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February 03, 2009

The normalization of evil

The father of Daniel Pearl wrote an eloquent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal decrying what he terms the normalization of evil centered primarily on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He makes some very valid observations, many of which I readily agree with. But it's a classic case of the Pot calling the Kettle "black".

But somehow, barbarism, often cloaked in the language of "resistance," has gained acceptance in the most elite circles of our society. The words "war on terror" cannot be uttered today without fear of offense. Civilized society, so it seems, is so numbed by violence that it has lost its gift to be disgusted by evil.

I believe it all started with well-meaning analysts, who in their zeal to find creative solutions to terror decided that terror is not a real enemy, but a tactic. Thus the basic engine that propels acts of terrorism -- the ideological license to elevate one's grievances above the norms of civilized society -- was wished away in favor of seemingly more manageable "tactical" considerations.

That's a pretty good parsing of the relevant issues... if you wish to accept Pearl's frame. But ask yourself this: Has not the terrorism of Zionists just as readily been wished away in favor of seemingly more managable "tactical" considerations? How else do we explain the recent public lauding of Stern Gang terrorist Avraham Ravitz by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert? Or, for that matter, his having become accepted by Israeli mainstream and the resulting impressive political biography spanning decades? Whether the terrorist sects they belonged to comprised a minute fraction of Zionists is far less relevant than their acceptance by mainstream Israeli society, just as the minute fraction of Palestinian society which some of the militant groups lobbing mortars and rockets into Israel comprise is less relevant than their widespread acceptance among aspects of the larger Palestinian society.

One man's "freedom fighter" is another man's "terrorist." And it cuts both ways, as evidenced by Ravitz acceptance by so-called civilized society along with other Zionist terrorists such as Ariel Sharon. Not to mention the IDF's own role in gently nurturing Islamist Palestinians as a counterweight to the PLO in the 80s.

There are few harsher critics of Hamas than today's Fatah, the political descendant of what used to be known as the PLO. And what has Fatah gained by both opposing Hamas and preventing any Palestinians in the West Bank from lobbing mortars or rockets into Israel? Their reward has been yet further theft of land for the expansion of Israeli settlements, a modern road system on their own land which they are barred from using and those lovely partition walls enshrining the theft of their land, just to name a few of their consolation prizes.

I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Pearl. But the normalization of evil predates all of your cited evidence by many years. Indeed, by selectively partisanly parsing the issue you have yourself become a party to it.

Look in the mirror, Mr. Pearl.

Posted by Kevin at February 3, 2009 08:37 AM