Running with Scissors

Michael L.

In a piece for the Jerusalem Post by Noam Amir and Maariv Hashavua, we read:

The head of Israel's military said on Wednesday that he is opposed to lax rules of engagement that allow security forces to kill Palestinian assailants immediately following a terrorist attack.

IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot met a group of soon-to-be conscripts at a high school in Bat Yam on Wednesday.

When asked by a student about the proper response to attacks similar to those seen during the past few months, the army chief replied: “The IDF doesn’t need to get swept up in clichéd statements like ‘Kill or be killed’ or ‘Whoever comes at you with scissors needs to be killed’.”

“The tools that are at the soldiers’ disposal are sufficient,” the chief of staff said.

In recent months, over 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians who have committed car-rammings, stabbings, and shootings in what is being called “the lone-wolf intifada” or “the knives intifada.”

Apparently two female Arab teenagers were shot-up by the IDF when they sought to murder a 70-year-old Arab man who they undoubtedly mistook for a Jew.  They were attempting to stab him in the head with scissors when the IDF killed one of the assailants and put the other into the hospital in critical condition.

I do not know that it is for me to argue with the IDF chief of staff, but I have zero problem with a shoot-to-kill policy on any terrorists.  Obviously if a 7 year old comes at a soldier with a pair of scissors shooting to kill is probably not necessary, but when a pair of teenage girls start stabbing an old man in the head for no other reason than that they believe he is a Jew, a shoot-to-kill policy makes perfect sense.

I would even go so far to say that not only is a shoot-to-kill policy against terrorists entirely appropriate, I would even suggest that Israel deport their immediate family after whatever necessary due-process. A make-nice approach, after all, is not going to work against murderous anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist zombies trained from childhood by their culture and their families toward genocidal hatred for the Jewish people.

I am tempted to say that responsibility for the the shooting of every Arab kid wielding a knife or a pair of scissors or a pipe bomb should be laid at the feet of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, but the truth of the matter is that these hate-filled young murderers are the product of Palestinian-Arab society and culture, not just their hideous political leadership.

If Palestinian-Arab parents love their children and would prefer to not see them "martyred" in the cause of the Arab Jew Killing Policy perhaps they would do better to teach their children that genocidal hatred is not a nice thing.

From the comments:

Brad009

Court Martial him ASAP!! Even better, stab him in the back with a pair of scissors!! What a dumbkofpt!!

I don't think that I would go quite that far.

jst166 

What stupidity by Eisenkot.  This will lead to Jewish deaths.  Terrorists should be shot to death immediately. 

It's a brutal truth, but truth it is, nonetheless.

Michael_Davison

I disagree with Gen. Eisenkopf. The shoot-to-kill protocol has been in effect since I was a raw recruit in 1970. As long as the subject doesn't overtly drop their weapon and surrender, they remain a clear and present threat, to be neutralized as quickly as possible.

Anything else is unnecessarily endangering the lives of our soldiers, police and security personnel.

And there you have it.

One of the important things to consider, however, is that we must not allow those who look upon Israel with contempt to paint those of us who believe in Jewish self-defense as warmongers or fascists.

It is only the Jewish people - and sometimes the American cop - who are held to a standard that suggests that self-defense is the equivalent of aggression.

It isn't.