A seemingly unbridgeable divide remains between American liberalism – borne of contemporary, “turn-the-other-cheek” Christianity – and archetypal reap-what-you-sow Judaism. It’s strange – for almost 2,000 years the Church persecuted Jews for being different. Yet we now hear calls from many (though, by no means, all) of our country’s Christian corners for understanding, love, kindness and forgiveness toward the Other. Nowadays, the Other is the radical Islamist waging war on the Judeo-Christian world. For 2,000 years, peaceful and unthreatening Jews did not deserve forgiveness, absolution, kindness, or love. Apparently, times have changed.
Indeed, a Jew is tempted to ask: what gives? Is it not reasonable to assume that the crimes of suicidal terrorism and intentional civilian slaughter are unforgivable and that justice for their victims the only natural course? Is it not emotional cowardice and ethical confusion to indulge our society’s worship of peace and quiet and demand forgiveness for crimes that do not belong to us? It smacks of theft; only the deceased and God can forgive.
Just so, it is for the murderer to pay penance, to apply restitution through charity, good deeds and by paying his massive debts to society. It is not for us liberals to shower our love on all and project our weaknesses and insecurities in such an obsequious attempt to co-opt these nihilists to our way of life. Despite our confidences to the contrary, our logic is not so persuasive that Sheik Mohammad, Ahmadinejad and their (respective) coteries will melt and be cleansed by our purifying, all powerful forgiveness and understanding.
This type of thinking may work for a chunk of the world’s Christians. For 18 million Jews, it won’t. We lost one-third of our people a short six decades ago; we can no longer afford mistakes. Turning the other cheek to a nuclear Iran is not just appeasement, not just childish forgiveness, it is just suicide. As Golda Meir once said, we have now a secret weapon – “We have no other choice.”
