A Collective War Against Terrorists | Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | Beit Midrash

קטגוריה משנית

The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of

R. Avraham ben-tziyon ben shabtai

Today it is clear to any intelligent and decent individual that the State of Israel must wage an all out war against the Palestinian Authority (PA). The war must have the objective to crush the PA to dust and to disable the terrorists, their commanders and those who support them. Just as they plotted to do against Israel, thus, Israel must do to them. However, such actions bring on the heavy trepidation of world opinion, as it is known that today a war is not only waged on the military stage but also involves world opinion. Those who are concerned, therefore, about such world opinion, consider the international pressures and are wary of sanctions that will be placed against Israel. They cry out that we should not be like the Serbs in Yugoslavia.

Indeed, the situation is not simple. Military attacks must be combined with widespread political attacks against the enemy. The problem is that the State of Israel is not acting appropriately. If the leaders would try their hardest to deter international intervention, but the efforts to do so were hopeless as powerful countries that do not support Israel's cause could present more problems for the State, then the leaders would have to reconsider its position of fighting its enemies, even though it is justified in doing so. However, given that Israel is not seriously campaigning against its enemies in the international arena, it should be demanded that it wage war against them, both on the battle field and in the international political realm.

In the interest of world peace, it is Israel's obligation even more so to warn the leaders of the world that if they do not put an end to the terror and the murderous terrorist organizations that are flourishing in the Middle East, then their own lives will have miserable endings. If they don't take heed to this warning then the terror that exists toward Israel will continue to flourish and will eventually be turned against the rest of the world. Israel's enemies have no interest or desire to create or provide anything of value for the sake of humanity, not even for their own people. They are only concerned with occupying themselves with the spilling of blood and spreading terror. Arafat's reign proves this concept, without a doubt. Instead of improving his people's conditions and standards of living, he and his murderers and thieves have succeeded in doing exactly the opposite. Many countries have given the PA billions of dollars in grants, which have only ended up in Arafat and his henchmen's pockets, stolen and wasted. They have succeeded in making themselves extremely wealthy more quickly and more easily than most other corrupt dictatorships in the world. Arafat has come to such a high level of corruption, defilement and deceit at such a quick pace that even the most corrupt regimes and organized crime syndicates have been left behind, in the dust. And there is no organized crime syndicate that is not in some way connected to Arafat’s regime. All the funds that were to be used for "cultural necessities" that Arafat has not stolen, he has invested in arms procurement in order to maim, destroy and murder. The only progress Arafat and his followers have made is in the planning and execution of more difficult and more intelligent murderous terrorist attacks.

If the state of Israel does not obliterate, without mercy, these terrorists and all their supporters, then global terror will lift its head and will unmercifully attack all parts of the world. The terrorists will come to believe that terror is an effective means of attaining their goals. They will realize that the more they lie and the more evil they manage to achieve, the more seriously they will be taken, the more attention they will get and the more they will be listened to, just as the western democracies today regard the PA worthy of their aid and acknowledgement.

The rest of the world must be informed that whether they are interested in the welfare of the Jewish nation that has returned to its Land or not, the danger that constantly envelops Israel is also drawing nearer to them. If the terrorist organizations and Palestinian crime syndicate are not immediately destroyed, then all are in danger. No nation or country will remain that will not need to invest their best resources and men to fight the daily war against terror. If these terrorists are not stopped today then every public place will require around the clock guards to protect the people from being blown up, or from the water from being poisoned, or from dangerous bacteria being dispersed, or from terrorists acquiring the most advanced weapons that could endanger the entire world. Although every country in the world will need to increase the size and manpower of their police forces, terror will continue to reign in the rich countries as well as in the poor. Every third person will have to take on the role of a police officer in order to protect the people and their houses. Routine checks will be made on every street corner of pedestrians’ bags in order to detect poison as well as dangerous weapons that may be concealed on their bodies.

If this terror is not immediately put to an end, then western democracies will cease to exist as it is known today, with its comfort and freedom. Left with no good alternative, the citizens will demand a dictator that will promise security to their personal beings and their property. But alas, it will be too late because they will have already lost both their freedom and their security. And so, instead of "From Zion Torah will spring forth", it will be "From Palestine, terror, murder and bereavement will spring forth." This is all because certain western leaders did not differentiate between the righteous and the evil in the Israeli versus Palestinian confrontation.

Israel has proof of the many different types of criminal acts, economic corruptions and deceptions the leaders of the terrorist organizations and their supporters commit on a regular basis. And all the strings of this corruption and terror lead back to Arafat and his henchmen. Their deeds extend also to adultery, robbery, exploitation, deception, deviousness, and all other types of evil that exists in the world.

Why don't the leaders of Israel relate to these facts about the PA, and make it well known to all, what and who Israel is dealing with? Isn't this a moral obligation of the highest priority to inform the other nations of the world as to whom they are dealing with? Shouldn't one warn his neighbor of an impending terrorist attack that will destroy his life? The Torah already commands us "Before a blind person do not put an obstacle." Yet the leaders of Israel have legitimized and made kosher this defiled being and have opened up the gates for him to other friendly countries as well. It is, therefore, Israel's immediate, moral and Torah obligation to expose before the nations of the world the dangers that are awaiting them.

And so, there is no need whatsoever to pay heed to those who flounder and worry about the international pressures or sanctions that may be placed upon Israel in response to a war against these terrorists, for they are not fulfilling their basic moral obligation to the rest of the world by revealing who they know Arafat to be in reality. Those who are unsure of Israel's definite need to attack its enemies are either suffering from extreme blindness to reality or dullness of the heart, for as a result of being in contact with terrorist leaders, they allow evil and corruptness to cling to them. It is not for naught that the Torah states, "Tell me who your friends are and then I will tell you who you are." If Israel would explain to the world it's just cause, there is no doubt it would receive some form of international support that would prevent other countries from acting negatively toward it. Quickly and immediately, the State of Israel should reconsider its current passive position and initiate a comprehensive war, on both military and political fronts, physically attacking and spreading worldwide propaganda against the terrorist organizations - until their destruction.