We absolutely stand in solidarity with the citizens of France and the rest of the civilized world in condemnation of the terrorist group ISIS, an organization seemingly empowered by heretofore unthinkable deadly acts against unarmed civilians.
The ISIS threat is characterized by the beheading of journalists or aid workers, the placement of girls and women in the sex slave trade, the bombing of a Russian commercial jetliner and now the cowardly attacks in Paris. We feel relief that France’s leaders have seen enough to motivate it to take severe measures to stop this runaway serpent from claiming any more prey.
Still, for many of us, there is an 800-pound gorilla in the room.
In early October, Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin were gunned down by Arab terrorists while their children watched in horror. There weren’t many solidarity rallies, if any at all, to protest these cold-blooded killings by people made of the same hate-filled motives as ISIS.
Then this month, we learn of Rabbi Yaakov Litman and his son Netanel, also gunned down in their vehicle in front of their family.
Where were the sounds of solidarity? Where were the statements from Muslim “moderates” informing us that this isn’t what the Koran says, that supposedly killing one person is like killing the entire world?
Why doesn’t the rest of the world cry when a Palestinian teen maims a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was riding a bike?
Amidst the media frenzy that is covering the tragedy in Paris, recounting the deadly Friday night attacks and painstakingly searching for the one terrorist who got away, we want to tell the rest of the world that we share your pain. Unfortunately, we know it all too well.
We hope that the same solidarity the world is showing with the victims of Friday night’s massacre will also be shown towards Israel, which has been living with this sort of terror—one knifing, one car ramming, one family, one 13-year-old child at a time.
So while we stand with the world in condemnation of ISIS, we also hope that these acts of terror offer a snapshot of better understanding into the terrorism that has been routinely occurring in Israel.
