For These We Weep

I have been searching for the answer to this question…who did they kill…those 104 we are about to release? I know of a mother and her three children; I know of a grandfather stabbed in the back. I don’t know all the names but it is for these we weep today – once killed by Palestinian terrorists, today betrayed again by the government and the justice system in Israel.
Today, for these we weep…knowing that tomorrow…there will be…there will be…others.I got this on Facebook with the following note:

Look Into These Eyes….Men, Women, Parents, Grandparents, Children, Grandchildren, Infants, Soldiers, Asheknazi, Sefardic, Jews and Non Jews, Religious and Secular.

These precious faces haven’t smiled since vicious murderers stabbed, shot, kidnapped and murdered them. The Government has just agreed to release the spineless animals who murdered the people you are looking at. The Israeli Government did this as a prerequisite to have the ‘privilege’ to sit and discuss ‘peace’ with a people who continues to call for our destruction.

Who could demand such an insane request from us? I don’t forget all the good America has done for me and my people, but today… today is a brand new day. Yesterday doesn’t exist and tomorrow isn’t here yet. Today I live in a country that feels humiliated, confused and betrayed.

Look into their eyes… and imagine the agony of those who love them still and forever…

5 Comments

  1. I keep thinking of the famous book by the late Simon Wiesenthal “The Sunflower” in which he relates that as a young man imprisoned in Mathausen, he was brought in one day to hear the confession of a dying young Nazi soldier. Wiesenthal heard it all and then without saying a word, left the room.

    I bring this up because Netanyahu presumes to forgive the murderers of Jews by setting them free – that is evil and that is blasphemy! No Jew has the power to forgive the sins one human being commits against another! Not even G-d has this authority. In Judaism, only those who have been offended can forgive – and the dead cannot forgive those who killed them!

    Netanyahu has no right to presume to speak and to act in their name! Wiesenthal rightly could not forgive a Nazi mass murderer – and at least it can be said the Nazi did ask a Jew to forgive him. I can respect the courage to repent of one’s evil doings – even if I can never forgive him as an enemy!

    This brings me to my next point – what have the Arabs done to merit Jewish forgiveness? Have they have asked for it? No! Then on what grounds does the Prime Minister Of Israel dare to extend them a consideration that they have not even earned in the first place?

    I do not show the Arabs either understanding or forgiveness. There is a time and place for human charity! Here there is none! When I look these photos of all the beautiful Jewish people no longer with us, whose lives were ruthlessly extinguished by Arab animals, why is their memory not worthy of being shown respect by the Prime Minister?

    Why could he have not acted like Simon Wiesenthal with honor and held his peace and turned down the Arab demand for their release? It would have been understood! Above all, we have no moral right to forgive on behalf of the dead and absolve the murderers!

    And in this the government of Israel, in its shameful and dishonorable decision, does not speak for the Jewish people, those who lived before, those alive today and those yet to be born! Benjamin Netanyahu is a disgrace to his family, to Am Yisrael and one day he will be held to account for this grave sin before G-d!

  2. Thanks for this post, Paula. It reminds Israel’s friends in the world of the price that you have to pay for this pretence of a ‘peace process’ and the fact that the Palestinians, for their multitudinous crimes, pay…. no price at all. Be heartened, at least a little, by the sympathetic thoughts that are with you from around the globe.

  3. In my original “The Sunflower” essay, I had in mind two things I wanted to discuss that stayed with me ever since I heard of what happened on Sunday, the all-important issues of moral responsibility and the limits of forgiveness.

    Redemption is only possible when someone takes responsibility for their actions. The Arabs have never done so. In fact, just the exact opposite! When they are ready to face up to their long history of sordid crimes against the Jewish people, can we say moral responsibility on their part has been incurred.

    The limits of forgiveness: as you know, Jews and Christians have a different reaction on reading the climax of “The Sunflower.” In contemporary terms, my view is that we don’t have the power to forgive someone of the sins they committed against other people. Not even G-d has that power!

    Its offensive and morally obscene for Israel’s Prime Minister to intimate ex cathedra that forgiveness is an act of charity to the other side! To the contrary, forgiveness must be personally earned from those on whom a sin was inflicted. Its not an entitlement and being loose with forgiveness is even more offensive than merely taking it upon oneself to subvert justice, which is also unforgivable!

    “For Those We Weep” we must keep these important lessons uppermost in our minds. We may not be able to undo the grave sin before G-d that Israel’s leaders committed against them but at the very least, we must do everything humanly possible that is within our power to avoid compounding it!

    I didn’t write the easy things and if you chose not post the original piece that is your right as it is your blog! But I thought I ought to clarify why I wrote it – while the damage has now been done, its my fervent hope that future generations can act in the spirit with which the above thoughts are offered!

    Above all, Jews are human beings and not pieces to be moved about on a chessboard for politicians’ personal convenience. They deserve our abiding respect, affection and empathy regardless of whether they’re dead or alive or represent generations yet to come in the future.

  4. Rob,

    I agree with you! Paula wanted to put pictures to the people who were murdered and give them a face! The Israeli government discusses this mass release of convicted murderers like only technical details are involved! That is far from the truth.

    The Arabs pay no price now and they will pay no price in the future. And its up to the rest of us to remember what happened to all the people who were murdered… because the Israeli government won’t!

    I feel more sad than angry and the saddest thing to come out of this needless self-inflicted Jewish humiliation and appeasement is that it won’t bring peace! Such is the world we live in – where Israel’s adversary is not going to even promise to refrain from killing more Jews in the future.

    And we can’t even give the dead the promise “never again.” That is the saddest thing of all to bear in the days, weeks, months and years to come.

  5. I am an American who is very pro-Israel and I do not understand the releasing of these prisoners. I don’t know how big a part our “President” played in this decision, but there are many, many Americans who did not vote for Obama, nor do we support him in any way. In fact, we were horrified to see him voted in for a second term and we watch mortified to see him make poor decisions – one after another, while true Americans are counting the days until he is out of office. We stand with you and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. God Bless Israel and God Bless the United States.

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