Genuine Regret

August 4, 2002

by John F. Schmidt

When an Israeli jet recently guided a smart bomb into an apartment building in Gaza, a notorious terrorist leader was killed along with many innocents, including a two year old girl. Some have said that Israel is now morally equivalent to the terrorists. My moral sense was highly tweaked by an op-ed piece in the local paper making just that charge against the Israelis.

How does one judge moral issues? Some are quick to answer that although it is hard to justify the killing of innocents, there is such a thing as “collateral damage.” However harsh the term sounds, they say, it is a fact that innocents die in any war. And everybody knows it.

Tens of thousands of German civilians perished in World War II in the Allied bombing of their cities. Few have dared to suggest that the Allies were the moral equivalent of the Germans, who showed little care for whoever they killed. The concentration camps stand today as mute yet eloquent testimony to killings which have no justification. The Allies fought to eliminate that kind of killing.

So moral judgments cannot be made based simply on bare actions. Motive and circumstance must always be considered.

As for motive, it is a fact that the Israelis deliberately targeted a mass-murderer. It is very likely they knew that innocent civilians would be present. All the time they had been trying to apprehend or kill this man, other opportunities must have presented themselves to take him out. It is not unreasonable to assume that he knew people in his entourage were in danger wherever he went simply because he was a target. That suggests a question of who he considered important to live or die. Could it be that he deliberately surrounded himself with innocents because he counted on the Israeli’s unwillingness to gratuitously slaughter non-combatants? In other words, did he make a human shield out of mothers and two-year-old children?

If that was the plan, it has both drawbacks and advantages. The downside is that the Israelis’ patience might eventually be exhausted, and they would strike anyway. That is probably what happened. The upside is that even if the Israelis succeeded in killing him, the terrorist’s cause would reap favorable world press attention while the Israelis would be pilloried.

The deceased terrorist was known to target innocent civilians. He was a master-planner, killing unapologetically, without regret or remorse. His special targets were Jews. There is no possible justification for what he swore he would continue to do until his dying day. The Israelis did the logical thing and made sure his dying day was sooner rather than later. In doing so, they undoubtedly saved many more lives than were lost in the bombing. A greater good was achieved.

There can be no moral equivalence between one who deliberately targets innocent civilians and those who deliberately try to avoid them. Hamas celebrates the death of the Jewish innocents. The Israelis acknowledge but mourns them.

The deaths of the innocents must be blamed on Muslim hatred of Jews, not Jewish hatred of Muslims. Behind that one terrorist is the whole web of murder fashioned against the Jews in the Middle East. The Jews have a genocidal enemy, and it is Islam.

Hatred unites today’s Arab and Islamic world as nothing else can. The various Muslim factions easily fight among themselves when given the opportunity, except when it comes to the Jews. Then they are united.

Moreover, there is no corresponding national Jewish hatred of the Islamics. Jews have no scriptural mandate that leads them to hate others or deny them their right to exist.

When thinking about this whole matter just remember: the Islamic terrorists celebrate when an innocent Jew is murdered. Yet the Israelis are sad at the death of Muslim innocents. There are innocent deaths, but at least there is also genuine regret. That is more than can be said for the terrorists.

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John F. Schmidt has written numerous articles over the last decade. Politically, he is an Alan Keyes-type Republican. Along with his wife, he has organized voter drives in Pennsylvania, and been active politically since the 1990 elections. His livelihood, until recently, was spent in automation engineering for a large global equipment manufacturing company, specializing in coal mining. WANB in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania hosted Schmidt's weekly talk radio program "Issues and Answers." His writing is intended to relate the headlines of today to the foundation of eternal truth - the Scriptures. He currently resides in Palm Beach County, Florida. Visit his website at: Inalienable-Rights.org

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