Emes VeEmunah: Why Did They Do It?

The murderers who massacred the Fogel family are savage butchers. Mass murderers deserving the same fate they gave to the Fogel family. Poetic justice would be to slit their throats right along with the throats of their wives and children.

But I don’t advocate this (much though I’d like to) because I am not a savage and it would in the end be unjust. Their wives and children did not commit the atrocity. What I do advocate is that the killers be caught, tried, convicted, and executed publicly for the entire world to witness.

Why did they do that? There is only one reason. They hate Jews. No matter how they would try to explain it – that’s the reason.

If the people (and I use that term loosely) who did this claim that this was done because Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, or any other reason, it is only an excuse for their blood lust. They simply wanted to kill some Jews – indiscriminately or otherwise. It gives them pleasure.

Some people might equivocate and say that Israelis killed innocent Arab children too when they attacked Gaza. Maybe. But it was not out of a blood lust. Nor was it on purpose. If it happened it was unintentional. Unintentional but sometimes unavoidable casualties of war. Casualties that Arab leaders and pundits never fail to exploit.

That is not what happened here. The Fogels were not unintentional casualties of war. They were sought out as convenient targets of terror.

The number of suicide attacks against the Jewish people in Israel has unfortunately taught me not to be surprised when something like this happens. But what really outrages me is the Arab reaction in the street. Not that I haven’t come to expect that too. I do. The events of 9/11 had the same Arab reaction. Nothing new here. But it still outrages me every time I see it.

What kind of people reacts to the slaughter of innocent children by celebrating in the street handing out candy to children? The answer is unfortunately all too simple. There is hatred of the Jewish people that is so vehement that the mass murder of an innocent Jews is something to celebrate.

Do all Arabs feel this way deep inside – even the so called civilized enlightened ones? I don’t know. I somehow can’t believe that they all think slitting Jewish throats is something to celebrate. But it is getting harder and harder for me to believe that. For once I’d like to hear an Arab leader condemn not only an atrocity like this, but to do it without any equivocation. There is always a ‘yeah… but’ when any Arab politician or pundit expresses his condemnation of a terror attack against Israeli civilians.

What I would like to see is not only a clear and unequivocal condemnation of this attack and the people who did it – I’d like to see the same condemnation of the celebration in the streets.

That they don’t do this and instead try to explain it away as some sort of pent up release of frustration with the occupation - makes me suspect they are just playing for the western camera. And that they couldn’t care less about an innocent Jew being slaughtered that way.

It is part and parcel of the Arab culture to hate Jews. It is part of their very being. It is in their blood. They are taught about Jews much the same way we are taught about Amalek. They believe that if they can’t get rid of us, then they have to wipe us out - erase us from even the last vestiges of their memory. To paraphrase the Torah portion we read this coming Shabbos Parshas Zachor they might say: Timcha Es Zecher HaYehudi! They have had over a century of the kind of indoctrination to hate the Jew that would make Hitler proud.

But even if Arab leaders started expressing genuine sympathy for the victims of terror and fully condemning the terror, terrorists and the celebrations of it – it would not solve the underlying problem. In fact nothing that is going on now will solve the problem. There can be no peace when the hatred of the Arabs for the Jews is so great that they celebrate mass murder of Jews.

I know what the solution is. But I don’t know how to implement it or if it is even possible to implement it. It has nothing to do with settlements or occupation. It has to do with teaching Arabs not to hate Jews. The Mosques, the schools, the media, entertainment programs, books, magazines all preach hatred of the Jew. To Arabs we are all following the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. We are the ones who orchestrated 9/11. We are the vermin described in the popular Mein Kampf. Until they stop thinking like this nothing will change.

What are the odds of anything like that ever happening? In my view – zero! At least not in my lifetime. How do you un-teach hate? It seems that the more religious you are in Islam the more you celebrate killing Jews. Even innocent children. Islam is apparently the fastest growing religion. And the more religious (fundamental) you become in Islam, the more it seems that you celebrate mass murdering Jews.