April 14, 2004

The Silence of the Wheelchair

On Blowing a Murderous “Cleric” Straight to Hell

A few weeks ago, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), at the direction Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the consensus of Israel’s democratically-elected government, blew terrorist Sheik Yassin into his well-deserved eternity as Satan’s homeboy. The move frankly was long overdue, and many people, especially among terrorists, didn’t think Israel would have the balls to ice the Sheik, because, after all, poor Sheiky was in a wheelchair. How uncool is it to blow up someone who can’t even stand-up to make a dramatic fall?

The thinking was, (1) the guy is a cleric and if you blast him into hell, you’ll rile up people who think a holy man is exempt from punishment; there will be huge uprisings in Gaza and the West Bank, and (2) it’s unseemly to kill a wheelchair-bound person, they’re suffering enough already give them a break. Wrong thinking on both counts: After some initial rowdiness during the Sheik’s funeral (and boy what a target all those concentrated terrorists were!) things have quieted down in both Gaza and the West Bank. And the fact that the terrorists themselves had taken out the wheelchaired Leon Klinghoffer during the hijacking of the Achille Lauro made the “wheelchair-exemption” argument ring false.

His wheelchair made the murdering Sheik a moving  target, but not quite fast enough to escape Israeli  Death from Above.

But the truly amazing thing about taking out the Sheik is not the wheelchair-exemption angle, or the comparatively low-level unrest this dude’s overdue killing inspired: more amazing is the “Silence of the Wheelchair.” Since the IDF took out the “rolling Sheik” there hasn’t been a single suicide bombing inside Israel. And the reason, it seems, is obvious: Now that Israel has “removed the gloves” on taking out the “untouchable” Big Wheels Sheik, it’s pretty obvious that they’ll take out ANYONE – and that includes the Middle East’s biggest scumbag – Yasser Arafat – a man who if he dies of natural causes has won a victory of sorts. Not too mention, no one deserves this less.

Can anyone doubt that Arafat, holed up in a grimy, crumbling compound, will get his wish of martyrdom if there’s another spate of bombs inside Israel? And does anyone really believe that Arafat doesn’t want to live out his natural life, that he welcomes a helo-launched Hellfire missile zooming in on his criminal soul and martyrdom?make-believe screen of “legitimacy” as the “leader” of the Palestinians. Tough shit on them that they’re so stupid to follow him; where have they gone over the past 35 years?

So it’s clear that taking out the Sheik Wheelie has given pause to the thug leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah: they could be on the receiving end of IDF justice at any moment. There are PLENTY of turncoats in their midst who would sell their slimeball skins down the Jordan River – “hey, IDF, he’s going to be here, here, and here, at these times.” You gotta love it, the IDF plays for keeps, and for now, they’ve succeeded in giving Hamas and Hezbollah something to consider, and that something is DEATH from ABOVE, baby, with a one-way ticket down below.

Let’s hope some Hellfires find the Al-Gayda boys, in time, in time.

-- Dick Laresch