Kill Him

I hope you noticed that I didn't end the title of my post 'Kill Him' with an exclamation mark. I want to leave any emotions out of this discussion.

If you haven't as yet guessed who I want to kill, why it's the Arab terrorist, Arafat Irfaiya, who was recently arrested for having raped, mutilated and murdered a sweet, young, Israeli girl of 19 years of age. If you don't live in Israel (I don't), you might not have heard about this as it has yet to be reported by the mainstream media. So disgusting. But here in Canada when a young Muslim girl made up a story about her hijab being cut off by a man, the story went viral within hours, even our own PM cried about Islamophobia within an hour of the hoax.

Ori Ansbacher was Jewish as you might expect (however you could just as easily been wrong because many sweet young, Arabic girls are also raped, mutilated and murdered as a result of their legal practise of Honour Killing) in fact she was a religious Jew. Her father was a rabbi and I doubt that she ever intentionally killed an ant in her entire short life.

It's funny that just as I'm writing this, I am getting emotional. I can see that this will be a battle for me. I must keep my emotions out of this.

I best get on with my point or I'll lose it, lose you and lose the battle.

THE point is that once he's found guilty (which he probably is - 99.999% since he not only confessed to the crime, he reenacted it out to the police, there is DNA evidence and video camera evidence) then his punishment should be death. I don't care how they do it. But they absolutely must kill him. Israel has the death penalty. They've rarely used it. I do recall watching the Eichmann trial on TV when I was just a kid. Even then I knew what was going on. A very evil man was going to die as fair punishment for what he did. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who watched it. Have we all been affected by it to the point that we either all want to kill people who we think deserve it or perhaps we will refuse to ever kill another human being because of it? Obviously neither. Eichmann was put on trial, found guilty by an abundance of evidence and killed because of the horrific things he did. We don't kill everyone who killed someone, just the extremely horrific cases. I understood this straightforward concept as a child and I certainly understand it now. Please note that I'm not making a case for capital punishment here. That is an entirely different discussion. I happen to believe in it but that is besides the point. As I mentioned, Israel believes in capital punishment. It's on their books.

I think this case meets the horrific standard. I urge you to watch this super short video clip of the 'suspect':

Beyond his smirk he is daring at you to look at him in the eyes. Looking at evil is not easy. One can see the scratch marks on his face where poor Ori was trying to defend herself from this killer.

Back to the point. Israel has a moral obligation to do this. When you are staring at evil in the face and you and everyone else bloody knows it, you must do your best to extinguish it forever. That last part after the 'and' is very important.  I'm not asking you to take the law in your own hands, quite the opposite.  I'm demanding that you follow the law. Your law.

He can't possibly be found insane because every Arab who has been brainwashed as a child to hate and murder Jews can be considered insane. After the crime they are never remorseful. They are proud of their actions. Their family who protects them almost always decry their innocence. 

In Israel's case she has many more valid reasons to do it. The Arabs that go by the name of Palestinians and their other tribesmen and terrorist organizations like the PLO, PA, PFLP, Hamas, Hezbollah, and too many countries to mention are in some cult like hatred (in general and in the extreme regarding Jews). A day doesn't go by when an Israeli is attacked or worse.

It's way past time to send them a profound message that we will no longer accept the status quo. Murdering, raping and mutilating young, defenceless Jewish girls will no longer be tolerated. Nor will stabbing Jewish babies to death or chopping off heads. Neither must we simply ignore the millions of dollars of rewards that are given by the Arab leaders (aka our 'peace partners') to these murderers and their families.

I may not be a religious Jew in practise but I believe in G-d. And so I fear that if we do not put this remnant of Amalek down forever we will pay a terrible price.

In Defense of the Haredim

I am a secular Jew in Canada but despite this I can be objective to the case of the Haredim. Serving in the IDF is important. But no less so is keeping Judaism alive (maybe even more so). What would you prefer: That Israel turn into a secular state with a powerful army or remain a viable army with a strong Jewish identity?  I for one choose the latter. I've seen first hand how many left leaning politicians like Yair Lapid have tried to polarize Israeli society by blowing up this issue far more than it is purely for political purposes. It’s easy to make a case of a son or daughter who died or was injured in battle and cry that your Haredi neighbour’s children remain safe. But I also know of many secular, hippie type Jews who refuse to serve in the IDF. There seemed to be no legal repercussions for them. The truth is far more complex than meets the eye. 

Here are some salient facts: 

1. Wars are fought differently than they were even 20 years ago. Manpower is no longer a requirement. Wars are fought with intelligence, drones, electronics, satellites, robots and various weapon systems. I have read articles (not published broadly) about problems of over enlistment. Many make work projects are being employed just to keep those serving busy. 

2. Do you really want to force a yeshiva bachur into battle? Most of these young men have never killed an ant and would certainly find it difficult if not impossible to shoot a human being. I for one would not entrust such a person to have my back on the war front. This is not to say for one moment that religious Jews can't fight. There are way too many examples to mention here but here is a short list: Moshe Reabbeinu, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, The Maccabees, etc. Some of us are born to fight, some of us are born to study.

3. So far most young Haredi men who have enlisted have lost their faith after serving. This is a big issue. This is often caused by the IDF's refusal to take religious requirements into account. Added to this but often overlooked and under reported is the negative stigma attached to these Haredim by secular Jewish members of the IDF. Even many orthodox soldiers (they are often members of Kippot Serugot) are the ones guilty of condemning the Haredim. If they can be both religious and serve then why can't the Haredim? The answer is that there are different levels of Jewish practise. Some of us are Jews in tradition only (ie. we eat lux and bagels therefore we are Jewish), some are reform, conservative, orthodox, egalitarian, ultra orthodox, secular, you name it. I don't judge any of them. I belong in there somewhere. I value all of us. But the Haredim are at the highest level of keeping the flame of the Torah alive. There have been some Haredi battalions developed recently but there is a lot more work to be done. Forcing the entire Haredi community to serve asap would certainly be a disaster. Be careful what you ask for.

4. Many of us can understand why some brilliant scientists or even artists and politicians are exempt from service in some cases. This has been the case in many wars throughout time. We admit that we really can't afford to lose such people in war. So why can't Jews appreciate the special gifts that Haredim offer us? Even our first modern day PM, David Ben Gurion recognized this. 

5.  One might suggest that the Haredim that find military service abhorrent and soul wrenching, should do their service behind the scenes instead of on the war front. That is certainly a viable option except that many on the left including the extreme left supreme court would still consider this unfair and eventually would demand that no special treatment should be offered to them. 

6. Most principals of yeshivot today will instruct parents of yeshiva students who are not taking their study serious to enlist their sons in the IDF. Studying in a yeshiva is not a party. It’s serious business, no less so than serving in the IDF. While many secular Jews say how nice it would be to evade service by studying in a Yeshiva, I know they don’t mean it. They haven’t visited the dank, dark, poorly equipped Yeshiva’s where thousands of young boys have been separated from their families and study for long hours, day after day, year after year. 

7. Finally and most importantly, without the Haredim, Judaism would disappear in 2 generations! Say what you will about them and their ’strange’ customs (strange to you that is) but if you care at all about being Jewish and keeping our incredible religion alive for future generations, we absolutely need them. Between secular Jews either outright leaving the religion and/or simply not caring about Judaism and our high intermarriage rate and our low birth rate, Haredim have an incredible burden put upon them. They often live modest lives and have many children, thank G-d! Instead of giving them credit for this, we attack them. 

 Until such time as the Supreme Court and other government leaders and IDF leaders abandon their attacks on the Haredim and prove that they can be trusted, the situation will not change. Once it does, I can see that point 5 above should solve a lot of issues. At that point in time many Haredi young men would gladly offer their services manning drones, developing military software, digging ditches, cleaning toilets, etc. We must find a way to support each other or at least tolerate each other.  The truth is that so far the current complex and cloudy system mostly works. We must be careful not to break it. We need moderate and compassionate leaders on both sides to work together to keep it stable and successful. Am Yisroel Chai!