Palestinian Suicide Bombers Are Immoral
Robert Tracinski About the author: Robert Tracinski is the editor and publisher of The Intellectual Archivist, a monthly magazine that analyzes current political, cultural, and philosophic issues from a proindividualist perspective. he West’s conflict with Islamic terrorism is more than a “clash of civilizations.” It is, at root, a clash between two world views and two moral models, a clash much wider and more important than any political conflict.
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Palestinian Self-Sacrifice
I was reminded of this by a brilliant observation in a recent column by [Washington Post newspaper columnist] Charles Krauthammer—an observation far more significant than Krauthammer himself seems prepared to recognize. Writing about the way in which Palestinians have consistently rejected every opportunity for statehood, peace, and prosperity, instead choosing constant warfare and destruction, he concludes: “This embrace of victimhood, of martyrdom, of blood and suffering, is the Palestinian disease.” What Krauthammer doesn’t realize is that this worship of suffering is the world’s disease, a very old affliction that has evaded our cultural immune system by disguising itself as a morality. That morality is accepted as uncontroversial in today’s world, and you hear it, and probably nod in agreement, whenever someone tells you that self-sacrifice is the essence of moral virtue. But isn’t self-sacrifice—or, as Krauthammer puts it, “victimhood, martyrdom, blood and suffering”—the essence of
Robert Tracinski, “The Suicide Bomb Morality,” Real Clear Politics, June 21, 2006. Reproduced by permission.
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Is Suicide Immoral?
the horrific plight the Palestinians have chosen for themselves? And shouldn’t this make us question, at its very roots, the morality of self-sacrifice? The Palestinians show us a society based on sacrifice in its purest, most fanatical form. It is a society built around a single moral model: the suicide bomber, who is lionized on billboards, on television, in popular songs. And this is not just the propaganda of the corrupt Palestinian rulers. One of the delegates elected to the Palestinian parliament in the populist upsurge for [the terrorist group] Hamas [the majority political party] was Umm Nidal, the “mother of martyrs,” who has sent three of her sons to kill themselves in terrorist attacks on Israel, proclaiming that their “sacrifice . . . makes me happy.” For the great mass of Palestinians this worship of sacrifice is sincere. By rejecting every chance at peace and coexistence with Israel—breaking every truce and turning down every peace offer—they have lost everything and gained nothing. Taking the suicide bomber as their moral model, the Palestinians seek to emulate his fate: in their lust to destroy Israel, they are willing to accept the utter destruction and collapse of their own society.
Israeli Opposing Moralities
Look to the other side of the security barrier and you see a very different society. While the Palestinians raise their children on visions of blood and murder, the Israelis are largely preoccupied by the business of producing, creating, making a living. Consider, for example, the vast Gaza greenhouses handed over from the departing Israelis to the Palestinians. In the hands of the society that “made the desert bloom,” these greenhouses produced millions of dollars’ worth of produce. Under Palestinian control, they were looted and their products have literally been left to rot. As with the Cold War examples of East and West Berlin, Gaza and Israel offer side-by-side laboratories for opposing moralities.
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