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The ethics of revenge
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| ascension |
The ethics of revenge - by a father who lost his son to terror
A speech made by Yitzhak Frankenthal, Chairman of the Families Forum, at a rally in Jerusalem on Saturday, July 27, 2002, outside the Prime Minister's residence.
My beloved son Arik, my own flesh and blood, was murdered by Palestinians. My tall blue-eyed golden-haired son who was always smiling with the innocence of a child and the understanding of an adult. My son. If to hit his killers, innocent Palestinian children and other civilians would have to be killed, I would ask the security forces to wait for another opportunity. If the security forces were to kill innocent Palestinians as well, I would tell them they were no better than my son's killers.
My beloved son Arik was murdered by a Palestinian. Should the security forces have information of this murderer's whereabouts, and should it turn out that he was surrounded by innocent children and other Palestinian civilians, then - even if the security forces knew that the killer was planning another murderous attack that was to be launched within hours and they now had the choice of curbing a terror attack that would kill innocent Israeli civilians but at the cost of hitting innocent Palestinians, I would tell the security forces not to seek revenge but to try to avoid and prevent the death of innocent civilians, be they Israelis or Palestinians.
I would rather have the finger that pushes the trigger or the button that drops the bomb tremble before it kills my son's murderer, than for innocent civilians to be killed. I would say to the security forces: do not kill the killer. Rather, bring him before an Israeli court. You are not the judiciary. Your only motivation should not be vengeance, but the prevention of any injury to innocent civilians.
Ethics are not black and white - they are all white. Ethics have to be free of vengefulness and rashness. Every act must be carefully weighed before a decision is made to see whether it meets the strict ethical criteria. Ethics cannot be left to the discretion of anyone who is frivolous or trigger-happy. Our ethics are hanging by a thread, at the mercy of every soldier and politician. I am not at all sure that I am willing to delegate my ethics to them.
It is unethical to kill innocent Israeli or Palestinian women and children. It is also unethical to control another nation and to lead it to lose its humaneness. It is patently unethical to drop a bomb that kills innocent Palestinians. It is blatantly unethical to wreak vengeance upon innocent bystanders. It is, on the other hand, supremely ethical to prevent the death of any human being. But if such prevention causes the futile death of others, the ethical foundation for such prevention is lost.
A nation that cannot draw the line is doomed to eventually apply unethical measures against its own people. The worst in my mind is not what has already happened but what I am sure one day will. And it will - because ethics are now being twisted and the political and military leadership does not even have the most basic integrity to say: "we are sorry".
We lost sight of our ethics long before the suicide bombings. The breaking point was when we started to control another nation. My son Arik was born into a democracy with a chance for a decent, settled life. Arik's killer was born into an appalling occupation, into an ethical chaos. Had my son been born in his stead, he may have ended up doing the same. Had I myself been born into the political and ethical chaos that is the Palestinians' daily reality, I would certainly have tried to kill and hurt the occupier; had I not, I would have betrayed my essence as a free man. Let all the self-righteous who speak of ruthless Palestinian murderers take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves what they would have done had they been the ones living under occupation. I can say for myself that I, Yitzhak Frankenthal, would have undoubtedly become a freedom fighter and would have killed as many on the other side as I possibly could. It is this depraved hypocrisy that pushes the Palestinians to fight us relentlessly. Our double standard that allows us to boast the highest military ethics, while the same military slays innocent children. This lack of ethics is bound to corrupt us.
My son Arik was murdered when he was a soldier by Palestinian fighters who believed in the ethical basis of their struggle against the occupation. My son Arik was not murdered because he was Jewish but because he is part of the nation that occupies the territory of another.
I know these are concepts that are unpalatable, but I must voice them loud and clear, because they come from my heart - the heart of a father whose son did not get to live because his people were blinded with power. As much as I would like to do so, I cannot say that the Palestinians are to blame for my son's death. That would be the easy way out, but it is we, Israelis, who are to blame because of the occupation. Anyone who refuses to heed this awful truth will eventually lead to our destruction.
The Palestinians cannot drive us away - they have long acknowledged our existence. They have been ready to make peace with us; it is we who are unwilling to make peace with them. It is we who insist on maintaining our control over them; it is we who escalate the situation in the region and feed the cycle of bloodshed. I regret to say it, but the blame is entirely ours.
I do not mean to absolve the Palestinians and by no means justify attacks against Israeli civilians. No attack against civilians can be condoned. But as an occupation force it is we who trample over human dignity, it is we who crush the liberty of Palestinians and it is we who push an entire nation to crazy acts of despair. Finally, I call on my brothers and sisters in the settlements - see what we have come to.
taken from www.medialens.org |
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| Cyrus King |
| I am glad that some Israeli's are not blinded by the paranoia in which their government has instilled in them through the use of their army. I am glad that someone, espescially the victim of a murdered son, see's this problem in the mid east as not about religion, but of the slughter of innocent lives on both sides, a slaughter that can be eliminated by those who have the ultimate power to resolve this...Israel. |
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| Yoepus |
The basic argument of the writer is non-violence. Non-violence as an answer for Palestinian violence. And with all due "ethical" respect, it will not work.
Such an initiative is nobler yes, and humane, but it will lead to your own destruction and your own inhumanity.
Meeting Palestinian violence with non-violence will not work. If non-violence could work against such intolerant peoples ruled under un-inhumane dictator we would see examples of this in history, and sadly their are none. No non-violence movement has ever been able to appeal to the hearts and minds of a ruthless oppressor directed by tyranny. It is for this reason that I say it can not be done.
Yes drop the bomb on the killer of this guy's son, even if it kills other innocents, for as evil as it sounds, it is the only way. |
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| Arbiter |
| A cookie to the first person to identify the underlying logical fallacy in the reasoning of the author of this piece. |
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| occrider |
| Dammit ... why does yoepus get all the cookies??? :) |
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| ascension |
| quote: | Originally posted by Yoepus
Meeting Palestinian violence with non-violence will not work. If non-violence could work against such intolerant peoples ruled under un-inhumane dictator we would see examples of this in history, and sadly their are none. No non-violence movement has ever been able to appeal to the hearts and minds of a ruthless oppressor directed by tyranny. It is for this reason that I say it can not be done.
Yes drop the bomb on the killer of this guy's son, even if it kills other innocents, for as evil as it sounds, it is the only way. |
It seems to me that the israeli govenment is too caught up in trying not to lose face in the world spotlight - their "retaliation bombings" usually claimed as prevention for future attacks are punitive rather than preventative and time after time its been shown to be blatently ineffective
the notion that "you have to show the other side that we wont tolerate these sorts of actions" is just ridiculous - you dont fight a problem fueled by outrage by adding more injustice
nobody here condones terrorism, but terrorist acts commited by a govenment - how is that any better? |
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| TranceGiant |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cyrus King
I am glad that some Israeli's are not blinded by the paranoia in which their government has instilled in them through the use of their army. |
Have you EVER been to Israel to be able to make such statements? Ever met Israelis in "real life" ? Why spew that generalizing simply WRONG bull then? Who are you to tell me how Israelis think? Who are you to judge the Israeli government? Who the HELL are you? |
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| LiquidX |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
Have you EVER been to Israel to be able to make such statements? Ever met Israelis in "real life" ? Why spew that generalizing simply WRONG bull then? Who are you to tell me how Israelis think? Who are you to judge the Israeli government? Who the HELL are you? |
Well, Im in a Jewish/Israeli community, have bunch of them friends, have family members that are, and have been to Tel Aviv for one week.
Most of them think in a way that makes one generalize, though there are the fews that think some other way, some are extremists, some are not, but when majority acts or thinks one way, it automatically makes you take into conclusion that they think the same way. My teacher who is a Jewish, once mentioned the point of palestinians and Israelis, and he came to the point where he said that it was both countries fault, and most Israelis in my class said noo right away.. I mean, it's all about understanding I guess. |
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| ascension |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
Have you EVER been to Israel to be able to make such statements? Ever met Israelis in "real life" ? Why spew that generalizing simply WRONG bull then? Who are you to tell me how Israelis think? Who are you to judge the Israeli government? Who the HELL are you? |
dood chill.. who are you ariel sharon jnr? :rolleyes:
theres people making generalisations on BOTH sides of the fence here.. and cmon that was hardly one of the the worst things that has been said on this forum |
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| JohnSmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by Arbiter
A cookie to the first person to identify the underlying logical fallacy in the reasoning of the author of this piece. |
I guess the middle east will swim in cookies and death for eternity. |
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| Cyrus King |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
Have you EVER been to Israel to be able to make such statements? Ever met Israelis in "real life" ? Why spew that generalizing simply WRONG bull then? Who are you to tell me how Israelis think? Who are you to judge the Israeli government? Who the HELL are you? |
I have many Isreali friends here in Toronto. But i dont have to be in a specific place to understand what goes on there.
Who are you to tell me how Isreali's dont think?!?!? You need to relax.. all i was implying was that many people in Israel live in paranioa on some level.... and that is partly caused by the military presence within palestinian controllled areas! Mny are blinded by this 'presence' as a defesnse but really its an offence!
So who the HELL are you!!!! |
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| TranceGiant |
Why I reacted this way? Sure. it wasn't the most insulting thing ever posted here but it still demonstrates such an arrognat disgusting attitude that I had to say something 
You DO have to be in Israel to understand what's going on there. Trust me, I'd never dare to make a psycho-analysis of the people in Congo just cause I, as some1 who's never been there , am not entitled to evaluate/judge their mentality and attitude towards certain things. I surely know more about Israelis, not cause I'm such a gifted psychologist or political scientist but because I've lived there, I often visit the country and I'm constantly arpund people from there. I read the newspapers, listen to the radio-shows talk to people form there. So yes, i can teach you a lot in this regard. As much as you can teach me a lot when it comes to the Canadian "mindset".
You're right about the paranoia, but I don't get your explanation. It makes no sense. People are paranoid cause they basically never know if they'll return home alive or dead. Death can be everywhere, something which is unique in today's world. Even Iraqi civilians know what expects them, they are traumatized, scared, shocked but they aren't paranoid. Paranoia calls for security and Sharon delivers security. Simply because he sets priorities differently than his precedessors: Military containment of terror first, then diplomatic efforts. That results in that military presence which is, as you could just see, a deffensive action: Fewer terrorist attacks but no change in the diplomatic status quo at all. As a paranoide Israeli I'd be satisfied with this "lesser evil". |
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