The Week We Were Weak

It has happened again, for the third time on Hagai Street in the Old City of Jerusalem. This week Adiel Kolman was stabbed to death in the presence of Arab locals walking on the street and shopkeepers who stood at the door of their shops and watched the murderous attack directly in front of them and did nothing..

Not one person attempted to help the dying Jewish victim. Not one Arab called for police help or for an ambulance. They stood by, watching a Jew die, his blood covering Hagai street.

In Israel, there is a law which was proposed some years ago by Member of Knesset Hanan Porat, himself a victim of a terrorist attack. The law requires every Israeli citizen to provide aid to anyone in “serious and immediate danger”.

The Arabs on Hagai street are Israeli citizens. By turning their backs on a stabbing victim who was dying in front of them they were in violation of the law requiring citizens to provide aid.

This week we were weak. We could have, should have, re-acted with force. When Arab terrorists are charged with attacks on Israelis or visiting foreigners, our army steps in to demolish their homes.

Why was that course of action not used on the Arab shopkeepers? Their shops could have been demolished or at the very least, padlocked, preventing the shopkeeper from doing any business.

If local Arabs who stood by and watched and did nothing, if they are recognized or known by the military or police, they must be arrested and punished for violating the law. If they hold Israeli citizenship it must be taken away from them. Cancelled forever. And with cancellation there will be loss of health insurance, health care, and other benefits provided to all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs, in good standing.

The Arabs turned their backs on a dying man. Jewish blood was something they rejoice in seeing. And we were weak. The Arabs closed their hearts and we closed our eyes. How much longer must innocent Jewish blood be spilled before the nation awakes and arises to call for justice for the victim and punishment for the perpetrators?

Hagai street is one of the Old City’s narrow alleys that lead to the Kotel…the Western Wall. There is a police station not far from where the murder of Adiel Kolman took place. Yet no Arab attempted to inform the police.

How long must we remain weak? We are not and cannot ever be a paralyzed country in fear of the response of the nations? They will criticize and condemn us if we cough too loud or sneeze too much. The nations of the world, for the large part, prefer to maintain silence rather than demanding punishment for criminals who wantonly murder.

Now the Arabs of Palestine are demanding that we turn over to them our ancient and historic Dead Sea Scrolls which were found in 1947 in a cave at Qumran, then a desolate area.

This week the United Nations has demanded that Israel pay reparations for destruction of UN property during the Gaza war. That hypocritical body of diplomats who like to hear their own voices should be re-named  the Dis-United Nations and should disappear as did the former League of Nations.

The UN has been ineffective at preventing wars, ending hunger and pollution. It makes resolutions which cannot be enforced. And make no bones about it….it is comprised of a majority of Jew-haters.

Adiel Kolman’s mutilated body has been buried in the holy earth of our holy land. But the murderer and the stand-by accomplices to the crime have not yet been punished.

This week we were weak. Our government should be injected with vitamins that will give them the necessary job of once-and-for-all time cleaning our Jewish homeland from the callousness of Arab terrorism.

At the conclusion of the Pesach seder we proclaim “L’shana ha ba-a b’Yerushalayim”. Next year in Jerusalem.

Why next year? We are already in Jerusalem, the Jewish capital of the Jewish State. But we need to do much more to keep our capital safe and free from Arab murderers.

There must not be any more killings on Hagai street. The three so far have been three too many.

This week we were weak. Please God, next week we will regain our strength.

Pesach samayach !