Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Powerful, powerful, crie du coeur from Judea, the father of Daniel Pearl, in today's Wall Street Journal. Is it possible the world is actually in worse shape than it was the day his son was murdered? In many ways, yes, and Pearl names the responsible parties: Jimmy Carter, Ken Livingstone, the universities, the press (including but not limited to Al Jazeera), PBS and Bill Moyers...If we accept that terror is a tactic, and it is, then it is a political tactic first and foremost, and those who give it political space to breathe are ultimately responsible for its continued existence. Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil, When will our luminaries stop making excuses for terror? The start and the end:
This week marks the seventh anniversary of the murder of our son, former Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. My wife Ruth and I wonder: Would Danny have believed that today's world emerged after his tragedy?
The answer does not come easily...
...Danny's picture is hanging just in front of me, his warm smile as reassuring as ever. But I find it hard to look him straight in the eyes and say: You did not die in vain.
I challenge all the progressives and so-called progressives to face this head on - the fact that members of the Left, people who theoretically defend human rights, academics and intellectuals among them, have not only been legitimizing but in some cases inciting violence.
Let me ask my fellow would-be progressives: how on earth do you justify this? And how on earth do you justify defending outright bigots? How on earth can you openly call for the destruction of a people?