|
Ehud Olmert, Nowhere Man
In response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinians who had dug a tunnel into Israel from Gaza (which, of course, Israel turned over to the Palestinians a few months ago) and killed several of the soldier’s comrades, Prime Minister Olmert says he has ordered the IDF “to be ready for comprehensive and ongoing military action, in order to strike at the terror organizations, their commanders and anyone involved in terror. Let it be clear. We will find them all, wherever they are, and they know it. Let it be clear that no one will be immune.” It’s an empty threat, coming from a man who is an empty suit. The Palestinians are attacking the Israelis every chance they get, and Olmert has been doing nothing. So why should this one incident be any different?
Answer: it’s an unprincipled exception. There is an enemy that openly and devotedly seeks Israel’s destruction. Olmert, as a liberal, systematically ignores that overarching threat, while only responding (or going through the motions of responding) to individual aggressive acts by the enemy that “go too far.” For some reason that remains indeterminate,—that’s why it’s called an unprincipled exception—the kidnapping of the soldier, but not the slaying of his comrades, is an act that “goes too far.” Email entry |