Two Attacks. One Target.

Attack 1:
Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a number of verbal attacks against Israel during a conference today in Tehran, entitled "The World Without Zionism." Addressing some 4,000 students he also called for Palestinian unity, and the ultimate destruction of Israel.

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor [the United States] against the Islamic world..."

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land..."

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map..."

"The Islamic umma [community] will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland."

"We should not settle for a piece of land..."

"Anyone who signs a treaty which recognizes the entity of Israel means he has signed the surrender of the Muslim world."

"Any leaders in the Islamic umma who recognize Israel face the wrath of their own people."

"One hundred years ago the last trench of Islam fell, when the oppressors went towards the creation [of] the Zionist regime. It is using it as a fort to spread its aims in the heart of the Islamic world."

Attack 2:
Hadera, Israel--

"Islamic Jihad" claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in Israel in more than 3 months. Hassan Abu Zeid, 20, of the West Bank town of Qabatiyeh, walked up to a Falafel stand in a crowded market and blew himself up, killing 5, and wounding 21.

Mohammed Daraghmeh, Associated Press Writer, offers the following description...

"The dead were sprawled on the ground amid scattered fruit and wrecked cars. Shards of glass and blood covered the sidewalk as rescuers moved back bystanders to begin collecting remains of the dead.

" "Body parts reached all the way until my apartment building. The damage is really great," witness Eidan Akiva told Channel Ten TV, saying he lived 100 yards from the blast.

" "All the stalls alongside just fell apart. The windows are all broken. It looks like a war was here," he said. "This is a very crowded place, very central place. We never expected that this would happen. We thought our world was good but apparently we were wrong.

"The market was bustling a day after being closed for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah."

The Target of Both Attacks:
Innocent Israelis. 5 dead. 21 wounded.
All noncombatants.

Critics of Israel will quickly point out that this is no different than what the Israeli government via its military is doing to the Palestinian people. But today's victims were soft targets. The aim of the homicide bomber was soft targets. No military checkpoint or installation was targeted, it was a falafel stand. Soldiers weren't targeted, civilians were. It wasn't a military barracks, it was a market.

Critics will again point to all the Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli raids, but how many of those raids were aimed at civilians? None, that I'm aware of. Israel tries to attack pre-emptively; taking out militia leaders, bomb-makers, terrorists. Innocents die in all armed conflicts, but Muslim "freedom-fighters" seem to delight in attacking innocents.

I don't want to believe the worst of Muslims, but what other example are they offering the world? They aren't trying to rein in the fanatics. And yes, that's a fair description. Anyone who would do murder because of a perceived slight to one's religion is a fanatic. Did Theo van Gogh deserve the death he received at the hands of a Muslim fanatic?

But Israel is sitting on stolen lands, some will say. Say's who? The middle east was ruled by the Turks for centuries until World War I, when the empire fell, at which point people began jockeying for land and borders. Why is Israel not entitled to the same? They've lived there for centuries... Millenia. Besides which, if Israel had been allowed to keep what she was initially promised by the compact that parceled out the land, she'd be sitting on far more than she now is.

The Palestinian people do not want peace. I imagine the mothers of slain children do. But women don't control anything in Islamic culture; the men do. And the men are interested only in seeing Israel utterly destroyed. Israel wants peace. Israel is willing to sacrifice land and security for peace. Palestine wants Israel to die as a nation, to the very last man, woman and child.

Critics will point to the U.S. and say she is wrong for invading, wrong for supporting Israel, wrong for killing Muslims. As to killing... All killing is fundamentally wrong. But when two or more unruly children begin throwing rocks at each other on the school playground, it becomes the responsibility of more mature individuals to step in and put a stop to it. Islam can't play nice with it's neighbors, near or far. Islam needs to straighten out its leaders, chastise its bullies, and begin teaching its children to share. The playground is getting pretty crowded, and without a lot of mutual sharing, this playground will remain a battlefield, until such time our children tire of war and bloodshed. And how many will have to die to reach that day?