When I got to work this morning and heard the news about Brussels, I just cringed because I knew that on top of an unspeakable tragedy, the traditional merry-go-round of the American blame game will begin yet again.
First things first. A terrible thing happened in Belgium today. It IS terrible, horrifying, the terrorists succeeded in murdering more than 30 innocent people and injuring hundreds more. Our prayers, our sympathy and our good will should be going out to all the Belgians today.
What the United States and Europe especially does not need now is this:
Predictably, here in America, the usual suspects, of course, of course, wasted no time in blaming the president. This is what they do. Fix blame, by reflex, and leap to wild suppositions without waiting for evidence, and then offer the usual solutions. Genocide. Torture. Bloody murder.
Nor does it need this:
“You’ll note Cruz doesn’t explain HOW exactly police will spot radicalization in progress from their cars as they cruise the neighborhood.“
( Oh, and while we are on the subject of Cruz, when interviewed on Fox , Cruz, ever the cynical politician, made a point to extend sympathies to “Mormon missionaries” in Belgium. Not a word about the Belgian people as a whole or the non-Mormon victims of the attack. I’m sure the Utah caucuses had nothing to do with it.)
Now it should be clear, as an American who lives in Europe and travels all over the continent and the world, I am very concerned about this trend of attacks, in Paris, in Instanbul and now Brussels. I do have concerns about how effective the police in some of these countries and the actions they are taking to prevent attacks before they haappen.
But I will not allow myself to sink to the same level as a worthless piece of shit like Matt Walsh when he says that we have to put aside all our notions of equality and rule of law, and decency, just because we are afraid..
And what is worse, is that the armchair evangelist really doesn’t offer a practical solution other than to do what? Kill 1.9 Billion Muslims? Deny then rights under the law and separation of church and state-and in effect lower ourselves to the same level of the terrorists. Really? What does that accomplish?
Ask the Israelis if that is possible.
Israel has been dealing with attacks like this for over 60 years. They have a “strong” leader. They definitely have a strong military and a strong intelligence service. And yet just two weeks ago they had a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv.
It doesn’t stop just because we bomb a lot of people. If anything it spreads the disease. The war in Iraq proved that.
We are all Israelis now.
We in the West are now in common with Israel because we have an enemy that hates us. And in part, and only in part, was provoked through our own actions and inaction. But is also very much dedicated to a philosophy that is evil and repulsive.
We are all Israelis now.
Because we have an enemy we will always be able to hurt militarily in far greater numbers than they can hurt us, but that we can’t seem to exterminate entirely.
We all Israelis now.
Because we crave security and the ability to live our lives in peace. And because we do , we will turn on faith to anyone we believe can bring us that security. As did Israelis, when they chose to re-elect Bibi to the Prime Minister’s chair. In America, we have a population that is willing to turn to either a demagogue or a zealot with a messianic complex.
We are all Israelis now.
Because we will trade away rights for security. Because there is this:
There has been both a bitter and judgmental tone to Israeli media commentary on the attacks. The bitterness stems from the sting of jealousy that each terror attack in Europe unleashes a flood of shock and sympathy around the world, while similar violence in the Middle East and Africa, from stabbings to bombings, are considered so common they often barely register beyond the region.
The judgment comes from a sense that Europe, unlike the United States, and certainly unlike Israel, has not yet fully grasped that the threat of ISIS and other extremists will not go away soon, and that long-term changes need to be made to tighten security in so-called “soft-targets,” like theaters and restaurants, and to improve security cooperation across Europe.
We are all Israelis now.
Because we will have to make changes that impact our lives.
Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport has been invoked in several of the European analysis of what went wrong in Brussels. The explosions occurred at the check-in area – a “soft target” where, in most western countries, travelers enter unimpeded. Not so in Israel. As any vehicle approaches the airport, several kilometers away from the terminal, they must go through a checkpoint that requires every car to stop, while an armed guard peers into the car and exchanges a few words with drivers and passengers to get a quick read on who is entering. Anyone who appears suspicious is pulled over for more extensive questioning. Then, while approaching the terminal on foot, anyone who enters comes under the scrutiny of security guards at the entrance to the terminal. Full security screenings take place before check-in – one waits in a security line before the check-in counter in addition to the standard X-rays of carry-on baggage.
It is just one example of the grand sacrificial trade that Israelis are willing to make daily – trading total privacy for increased safety. Israelis submit to inspection everywhere and anywhere – from shopping malls to restaurants to soccer stadiums, obediently opening car trunks, handbags and briefcases when asked, because they know it’s worth the slight inconvenience and mini-invasion. It is the behavior of a population that has felt too much loss and pain to object.
We are all Israelis now.
Because we will have to deal with the threat, but we will not allow it to defeat us. But as we go on, the way will never be clear cut and it will not be black or white-just grey:
“The key point in the moral struggle against terrorism, is to make clear that terror – the murder of innocent people – has no justification anywhere. Not in Instanbul, not in the Ivory Coast, and not in Jerusalem.
“Whoever does not condemn terrorism, supports terrorism.”
Accent on the “innocent.”
This, then, is the lesson:Whoever does not acknowledge the killing of innocent people by his own side – whoever blames the other side for the killings we ourselves have committed – supports the killing of innocent people.
So there you have it. There you have us.
One side is too self-congratulatively radical, too giddily middle-school wonderfully progressive for words, too reflexively condescending and exclusionist about it, to ever fix anything here.
The other side is too self-congratulatively hardline and egoist and messianic and militarist and oh-poor-little-me and We-Own-Zionism and We-Own-The-Truth and Everybody-Hates-Us and That-Proves-We’re-Right about it, to ever fix anything here.
They are not going to solve one goddamned thing. Or save one life. But they’ll feel so good about themselves while they’re at it.”
We are all Israelis now.
