I agree 100% with an editorial in today’s Chicago Tribune, explaining why Israel owes no apologies for the missile attack that killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas.
Anyone who thinks there can ever be a “Road Map To Peace” in the Middle East is out of their mind. It’s a region where logic and rational reasoning play no role whatsoever. A place where men fight back against armed soldiers by picking up rocks in the street and throwing them. A place where gravity is of no concern, as bullets are constantly being fired in the air with no regard for where they’ll fall. A place where one side believes it can win a war by being the first to die (you’d think at least one Hamas suicide bomber would have read about why there are no more Japanese kamikaze pilots!).
It’s also a place where tens of thousands of people marched and rallied in the streets to protest Yassin’s assassination. Do the Palestinians really want this to be the poster boy for their cause? A man who sent his minions to kill innocent people in nightclubs, aboard buses, and elsewhere? Showing public support for him would be the equivalent of Americans rallying behind two other murderous thugs, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo.
I’m not saying these things simply because I’m a Jew who supports everything Israel does. In fact, I don’t support everything they’ve done. That’s because I don’t give my blind allegiance to anyone but my immediate family. I can’t stand when people throw their unwavering support behind a nation, group, or person based solely on beliefs or background. When blacks supported OJ Simpson simply because he was black (ignoring the skin color of his female companion choices), it was wrong. When Catholics gave blanket support to the church in light of the pedophile priests scandal, it was wrong. When basketball fans gave Kobe Bryant a standing ovation in the face of his rape charges, it was wrong.
Blind obedience to your heritage, your religion, your skin color, or anything else is wrong. Be your own person, make up your own mind. Nutcases come in every race, creed, and color.
That said, it’s good that we have one fewer nutcase on the planet today. I’m no sadder that Sheik Ahmed Yassin died than I was when Uday and Qusay Hussein died. Or when Timothy McVeigh died. Or I will be when Osama bin Laden dies. Or when any homicidal maniac is forced to take a dirt nap.
Better all of them than one more innocent life taken on their orders.