A 14-year-old Israeli Jewish boy now lies in a Jerusalem hospital, after being shot by a Palestinian Arab terrorist in the nearby town of Ma’ale Adumim.
According to news media reports, the boy suffered “light to moderate” injuries, which in Israeli parlance means he’s in danger of losing a limb, or his vision or hearing. He will almost certainly be left with serious physical and emotional scars.
Not everybody seems too concerned about the suffering of that Israeli child, however. In fact, there’s a whole group of nonprofit organizations in the United States that have chosen to focus their sympathies on a very different category of children in the Middle East: teenage Palestinian Arab terrorists.
More than 100 political and church groups have publicly endorsed legislation introduced by U.S. Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) to penalize Israel if its military detains Palestinian Arab minors. Known as HR 3103, the McCollum bill currently has sixteen co-sponsors.
The only reason that the Israeli military detains Palestinian Arab teenagers is if it catches them bombing, shooting, stabbing, or stoning Jews. But these members of Congress, and their 100-plus supporting organizations, feel that holding teenage terrorists in military detention is too rough on them.
Now, wouldn’t you suppose that those who are concerned about teenage Arab terrorists would be at least equally concerned about teenage Jewish victims of Arab terrorism? After all, caring about children from just one ethnic group and not another would be, well, racist.
So I’ve been checking the websites of the congressional and organizational supporters of HR 3103. I’ve been looking for press releases expressing their outrage at the shooting of the 14-year-old Israeli boy.
I’ve also been looking for press releases urging the Palestinian Authority to condemn the shooting. A condemnation by the PA would send a message to other would-be terrorists that shooting 14 year-olds is wrong. So far, all we’ve heard from the PA is that the victims were “illegal settlers,” which puts a target on their backs. This Israeli kid was doing his “settling” at the local Burgers Bar; he was shot because he was eating a hamburger while Jewish.
I’ve been searching for one – just one! – such statement from the supporters of the McCollum bill. I’m sorry to report that I haven’t found one yet. Here are some of the websites I’ve been checking:
- The members of the so-called “Squad”: Congressmembers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Not a word of concern from them about the wounded Israeli child.
- The Quakers’ foreign policy arm, the American Friends Service Committee. Turns out that it’s not too friendly to Jewish children who are victimized by Arab terrorists.
- The Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ. According to their religious principles, they are supposed to care about all children. I guess not everybody lives up to their principles.
- The Movement for Black Lives. I share their view that Black lives matter. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to share my view that the lives of Jewish victims of Arab terrorism matter, too.
- The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, named after the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone. Before entering Congress, Wellstone headed an organization that assisted single-parent families with day care, school lunches, and the like. Do those who now invoke Wellstone’s name believe he cared only about children of certain ethnic groups, and not others?
- Jewish Voice for Peace, which opposes Zionism. But does being anti-Zionist mean you have to be indifferent to a child’s suffering?
- T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. No sign of any calls for ensuring the human rights of the boy in Ma’ale Adumim.
- J Street. This pro-Palestinian advocacy group is never shy about expressing its views. In May and June alone, J Street put out eleven separate press releases. And they have found to time speak out for the McCollum bill to help teenage Palestinian Arab terrorists. But when it comes to Jewish child victims of those terrorists, J Street suddenly is at a loss for words.
- Americans for Peace Now. They’ve been busy in recent days, organizing a letter to President Biden urging him to take various steps to penalize and pressure Israel. Too bad they haven’t also found a few minutes to say something about the Jewish boy in the hospital. If they don’t have time to write an entire three-paragraph press release, how about just a one-sentence tweet? So far, no such luck.
Americans for Peace Now is, by the way, a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Is concern about child terrorists, and indifference to child victims, consistent with the values that the Conference of Presidents represents?
The failure of the McCollum bill supporters to utter even one word about the Ma’ale Adumim shooting makes one wonder if the life of a Jewish child matters to them at all.
