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Suicide Bombs and Moral Argument

(Independent-UK) Rabbi Ian D. Morris - On Thursday, Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge referred to suicide bombers and said: "If I was in their situation, I might just think about it myself." (Telegraph-UK) Rabbi Ian D. Morris, Chairman of the Assembly of Rabbis of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, responds: Dr. Tonge asserted that she did not regard suicide bombing as being so immoral as to be beyond the boundaries of defensible behavior. Is it acceptably moral to assert that I may hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper for any reason whatsoever? Is it acceptably moral to consider detonating an explosive belt in an Arab restaurant where Arabs and Jews are socializing together? Suicide bombing is not political discourse. Nor is it ever a moral option. Nor is it a weapon of war or resistance when used against civilians in restaurants or discotheques or skyscrapers. It is a weapon of hate, calculated to punish those who have the temerity to seek peace, be they Arabs or Jews, or the West in general. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians was in sight when the suicide bombers, whom Jenny Tonge so feelingly understands, deliberately and cruelly blew it to bits. Shame on Jenny Tonge for failing to identify suicide bombers as killers of peace as well as people.
2004-01-26 00:00:00
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