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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
March 23, 2004
/ 1 Nissan, 5764
A sheik departs, very, very quickly
By
Wesley Pruden
Not your typical obituary — by far
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, good riddance. No R.I.P. for this gravestone. The ghosts of hundreds of Jews would tell you that he lived only too long.
This is what nearly everyone is thinking this morning, but few want to say so. Speaking ill of the dead is not a Judeo-Christian thing to do, even when we're glad that the old scoundrel is at last with Ol' Scratch.
The sheik was buried yesterday amidst a riotous explosion of gunfire, weeping and wailing, and with military honors. Thousands of Palestinian students of the mortician's gruesome arts crowded close to his open coffin carried over the heads of the mourners, pressing in to inspect what was left of him. The military rites mocked the honor of real soldiers, who in other cultures and other traditions do not demonstrate manly valor by killing children.
The Europeans, who never see a terrorist they can't make excuses for, are as noisy as a tree full of magpies this morning, eager to cluck-cluck, point with faux piety and view with manufactured alarm the slaying of the "spiritual leader" of Hamas, who plotted the murder of hundreds of innocents. Some spirit. Some leader. But even the British felt compelled to scold the Israelis and sigh wistfully over the "peace process."
Ah, yes. The peace process, a process that is to peace as Velveeta is to cheese. The chief of foreign policy for the European Union produces a tear or two, as if squeezing a small Bermuda onion in his pocket, to show us that he feels particularly bad: "This is very, very bad news for the peace process."
The Europeans, in fact, quickly ran out of words to express their sadness and had to use some of them twice. The Russians are "very, very concerned." The Polish foreign minister, who seems just about over his mourning for the dead of Madrid, is afraid the killing of the sheik may have "very, very negative consequences."
Condoleezza Rice, the White House national security adviser, had the grace to restrain herself while thinking of something diplomatic to say about something she couldn't reasonably regret but had to sound as if she feels at least a small remnant of rue. "Let's remember that Hamas is a terrorist organization," she said.
Indeed, even the European Union, in a spasm of truth-telling, once said that much about Hamas.
Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, said the obvious — "Israel has the right to defend itself" — but quickly entered the ritual "but, but." Said he: "But it is not entitled going for this kind of unlawful killing, and we therefore condemn it."
We can play the "but, but" game, too, and therefore ask the obvious: But if Israel is entitled to defend itself against the lawless killing of civilians who have never offended even a single Palestinian, why is Israel not entitled to dispatch the lawless killer? If Osama bin Laden is fair game, why should Ahmed Yassin, or any of the other leaders of the Palestinian terrorists be immune to justice?
Ahmed Yassin never attempted to hide who he was or what his goals were. This may have been a distortion of courage, or it may have been merely cunning exploitation of carefully cultivated hatred. He founded Hamas 25 years ago to oppose all compromise, all attempts to forge peace for the Middle East, all efforts to bridge differences between peaceful Muslim and friendly Jew. Not for him "the brotherhood of the Abrahamic faiths."
The Hamas charter was written in the rhetoric of hatred of Jews, employing the vilest of anti-Semitic language. He sprinkled a few shekels through the Palestinian villages, not in a spirit of godly concern for those in need, but to identify, recruit and manipulate the young he needed for his ranks of suicide bombers. When he was jailed briefly by the Israelis a decade ago, Yasser Arafat pleaded for his freedom, assuring the Israelis that Yassin was a man of peace, a "spiritual leader" after all, who would work to subdue the violence. Once freed, as an Israeli gesture to the negotiations at Oslo, he hurried off to Saudi Arabia to collect money from our dear friends in Riyadh to finance the weapons for his armed struggle. Forty months of unrelenting murder and mayhem against Israeli civilians followed.
The Middle East is a very, very dangerous place, and nobody has a clue what to do about it. That's why the words "peace process," which everyone understands are all but meaningless, have become the mantra of diplomats. "You could look for other options from now until the crack of doom," says Chris Patten, the commissioner for external relations for the European Union, "and you wouldn't find anything more sensible than the road map." Until then, we can blame the Jews.
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JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
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