                                                               
                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
            Must one act of Madness lead to Another?
                        January 2, 1997
                                
     Yesterday morning an apparently mentally disturbed IDF soldier from Maale Adumim
came to Hebron and randomly fired his M-16 into the Arab market before he was overpowered by
Israeli soldiers on the scene.  Owing to the high military alert on the city, the casualties were
prevented from being catastrophic.  And owing to the concentrated presence of the press all over
the city, the world was treated to a front row view of the incident on television.
     Everyone, from the Prime Minister on down, harshly and hastily condemned this act. 
There is no one on record, that I am aware of, who expressed satisfaction with this deed, other
than the perpetrator himself.  Monday morning quarterbacks from the Israeli media and the
political arena have been offering their "expertise" after the fact.  Calls have been issued to
psychologically screen more carefully the entire army.  Secular Jews accused the religious
segment of creating conditions which stimulate these kinds of acts. "Settlers" are blamed for this
madness even though the perpetrator was not a "settler".  The Arabs, along with the Israeli left,
are demanding that the Jewish Community of Hebron be dismantled.  And this freak incident is
being used as "proof" that it is not Jews who need protection, rather Arabs.
     What is worse, is the fact that every hater of Israel, from the PLO security head (former
terrorist murderer) and Arafat with his team of advisors, along with leftist fanatics like MK Yossi
Sarid, are all being given wide press coverage on Israeli television and radio.  While you and I
may not be taken in by the slime issuing forth from such foul mouths, a great deal of  "middle
Israel", whose knowledge of Hebron and Yesha is based almost entirely upon the distortions  they
see on television, cannot help but be influenced by such exposure.  
     When the Israeli population begins to believe that peace can be achieved by surrendering
Judea and Samaria to murderers, aided by the artificial humanization of such monsters as Arafat
by our media, our ability to maintain our belief in our right to exclusive legitimate sovereignty
over the land of Israel is greatly weakened.
     The latent guilt feelings which reside in the breast of so many Jewish leaders, burst forth
with unparalleled fury any time an excuse is given to express it.  Clearly Noam Friedman was a
nut case.  He spoke and acted for no one but himself.  Yet, for fear that others might think we
sympathize with such an act, everyone rushed forward to prove that he opposed it.  Not satisfied
with mere condemnation of the act and its perpetrator, our exhibitionists of moral turpitude must
go that extra mile and commit acts of self flaggelation to "prove" in the strongest way possible
that they distance themselves from this act.
     Thus our Prime Minister called Arafat personally to apologize (as if it was his fault), and
television commentators prodded cabinet ministers to change their views on redeployment in
reaction to this event.
     While no one contests the fact that this act served no interest what so ever, it has been
pointed out that, should it have been committed, in exactly the same way, only after the planned
"redeployment", it could easily have triggered a conflagration which may have seen the entire
Jewish Community of Hebron wiped out by the reaction of the PLO police and friends.
     Rather than succumb to the embarrassment caused by the fact that such an act took place,
our leaders should recognize, even more clearly than before, that by continuing the agreement to
turn most of Hebron over to Arafat will only guarantee the creation of a totally uncontrollable
security threat; both to the lives of those Jews living in Hebron, and to the safety of Jews all over
Israel.
     Noam Friedman is a fool.  He was driven to commit an outrageous act by his inability to
deal with the very desperate frustration and fear with which all of us live owing to the
abandonment by our Prime Minister of the most basic principles which enabled him to be elected. 
Even Uri Or, devout leftist and former deputy Defense Minister under Yitzchak Rabin, stated
clearly that if the government believes that the Oslo agreement is a bad one (and that seems to be
the unanimous attitude of all members of the government), then they should reject it.  It is
ridiculous for a government to support an agreement which they feel is bad.  Of course the former
minister feels that it is a good agreement.  
     Netanyahu, on the other hand, feels that Oslo is bad.  But he feels that since we have
begun the process, we have no choice but to continue.  One can only wonder what he would do if
he began to eat a meal which he soon discovered to be riddled with poison.  Would he continue to
eat it as an obligation to the host who served it to him?
     Bad is bad.  A good leader never has an obligation to continue  a process which is bad for
his country.  Oslo is killing us.  Netanyahu knows this yet feels obligated to continue with it
anyway rather than face the enormous difficulties involved in extricating us from disaster.
      I fully agree with the Prime Minister that policy should not be made in reaction to an act
of madness.  But neither should he feel bound to react to this act by the additional madness of
placing his country into further jeopardy.  Any self respecting government must act according to
the needs of the country.  Clearly it is harmful to the security, not just of Hebron, but of all of
Israel, should the PLO be given another city of refuge from which to wage war against the Jewish
State, which it certainly plans to do.  It is not too late to say "no" to redeployment in Hebron, and
"no" to any further concessions to our enemies.