Here are the (translated) words of a Jewish father, David Moriah, who lost his 16 year old son, Avraham David Moses (pictured) in the terrorist attack on the Jerusalem yeshiva last year. I think they make for sober reflection and I heartily endorse what he says…
‘After our son was murdered in the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva, the current scenes in Gaza bypass my human intellect and instead find their way to the basic primitive yearning for revenge…
‘When our 16 year old son was murdered ten months ago together with seven of his friends, the TV screens of the world were filled with scenes of the yeshiva library filled with blood, together with scenes of the residents of Gaza dancing in celebration and flashing “V” signs to one another for victory, handing out candies and firing into the air in celebration.
‘I do not deny that the current scenes in Gaza bypass my human intellect and instead find their way to the basic primitive yearning for revenge.
But even more so they satisfy the fundamental yearning for justice. And anyone living in this land knows that there will yet come more pictures of innocent Jewish blood and more pictures of Gaza Arabs celebrating.
‘Everyone knows that there lives amongst us a large community of citizens, and it includes members of the Knesset. They – in spite of occasional clickings of the tongue and even a condemnation here or there of the atrocities – clearly desire more mass murders of civilians and bloodshed to prove that there is no choice but to negotiate with the Hamas, not to defeat it, and capitulate to its demands.
‘The media commentators will go back to explaining to us that the strong is the weak and that the weak is the strong and about how the victims and casualties on our side make it necessary to negotiate with the Hamas.
Governments around the world pour out advice for us about how to calm things down and negotiate, while everyone on earth knows that in our place they would undertake the most destructive and violent retaliations without a shed of moderation or mercy for any poor women and children.
‘Yet everyone is speaking about peace and no one is speaking about justice. It is time to stop the jabbering about peace and to address the question of justice. I met a grandmother with healthy common sense who used to say: “That which is evil is evil, and that which is good is good.”
Firing dozens of bullets at children studying in a yeshiva library is evil. Firing missiles for the purpose of killing civilians is evil.
Causing agony to the families of the kidnapped is evil. And dancing for joy when innocent civilians are murdered by terrorists is evil.
On the other hand, taking measures to kill the murderer before he is able to kill civilians again is good. To demolish the home of a terrorist in order to deter is good. And expelling people who identify with the Gaza murderers to go live in Gaza is VERY good.
‘And good things need to be done immediately, with no delay or ponderings and the darkness must be vanquished immediately…’
Amen to that. Living in a world where there is no recognition of good and evil means that evil prospers.