Letters to the Editor
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‘Roth’s Supersessionism’
Thank you for calling Human Rights Watch to task for its unconscionable defense of terrorists and denunciations of Israel [“Roth’s Supersessionism,” Editorial July 31, 2006]. It bears emphasis that Israel is under siege. Hezbollah and Hamas have been firing missile barrages at Israeli civilians since Israel left Lebanon and Gaza in 2000 and 2005, respectively. The world has largely ignored these acts of terror because of Israel’s remarkable restraint. But the situation became intolerable when Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza, murdered two Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped 19-year-old Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The same day, Hamas also kidnapped and murdered an 18-year-old Israeli civilian, Eliyahu Asheri. Then Hezbollah invaded Israel from across Lebanon’s border, killed eight more Israelis, and seized two other soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Both terrorist groups are holding the kidnapped Israeli soldiers hostage, demanding the release of hundreds of convicted murderers.
Hezbollah’s chief demand is the release of Samir Kuntar, a Palestinian terrorist who stormed the family home of Smadar and Danny Haran in northern Israel and killed three people, including two children. Kuntar shot Danny in front of his 4-year-old daughter Einat, then smashed the little girl’s skull in against a rock with his rifle butt, killing her as well. Smadar and Danny’s other daughter, 2-year-old Yael, also died as a result of the attack — she suffocated while her mother was trying to hide her from the terrorist monster. Hezbollah seeks to bring the two-time baby killer Kuntar back to Lebanon as a hero, free to kill again. No Israeli government could ever release such a monster. Yet it is equally unthinkable for Israel to sit back and allow its kidnapped soldiers to suffer the same fate as Ron Arad, an Israeli airman seized by Hezbollah in 1986. Mr. Arad may now be in captivity in Iran — if he has not already been tortured to death, as many fear.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to fire at least 100 missiles daily at Israeli civilians. As a result, more than one million Israelis have either fled their homes or are living in bomb shelters. It bears emphasis that the aims of Hezbollah and Hamas are unabashedly genocidal. Both militias are funded by Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas’s leader in Syria, Khaled Mashaal, have likewise called for the obliteration of Israel. Yet Mr. Roth has the audacity to suggest that Israel has lost the moral high ground because it has chosen to defend actively its citizens rather than passively sacrifice the lives of innocent Israelis on the altar of world opinion. What kind of “human rights” would Israel be defending if it let its citizens die to earn points for good behavior from Mr. Roth?
STEPHEN SILVER
Walnut Creek, CA
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