Donkeys, and Falcons, and Qassams, Oh My!

Donkeys, and Falcons, and Qassams, Oh My!

by Gerald A. Honigman

So, the Arabs of Gaza have come up with a new method to attack Israel.

At least one dead falcon was found tied to incendiary materials to set the Jewish State ablaze--along with fire kites, balloons, and other such materials already being used. Not to mention mortars, missiles, and Qassam rockets. The latter, along with Hamas's Qassam Brigade, are named for that late, great "native Palestinian" throat-slitter-of-Jews hero, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.

Like many, if not most, other alleged Arab "aboriginals," Izzy came into the early post-World War I Mandate of Palestine from elsewhere, outside the Mandate. In his case--along with scores of thousands of other Arabs--from Latakia and other parts of Syria. Primary sources from the period such as the Minutes of the Permanent Mandates Commission of The League of Nations, are filled with such accounts. Scores of thousands of their Syrian Jewish neighbors would flee Syria as refugees a while later. They had lived in Syria since biblical times, long before Arabs conquered the land many centuries later.

Moving on to current news...

Regarding the deceased bird of prey drafted for the Arab cause (i.e., the latest Arab use of live creatures, Homo sapiens included, as ILEDs--Improvised Living Explosive Devices), one of the most vocal animal rights groups offered:

"As an animal-protection organization, PETA notes that animals claim allegiance to no nation, don't choose sides, and can only rely on human beings to show them mercy, and it is unacceptable to use them as weapons of war."

PETA, of course, is correct--but there's more to this callous disregard for life than what one dead bird might suggest. So, please bear with me...

Let me begin by stating that there is a tradition in both Judaism and, much later, Islam to treat animals in a humane way. And, in the modern age of factory farming and such--with all the inhumane practices which accompany them--none but the vegetarian comes out really looking good regarding this matter. Having stated this, there are still, nevertheless, some vey real differences in general practice between adherents of those two faiths.

A mere glance at Wikipedia, for example, at how animals are used by some folks (especially those in the first few paragraphs above) to commit atrocities against others is, let's just say, educational... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.....mb_attacks.

Such abusive treatment of animals is strictly prohibited in Jewish Holy Scripture--and is eagerly adhered to. It's the same reason why Jews have historically been--again, since biblical times, as a reading of the Torah and the Hebrew Prophets readily show--in theforefront of human rights and related issues for millennia.

There are a number of great organizations which go the extra mile to protect animals. But the one that I will be referring to, and the inspiration for the rest of this article, is the World Society for the Protection of Animals...WSPA.

I recall receiving a mailing from these wonderful folks that focused on saving the donkeys of Bethlehem from the horrendous pain and suffering that they are frequently subjected to. After describing the agony caused to one donkey by an owner overloading it, using painful harnesses, and driving the abused creature to exhaustion, this was contrasted to a luckier animal rescued by a local veterinarian supported by WSPA. Unfortunately, it is the first story which depicts the daily lives of thousands of donkeys living in what is now predominantly Arab Muslim Bethlehem. Here are some excerpts from that 2011 WSPA mailing...

"Toiling without rest under the hot sun; exhausted, injured, and hungry; neglected and abused, these poor animals know only pain and suffering...many live with agonizing wounds...yet most will never be brought to a veterinarian because their owners see them as little more than machines...they will literally be worked to death...then thrown away when their worn out bodies can no longer go on."

Oh yes...there is another fate for donkeys in the "Arab" world as well, not mentioned in the mailer.

As hinted to above, they have been used to carry explosives to blow themselves and human targets up as well.

Our incendiary falcon commentator, PETA, has been vocal on the donkey matter as well. Way back on February 3, 2003, for example, Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's president, wrote a letter to the now deceased Yasser Arafat urging that Arabs not use donkeys when murdering Jews. Note that there was no mention of concern about blowing up Jews...just that animals be left out of the conflict. And similar to what they recently stated above regarding our poor feathered friend.

Again, while no people nor culture has a monopoly on saints or sinners, one would be very hard-pressed to find Jews doing these sort of things to animals, let alone people.

Not only are Jews not permitted to do such things as overwork their animals (they must also rest on the Sabbath, for example), they are expected to take care of their animals' own basic needs--such as food and water--before those of themselves. And, unlike what we see too often in the "Arab"/Muslim world, these positive principles are largely put into practice.

While there are some folks who don't mind abusing or murdering people but supposedly still like animals (Hitler, for example), the mistreatment of the one too often seems to make the slaughter of the other much easier.

The same common disregard for animal life described above in now predominantly Muslim Arab Bethlehem happens to also be taking place in a culture which glorifies and makes heroes of those who visit Jewish families in the night, beheading infants and murdering the others as well; creates museums with fake Jewish body parts hanging from the ceiling in commemoration of the real acts of barbarism; stops pregnant mothers in their cars and murders the children at point blank range in their seats; kidnaps young children and smashes their heads against walls inside of caves; deliberately targets schools and school buses; and so forth...all documented Arab acts of "heroism" for which the perpetrators and their families are honored and given monetary rewards.

There's no problem with the Jews' donkeys...and no Jews beheading Arab infants either.

Get it ?

Unlike Arab non-combatants who die because their brothers use them as human shields in the process of attacking Jewish non-combatants (a double war crime according to the Geneva Conventions), those Jewish victims mentioned above were as innocent (and deliberately selected...the more innocent, the better for terror's shock value) as the donkeys cited by WSPA being worked to death.

While I'm not trying to downplay other problems regarding animals associated with such things as veal calf or mass chicken production (which many Jews are also guilty by association with), what I've focused upon here represents something far different and much worse.

Not that the Arabs are the only folks with a bad record on the these matters, it's still no accident that WSPA had to do a mailing about the donkeys of Arab Muslim Bethlehem rather than the fate of any animal in the land of the Jews.

www.geraldahonigman.com