The West is opposed to punishment of actual criminals and terrorists. The result is that the general population is made to suffer in their place.
Punishment is a part of the legal process. Without a real threat of punishment, people properly conclude that they can get away with anything. We saw as much at the recent campus protests, where failures of weak-kneed university administrators to punish protesters after warning them led to larger and more aggressive encampments.
In the immediate heat after the 10/7 pogrom in southern Israel, as more details became available, Israeli officials vowed that anyone who crossed the border fence between Gaza and Israel was “a dead man walking.” They promised that they would track down anyone they could identify by CCTV, terrorist GoPro cameras or confessions—and kill them. Well, I can tell you that Israel has not killed anyone taken into custody. Sure, many of those directly involved in the attack no doubt have died in Israeli airstrikes and firefights with IDF troops in Gaza. Around 1,500 were killed in Israel as the country fought back. But Israel has taken in thousands of new terrorist prisoners. They have taken in so many that they have no space for terrorists from the West Bank. The inn is full and they are letting terrorists stay free because they have no place to put them.
The obvious solution is to take any and all terrorists involved in the 10/7 attack and give them a mandatory death sentence. Israel has a death sentence for terrorists, though it never uses it. If it needed special legislation in order to condemn “Nukhba” terrorists to death, such a law could have whizzed through the Knesset as Israeli pathologists were still trying to identify the murdered from ashes and tooth fragments. Israel has confessions from terrorists who describe in detail the rape and murder that they and their comrades committed during the barbaric rampage. But, Israel does not have the kishkes (Yiddish—intestines, or intestinal fortitude) to put these people to death. There will be appeals and the West will pressure Israel not to kill the murderers, while Arab leaders will threaten revenge. And also, Israeli leaders do not believe in the righteousness of their cause, so they do not have the conviction to kill the monsters who killed, raped, tortured, and kidnapped fellow citizens.
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But not killing them means that someone else will receive their punishment. Every large attack, such as the prolonged second intifada and the very concentrated 10/7 orgy, was organized by people released by Israel in earlier exchanges of one Israeli soldier for a football field of bad guys. And those guys killed again. Yahya Sinwar and the others involved in plotting 10/7 were released for the soldier Galid Schalit, just as leaders of the second intifada could organize attacks in the early 2000s because they were released in the earlier Rajoub deal. The terrorists not being arrested due to a lack of space have opportunities to attack Israeli civilians again. Not punishing bad guys means that you are punishing the good guys. At the most basic level, one pays tens of thousands of dollars to keep a prisoner in jail for a year, but at a more nefarious level, these people will get out and try to kill again. Hamas’ proposal that Biden repeated this week involves releasing the murderous prisoners for Israelis who committed absolutely no crime before they were kidnapped by Hamas. Someone on Twitter called the jailed terrorists “hostages”. We have surpassed what even George Orwell expected.
And the same phenomenon is true in the US. All of the millions of illegal aliens not arrested and deported represent a threat to American citizens. One does not have to go very far down a landing page of any news website to read about an illegal alien who killed someone while driving or raped a child, or was involved in drug smuggling. Not keeping illegal aliens out or removing them in a serious and timely fashion simply means that individuals and communities throughout the US will receive the punishment in their place. From the small—a canceled soccer game because illegal aliens refused to leave the field that they occupied—to the tragic, such as the murder of US citizens, there will be punishments. Not punishing those who have violated the laws means that the punishment will come to those who follow the laws and norms of the land. Explain to the family of a woman raped and murdered by a Hamas terrorists why their law-abiding daughter was murdered by someone released for Gilad Schalit. No one will bother to explain to the grieving family, just as those whose loved ones were killed by illegal aliens are blown off by everyone except Donald Trump.
Crime and punishment are related in an intricate dynamic. The less of the latter, then you are guaranteed much more of the former. If you do not punish those who according to the law deserve it, then you have guaranteed your society more crime and disorder. The Soros DAs who do not prosecute anyone not named Trump and routinely let out criminals with no bail are trying to soothe their social consciences at the expense of the larger population. I am not asking for vindictive policing or inventing punishments or giving punishments beyond the crimes committed. I only note that just as a functional house needs a bathroom, so too a functional society needs a law enforcement program that includes punishment that fits the crime. Israel killing all 10/7 terrorists would send a very powerful message to Palestinians and others that there will be a real price for attacking Jews. The US deporting those present illegally and incarcerating those who commit serious crime would help to make life a lot better for the vast majority of citizens who are not involved in crime and do not want to become a crime statistic.
Legal punishments need to be fair, firm, and frequent. Fair—one does not need a firing squad for a parking ticket, but by the same token terrorists have lost their right to be a part of society. And one must be firm. There is no place for mercy after a legal proceeding has completed. If someone has forfeited his life or his right to be in the US, then the punishment must be meted out. And frequent—part of punishment is for the rest of us. In the Torah, it says, “And the people should hear—and fear.” When the IDF shot a guy throwing stones at troops (something they generally would ignore before 10/7), rock throwing dropped off precipitously.
Punishment is often not pleasant, but neither is paying taxes, or watching your kids get their vaccine shots. Still, just as the latter must be done, so too must the former.
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