‘These People Are Not Our Partners’
First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Communist.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Social Democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – for I am not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Jew.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
– Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Communist.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Social Democrat.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – for I am not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – for I am not a Jew.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
– Pastor Martin Niemoller
When they came for the infant Shalhevet Pass, killed in her father’s arms …
When they came for 14-year-old Kobi Mandell, bludgeoned in a cave …
When they came for the Schijveschuurder family eating pizza at a Sbarro restaurant …
When they came for Na’ava Applebaum on the eve of her wedding and for her father Dr. David Applebaum …
When they came for 92-year-old Chanah Rogan at a Passover Seder in Netanya …
It is, on balance, a good thing that there is someone to speak for Anis Alami, father of the bride Nadia Alami. And someone to speak for Khalid Daas, father of the groom, and for the 13 other members of the Daas family. And not bad that Jordanians have been marching in protest of the horrific bombings that killed 57 Jordanian civilians in hotels in Amman last week. And OK, too, that people in Zarqa expressed disgust for Abu Musa al-Zarqawi, the hometown boy they had idolized only days earlier.
But let’s not carry this “we’re all brothers against the radicals” thing too far. Over the weekend, Jordanians had time to gather their thoughts. And when they did, things got interesting.
The London Daily Telegraph quoted one man in Zarqa saying, “By killing Jordanians here in Jordan, civilian Jordanians going to a wedding, they did something that not even a Jew would do.” The New York Times talked to Jordanians who denounced the attacks in the mosque, but “afterward, on the street, people agreed that whoever committed such an act could not be a Muslim. But many meant this literally, that the attack must have been carried out by outsiders, namely Israeli agents. ‘Who said it is them?’ asked Ahmed al-Zawahrah, referring to claims that members of a radical Islamic group were behind the blasts. ‘It could be Israel.'” The New York Times went on to note that Israel has been blamed by the Arabs for bombings in Taba and Sharm el Sheikh, violence in Egypt between Muslims and Coptic Christians, and killing Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hariri.
Not to mention what many – Arabs, Moslems and far too many “white” Europeans – believe about 9-11.
Americans have to consider that this is another side of the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them. There is a part of some people and some bodies politic that have accepted, or approved or even enjoyed violence against Jews and Americans. Those people are not our partners and do not become our allies just because they’ve started to feel the heat.
Winston Churchill said appeasement was “feeding the alligator in hopes it would eat you last.” This is the alligator turning, that’s all.