Western countries fail to punish and the unsurprising result is more and worse crime.
One of the strange experiences in Israel is to hear the news about a car bombing in Tel Aviv or the like. The newscaster will calmly say, “There was a car bombing today in south Tel Aviv. The driver and a passenger were instantly killed. But don’t worry. This was a mob hit and not a terror event.” And somehow we all breathe easier that it was only a mafia war and not another terror attack.
The fires raging around Jerusalem were intentionally set. Arson is one of many tools used by Arab terrorists (I did not write “Palestinian” as Israeli Arabs at times have been behind serious terror incidents) in order to harm and kill Jews:
*Arson
*Suicide bombings
*Drive-by shootings
*Stone throwing
*Car ramming
*Knifing
*Car/bus bombs
There were many videos online showing the horrific flames coming right up to Israel’s main East-West artery, Route 1. I once took a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and we happened to pass by a raging forest fire. For a split second, I felt as if the right side of my face was on the barbecue next to a hamburger. The driver kept going and that was it. In the current wave of fires, many people abandoned their cars, residents of several towns were ordered to leave their homes, and even the traditional Independence Day events were canceled due to the high winds and the active emergency. At least three suspects have been arrested at the time of this writing.
So who’s to blame for the arson attacks? Obviously, those who ignited the fields and anyone who funded or supported them are legally liable for all damage and injuries caused by the fires. But in a way Israel is also at fault. In several places in the Torah where capital punishment is discussed, there is an expression stating that the people “should hear and fear.” God makes it clear that part of public punishment is not only to expiate the sin of the one who made an offense; no, there is also a need that others learn vicariously from this guy that doing the same is a really bad career move. If people trying to illegally enter the U.S. had been shot on the spot, there would not have been 10,000 entering the country every day. People do risk analyses all day long, and if the upside of living in the U.S. and getting many benefits are weighed against a .50 caliber machine gun, many would decide that home is not so bad after all.
Israel has on the books a death penalty; she never uses it. The office of the attorney general never asks for it, and it is doubtful that local judges would agree to it. This state of affairs leads to many problems. First, thousands of terrorists need to be incarcerated, fed, and watched at great expense. Next, as long as the terrorists are alive, there is a very high chance that they will be released to kill again in some future hostage exchange. But most importantly, their being alive sends a message to terrorists that there is life after murder. As long as the terrorist is not killed in the act, he or she can expect three squares, a paycheck from the Palestinian Authority, and a future early release for some hostage.
The process of punishment will always err to one side or the other. If one kills every terrorist, there is a possibility that someone wrongly convicted might be executed. On the other hand, if Israel keeps them alive, then Hamas and others have a strong driver to kidnap Israelis in order to get their people back. I recently read that Israel is putting together cases against the Nukba terrorists who killed so many people on October 7th, 2023. On the one hand, a person might laud Israel for making a strong legal case against these murderers. It was reported that Israel has gone so far as to ask the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) to hold off on charges until they can file their own. On the other hand, this process is the reason that terror never goes away. After each confession, the terrorist should have been put in front of a wall and shot. This was the procedure for Germans found in civilian clothes in Europe during World War II. There are times for painstaking justice; there are other times for immediate punishment to make it clear that killing masses of Jews comes with an immediate and terminal price. Israel does not need Perry Mason right now; it needs Rambo.
The ones who set fire to the forests outside of Jerusalem should be punished in a similar manner. Arson has been going on for decades, and the advantage for the Arab terrorists is that they can get quite far away before the fire takes off. They should be quickly tried and then put to death. Anyone guilty of a terror offense, whether successful or not, should not benefit from a jail cell for more than 24 hours prior to his execution. One might say that this is not the Western way, but the Western legal framework was never made for modern terror. Why did the Bush administration send so many people to Guantanamo? They understood that U.S. jurisprudence was not built to deal with people who harmed American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terror needs its own legal response. In Israel, most terrorists are tried by special military courts. A life term in Israel is 35 years. Many terrorists receive multiple such terms but rarely serve them as they get out in hostage exchanges well before the end of their sentences. A serious capital punishment program for terror would change the calculations for terrorists: is it worth doing the deed if a noose is the final reward? Just ask yourself how many people would be willing to rob a million dollars from a bank if the punishment was one year in jail or the electric chair. The same calculations should be made by terrorists before they act.
While Israel suffers from weak-kneed justice, it is not alone. In the U.S. and Europe, many people who commit crime are simply given a pass. How many people in the U.S. have been arrested for giving people known wrong information regarding Covid? How many times have we heard that a serious crime was committed by somebody who was recently released from prison for a similar offense? How many of the Antifa guys from the violent summer of 2020 have gone to jail? How many of the pro-Hamas agitators have been arrested for threatening Jews or destroying property? Nobody likes punishment—not the one receiving it and oftentimes not the one giving it out. But a society needs not only to make rules but to enforce them. We see that the border was closed with the tools that were available to Joe Biden but not used. We will always err on one side; if we want a safe and functional society, then we need to err on the side of the civilians who want to live in peace. We need more arrests, longer jail terms and where relevant, capital punishment. Biden commuted the sentence of 37 out of 40 prisoners on federal death row. He should ask the families of those harmed by them how they felt about that move.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member