Order from Chaos

Hostages and Hamas. Politics as Usual? Maybe Not

I have been silent over the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit and the kidnapping and murder of Eliahu Asheri, and I intended to stay that way, even though prominent rabbis considered these incidents of sufficient importance to forbid hitchhiking, the mainstay of many travelers here. After all, we are in a war that no one wants to acknowledge and pursue but our enemies. It seems apparent that the threats on our well-being will not be addressed by our government in any substantial way. Certainly, the world has no concern for the lives of a few Jews over the inconveniences of a few Muslims. We in Israel, I surmised, must hold out until the bitter brink, when a significant portion of us will say, “Enough!”

It did not seem that time had come. Even when the IDF moved into Gaza (ostensibly to put pressure on Hamas to secure the release of Shalit), I thought, “It is a token effort.” But this time has a new twist to it which I could confidently predict would come to nothing. But it is new. It happens when significant changes are about to be made - when coups are executed, and revolutions are reaching their apex. Members of a democratically elected government were arrested en masse on the charge of membership in a terrorist organization.

The New York Times quotes the Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, "The masquerade ball is over. The suits and ties will not serve as cover to the involvement and support of kidnappings and terror…. The seizures of the Hamas political leaders, under criminal law, for alleged membership in a terrorist organization and involvement in terrorist acts, were approved this week by the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, "because he agreed that the public interest has changed, and there are moments a state can say, 'We have a public interest in activating the criminal law,' " said Jacob Galanti, the Justice Ministry spokesman, in an interview.”

Arutz Sheva reports, “Israel emphasized that the arrests were not in order to obtain "trading cards" in exchange for the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, but were rather routine police arrests of criminals suspected of membership in a terrorist organization. "Anyone who is found to be innocent will be released," Israeli sources said.”

It continues, “While top Hamas leaders in Gaza have gone into hiding, Hamas spokesmen responded publicly with hysteria. "This is a revolution against human and democratic values," Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri told Al-Jazeera. "This is an international crime and an open declaration of war against the Palestinian nation [sic]... The international community must speak out. Where are the Arab and Moslem countries? The arrrest of the ministers and legislators is not just a blow against the Palestinian Authority, but against the sovereignty of the parliaments and governments of all the Arab, Moslem and free nations."

Even Mubarak is supporting Israel’s stance. The Jerusalem Post – “Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak demanded from his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to deport the Syrian-based Hamas leadership unless it agrees to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Palestinian sources said on Friday.” WOW!

JP – “MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor) dismissed the Egyptian initiative, saying "a diplomatic option is when someone brings about the unilateral, unconditional release of the kidnapped [soldier], not when someone serves as a mediator between us and the Hamas head in Gaza," Army Radio reported.” Of course, he is right, but when did we see an Arab leader support Israel in anything, even if for the wrong motives.

Something’s afoot.

As much as I try to say, “It’s war, even though most people will not acknowledge it. War has it’s casualties.” It hurts me every time one of us succumbs to the evil people around us. I’m sorry for people who feel they need to have a scapegoat for their misfortunes. I pity them and their misfortunes, but not enough to take responsibility for something I, collectively and individually, did not do. I absolutely reject murder and terrorism as a means to any end, and as vehemently reject all criticisms that when we respond to these outrageous acts we contribute to a ‘cycle of violence’. Though I haven’t seen it in the press recently, I am still afflicted with this idiotic charge in conversation and debate.

We must respond- appropriately, not reactively. We must be consistent, not just in Israel, but in the world, wherever we can. Certainly the US would not allow this type of criminal behavior to go unpunished. I can only attribute Europe’s collective psychopathology over this to come from 1500 years of infighting, culminating in the most devastating war the world has ever seen. They still don’t know what justice, true law and order really is. They only understand fighting and not fighting. And from them we got Mozart? Amazing.

The response is simple. If someone commits a crime, he must be arrested, tried, and if convicted, punished. It matters not whether he is a local dirt bag, or the deputy prime minister of a duly elected government. If he commits murder, he should count himself lucky he is being tried in Israel, where the is no death penalty for murder. If he is killed in a gunfight, or continues to elude the police, they should use all legal methods to apprehend him, or kill him if he eludes or resists arrest.

Finally, Israel is acting like this, maybe. Or maybe it is a silly hostage-for-hostage trade-off. We will see to what end and for how long Israel will keep these people. But we can certainly conjecture. Asheri’s kidnappers claimed that he was alive, whereas forensic evidence now shows that they killed him soon after being kidnapped. What if Shalit is dead, Chas v’shalom? There would be no proximate reason to release the Hamas people now under arrest. What would they do with them? Just holding them without specific charges will create a diplomatic disaster. The longer they are detained without specific charges, the greater the disaster

And what if Hamas does release Shalit? As stated by Israel’s defense minister and attorney general, they were arrested as a result of the ongoing terror and murder in and around Gaza, Judea, Samaria and Israel proper since at least Israel’s unilateral evacuation from Gaza last Summer. To release them if an exchange is made would make their words weak and silly. Of course, this is nothing new with Israeli leaders and their shotgun mouths.

But what would happen if such bold statements and actions were actually followed up by charges? It has been done at least once. Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Al-Aksa Brigade and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, is serving five consecutive life sentences for murder. The Hamas leadership could be gutted through this process; Israel requiring only the usual violence associated with apprehending and trying a criminal, even if it’s a S.W.A.T. team.

And it would significantly change the face of the Middle East and the way we do things. We would actually have to live within the rule of law. We could use these trials to expose to the world the atrocities they have inflicted on us; just like we did with Adolf Eichmann. It would establish a precedent which would pressure our allies, even Europe (are they allies?), to take the high road as well.

And it would send a warning signal to our enemies that ‘if there must be war, let it begin here’. The longer we wait, the stronger radical Islamists become, and the more widespread their reach. Following rule of law serves our purpose to mitigate the pressures against us without committing ourselves to a war or attrition.

Of course, Israeli leaders have succeeded in taking the worst position possible in the past, even backing down from their words, without blushing. This could happen again , and we will be worse off than before.

And so my friends, let us pray.

posted by Tiresias in Israel @ 2:08 PM