Just as Dead as if They were Jews

So now the Palestinians have killed two unarmed UN observers, a Swiss woman and a Turkish man. Their colleague, also Turkish, was wounded, and told officials that the assailant was wearing a PA police uniform and that he shot after the UN observers (in a plainly marked UN car) announced themselves.

So now the Palestinians have killed two unarmed UN observers, a Swiss woman and a Turkish man. Their colleague, also Turkish, was wounded, and told officials that the assailant was wearing a PA police uniform and that he shot after the UN observers (in a plainly marked UN car) announced themselves.

They were innocent people and didn’t deserve this. Wait a minute. They were no more or less innocent than the Jewish children murdered eating pizza or waiting in line at a disco. The Jewish women and children blown up waiting outside a synagogue after the Sabbath didn’t deserve it either. The UN observers were no more or less innocent than the two Jewish boys bludgeoned by Palestinians in a cave. The Jewish infant Shalhevet Pass didn’t deserve it either. So we are sorry, but a little part of us wants to stamp our foot and say, “Now do you see who these people are? Now do you understand?”

Palestinian rationalizations will follow: “The Jews made us do it. We were so crazed about their use of our childrens’ blood to make matzoh we forgot to look to see who we were killing.” Or, “We didn’t do it. It’s a Jewish plot. The Jews dressed up like Palestinian police and did it to give us a bad name.” (A variation on the Twin Towers lie.) Or, “We’ll investigate.” (A variation on the Karine A lie.)

Never mind the Palestinian rationalization. What we really want to know is how the rest of the world will respond. When Jews are murdered by Palestinian terrorists, the world yawns or turns its nose up as if to say the Jews brought it on themselves by daring to want to live in the Jewish homeland.

So, let’s see how the world reacts to the Palestinian murders of unarmed UN personnel. There are those who would give odds on the UN bureaucracy backhandedly blaming Israel–the Palestinians resent the UN observers in “their land,” and the observers are only there because of the damn Jews.

No Jews; no observers. Now there is a thought worth pursuing.

General Zinni, at the behest of the President, is trying to engineer an arrangement that, according to some reports, includes stationing international monitors in large parts of the territories in exchange for an Israeli pullout based on the Tenet plan.

The Palestinians used to want monitors, and Israel used to object. But accumulating evidence indicates that the Palestinians believe they are winning their bloody war against Israel. Support for suicide bombers is huge and whatever support there used to be for negotiations has dried up and blown away. The population is radicalized and the leadership more so.

Maybe the Palestinians have changed their minds. Maybe they don’t want monitors because they don’t want anyone to see what they are doing as they plan larger and more gruesome assaults on Israel. Maybe this was a deliberate assassination to indicate that they won’t play ball on the idea of monitors any more.

We mourn the deaths of two unarmed people trying to do their jobs who ended up just as dead as if they were Jews.