Just who are the savage beasts in the Holy Land?

Augean Stables posts an essay by Ellen W. Horowitz, an artist and author of The Oslo Years: A Mother's Journal.  Mrs Horowitz and I don't see eye to eye on the position of the Holy See and the Church vis-à-vis Israel and the status of  Jerusalem but it is a thought-provoking piece with the major thesis of which (as I understand it, that we--the West et cetera--cannot condone and support the Palestinians if they are going to insist on prosecuting their goals via acts of barbarity and terror--I more or less agree.  It originally appeared at Israel Insider.

On Monday, a female suicide bomber blew herself up near Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun. Lucky for us, she goes to paradise a bit unaccomplished after having only lightly wounded one our soldiers.

 
That same day the Jerusalem Post reported that an all-women’s cell of Islamic Jihad terrorists was discovered and apprehended. The women were handlers of several terror cells in the areas of Jerusalem and Judea. Among other activities, they were involved in the transferring of funds from Syria to be used for the families of suicide terrorists, and for the funding of terror attacks. One of the arrested women also oversaw the building of an explosives laboratory. The less capable women have been relegated to the position of acting as human shields for terrorists--but hey, it’s a job.

 
And just when you thought that equal opportunity employment for women had been embraced by the Palestinian patriarchal society (at least in the terror sector), a scathing report from Human Rights Watch on the status of Palestinian women came to the fore on Tuesday.

 
According to one article, the Palestinian Authority’s Central Bureau of Statistics reported that 23 percent of Arab women living in PA-controlled areas have experienced domestic violence, and sixty-six percent said they were subject to psychological abuse at home.

 
The report also cited that the situation is exacerbating due to the fact that the abusers are granted virtual immunity under Islamic law.

 
Which brings us to Wednesday’s accidental artillery shelling, by the IDF, of an alleged civilian area in Beit Hanoun. As of this writing, the jury is still out on who, how, how many, when, and what occurred. And then there’s always the very enigmatic Arab reaction. Based on the Islamic worldview, I’m not sure if the event constitutes wholly bad news. On one hand there’s always a glut of wailing women images and morbid, heartrending photo ops provided to the press - followed by cries for revenge. But, on the other hand, the mothers of the alleged victims seem rather pleased--at least in the interviews.

 
Reporters quoted one mother who purportedly lost four children as saying: “I am proud to be the mother of the shahids, it is a great honor and we pray to Allah to compensate us.”

 
After a week like this, you¹ll forgive me if I thought it was funny - in macabre sort of way - when Palestinian Government Spokesman Dr. Ghazi Hamad said that “Israel is not a country of humans, but of animals”. For the record, he also mentioned that Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth, but that’s not news - we’ve been hearing it a lot lately.

 
But Dr. Hamad, if we Israeli animals are wiped off the map, then who would care for and treat your wounded that we receive at Israeli hospitals? ...

But remember, Dr. Ghazi Hamad, we Israelis--with all of our faults--are
far more human than the rest of you. Because animals wouldn’t treat your wounded, nor sincerely investigate a possible mishap, nor apologize when necessary. It seems you, the EU, and the rest the world should do their best to keep us on the map. Because I have a hunch that without Israel, you men (joined by your women and children) would have torn each other to shreds long ago.