OPINION:
Armed with guns, knives and a meat cleaver, our ’partners in peace’ shot, slashed and stabbed their victims, leaving pools of blood and horror in their wake before being eliminated by the police. It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable deed (“Israel military starts wrecking terrorists’ family homes to send ’sharp message,’” Web, Nov. 19).
This act of Palestinian brutality was so heinous that even Israelis hardened by decades of terror responded with disbelief. Indeed, anyone still thinking of giving the Palestinians a state should take a long, hard look at the disturbing photos circulating online of the synagogue slaughter that took place last week.
In one such picture a Jewish man lies dead on the synagogue floor, wrapped in his prayer shawl and surrounded by blood stains, evoking scenes reminiscent of the days when the Cossacks massacred our people. It is a startling and distressing testimony to the savagery of our foes, to the bestial depths of inhumanity to which the Palestinians are willing to descend in their war against the Jewish state.
Make no mistake: This was a pogrom, a premeditated orgy of violence that was fueled by incitement coming from the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas. For weeks Mr. Abbas has been trying to ignite a religious war, instigating Palestinians to “defend” al-Aqsa Mosque and use “any means” at their disposal. He repeatedly harped on the religious symbol of the Temple Mount, attempting to stir up primal passions and ancient hatreds.
Shortly after the incident came to an end, Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch went before reporters and insisted that we will prevail — even as he failed to offer any substantive ideas as to how that will happen. Frankly I am tired of the meaningless mantras and barren babble of many of our politicians. The time for tough talk is over. Now is the time for tough action.
Mr. Abbas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, has used the PA as a springboard to attack Israel in international forums abroad while fomenting anti-Jewish violence here at home. It is the PA that is leading the charge to demonize and delegitimize Israel even as it encourages terrorism against the Jewish state.
Throughout the years the Palestinian leadership has proved again and again that they do not want peace, instead preferring to resort to violence to achieve their aims. How much longer must we tolerate acts of barbarism and terror?
The blood of our brothers, of our fellow Jews, is crying out to us from the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem, and from all the other sites of Palestinian terrorism over the past two decades. Let us finally heed their cry and prevent further suffering by dismantling the Palestinian terrorist entity once and for all.
BRIAN J. GOLDENFELD
Woodland Hills, Calif.
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