Moral Nonequivalence

Islamic Jihad say that the suicide attack that killed five Israelis in Hadera yesterday was launched in retaliation for the assassination of their West Bank leader by Israeli forces earlier this week. They have a twisted sense of moral justice. The Israelis kill the leader of a militant group. The militant group murder five civilians in revenge. This AP story that reports the attack shows a picture of a grieving relative: a distraught young girl holding up a photograph of her dead brother. The ripple of sympathy I began to feel for her immediately died when I realized her brother was the suicide bomber. Don't worry, honey, he's in Paradise now.

UPDATE 28/10, 1:45 AM

Charles Johnson at little green footballs regularly points out what he sees as the liberal (read anti-war, anti-Israel) biases of major press agencies such as Associated Press and Reuters. I'm beginning to see what he means. The AP article and accompanying photograph linked above keep changing as events in the Middle East unfold following the Hadera suicide attack. But I still haven't seen any pictures there of the Israeli victims or their grief-stricken relatives. When I checked in several hours ago, there was a picture of more of the bomber's relatives. The current photo, accompanying an article reporting the killing of seven Palestinians by the Israelis, shows a group of Palestinians swarming around the wreckage of a car destroyed by an Israeli missile.

On the other hand, though barely a day has elapsed since the attack in Hadera, this Israeli site provides names, ages, and photos of the real victims, along with photos of some of the funerals that took place yesterday, including photos of grieving relatives. Somehow I find it much easier to sympathize with these young mourners.

Note that the Israeli response to the murder of five civilians is a targeted strike against Islamic Jihad militants, not Palestinian civilians. The Israelis display here a slightly better notion of justice.