Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered in agony — killed by human savages, with bare hands. Many Arabs, including many Muslims, issued harsh and unequivocal condemnations after the celebratory ceremonies marking the return of the bodies. These decent people continued to condemn the murders after learning how the children were killed.
It’s possible every community harbors its own human savages. But there are few communities in the world that celebrate such barbaric acts. And the celebrations weren’t limited to Gaza. Here and there, especially on social media, responses from pro-Hamas demonstrations around the world, which continue unabated, were displayed. There were no condemnations. Only support. After all, the leading slogan since October 7 has been and remains: "By any means necessary."
Islamists mutilate, rape and slaughter, while at Harvard and Columbia justifications are provided. Brutal pogroms are an inseparable part of Jewish history. They always begin with incitement. This was true in Russia. This is true in Gaza. And at the end of every incitement, the murderers appear – sometimes with knives, sometimes with axes, sometimes with guns.
The New York Times, back when it was a fair newspaper, described the Kishinev pogroms: "Babies were literally torn apart by a frenzied and bloodthirsty mob." The world condemned the rioters and inciters. So did prominent Russian authors like Tolstoy and Gorky. Today, the enlightened are preoccupied with blaming the Jews.
Where, for heaven’s sake, are today’s condemnations? Where are the Arab intellectuals? They are not silent. It’s not just that there is no Tolstoy or Gorky among them. They support it. And why should they condemn the murders? After all, the so-called enlightened circles – becoming more and more racist over the years – are the ones who, in recent decades, have created an industry of justifications for all of Hamas’ atrocities.
Even Amnesty International, which claims to be a defender of human rights, issued a statement marking the transfer of the Bibas family’s bodies, calling it "a reminder of the urgent need to immediately release the hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians." A comparison that is nothing short of disgraceful.
And how can one expect condemnation of such atrocities when even in Haaretz, just a few days ago, an article was published mocking an Arab for daring to condemn them: "Yoseph Haddad gives Israeli Jews exactly what they want." That’s right. Jews don’t want anyone — Muslim, Christian, or Jew — to sympathize with Hamas. That should be the position of anyone with even a shred of humanity left in their soul, not just progressive delusion.
Haddad proves there is another way, just like Nael Zoabi, Bassam Eid, and the imams of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who condemned Hamas. Because they have a sense of humanity. One can assume that the same writer, and perhaps the entire newspaper, would have condemned Gorky and Tolstoy in 1903. How dare they side with "giving Jews exactly what they want."
A brutal massacre of Jews also occurred in Hebron in 1929. The massacre wasn’t carried out against Zionists. It was carried out against Jews who had lived there for generations. According to one testimony, one of the rioters "beheaded a child with a sword." Another young woman "was burned so severely that her legs were separated from her body." And it happened again during the Farhud in Baghdad in 1941 — a massacre of Jews incited and encouraged by the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and the German ambassador, Dr. Fritz Grobba.
There, too, testimonies were published about the mutilation of infants and the elderly, the rape of women, and even reports of an order sent to the nearest hospital to kill any injured Jews who arrived. What occupation was there? What oppression? The Jews only contributed to Iraq. The Jewish hospital, Meir Elias, served everyone.
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There is no limit, simply no limit, to the intellectual acrobatics of Hamas propagandists. They turn Jewish refugees from Kishinev and Baghdad into colonialists. That is their justification for the vile murder of Kfir and Ariel.
There is a common denominator between then and now. The Mufti, who was involved in more pogroms against Jews, was a close friend of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. He collaborated with the Nazis throughout World War II. His Jew-hatred and incitement were among the primary factors behind the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab countries. There is no limit, simply no limit, to the intellectual acrobatics of Hamas propagandists. They turn Jewish refugees from Kishinev and Baghdad into colonialists. That is their justification for the vile murder of Ariel and Kfir.
And despite the horror, let us not forget the poem by Hayim Nahman Bialik, "On the Slaughter," written after the Kishinev pogroms:
"Cursed be the one who says: Avenge!
Such vengeance, for the blood of a small child,
Has yet to be created by Satan."
The response was aliyah to the Land of Israel. The response was more Zionism, not bloodlust. We are no revenge seekers, but rather that of justice. Hamas must be eliminated — not children, not infants, not the innocent. And we must always remember: We do not share their barbaric path.