I don’t intend to step on anyone’s toes here. But unlike the columnist, I too felt at times that New Yorkers are, let’s say it in a nice way, too sensitive. Now, I’m not cheapening what happened. The casualty was immense, the tragedy too great that words can’t describe it. I too walked around dazed for days. The only difference is that, for three years prior, I’ve read about suicide attacks on a weekly at times daily basis. Where? In Israel. Only the casualty numbers of any single attack do not compare. But the cruelty and barbarism are horrid at times. Yes, people do mourn, suffer, and live with traumas for the rest of their lives. Yet, the Jews are a people accustomed to suffering. It’s in their psyche. And therefore, wouldn’t it be for their leaders would, if given the chance, aliminate their enemies once and for all. During the 06 war with Lebanon, I prayed that Israel would stop listening to the US, the world and finish the job with Hizbullah once and for all. Yet amidst all the suffering, kindness is shown to those that humanly speaking should be hated. The discourse from Jew to Arab is very different in Israel than from Arab to Jew in the rest of the Middle East. Wounded enemy combatants are treated with the same compassion and kindness as any IDF soldier or citizen would be treated based on the severity of their wounds. A Jew in an Arab hospital would be thrown out from the fifth floor while everyone cries “Allahu Akbar.” Yet, Israelis live their every day lives and are not cowed down by fear. That’s why, years after 9/11, it makes me wonder about American determination and chutzpah in the face of evil when I hear New Yorkers cry. Again, not to dishonor the loss of loved ones. It is the stemina that I’m afraid that we lack. What else can you expect from the above writer. People like Joseph Farah, a Christian Arab and chief editor of World Net Daily, Walid Shoebat, former terrorist turned Christian and a lover of Israel as well as Kamil Saleem all no this and they would never dream of making the same observations as the writer of this column does.
