Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The recent attacks on innocent people in Israel by Islamic terrorist murderers serves as a stark reminder of the devastating attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 by those with the same evil mindset. Most Americans remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on 9/11 and most recall the unity Americans had in the aftermath as Americans set aside differences in order to protect our safety and way of life against the Islamic terrorist threat. However, it has been more than 22 years since the attacks and there is a significant number who were too young to remember or who weren’t yet born when the 9/11 attacks occurred.
This week I came across the following fantastic article titled Once, I Was a Peace Advocate. Now, I Have No Idealism Left written by a young person whose eyes were opened. I highly encourage spending a few minutes reading the article available at the link above. Among the things he writes is:
“my friends weren’t interested in correcting their misunderstandings...I assumed—if I cared enough, if I mourned for the Palestinian dead, if I put nuance above all else—our neighbors and their allies would give us the same decency.
How wrong I was. This past week, as over 1,300 Jews were slaughtered, the most murderous attack on Jews since the Holocaust, I saw the true face of Palestinians and their allies. All around the world, they celebrate. They gloat. They mock our tears. They do not protest against Hamas. They embrace pure evil.
When you killed my family, I forgave you. When you killed my people, I forgave you. But when you killed my idealism, I had no forgiveness left.”
In the last week or so, many protests have occurred against Israel and Israel’s justified military response to the Islamic terrorist attacks. The protests are occurring on college campuses and capitol buildings across the country, including the Minnesota Capitol. As I witness the anti-Israel protests in the aftermath of Israel’s 9/11, I’m reminded of the fact many colleges, universities, and other spheres of influence in society, such as corporate media, outright deny the existence of evil or otherwise work overtime attempting to link aggression, crime, violence, extremism, and terrorism as the result of poor economic conditions, lack of identity or sense of belonging, insufficient resources or opportunity, social conditions, or some other absurd associations.
Academia, media, and other main-stream influencers in society promote lies while manipulating emotions. Idealism vs. reality is clearly on display in the protests by persons whose perspectives may have been distorted.
Truth is, evil is real and evil people with means and opportunity exist who seek to destroy others. It is also truth poverty is not a root cause of violence. Poor countries and societies past and present around the globe have not been plagued with violence. There is no cause-and-effect relationship between economic down turns and mass murders. Violent crime and terrorism did not spike during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Instead, crime, violence, and terrorism is the result of a depraved mind not valuing innocent human life. Islamic terrorists specifically are motivated by the sick joy and honor it brings them to harm others, especially Jews and Christians.
Evil cannot be negotiated with and there is no peace possible with those who seek to kill. Below is a picture I took of a border wall during one of my travels to Israel which keeps evil actors away from the Jewish neighborhoods. Border walls help to ensure safety and security.
