Why we need to kill Arafat
We need to kill Yasir Arafat. Not just because he is orchestrating daily terror attacks on Jews in Israel, and not just because he is the inventer of suicide bombings, and thus the singular cause for most of the terror in this world. In fact, killing Arafat at this point probably won't do that much to stop terrorism. Barbara Amiel argues in this compelling article (link from LGF) that it's too late to stop terrorism that easily.
We need to kill Arafat because it will be the first step in our national healing process. Yasir Arafat is a major part of the conciousness of every Israeli, and many Jews worldwide. I saw a Maariv headline over the weekend entitled, "Arafat: the man everyone loves to hate." The New York Jewish Week reported last month on a new art exhibit in Israel focusing on Arafat as an Israeli cultural icon.
Arafat was created by us - we brought him back from exile and near-destruction to lead the fight against us. For Jews who need to justify our existence in Israel by our being the weak ones, Arafat is our perennial enemy. Since Oslo was signed 10 years ago, we've had five prime ministers. Rabin was killed by one of our own, to our national disgrace; as far as I know, no one, Arab or otherwise, has even tried to assassinate Arafat. He was kicked out of Jordan and Lebanon for his terrorist activities, but he found a home in Israel. Many times, after major terrorist attacks, we have surrounded him, knocked down his office, destroyed his plane. But he is the only person whom Sharon promised George Bush to protect from harm. He certainly didn't do that for the 1100 Jews killed since Oslo was signed.
We tend to define ourselves by our enemies. I rarely see any article, book, or web site about Israel that does not give heavy focus to the "Palestinians." Most Israel activists in the exile focus all of their efforts on the Arab-Israeli conflict, to the exclusion of all the positive aspects of Israel, and all the historic opportunities for Jews in Israel. In some sense, we need Arafat, because he defines who we thought we should be - the other side of the Oslo agreements, where we tried to make ourselves like any other nation, and where all the anti-Semites in the world were finally going to like us. He also defines the Palestinians as a nation with whom we can negotiate a "peace settlement" that many seem to feel justifies our existence. They say that Israel has a right to exist as a nation not because it is out Biblical homeland, but because we are a democracy which respects Palestinian self-determination and elected leaders. Therefore, we feel we must do so, even if their determination is to destroy us, and they elect leaders who attempt to carry out that goal.
Without Arafat, and the Oslo fantasy which he represents, we'd just be Jews in our homeland. We'd still be fighting lots of terrorist hoodlums, but the Oslo secular-messianic age of land for peace and mutual respect will be forever destroyed, seemingly replaced by the realization that we are, as Bilam said (Bemidbar 23:9), "a nation which dwells alone, and will not be reckoned among the nations."
It is precisely because of this malady that we must kill Arafat. We should publicize to the world all the Jews whose blood is on his hands. We should ask the world to recognize that his introduction of highjacking and suicide bombing some thirty years ago made September 11th possible. Exiling him, where he would continue to be a world icon, or putting him on trial, where he would be a hero during a lengthy trial, are unfortunately not options. His very being represents the supposedly undefeatable terrorist entity in our midst. Thus, we must kill him, and give him a fitting burial for the life that he led. Then, we should move on to building our Jewish state.
