Another One Bites The Dust
Israel assassinated top Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a missile strike Saturday, dealing another major blow to the Palestinian militant group before a planned U.S.-backed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians surged onto Gaza’s streets, vowing to avenge the death of the foremost figure in a group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings. Israel said it had killed a “mastermind of terrorism.”
The helicopter attack was especially devastating for Hamas, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state, as it occurred less than a month after Israel killed the group’s spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin in a similar raid.
YEAH!!!
Looks like being the leader of Hamas isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So much for their promise of revenge over Yassin’s death. Well, at least Rasanti doesn’t look bad for not living up to his promises. Of course he’s not living up to much these days is he?
Hmmm…part of me feel really dirty for cheering the death of a fellow human being, even if he was committed to the destruction of Israel. I hope I live to see a time when Jews and Arabs can trade falafel and olives instead of rockets and mortars. G-d willing.
But until then, who’s on deck?
Well I have to say I second that. You could say that I hate the Palestinians for what they have made of us. To gleefully laugh when someone is killed has never been the Jewish way yet it ha become the norm today after every targetted killing.
Pnei hador kipnei hakelev…
the Shaigetz
What the f@@k is Israel trying to do. So they kill another Hamas leader and all they will do is then kill another Israel for several Israelis. And then Israel will kill another and so on.
The cycle needs to be stopped.
But how the f@@k do you stop this f@@king cycle of violence and lack of respect from both sides?
“We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache” (Abdel Aziz Rantisi, March 23, 2004, AP).
now… on the one hand, i was totally happy to hear that the israelis turned this guy rantisi into ground beef. i can think of few people who deserved it more than he. he was such a maniacal and dangerous scumbag. on the other hand, it’s just so damned obvious that killing this guy is not going to make things better. it’s not going to save jewish lives or make israel safer or more secure in either the longterm or short. it’s not going to make hamas go away or be less powerful. so, what’s the point? we’re killing these guys now just to make ourselves feel better? there’s obviously a better way….
Myself, I tend not to see this argument in terms of effectiveness. People always hand-wring after an episode like this, Will it help? It won’t really help! Etc.
If someone steals from my family, I want him in jail. Whether I think he will be rehabillitated or not in jail, I would not give a thought to. I don’t care. I want him punished. For justice.
Will Rantisi’s assasination help the political situation? I dunno. I don’t care. He deserved to die, for justice’s sake. That’s good enough for me.
Sharon said a while back, let everyone know, if you target a Jew anywhere for death, you yourself will become a target. If these assassinations hurt or help, at least Israelis can say: we said if you target us, you’ll pay, and we kept our word.
But Sharon does not represent all Jews and all Israelis for that matter. It is time he retired and Israel got a leader who just stopped eye for an eye as eventually that leads to nothing.
See, this is what I love. When the Israeli government first killed Shiek Yassin, I announced that if Israel wants to be taken seriously, they needed to kill his successor within a week. Well, it’s now a couple weeks later, and they have done just that.
What the world, as well as the PLO, need to understand is that to be a legitimate political body, your leadership needs to be semi-transparent (I don’t want to hear any Bush arguments, please…). This means announcing who your leader is, security risk or not. What CNN fails to recognize is that the Hamas are a terrorist organization and that they shouldn’t be rushing to get an interview with the next human stick of dynamite.
And that’s a great quote that Ricky Fitts brought up. “If you target a Jew anywhere for death, you yourself will be come a target.” … “We said you target us, you’ll pay, and we kept our word.” Unfortunately, “In jihad … there are usually two outcomes, either martyrdom or victory,” Mohammed Rantisi said. “In this case, [Abdel Aziz] got martyrdom.”
I am in a friendly disagreement with some in my yeshivah (including my maggid shiur) whether Judaism rejoices over the destruction of its enemies. The halakhah is clear that if one is coming to kill you, you must kill him first. Even a rodef, a Jew who is going to cause other Jews to be killed, must be killed first. Anything wrong with the satisfaction of fulfilling such a mitsvah?
Micha, there is, in fact, a rather fundamental difference between having to kill to save your self or an innocent, and rejoicing in it. Need I remind you that just a couple of weeks ago at the seder we poured out drops of wine (representing joy) for the victims of the ten plagues. They died 1000s of years ago, and were killed by God, not by man. How much more so when humans do the killing, when we can never be sure we are right.
On the subject of effectiveness, I think it is hard to argue that this isn’t having an effect. The fact that the new leader won’t come forward shows that the leadership, who has never been willing to sacrifice themselves like they sacrifice others, is scared. Who ever is in charge now will have a much harder time leading in secret, and will always be torn between directly leading (which might expose his identity to informants) and hiding from the Israelis. Right or wrong, this significantly hinders Hamas. Of course, the only way to destroy Hamas is to replace them by providing the same services they supply without the murderousness.
the halakha of Gandalf: “Many that live deserve death, Frodo Baggins. But some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Then do not be so quick to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
We do not gloat over the deaths of our enemies (although I couldn’t help cheering when I saw the news that Rantisi had finally gotten justice delivered to him). As Jews, we have a moral obligation to combat evil and to fight our enemies. The Palestinians have their principle of jihad, their public celebrations every time Jews or Americans are killed, and their endless cycle of vengeance. We do what we have to.
No, the wise cannot see all ends, but the context of Gandalf’s statement is not universal. Gandalf was speaking in reference to Gollum as you well know. He did not believe Gollum, though perhaps he deserved death, should be given death. The wise wizard also held the same view for Saruman.
But he held no such thoughts for Sauron or the orcs Sauron commanded to attack the West. Indeed, Gandalf was a key proponent of the plan to destroy the Ring, and by that, the utter destruction of Sauron.
Are Hamas and Mordor equivalent? I’m not sure, you started the analogy.
but ricky, rantisi, yassin and the palestinians see their argument and their actions exactly the same way you do: they think that what they do is just and completely in the service of justice. you may disagree with them about that. but if we want to resolve this dispute in this world (rather than all getting blown up and letting g-d sort it out in the next world), then it’s pretty obvious that we need to develop a different way of dealing with each other. the idea of just sitting back and say, ‘well, this is justice.’ that’s lazy and immature. that doesn’t fly. we’re going to need to challenge ourselves to get out of this quagmire. the stakes are high. we can try to figure this out before someone drops a nuke on tel aviv, or after.