Now it is Europe’s turn

Walter E. Block

Will the recent atrocity in Magdenburg Germany lead to any increase in the appreciation of Israel’s plight on the part of Europeans? Maybe Americans? This massacre is hard on the heels of an even more recent similar tragedy that took place in New Orleans.

Taleb Al Abdulmohsen a Muslim (an actual doctor no less!) living in Germany for decades murdered 5 innocent Germans including a nine year old child and seriously injured some 200 more; several of the latter are expected to die in hospital from their wounds. He plowed his car into a crowd of people celebrating Christmas. He is 50 years old, so this act on wanton destruction cannot be put down to any teenage angst. He is known for anti-Islamic views, so that cannot be a full explanation for this tragedy.

Happily, this is a rare occurrence in Germany and in all of Europe for that matter. However, while this sort of outrage does not take place in Israel every day, it is not, unfortunately, a rare event there either.

Perhaps this atrocity in Germany will lead the people in that country, in all of Europe, and maybe around the world, to be less critical of how Israel deals with such happenings. Maybe, instead, this abomination will inspire them to work with Israel and all other civilized countries in dealing with this monstrous scourge of Muslim terrorism.

Some commentators maintain there is no way to stop such horrific events. If an ordinary implement such as an automobile can be used to such devastating effect, they aver, we can only hope and pray for a cessation of such events. It would appear that there is a certain group disproportionately responsible for the lion’s share of such atrocities. Most Muslims are entirely innocent of any such evil behavior, of course. However, of all such incidents, this demographic is responsible for more than a proportionate share.

Israel has long been victimized by this demographic. The world has stood by, condemning the Israeli attempt to deal with it. Maybe, perhaps, possibly, they will now look at the response of the IDF to this terrorism though different eyeglasses.

One possible explanation for this debacle is the years long influx of Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims, Sunnis, Shiites into Germany in particular, and Europe in general. Any analysis of this horrific situation that fails to deal with this phenomenon is certainly incomplete. It cannot be denied that if Mr. Al Abdulmohsen had remained in his country of birth, Saudi Arabia, he would not likely have wreaked this havoc on the German population.

How have Europeans and Americans too, dealt with similar otherwise incomprehensible carnages? One “cure” is to step up welfare payments. The thought, possibly, was to bribe people into better behavior. However, as Charles Murray has demonstrated in his important book “Losing Ground,” the result of such programs as President Lynden Baines Johnson’s Great Society is to break up the families of the recipients, and thus to lead to even more crime.

Another version of the carrot is to let ‘em loose. Prosecutors inspired and paid off by Soros have freed prisoners on the ground that there are too many representatives of a given demographic now in jail. This has not had any demonstrable effect on reducing crime; indeed, the presumption is the very opposite. President Biden has recently substituted life imprisonment sentences for the death penalty in the case of 37 inmates. This does not bode well for reducing the murder rate as executions focus the minds of would be murderers thus saving lives, as the research of Isaac Ehrlich has demonstrated. What about diverting their attention? Maybe through bread and circuses? Basketball courts have been built all over the place in the US, and mayors have organized midnight games. But American inner cities are still riven with crime.

The Israeli solutions include severe penalties, such as long jail sentences. The IDF has been known to blow up houses occupied by terrorists. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority give pensions to the families of the miscreants who lose their lives as they engage in predation against Jews. Israel has tried to stop this. As well, the Palestinian education brainwashed into their children has been focused on hatred for Israelis in particular, and Jews in general. The government has tried to put a spoke in this wheel.

In Judea and Samaria, local citizens sometimes take the law into their own hands. The IDF can’t be everywhere to protect them. What has been the European reaction? Unfortunately, it has been to boycott the area they are pleased to characterize as the “West Bank.” What is the local citizenry supposed to do? Sit there and take it? To ignore the depredations imposed upon them by their Arab neighbors? That might have been the only reaction open the shtetl Jews, but, Never Again.

Maybe, just maybe, this latest episode of a Muslim run amuck will give Europeans more appreciation of the Israeli plight in dealing with these people? Probably not based upon passed experience, but one can always hope.

Then there is an alternative: ethnic cleansing. Many Europeans greatly regret the immigration of massive numbers of Arabs into their countries. Only in non-mainstream quarters is a reversal of this process, banishment that is, ever even seriously discussed. Not so in Israel.

Israel has been dealing with these people for decades now. Perfectly? No, of course not. Perhaps there is no way to entirely eliminate this scourge of lawlessness, it can only be reduced. Europeans and North Americans too, have been highly critical of Israeli remedies. What do they propose instead? So far, mostly denigration of the only Jewish state on the planet. Who knows, maybe this will change.