Some friends were visiting me from Europe, a few weeks ago. During the course of their visit, one of them made a comment that I had heard from yet another European, regarding Palestinian mass-murder-suicide bombers. The wording isn't exact, but the thinking goes along the lines of, "Suicide bombers feel so desperate about their situation, they are willing to kill others and themselves." Which also seems to imply: If Israel removed the wall and treated Palestinians better, this would not happen,
I disagree with this line of thought, but normally prefer not to engage in a heated discussion regarding this issue.
Perhaps I should. Today, I want to address it. Clearly. I read two separate articles on an Imam suicide bombing in Gaza and the interview in Iraq.
There is never an acceptable excuse for a person or a society to condone, support or tolerate the act of mass killing of civilians. Yes, that goes for the American, Russian, Iranian, Israeli, Palestinian, Sudanese, British governments and all the other governments that sponsor attacks on civilians.
What bothers me about the Europeans who made these comments is that they both made this comment as if they can understand that people feel so despondent about being occupied by Jews that they encourage their sons, daughters, wives, husbands to blow themselves up as long as they murder others along with them.
I'm curious to know if these same Germans would have felt so comfortable applying this line of thinking if we change the nationalities and races in these scenarios.
My ex-husband's father was a wealthy man in Beirut, until 1975. Just because he is Christian he was forced to flee his homeland - losing their home and all of their financial assets. His home and assets were never recovered. Family and friends were murdered throughout the violent civil war. Although they have never received compensation for their losses, nor are they able to rebuild their lives in Lebanon, no one in that family has ever come to the conclusion that mass-murder-suicide bombing the muslim Lebanese or the Syrians is a logical response.
Because it isn't.
My father spent the first 10 years of his life in either concentration camps or Displaced Person Camps in Russia and Germany. The Nazis took our home, killed everyone except for my dad, his parents and 2 uncles. They raped, tortured, sterilized, tattooed and extracted gold & silver fillings from the mouths of everyone in my family and then gassed and burned their remains. After the war, some of the survivors who tried to return to their homes were murdered by gentiles occupying our homes. Although demoralized, despondent, grief-stricken and feeling quite helpless, still, no one in my family ever came to the conclusion that it would be alright to strap on explosives and blow ourselves up in a crowded German cafe or market.
I want to believe that this is just the thinking of extremists, but I am uneasy with the lack of outrage from the Arab and the Muslim community against mass-murder-suicide attacks.
Americans, Europeans, Israelis and various other communities freely and loudly condemn hate-crimes committed by their brethren. What is holding these people back from condemning these vicious hate crimes? Are Arabs & Muslims afraid to speak up? I know for a fact that many Arab Muslims find these acts deplorable. So, enough with the wall of silence, someone has to stir up a movement within the Arab and Muslim societies to show this as self-destructive, senseless and inhumane behaviour. We all know that there is no Heaven for murderers. All lives are precious and taking life is never the decision of Man.
Therefore, let's stop making excuses for despicably insane hate crimes, stop being afraid and speak up against these vile acts. It's never acceptable.
Here are the articles for both the cleric who blew himself up (killing 24 and injuring 150 Palestinians) and the Iraqi female mass-murderer-suicide-bomber-wanna-be:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3762066,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16suicide-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=global-home
