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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 8, 2002 / 28 Kislev, 5763

261 dead

By Chezi Goldberg




Bodies of Kenyan dancers in rubble
of the demolished Paradise Hotel
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com | I was riding a Jerusalem bus Thursday when news of the intended missile attack against the Arkia flight from Kenya came across the airwaves. For a moment the passengers were in shock. Then we all breathed a sigh of relief.


That was our mistake.


Minutes later, news of the attack on the Paradise Hotel came across the radio waves. There were casualties. There was no sigh of relief.


When we here look at a miraculous escape from a deadly attack and breathe a sigh of relief, we lose the war on terrorism. Our attitude should be: The terrorists intended to down a plane with 261 innocent commercial air travelers aboard. They did not succeed, thank G-d. However, their intentions were clear. We must consider their intentions and take action with a state of mind, as if they had succeeded.

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When the missiles were launched, the Israeli government was shown what the enemy intends to do. The Israelis should react with overwhelming firepower, as if 261 innocents had actually died. It is short sighted to move on in life as if nothing happened. By backing off because no one died, we allow the terrorists to keep on attacking.


And, rest assured, they will until they are stopped.


Since when does a government have to wait until a massacre happens to do something to change reality. Why do people have to die for something to be done to prevent further death from happening?


When the terror attack Pi Glilot Refinery was miraculously averted, Shimon Peres, then foreign minister was quoted as saying that had the attack been successful and killed tens of thousands of Israelis, it would have been considered an act of war against Israel.


In other words, since the attack did not kill ten thousand Israelis, Israel would not take action. In simpler terms, it seems that until people die, no one wants to do anything to prevent deaths. Unfortunately, when I look around me at the senseless and avoidable carnage taking place in Israel and other places frequented by Jews and Israelis, it becomes clear that Peres was not speaking out of turn. Seems pretty clear to me that he was expressing government policy.


Sounds crazy? Not really. This type of thinking happens all the time. I know of a local street corner that is considered a dangerous threat to the preservation of human life. The local city council refused to put in a speed bump because only two accidents had happened there. Finally, after ten accidents, three of them fatal, they put in a speed bump. They had to justify the expenditure to protect human life through collected data about actual loss of human life.


Thursday terrorists attacked the Arkia flight with the expressed intent of murdering 261 travelers in mid air. The terrorists did not succeed to kill their intended targets. We all appreciate the miracle. Thank G-d, 261 people did not die. Yet, our leaders MUST react as if the terrorists did succeed. The fact that the terrorists even dared to try to carry out such an action is reason and justification enough to root them out and exterminate each and every one of their members.


When they fired to kill, they made their intentions clear. They will try again. We need not and should not wait for 261 people to actually be killed.


Retaliate now.


We have been warned.


The next time, they might hit the target. They next time, we might not be so lucky.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Chezi Goldberg is a Jerusalem based counselor for Adolescents and Families At Risk. Send your comments by clicking here.



© 2002, Chezi Goldberg