Why are there no Jewish suicide bombers?
Why has Judaism not created extremists, fundamentalists, and (dare I say) lunatics, the kind of which have brought disgrace to Islam and embarrassment to Moslems the world over?
Why is there no Taliban style movement in the Jewish world, where women are degraded and people attacked, in order to maintain a system of religious control?
Why are there no Jewish martyrs?
Is it because followers of the Jewish faith are less extreme? Is it because ‘religious’ Jews place a higher value on human life? A greater significance on human dignity? A greater respect for fellow human beings?
The people who dispatch suicide bombers, and most of the bombers themselves, believe that they are in a war. A war between Islam and the West. A battle between the infidels and those that submit to the will of the Almighty God. A fight between good and evil.
The people who dispatch suicide bombers and the bombers themselves are willing to die for, and kill for, the values that they believe are true, the system they ‘know’ is right, the religion they trust, the people they trust, and the God they serve
These people have passion. They have anger. They have desperation. And they are willing to do something about it
They are willing to martyr themselves, and take a few sacrificial lambs with them in the process
And there are always the majority of Muslim leaders who condemn these actions as ‘non-Islamic’ and the perpetrators as not representing ‘true Islam’
And there are always the minority of extremists who defend the actions, and claim it’s a battle between Islam and the West, Good and Evil
Why are things different for the Jews?
Do religious Jews feel no passion? Do they have no anger, or desperation, or a willingness to protect the faith they believe in. Are religious Jews not willing to defend and fight for what they ‘know’ is right? Do they not have the same passion that would drive them to defend their principles and values at any cost?
Would religious Jews not do anything to protect themselves and their communities from the onslaught of ‘western’ values and the threat it poses to their religious system?
Are religious Jews not keen to become martyrs for their cause, and take a few sacrificial lambs along for the ride?
Well, the concept of martyrdom is not alien to ‘religious’ Jews.
Judaism has cardinal sins which should be avoided at all costs. A person must give up their lives, rather than transgress these sins. And over the millennia, famous Jews have given their lives for far less than the cardinal sins, and in the Jewish world, these people are considered saints and heroes
But there have also been people that not only martyred themselves, they took other with them
Baruch Goldstein was deeply concerned about the threat to Israel’s existence and the deligitmisation of so-called ‘settlers’. He believed he had a religious duty to do something about that threat. And that religious duty demanded action, sacrifice and martyrdom.
On 25 February 1994, Baruch Goldstein martyred himself. It was after all, for the cause. For the defense of Israel. For the protection of Judaism. And it was perpetrated in the name of Almighty God
And in the process of martyring himself, Baruch Goldstein took 29 sacrificial lambs with him
The majority of Jewish leaders condemned the massacre, and called it a misrepresentation of Judaism.
A minority of extremists defended the actions and view Baruch Goldstein as a defender of the faith
Yigal Amir was frustrated with the concessions Prime Minister Rabin was making to the Palestinians. He was concerned about the future of the Jewish Promised Land. He was worried about the safety and security of Jews, and the relinquishing of land, promised to the Jewish people, by God
Yigal Amir martyred himself. He gave up his ‘life’ (of freedom), for the cause. He was willing to be imprisoned for the rest of his life, in the defense of the people of Israel, the land of Israel and God. In fact, he would have been more than happy to give up his life (in this world) for the cause. If secret service agents, or the Prime Ministers body-guards had killed Yigal Amir, Yigal Amir would have still succeeded in his plans to halt the ‘peace process’ and defend the values he believed in
And in the process of martyring himself, he took a sacrificial lamb with him
And again, most of the Jewish world condemned the assassination. A few praised it
These two examples are of two individuals. They could be considered truly ‘fringe’. Is a sample of 2 big enough to generalize, despite the support and admiration that both these individuals received in certain circles?
Are there no communities, or larger grouping of extremist Jews? Entire schools of Taliban style thought? And again, the question is asked: Why?
Why is there no Taliban style movement in the Jewish world?
These ultra-orthodox Jews are willing to martyr themselves. They are willing to be beaten by police officers, arrested, and imprisoned, all for the sake of protecting their value system and defending God.
They are even willing to a few sacrificial lambs with them. Not through the murdering of Jewish school girls, but by subjecting them to abuse, taunts, rock throwing. They even throw feces at the school children
These ultra-orthodox Jews have staged similar protests in the past, violently clashing with police and local communities, protesting what they call “the evil regime”. There have many incidents too, of women being beaten, spat at and taunted for sitting on the men’s side of segregated busses. They believe that these Taliban style actions are required in the battle of good and evil. And martyrs and lambs are required too
Some in the ‘religious’ Jewish world condemn such attacks, beatings and public humiliations. Many, do nothing. These ultra-orthodox Talibani Jews belong to a value system that the religious Jewish world relies on for religious rulings, conversions, marriages and even the certification of Kosher products.
Most of the religious world turn a blind eye to the growing number of attacks on women, on secular Jews and even on other religious Jews (as is the case in Beit Shemesh)
The real number of Jewish extremists is low, but that low real number is merely a factor of the size of the Jewish population, which is, sadly, low. There are many in the religious Jewish world (whether ultra orthodox, or ultra-nationalistic or ultra-anything) that are feeling frustrated and threatened.
And these people have shown a willingness to martyr themselves and take a few sacrificial lambs with them.
Just as the majority of Moslem leaders denounce martyrdom operations, these Jewish extremists are widely condemned in the Jewish world. But condemnation does not make an extremist’s frustration and fear disappear. Neither does condemnation make an extremist’s willingness to be a martyr fade away. And condemnations will not stop an extremist from taking some sacrificial lambs along for the ride, as long as the cause is justified
And it always is
The number of incidents perpetrated by ‘Jewish extremists’ will continue to rise. And the methods employed will continue to escalate. Martyrdom operations will move from a willingness to be subjected to teargas and imprisonment to a willingness to die. And the throwing of feces at sacrificial lambs will simply not be sufficient in the war between good and evil
The question of :WHY are there no Jewish Suicide Bombers? is irrrelevant
The question is: WHEN will the first one strike?
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