Judea Snarls… ‘How We Must Punish Our Enemies’

Jpost

Let us ponder a few questions…

Why are former Nazis judged and sentenced in Israel (if we catch them), while modern Nazis go free?

Why can Gentiles all across the globe accuse the Jewish people of blood libels without being immediately arrested, judged, and sentenced, as they obviously should be?

Why should those who speak ill of Israel and of the Jewish people not be identified, exposed, and tried for their anti-Semitic crimes against Israel and the Jewish people, as they should be?

Closing one’s eyes may have been an ancient ghetto practice, but we have a sovereign Jewish state today.

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and the enemies of Israel are all the same side of one coin: hatred of the Jewish people. All anti-Semitic leaders who denigrate the Jewish people and the Jewish State are committing crimes that ought to be brought before Israeli courts and punished. Anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli ideas lead to violence, and therefore practical and legal steps must be taken against the perpetrators.

Economic boycott, anti-Israel propaganda, outright lies about alleged Israeli crimes, all of these should be criminal offenses. All such activities should be brought before a specially established Israeli tribunal, a people’s court, and the perpetrators should be sentenced, whether the crimes were committed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or in the heart of London.

Sentences should be pronounced and published widely, even if execution of the sentence proves impossible.

It is of little importance whether the perpetrators are ever brought to justice in Israel. Those who propagate blood libels against the Jews should know that they have been identified as having committed a crime against the Jewish people and that they will be arrested and jailed. The age of innocence and total freedom of action which these criminals have enjoyed so far must end.

Israel must fight back. Culprits must know that they have been identified, that their actions have been observed, recorded, and judged.

Justice may be slow – and perhaps unable to reach many – but the very fact that these criminals, who until now have enjoyed complete freedom of action, have been identified will cause many to think twice before opening their mouths and saying something anti-Semitic.

It was always easy to attack and blame a Jew for all the ills of the world, but now that there is a State of Israel, it is only natural that everyone who seeks its demise, one way or another, be put on notice that by his or her anti-Semitism they commit a crime and will be punished, the awareness of which will keep them awake at night.

Many may laugh at this preposterous idea of judging anti-Semitic criminals in absentia. Indeed, at first it might sound like a joke; Israel is a small country with very limited capabilities and many problems. What’s the point of seeking justice if it can never be implemented? Many of our enemies might find it ridiculous that an Israeli court has judged them in absentia – indeed, many of them are upstanding citizens of the most powerful countries in the world.

But let us not underestimate ourselves.

It will be a rather unpleasant feeling for any fellow, however rough he may be, to discover that he has been sentenced in Israel, even in absentia.

The very fact that these criminals have been identified as such for the entire world to see – accused, judged and sentenced by a Jewish court of law – will mark a new page in Israeli and Jewish history.

Successive Israeli governments have been guilty of agreeing to discuss peace with those spreading calumnies and lies against our very existence as a country and as a people. ‘We must make peace with our enemies,’ was the prevailing concept.

But we cannot continue to allow our enemies to abuse us and close our eyes and ears to what they say and do concerning our vital interests.

The time has come for a different policy.

The establishment of special courts as outlined above will be just the first step in this direction.

There is actually very little new in this idea. It has been practiced by many nations throughout history.

And yet, somehow the Jewish people always seem so accustomed to abuse that they have hardly ever sought ways of fighting back – as if they had any other choice.

Perhaps the new government about to be elected will give some thought to this new, or rather very old, method of dealing with the enemies of the Jews.