Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #54 (1/27/13) – The Battle of Algiers
Aired January 26, 2013 on Dave’s Gone By. Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnXLGyFEdC0
Shalom Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon with a Rabbinical Reflection for the week of January 26th, 2013.
Let's say I go to the supermarket and buy a box of donuts. “Why am I eating that?”, you ask. “Well,” I say, “donuts are a health food.” “Health food?” I hear you gasp. “But they're loaded with sugar and white flour.” "Yes, but they're a health food," I reply. "But they're glazed with chocolate coating made out of corn syrup," you counter. "I don't care, they're a health food," I persist. "But look at the box!" you yell. “Half the ingredients are red dyes and preservatives and fiberglass insulation." "You're making wayyy too much of that," I say. "Donuts are a health food."
And now you start screaming, "But if you eat donuts, you get fat, your teeth rot, eventually you'll risk heart disease and diabetes." "Oh, don't be so politically incorrect," I say. "Donuts are a health food."
Sounds crazy, right? Like I should have my head examined for not admitting what's plainly in front of my face - or in my stomach.
Fine. How many times have we heard left-wing pundits and middle-east apologists say that Islam is the religion of peace? That's the big slogan - religion of peace. And no amount of 9/11's or Munichs or Lockerbies or Benghazis will convince these people that maybe Islam isn't such a friendly how-do-ya-do.
"Oh, it's just a small faction; it's just the radicals," comes the response. True. The millions and millions of Muslims in this world aren't out there blowing up embassies any more than every NRA member is out there shooting up schools. However, no other religion since Christianity in the Middle Ages has caused so much needless, vicious and sociopathic bloodshed. Except, perhaps, the Death to Disco Movement of the 1970s, but they had a point.
So this time, the horror springs from Algeria – instead of Iran or Pakistan or Egypt or Syria - or, well, point to a map of the Middle East and find an Arab country that isn't a killing field. Last week, a hostage crisis in Algeria resulted in more than two dozen civilian dead, including one American. Plus, 32 dead hostage takers, or, as I like to call them, refuse.
The Algerian government is being blamed for jumping the gun on its rescue mission. After three days of a bloody stand-off, Algerian troops stormed the gas plant that was under siege – which resulted in pretty much everyone dying. Mainly because the terrorists began executing the hostages once the fun started.
Other countries are now saying, "Oh, we weren't informed, we could have done it better, we could have ended this with more survivors, blah di bloo di blah." Algeria's position is, "Sorry, we don't negotiate with terrorists." And to that, may I add, especially not terrorists who are killing the hostages anyway, who are strapped to the gills with explosives, and who come from a radical culture where suicide is the expected outcome of a violent event. Kind of tough to negotiate with someone who actually wants you to shoot him. It's like going up to an alcoholic at a party and saying, "Look, I can either drive you home, or I can pour you another scotch." That's a win-win either way for the booze-hound.
Terrorists are sick, desperate people who can be dealt with in only the most extreme, desperate ways. Like full-on raids, waterboarding and being forced to watch “Teen Mom 2.”
We can mince words all we want so as not to offend Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE and other countries that could afford to buy the Statue of Liberty and sell it back to us in pieces. However, until every country, east and west, takes full action in crushing radical, violent Islam, we're just gonna get more Algerias, more World Trade Centers, more Koran-concocted carnage. Just ask Israel, which has endured sixty years of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism disguised as Palestinian nationalism. Israel realizes: the only way to say "no more" is to say, "no," more. And that means, when terrorism rears its ugly covered head, you gotta put the religion of peace in a world of pain.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches in Great Neck, New York.
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