Posted by Emily Gian on 2 May 2011 at 5:06pm:
Dear All,
“Bin Laden is dead”. And with that short proclamation, the world has changed again.
Nearly 10 years after the attackers of 11 September 2011 changed the world and murdered more than 3,000 people on one tragic day in America, US forces have killed the world’s most wanted man in a strike on a fortified compound at Abbottabad, more than 100km northeast of Islamabad in Pakistan (see more).
Bin Laden’s death comes on the same day as Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, when Jews all around the world commemorate the murder of six million Jews through unthinkable acts of brutality. In commemorating the Holocaust we say to ourselves and to the world, “Never again”. It seems fitting that the news of the death of a cruel and insane monster should be broken on this day by US President Barack Obama.
Obama declared in an address to his people, “as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done” (see more).
The State of Israel has also been fighting terror for many decades, and understands better than any country what Americans have been going through since September 11.
Obama’s words have been spoken in various forms by various Israeli officials for many years now. Put simply, the security of citizens cannot be compromised.
On the eve of Yom Hashoah, IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz declared: “More than 60 years have passed since the crematoriums ceased working, and the sounds of gunfire in the scenes of mass murder became silent… But even now the Jewish people face many challenges and different enemies who aim to destroy them. That is why the IDF has a historic commitment to precede any threat and try to curb any offence to Jews anywhere and gather all forces to triumph over any conflict” (see more).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “the first and most important lesson is that if someone threatens to annihilate us, we cannot ignore those threats” (see more). History has shown this to be the case, and recent history all around the world has backed this up.
When we hear news that Fatah and Hamas are on the cusp of signing a unity agreement, it must be understand what this means for Israel and the Jewish people and indeed the rest of the world.
Hamas, which is supported, sponsored and armed by another insane monster in Iran, declares openly that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it”. One only needs to read of the Hamas Covenant, to see it for oneself but ignore the stupidity of those who say we shouldn’t take the words of the Covenant seriously. We know only too well what happened when people refused to believe that the author of Mein Kampf was serious. We know that those who refuse to condemn the racism of the Covenant but rather tries to explain it away as not indicating Hamas’ genocidal intentions is also our enemy.
Of the peace process Hamas states, “[peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement… Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam… there is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad”.
And if you are one that believes that actions speak louder than words, then you need not look any further than the 10,000 rockets that have rained down on Southern Israel in the last few years.
If Israel is going to have a legitimate partner for peace, then Hamas needs to show, by words and by deeds, that it is ready to recognise Israel and move forward. There is not a single indication to show that this is the case while Fatah’s own incitement towards Israel as well as their constant glorification of terrorists shows that there is still a long way to go. In a piece which appeared in the Australian on Saturday Middle East correspondent John Lyon’s shows that extremism on all sides of the conflict has sidelined peace.
In the coming days I am sure we will see a lot more on the killing of Bin Laden and what it means for America, Israel and the rest of the world.
Next week marks two of the most important dates in the Israeli calendar. First up is Yom Hazikaron, honouring Israel’s brave soldiers who fell in Israel’s wars, as well as those brutally murdered in vicious acts of terror. Please join us at Robert Blackwood Hall on Sunday 8 May at 7:30pm. The following day we celebrate Israel’s 63 years of independence and I urge you all to come and physically show your support for Israel by attending Yom Ha’atzmaut @ Luna Park beginning at 5pm as well as the Yom Ha’atzmaut Gala Show at the St Kilda Town Hall, where the doors will open at 7:15pm. To book your tickets, please call 9272 5544.
Best wishes,
Emily.
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