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Deja vu — Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Judith Apter Klinghoffer

MEANING OF WORDS ESCAPES REUTERS/update

Do words have any meaning for Reuters? Consider the following: Palestinian militants kill three in Eilat attack reads the headline. Who are the militants?

A spokesman for the Aqsa brigades, part of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, identified the suicide bomber as Mohammad Faisal Siksik, 21, from Gaza City, a member of the brigades' Army of Believers.

Maybe he is an abberation, you'll say. You decide:

At his family home in the northern Gaza Strip, Siksik's brother Naeem told reporters: "We knew he was going to carry out a martyrdom operation. His mother and father prayed for him to succeed."

This is parental love and son's success Gaza style. Oh, yes, The mother added that she is ready to sacrifice all of her nine sons and daughters for Palestine and Al-Aqsa mosque. Unfortunately, this time the homicide bomber was helped by a cowardly Israeli reservist officer who gave him a ride to town despite suspecting that he may be a bomber. Shameful.

Who benefits? The corrupt and ruthless Palestinian leadership which includes both Fatah and Hamas. Their so called "civil war" may have killed 30 Palestinians (who cares? It matters only if Israel kills them) since Thursday but it is paying of handsomely. First the Hamas/Fatah group went to Damascus and now they are flying to Saudia. In other words, Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved in a bidding war for their services. Their Swiss banks must enjoy a new influx of petrodollars.

UPDATE: Ami complained that I passed too harsh a judgment on the driver and sent this article detailing his side of the story. It convinces me that he faced an existential decision which few of us (including me) are forced to face but which a number of guards faced more courageously. Moreover, he knows it:

"I determined where he would get out, I determined that these people would be killed rather than others," said Yossi Voltinsky, the man who drove the suicide bomber in yesterday's attack in Eilat and let him off a few minutes before he exploded.

Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 12:47 AM | Comments (0) | Return

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