There is a visceral reaction to hearing the news that a young mother has willingly orphaned her children and killed herself, and that her goal was to kill as many strangers as she could. Most civilized people find it difficult to understand a hatred that supplants maternal love.
Most religions hold preservation of life more honorable than suicide. It is difficult to understand the conscience of a leader who values the lives of his people so cheaply that he has said that even if seven Palestinians die, it is worth it if one Jew is killed.
It is curious that whenever such news is reported, a phrase is added, trying to explain away the madness. Officials are quoted, attempting to lay the blame on delays at checkpoints and other humiliations of the “occupation.” Despite these excuses delivered through the media, however, civilized people are repulsed by the barbarity of suicide bombers and remember other nations that have endured far worse privations, without sacrificing their humanity.
Why does media coverage not expose the self-destructiveness of this pathological hatred? Since when did “balanced reporting” come to mean delivering excuses for evil?
Sadly, no report that I read last week addressed the issue of orphaning two children for political gain.
