Isracast Assessment: Makes No Difference If Killer Was French Racist or Islamic Terrorist, Jewish Schools & Institutions Must Step Up Their Vigilance Danger Of Copycat Syndrome In Shooting Unprotected Jewish Children EU Foreign Policy Chief Catharine Ashton's Comparison Of Toulouse Murdered Children To Gaza Children Raises Question About EU's Political Mindset
Israel was appalled by the terror attack in Toulouse that left three children and a father shot dead at a Jewish school. With the identity of the killer still unknown, both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak steered clear of accusing Islamic fanatics. Indeed the recent killings of French soldiers, apparently Muslims, by a killer with a similar revolver pointed to a French racist rather than an Islamic terrorist. But analyst David Essing is of the view that whoever the shooter turns out to be, the danger will apparently get worse before it gets better.
Be they anti-Semitic racists or Islamic terrorists the terror threat is staring us in the face- Jews abroad and Israelis at home. Neo-Nazis waiting in the shadows or botched Iranian attempts in India and Thailand, Israeli and Jewish targets are in the cross-hairs. The late Dov Yinon, a former senior IDF intelligence officer, once told me how deadly attacks exhilarate other terrorists who exclaim: ‘Look how many Jews they killed, why don’t we do the same!’ The terrorist struck at eight o’clock in the morning when the children got off the bus at the school opening fire at almost point blank range. He ran after the terrified kids into the school yard, shooting one wounded child in the head. Later at the scene, a visibly shocked President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French presidential candidates condemned the attack in no uncertain terms. In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the killing a manifestation of deadly anti- Semitism, adding that he was confident that Sarkosy would do all in his power to catch the perpetrator.
But in Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief Catharine Ashton had a different take. This was her reaction: ‘When we think about what happened today in Toulouse, we remember what happened in Norway last year, we know what is happening in Syria and we know what is happening in Gaza and other places. Against all odds they continue to to learn, work, dream and seek a better life for themselves and their children in Gaza’. Ashton’s comment is scurrilous on several counts. First she recalls Anders Breivik’s shooting spree in Norway that murdered 77 young Norwegians and Syria’s President Assad’s brutal targeting of Syrian children, with the IDF’s unprecedented measures not to harm Palestinian children. Just take the recent five days of warfare with Gaza. Twenty-six Palestinians were killed- 23 of them were terrorists along with three civilians , one of them a child who died when an Islamic Jihad arms depot exploded after it was hit by Israeli aircraft. This while some 200 rockets were launched from Gaza at Israeli towns and villages, where children also happen to live and have been terrorized for years. Moreover, Ashton conveniently forget the Israeli children who were killed in Palestinian terror attacks such as the launching of an anti-tank rocket at a yellow school bus that killed one teenager. It was a miracle that most of the pupils got off the bus one stop before it was demolished by the rocket. Ashton’s disgusting remarks somehow overlooked the EU member states’ own terrible record of killing tens of thousands of civilians – yesterday in Iraq and today in Afghanistan. Alas, many of those collateral deaths were also children.
One wonders how much faith Israel should put in the EU foreign policy apparatus if Ashton’s mindset is the yardstick to go by. Moreover, Ashton is in charge of conducting the EU’s contacts with Iran! Her egregious comparison of Israel with Syria is mind boggling. As for Gaza, Ashton should note the learned opinion of one of her countryman, British Army Col. Richard Kemp who testified before Judge Goldstone into Israel’s Cast Lead Operation into Gaza in 2009:
‘I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the united Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee.
Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this:
During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.
Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population’.
Is it possible the EU would appoint a ‘High Representative for Foreign Policy’ with such a low IQ? Not really, so how did Ashton manage to put her diplomatic foot in her mouth. She will probably talk now about ‘out of context’ that she was speaking after meeting Palestinian teenagers or whatever. The truth is that Ashton probably spoke in an unguarded moment but in so doing exposed her true mindset. Her comments are indicative of the insidious campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state and in this this case by exploiting the murder of Jewish children to do so. At the very least, Ashton should apologize to the bereaved parents in Toulouse and to the state of Israel.