The Power of the Poison Pen

10 Tamuz 5774

I continue to be shocked and appalled by the reportage surrounding the death of the teen from Shuafat. Each day that goes by, the known facts are being obscured more and more. Furthermore, those who read these reports do not do so with a discerning eye. Otherwise, how can they continue to repeat that the boy was "burned alive?"

An article from this morning states the following:

"Further details about the six suspects in the murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khder, who was found burned to death in the Jerusalem Forest last Wednesday,...."

However, further down in this article, it reiterates the same phrase that has been reported everywhere since it happened:

"...Abu Khder who, according to an initial pathologist's report issued from Palestinian sources, was burned alive,...."

IT IS ASSUR FOR PEOPLE TO REPEAT THIS DETAIL AS A FACT BASED ON ONE UNRELIABLE SOURCE!!! IT'S A BLOOD LIBEL!

It is no coincidence that this has happened during the time when we read parshiot Balak and Pinhas. Learn the lessons! We don't know!! So keep quiet!! Nobody - not the media and not those reading their reports - have been appointed as judge or jury! There is no mitzvah to cast your vote yea or nay!

I was having a discussion with Geulah Girl this morning and she said something amazing. She said that Hashem gave us an easy test of achdut - all the Jews gathered together to support the families of the kidnapped boys and to pray for their rescue. Now, six young Jews have been swept up by the police for questioning, tasered and isolated from everyone, including legal counsel. They've been tried and convicted in the media, and where are their fellow Jews?  Will anyone pray for these boys?  Will anyone support their families? Where is the achdut now? THESE JEWS ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!

How quick everyone has been to condemn and distance themselves and bend over backwards to prove to the goyim that Jews don't do such things. What if they didn't do it? What if they are being set up by the authorities? (It would not be the first time) What if they did, but were shown not to be in their right minds? 

If you must, judge your brother the way that you would want to be judged!!

Better yet, stop judging until all the facts are known. Reports in the media of confessions and re-enactments at the crime scene are NOT PROOF of anything. Even if true, there are many, many cases of innocent people "confessing" and "re-enacting" with help from the authorities.

The self-abasement of the government leaders and other Jews before this Arab family, with as many as 600 Jews making a mass-pilgrimage to the mourning tent, is a terrible, TERRIBLE CHILLUL HASHEM. There was celebration in this home and in this village when our boys were kidnapped and killed!  What further tragedies this will precipitate, only God knows. Especially during these days leading up to the Three Weeks and while rockets are falling on Jewish towns and Jewish soldiers are preparing to enter the battlefield, we must be very, very careful. Hashem yerachem!!

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Guest Post by Geulah Girl

Everything that happens around us is a test from Hakodosh Baruch Hu. A month ago the test was will we show love to our fellow Jews and there was an amazing spirit of Achdut that spread throughout Am Yisrael for the families of the three kidnapped and murdered boys. This test was not so hard because the Jews were victims. It was easy to relate to the families and their pain. Now we are faced with a harder test, to show love of our fellow Jew when it isn't easy, when it goes against our natural tendencies. According to the media six Jewish boys have been arrested for the murder and alleged burning of an Arab. Without knowing anything about the suspects except that they are Jews, many of you have rushed to condemn and judge even calling for the death penalty, which has never even been used for mass murderers or terrorists in Israel. Just because they are Jews! How does this make you any different than the anti-semitic goyim. We know nothing about this case. Everything that has been put out in the media is conditioned with words such as "suspected of possible involvement". We know of no evidence. We don't even know their names. Even the claim that the Arab was burned alive may not be true as the only source for this is the Palestinian attorney general.  (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/06/us-palestinians-israel-idUSKBN0FB07P20140706)

We do know that the suspects, some as young at 16 claimed innocence until after they were interrogated like terrorists for days by the Shin Bet, in one of their facilities. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/06/us-palestinians-israel-idUSKBN0FB07P20140706 )

We do know that they weren't allowed to speak to a lawyer for days and only those who confessed to the crime have been allowed to speak to a lawyer at this point.
(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4538864,00.html)

We have an obligation to give fellow Jews the benefit of the doubt unless proven otherwise. If not for the suspects then for their families. There is halachah that must be followed when convicting Jews of a crime and that includes two witnesses. What if one of the suspects was your son or your student. Would you stand by them at least until proof of guilt was offered? And what happens if it turns out they are innocent, merely used as a sacrifice to calm the rioting Arabs? How will you ever repair the damage caused?