THE SELECTIONS CONTINUE

The following article is very unusual in that it expresses an opinion, a viewpoint, that is seemingly strident and uncomfortable. It is not intended to upset anyone or be gratuitously harsh, but it is intended to expose a possible layer of truth and make a few observations that are perhaps unpleasant but warrant some thought.
To those who have studied the Nazis’ destruction of European Jewish life, one of the most painful and chilling horrors of the Shoah was the “selection process.” At every level and at every time and place of confinement, from the ghetto to the death camp transports to the actual gas chamber details, the Jews were forced to make “selections” as to who would suffer more or just be killed next. Volumes have been written as to the motivations behind this form of extreme sadism. Selections were usually made by the Jewish leadership of the particular place the Germans had confined them to. The general consensus is that it was a diabolical part of the control mechanisms of the Nazis to simultaneously overwhelm the Jews with terror, guilt, and self-doubt, thus making it easier to eliminate them while increasing their suffering. One of these selections has made its way into the popular consciousness as “Sophie’s choice,” where a Jewish mother on the way to a death camp is forced to choose (select) which of her children will accompany her to death and which will perhaps escape.
When Palestinian military operative Sami Hammad blew himself up last week at a falafel restaurant in Tel-Aviv, seven people were killed and scores horribly wounded. This action opened the first post-Hamas-election victory against the Jews by the united factions of the Palestinian resistance. They all claimed credit. Seven people from all walks of life out to eat a small meal in an egalitarian part of the city were identified and executed as military targets by the “resistance.” Subsequent justifications and acknowledgments by Said Sayam, the P.A. interior minister in the new Hamas government, made it official: “…jews were legitimate targets everywhere and at all times.” No pretense of pre-’67 borders or settler occupiers, just Jews at random. This was reaffirmed a few days later by Jihad leader Meshaal, who declared “Jews are the enemy.” The ever-optimistic sunshine boys who lead Europe, Canada, and the U.S., and even Japan, were shocked that Hamas endorsed such an action, and reaffirmed their financial aid cutoff. For those pathetic Hamas apologists like Henry Siegman, whose Alice in Wonderland “the Jews started it but Hamas wants peace” article was just published in the New York Review of Books, the ethnic murder probably started way too soon. One of the greatest mistakes the West makes is not to listen carefully to what Muslims say. This refusal to listen to reality always has the same result: the West is shocked by how quickly actions follow words. This attack shows the price of not believing what is said.
The not-even-formed Olmert government gave a measured response. It just dusted off some of the post-“slaughter of the innocents” press statements of the Arafat years. There was no major West Bank military incursion; Sami’s father was arrested and a few other militants were rounded up, but in general it was a very muted response. The Israeli government has continued its own selection process. It may very well know what it is doing, i.e., garnering worldwide sympathy and support, isolating Hamas from “give them the benefit of the doubt” governments, and other weighty geostrategic issues, but Jews going out on the street in their own country are being slaughtered.
No other country in the Western world would do less than eliminate its sworn enemy if its citizens were blown to bits on a downtown street and it knew the address of the bombers and the leaders of the government that gave them political cover. Take these Muslim fundamentalists at their word. Stop treating them as mentally ill or children who know not what they say. Hamas has just appointed a warrior as head of security. Hamas justified the terror bombing in Tel-Aviv. Hamas is sworn to the destruction not only of the settlements, not only of sovereign Israel, but of Jews. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has declared Hamas-sponsored suicide bombers to be committing crimes against humanity. Israel should act accordingly.
I do not presume to know what the Israeli government knows. I assume that they are coordinating policy with numerous governments both near and far and have a plan of action to deal with the Hamas atrocities. I have to believe that they have a short-term and long-range strategy to confront their enemies and reach out to their allies. However, the sacrifice, and there is no other word for it, of Jews doing their daily routines by clearly identifiable murderers is hard to take. It negates the very founding of the State of Israel, the very dream of the Zionists’ return. If Israel is too weak to respond and win, if the forces of Hamas and Jihad and Hezbollah are too powerful for a military counteraction, then the Kadima leadership should share that with its electorate. If it cannot win the battle for Jabotinsky street and the Natanya mall, then plan B should be discussed, perhaps removing the state to another, less dangerous locale. If it can protect its people from slaughter but the price is too high, then that too should be told to its people; if some of them need to be killed and maimed before the war to defend them can be mobilized, let them know. This is an elected government, not a self-appointed Judenrat. The only thing I beg the Israeli government not to do is allow Jews to be slaughtered and in response issue press releases telling me that Hamas does not want peace. I already know that.