Voice from the Commonwealth
Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
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Wednesday, July 31, 2002

It is up to us to get the story of the suffering and questions of Israelis from Lsraeli papers as 'international media' is more interested in the 'hopelessness' of the Palestinians. Boaz Shabo lost his wife and three of their children(16, 13 & 5) when a terrorist blew up their house five weeks ago. His words are a further of the difference between the Israelis defending themselves and the terrorist groups that murder them and cry oppression as the mitigating circumstance for their atrocities. He does not stick to moral obfuscation he does not scream hate and death, he questions and thinks of what is, has been, could have been and may yet come.

During the seven day mourning period after the funerals known as the shiva, thousands came to comfort the Shabo family, but there was one person, Shabo says, who he felt was missing - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shabo would like to meet Sharon and ask him "how he feels, as prime minister, when a mother and three of her children are murdered. I'd like to ask him face to face. Does he really believe that the path he has followed until now was correct? Did he err somewhere? I'd ask him to some soul-searching and mainly, I'd beg him to signal the public about the justice of the path chosen, because without that, it's impossible and we are right."

Shabo opposes forming a commission of inquiry to look into the Oslo agreement. "There's no thing to investigate," he says, "everything's known. They brought murderers here, armed them, gave them money and authority and they continued murdering. It was so predictable. But the real crime was that they didn't hold a referendum on this agreement."


When a Palestinian dies (even one dead by his own devices) they gather in the street and call for vengence. Guns are brandished, fires consume any representation of the target of their hatred. Shabo still can't find hatred for any but the individual who carried out the attack. Yet he maintains that Israel and Israelis cannot give up or give in. They must stand in the facte of those who call for their extermination.

"Esau hates Israel from generation to generation, but we Jews are merciful and the descendants of merciful Jews; we weren't brought up on hatred of others. I was taught to love others and that all people are created in the image of God and are beloved. I was taught about human dignity. That is also how I raised my children and I hope that they don't hate now and that they won't hate in the future."

He says he does not hate Arabs. "There are good and bad ones among them just like in any group. The workers in the gas station in Alfei Menasheh, where I fill up my car, wanted to come to the shiva to console me, but they were afraid.

There are also some Arabs I work with in printing and when I came for the first time to visit the office, they hugged me and cried and said they were sorry about what happened. The only one I hate is the terrorist who perpetrated this horror, but he's dead now and the collaborator who has since been caught, after they traced the terrorist had dialed from his cell phone while he was inside our house in Itamar."

Even today, Shabo is convinced Israel will prevail in the conflict. "We cannot allow the other side to think that we've been broken. We can't give them that gift. We can't flee. We have to fight, struggle, but the public here must know that these times are not normal times.

< email | 7/31/2002 04:51:00 PM | link




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