World is not hypocritical

Op-ed: Israelis wrong to compare world’s reaction to bin Laden killing to similar Israeli strikes

Reuters | Published: 05.04.11, 11:06

When asking whether the world is being hypocritical for celebrating the bin Laden assassination while condemning similar Israeli operations, the seemingly obvious answer is “obviously yes.” After all, two axioms accompany our life here in Israel: The first one is that the whole world is against us. The second one is that the attitude to Israel is tainted by great hypocrisy.

For that reason, so the logic goes, we should not be surprised to see the world celebrating Osama bin Laden’s assassination or the (unintentional?) killing of Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son, while raising a hue and cry over the targeted eliminations carried out by Israel.

However, the more complex answer to the question at the top of this article is that as opposed to our tendency to paint our environment in black and white, there are many more grey areas than we would like to see.

First, let’s eliminate the claim that every Israeli targeted elimination – the term used around here – indeed drew global criticism. The opposite is true. Given the fact that Israel has adopted this modus operandi for some 11 years now, and considering the number of targets killed – about 300 people – the world has responded rather proportionately.

Moreover, not all of Israel’s targeted eliminations adhered to the High Court’s 2006 ruling whereby such strikes are only legal in cases of a “ticking time bomb.” Indeed, only a small portion of these assassinations drew angry global reactions, and it usually happened when the operation involved major harm to innocents.

It’s not anti-Semitism

The second point has to do with humanity’s effort to secure global order and create a scale of good and bad in an effort to protect us against complete chaos. And this scale, fortunately for us in most cases (and unfortunately in this case,) requires one to make a clear distinction between Osama bin Laden, the arch-terrorist, and say Namer Wa’al Nasser, an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades activist assassinated exactly seven years ago when a missile hit his motorcycle.

Bin Laden indeed constituted an existential threat to the world. This was not the case because he led the murder of 2,998 Americans on September 11th and not because he is a fanatic with an explosive device strapped on his body, but rather, because he was the explosive device.

To sum up briefly, there is a difference. And this difference doesn’t always work in our favor. And when a state fails to set some limits for itself, it’s nice to have someone tapping on its back and drawing its attention to it. It’s not always a case of anti-Semitism.