Dead Terrorists Tell No (Tall) Tales Anymore

Below is a recent sermon delivered by my oldest sister, who is a rabbi in the Great Lakes region. I think it really puts into perspective the true legacy of Yassir Arafat and the ridiculous canonization that has surrounded his good-riddance demise ...

Earlier today, world leaders gathered in Cairo to pay their final respects to Yassir Arafat. They vied with each other to express their respect.

French president Jacques Chirac referred to Arafat as a "man of courage and conviction, who for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians combat for recognition of their national rights."

Chirac neglected to say: Arafat fought for that recognition by four decades of cold-blooded terrorism.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Arafat took a "giant step" toward peace by signing the Oslo accord. He added: "It is tragic he did not live to see it fulfilled."

What Annan should have added: It is even more tragic Arafat did everything in his power to prevent the fulfillment of the great hope for peace.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair weighed in: "He (Arafat) led his people to an historic acceptance and the need for a two-state solution."

Mr. Blair's comment overlooks the fact that Yassir Arafat never wanted a two-state solution. He said he wanted peace, but devoted his life to working for the destruction of Israel. He did nothing to implement an infrastructure for the Palestinian state he claimed to want.

Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, said, "Arafat played such a dominant role on behalf of the Palestinians over so many decades, that it's hard to imagine the Middle East without him."

Yes, Arafat played.

However, thanks to cable, we have comedy fake news -- which, ironically, brings us more insight than conventional sources. According to Samantha Bee of "The Daily Show": "There's a chance for peace in the Middle East now that the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is dead."

Even when the media acknowledge Arafat as a terrorist, they call him a "cultural icon" who helped forge an identity for the Palestinian people.

The problem with icons -- they're symbols; they're not real!

What do they mean that "he forged a Palestinian identity?" Do they define identity as having the world's attention?

Arafat did get the world's attention: When he ordered the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972. When he introduced warfare against children by PLO terrorists who took more than 100 schoolchildren hostage and ended up killing 25 people, 21 of them children. When he launched the Intifada -- and then another intifada -- by encouraging and paying suicide bombers to massacre innocents.

When words and actions don't match up, tragedy ensues. Why? People generally believe "the words," no matter how false. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "Arafat legacy."

You would think, given the litany of Arafat's bloody deeds, that we'd rejoice he was finally gone. Remember the Munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" ... Hi, ho, the witch is dead, the witch is dead...

That, I admit, was my reaction when I first heard about his impending death. But Jewish tradition warns us against this reaction. Proverbs teaches: "Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemy; don't let your heart be glad when he is overthrown."

During the Passover Seder, we spill ten drops of wine as we recite each plague. Of course, we were glad to see the Egyptian army defeated! It was a great miracle! Still, Torah reminds us that even the wicked are God's creation.

Our own humanity is at issue here. We must never be callous or indifferent to evil, or to death.

Arafat's death certainly doesn't guarantee a peaceful solution to the Middle East. It simply means that without Yassir Arafat's iron grip, the moderate faction has an opportunity to stabilize the area and begin a real peace process.

The key issue, and the most difficult one, is Palestinian stability. Several terrorist groups already have announced that they will not give up "the fight."

Hamas insists on being part of a new government. Arafat's own group, the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, claims it will refuse to acknowledge a government led by the moderates. The new leader of the Fatah movement, Farouk Kaddoumi, said that "resistance is the path to arriving at a political settlement."

The Palestinian Authority will need money to create an effective government. Yassir Arafat had money -- but no one knows where he put it all. The only sure thing we know is that money flowed into his own pocket, but not into his government. Arafat, the revolutionary icon, died one of the richest men in the world.

The good news? A growing number of Palestinians are tired of the violence. They'll need the support of both the United States and Israel.

We can help:

By encouraging our elected officials to support a moderate Palestinian government.

By joining Mercaz, a Conservative Zionist organization. Supporting it can help Israel by strengthening a lifestyle that is not extremist in any direction.

By never losing sight of our Jewish ideals.

It's not realistic to expect miracles to happen right away. But we Jews have to believe in miracles. Our very existence is a miracle, and now we stand at the threshold of great hope.

To that end, I'd like to offer a prayer written by my colleague, Rabbi Barry Leff:

"Ribbono shel Olam, Master of the Universe, please help the Palestinian people in this difficult time. Help them find a leader who will renounce violence and terror, who will lead them on a path of peace with Israel and prosperity for themselves. Help them find a just leader who will be strong enough to remove corruption from their midst, now and forever."

My addition to his words: Grant us the strength to remain dedicated to Your ways so that we never give up hope -- or stop working to turn our hope into reality. May we work at building better relations with others, and in that way, do our part to bring peace to the world, and let us say, Amen.