JStone
Rookie
- Jun 29, 2011
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Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet Daily News [Turkey]
In the early hours of Saturday, a Palestinian broke into a house in the settlement of Itamar and stabbed to death a couple and their three children, aged 3 months, 4 years and 10 years old. The slain bodies were discovered by the couples 12-year-old daughter who was not at home when the murder was committed. The Imad Mughniyeh cell, with alleged links to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist group is named after the phantom terrorist Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a car bomb attack in Damascus which Hezbollah blamed on Israeli agents. Mr. Mughniyeh, or the Shia bin-Laden, was one of the worlds most wanted men (wanted in 42 countries) while he was enjoying a safe haven in the Syrian capital prior to his assassination.
In May 2002, a Palestinian killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded another teenager in the same settlement. A month later, another Palestinian killed a woman and her three children. In July the same year another Palestinian stabbed and wounded a couple. And in August 2004, a Palestinian killed a resident of Itamar.
The killing of a 3-month old baby reminded me, inevitably, of what a Palestinian warrior told me in Ramallah in 2006. When he praised his suicide bomber sister who had injured a 95-year-old woman (and killed herself) in an attack, I asked him what was the point of injuring or killing elderly women or toddlers when young Palestinians also died in these attacks. He smiled and explained as simply as he could: For us, even a 1-year-old Israeli baby is a soldier. And that [95-year-old] woman was also an Israeli soldier! I thought it might not be safe to ask him any further questions.
But in 2008, this time in London and speaking to another Palestinian, I felt more comfortable and dared question the logic of the act that indiscriminately angers our prime minister. I reminded him of a verse in the Quran (4:93): Whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.
My Palestinian friend counter-attacked with another verse (17:33): And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right. Then came his loud and tempered explanation: The verse 4:93 forbids killing a believer. Israelis are not believers. I looked out from the window of the pub where his orange juice vs. my wine stood on the table like two objects silently telling us why we could never agree
For a moment, I thought about reminding him that Jews, too, are believers, like other non-Muslim believers, or ask him if the Quran (in verse 4:93) permitted the killing of atheists. But he loudly went back to verse 17:33, with radiating eyes satisfied with the near victory in our little intellectual duel. You see, that verse forbids killing except by right. And it is evident that some killings fall into the category of exception by right.
I sipped my wine and got lost in thought, wondering how a doctoral candidate of engineering from a decent British university could defend the murder of innocent people only because they belonged to a faith other than his. How could he twist his own (and my) holy book so as to find holy justifications for the killing of innocent people?
OPINION - You shall not kill!
In the early hours of Saturday, a Palestinian broke into a house in the settlement of Itamar and stabbed to death a couple and their three children, aged 3 months, 4 years and 10 years old. The slain bodies were discovered by the couples 12-year-old daughter who was not at home when the murder was committed. The Imad Mughniyeh cell, with alleged links to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorist group is named after the phantom terrorist Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a car bomb attack in Damascus which Hezbollah blamed on Israeli agents. Mr. Mughniyeh, or the Shia bin-Laden, was one of the worlds most wanted men (wanted in 42 countries) while he was enjoying a safe haven in the Syrian capital prior to his assassination.
In May 2002, a Palestinian killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded another teenager in the same settlement. A month later, another Palestinian killed a woman and her three children. In July the same year another Palestinian stabbed and wounded a couple. And in August 2004, a Palestinian killed a resident of Itamar.
The killing of a 3-month old baby reminded me, inevitably, of what a Palestinian warrior told me in Ramallah in 2006. When he praised his suicide bomber sister who had injured a 95-year-old woman (and killed herself) in an attack, I asked him what was the point of injuring or killing elderly women or toddlers when young Palestinians also died in these attacks. He smiled and explained as simply as he could: For us, even a 1-year-old Israeli baby is a soldier. And that [95-year-old] woman was also an Israeli soldier! I thought it might not be safe to ask him any further questions.
But in 2008, this time in London and speaking to another Palestinian, I felt more comfortable and dared question the logic of the act that indiscriminately angers our prime minister. I reminded him of a verse in the Quran (4:93): Whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.
My Palestinian friend counter-attacked with another verse (17:33): And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right. Then came his loud and tempered explanation: The verse 4:93 forbids killing a believer. Israelis are not believers. I looked out from the window of the pub where his orange juice vs. my wine stood on the table like two objects silently telling us why we could never agree
For a moment, I thought about reminding him that Jews, too, are believers, like other non-Muslim believers, or ask him if the Quran (in verse 4:93) permitted the killing of atheists. But he loudly went back to verse 17:33, with radiating eyes satisfied with the near victory in our little intellectual duel. You see, that verse forbids killing except by right. And it is evident that some killings fall into the category of exception by right.
I sipped my wine and got lost in thought, wondering how a doctoral candidate of engineering from a decent British university could defend the murder of innocent people only because they belonged to a faith other than his. How could he twist his own (and my) holy book so as to find holy justifications for the killing of innocent people?
OPINION - You shall not kill!
