The kidnapping

Today is June 22, 2014. It is day ten since three Jewish boys were kidnapped by Muslims who hate Jews. The boys are civilians. They are not, as Muslims claim, ‘soldiers’. They are Yeshiva (religious school) students. Two are 16 years old. One is 19.

We unite to pray for these, our sons. We pray for their safety. We pray for their life.

We unite. That’s important. People outside Israel do not understand how we feel here: these boys are not ‘someone else’s kids’. They are truly our children. We unite because of them. We come together as one people, one nation, with one heart: we turn to G-d with a single voice.

Even seculars unite with us to pray. As one example, Israel Finance Minister Yair Lapid has said that he hasn’t prayed since his son’s bar mitzvah some six years ago. But when he heard of the kidnapping, he looked through his house for his grandfather’s siddur (prayer-book). When he found it, he sat down and prayed (“Lapid Prays For First Time in Six Years for the Abductees”, Arutz Sheva, June 20, 2014).

We unite in prayer. We turn to G-d. Was Lapid’s announcement nothing more than a cynical ploy of a cynical politician? It doesn’t matter.

As we unite in prayer, the Muslims around us also unite. They unite to lie about our three boys. They unite to attack Israeli troops.

More important, they unite to declare that kidnapping Jews is good because it is the only message Jews understand. It is, they say, the only way to convince Jews to free captured Muslim Jew-killers from Israeli prison.

The Arabs around us have united: the three Jewish boys are soldiers. For the Arab-Muslim, our children are always ‘soldiers’. They are never civilians. The Arab-Muslim calls our children ‘military targets’.

In Israel, this is the part of June when the school year ends. In June, our children—these so-called military targets-- make plans for the summer. These boys are not making those plans right now. They can’t.

The Arab collective doesn’t care. Kidnappings are too important.  Kidnapping is important because each kidnapping plays a role in the Arab-Muslim war against Israel. It brings joy. It means ‘success’.

This is why Israel should not stand down from its search-and-rescue mission. Israel cannot afford to give this kind of success to the Arab. If Israel stands down, there will be more Jewish suffering.

There is another reason Israel must not stand down. It must defend itself. It must continue to arrest those who are linked to Hamas and militant cells within Fatah. Israel must demonstrate that there will be a truly serious price to pay for kidnapping Jews.

The community of Arabs which surrounds Israel is guilty.  It carries that collective guilt because it has called for these kidnappings. It has wanted these kidnappings. It has supported kidnapping attempts. It has stood silent while neighbours have plotted kidnappings.

Now it has succeeded. That’s why the Arab-Muslim collective celebrates its good fortune. Arab success has brought misery to the Jews.  

For the Arab community, the kidnapping is good. It promises to get better: when the World Cup competition ends, and sports fans all over the world refocus on the news, they’ll wake up to headlines they haven’t yet seen: Jews ‘murder’ Arabs.

By the time the Cup competition ends (or soon after), that’s what the headlines will say. The Arab community will see to it.

For the Arab collective, this kidnapping is very good. So what if Arab youth are killed throwing firebombs at Israeli soldiers? Those headlines are worth it!

The Arab is patient. Soon, more Arab youth, including 12-14 year olds, will be shot as they attack Israeli soldiers. Then the world will read how Arab youth have been ‘murdered in cold blood’ (while attacking Israeli troops).

The world will be shocked. It will be horrified. It will demand sanctions against the ‘Apartheid’ Jew-state.

The world won’t remember the Arab calls to kidnap Jews. It won’t remember Arab guilt in this kidnapping. It won’t remember the three Jewish boys.

Instead, it will remember what it always remembers: to turn against the Jew.

Let them turn. The G-d of Israel watches. He watches Muslim hate and Christian complicity. He watches--and takes names. He records everything in His Book of Remembrance.

He records because every nation will be judged. Every religion will be judged. Those who bless—or help—Israel will be judged. Those who curse--or demonize--Israel will be judged.

We don’t know why this kidnapping happened. We don’t know why these boys and their families must suffer. But we do know this: for the nations of the world, this kidnapping is a test. It’s a test to see who will defend Jewish life—and who won’t.

The G-d of Israel watches. He Records. Soon, He will Judge.