that the Jews will soon abandon it to Islamic rule.

After all this time, you'd think they'd know the Jews a little better.


______________


Previous blogs:

Nine immoral solutions for Gaza - a guide
Islam will win
Palestinians' doomsday weapon, non-violence, fails test
This November, I'm voting christian
Anti-Zionism as a form of racism

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  1.   Good article Bradley, didn`t know you had it in you... 10:36  |  David 07/03/08
  2.   the Palestinians, Muslims, could make the same argument 10:43  |  Palestinian 07/03/08
  3.   This is absolutely so. AND MORE! 10:50  |  S 07/03/08
  4.   to bradley burston 10:50  |  brad pitt 07/03/08
  5.   Nice try, Brad, but they won`t get it till they start dying 10:54  |  Joe Sittizen 07/03/08
  6.   World`s tired of both Pals AND Israelis, Bradley. 11:06  |  Michael 07/03/08
  7.   Bradley 11:08  |  JewishHeart 07/03/08
  8.   Spare ME, Bradley 11:09  |  MacBeth 07/03/08
  9.   BB - still doesn`t get reality 11:10  |  j 07/03/08
  10.   BB - intellectually bankrupt 11:12  |  MacBeth 07/03/08
  11.   #4 BRAD PITT . HATRED OF JEWS AND THE G-D OF THE UNIVERSE ?? 11:14  |  Bill 07/03/08
  12.   Very good article 11:15  |  Jon 07/03/08
  13.   Understanding terrorism 11:17  |  Ziad 07/03/08
  14.   condolences for families in Jerusalem 11:19  |  juan 07/03/08
  15.   to #2 11:20  |  Mikhailo Sidorenko 07/03/08
  16.   To the Westerner who cheers on IDF 11:25  |  Michael 07/03/08
  17.   brad pitt - you wish 11:26  |  Ilana 07/03/08
  18.   Palestinian 11:26  |  miloimnick frm north 07/03/08
  19.   bradley 11:27  |  by gum 07/03/08
  20.   Judea, Samaria also "stolen from no one" 11:27  |  SA 07/03/08
  21.   9,9999 OUT OF 10 MUSLIMS 11:35  |  indrajaya 07/03/08
  22.   the trabsfer of arabs is the only answer 11:36  |  v hardman 07/03/08
  23.   Palestinian 2 11:38  |  ChanahS 07/03/08
  24.   #2 11:41  |  j10 07/03/08
  25.   sharing the Holy Land with the Jews 11:42  |  Ben Sina 07/03/08
  26.   What blind ignorance... 11:43  |  David Bennison 07/03/08
  27.   Bradley makes a point, but he misses something important...... 11:43  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/03/08
  28.   Jewish terrorism OK, Islamic terrorism TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE 11:48  |  Clickfool 07/03/08
  29.   There is one word for these Westerners: Chutzpa 11:50  |  AA 07/03/08
  30.   two ways 11:51  |  aitor 07/03/08
  31.   Partially understand shooter 11:51  |  matthew 07/03/08
  32.   nauseating 11:52  |  westerner 07/03/08
  33.   spare you ? I don`t think so 11:55  |  flimflam 07/03/08
  34.   I agree: the victims are not always to blame 11:57  |  Outsider 07/03/08
  35.   When you look for justification you can always find 11:57  |  Palestinian 07/03/08
  36.   A one-sided racist article 11:58  |  Nick Ferriman 07/03/08
  37.   Do the Pals want peace or Israel dead? 12:03  |  Adam 07/03/08
  38.   I`m not going to spare you 12:06  |  Edith 07/03/08
  39.   # 7 Victor Hardman 12:14  |  Nick Ferriman 07/03/08
  40.   Blue Line 12:17  |  Prince 07/03/08
  41.   to Palestinian 12:22  |  ARABIAN JEW 07/03/08
  42.   Defeating the Power of Evil 12:23  |  Joe 07/03/08
  43.   The rulers of Gaza cannot .. 12:25  |  JJ Burke 07/03/08
  44.   Future, brought to you by Hamas, Hiz, ElKaida 12:26  |  JG 07/03/08
  45.   Did Haaretz finally learn something? 12:28  |  Moishe 07/03/08
  46.   Terrorism 12:29  |  spanish philosemite 07/03/08
  47.   A Step Too Far 12:34  |  Joel Weltman 07/03/08
  48.   The heart of the matter 12:44  |  Choni Davidowitz 07/03/08
  49.   Spare us Israel` atrocious aggression & contempt for Int`l law 12:46  |  Dutch 07/03/08
  50.   You just realize te pain after feeling it. 12:53  |  Just man 07/03/08
  51.   The untolerable ennemy: books, civil youth, students... 12:57  |  Alain 07/03/08
  52.   #35 Nick 12:59  |  Moshe 07/03/08
  53.   Circle of Violence 13:01  |  Raymond Jakobsen 07/03/08
  54.   Finally a Bradley Burston I can live with 13:05  |  Catholic Israeli 07/03/08
  55.   #21 The Jewish invaders have been the problem since day one 13:06  |  Dutch 07/03/08
  56.   Yeshiva Murders 13:12  |  Allan 07/03/08
  57.   #4 | "Brad Pitt" is NOT in Germany 13:12  |  IP checker 07/03/08
  58.   Those Who Justify Pal Terror And Ignore Barak`s Offer In Taba 13:13  |  Tim R 07/03/08
  59.   #44 Choni your argument is the torah, their is the Coran 13:24  |  Ben Sina 07/03/08
  60.   Dear Choni 13:29  |  Raymond Jakobsen 07/03/08
  61.   Gee Bradley I thought you were one of those Westerners 13:35  |  Josh 07/03/08
  62.   bradley, what happened to you? your logic is more or 13:36  |  vladimir 07/03/08
  63.   I do not get your point 13:53  |  Belgitude 07/03/08
  64.   Its racism Bradley 13:54  |  Dave Duncan 07/03/08
  65.   Quit whining Mr. Burston 13:56  |  Mark Lincoln 07/03/08
  66.   # 52 Tim R 14:01  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/03/08
  67.   Desperate, hateful and cowardly 14:01  |  ScotGuy 07/03/08
  68.   For ScotGuy # 62 14:10  |  Clickfool 07/03/08
  69.   Thank you 14:18  |  a wandering Jew 07/03/08
  70.   We already know Bradley, duhhhhh!