Another American Victim of Palestinian Terror: Why it Matters
 |
| Richard Lakin, who succumbed to wounds he sustained in a terrorist attack on a bus in Jerusalem. |
JNS.org – Another
American victim of Palestinian terrorism was buried this week. Does it
matter that he was an American? Why should the American government, or
American Jews, take any more interest in the latest victim than in any
other victims?
Richard Lakin, a 76-year-old
former Connecticut school principal, died Oct. 27 of wounds he suffered
in a recent Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem. He was the 137th
American citizen murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the 1960s.
Since he was an American
citizen, Lakin’s death will merit a brief mention in many American
newspapers, and newspapers in his hometown will give more extensive
coverage.
That’s the first reason the
American identity of these victims matters. If not for the sense that
“he was one of us,” these terror victims would be completely forgotten.
Newspapers have limited space. They choose the stories they will cover
based primarily on what they think will interest their readers. They
believe that Americans will care more about other Americans than about
other victims, and that residents of Connecticut will be more interested
in what happens to other residents of their state than residents of
other states. And that’s a reasonable assumption, whether we like it or
not.
Richard Lakin was Jewish. As a
result, American Jews will take a particular interest in what happened
to him. And they should. The organized American Jewish community
actively encourages Jews to visit Israel. The community, as my family
does through the Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund, also supports
“study abroad” programs at Israeli schools, seminaries, and universities
in order to attract American Jewish college students to study there for
a semester or a year. And a number of Jewish organizations provide
financial assistance and other incentives to American Jews to move to
Israel.
These American Jewish
initiatives to send Jews to Israel are an expression of the strength and
warmth of the ties that bind Israel and the Diaspora. We derive
inspiration and spiritual sustenance from our relationship with the
Jewish state. We want our children to share in that. And if we are going
to encourage American Jews to go to Israel, then we have a special
obligation to care, and to act, if any of those Jews are harmed by
Palestinian terrorists in Israel.
Moreover, American Jews have
the ability to make a difference. Our relationship with the White House
and Congress, our electoral clout as a community, and our skills at
reaching out to the wider public enable us to influence America’s policy
on these issues.
The American public should
care, too. The people of the United States have always had a special
attachment to Israel, because the Jewish state shares our democratic,
humanitarian, and Judeo-Christian values. Americans who visit or even
live in Israel are putting into practice the heartfelt sentiments of
millions of their fellow American citizens.
American taxpayers should care
for another reason: the US government sends $500 million of their tax
dollars to the Palestinian Authority (PA) every year. So the public has a
right to expect the government to intervene when PA employees or
PA-incited terrorists murder our citizens, or when the PA names streets,
parks, and soccer teams after murderers of Americans.
The American government, too, has a special obligation with regard to American victims of Palestinian terrorism.
First, there is a legal
obligation. American citizens, whether they are visiting, studying, or
living abroad, are still American citizens. They pay taxes just like the
rest of us, and in return the US government has a legal responsibility
to act when they are harmed by terrorists abroad just as it would have
an obligation to act if they are harmed by terrorists within the US.
Second, the US government has a
strategic obligation to act. Fighting Palestinian terrorism must be
part of America’s global war on terror. Bringing Palestinian killers of
Americans to trial in the US would contribute significantly to
anti-terror efforts, by making it clear to Palestinian terrorists that
they could face the death penalty, or at least life in prison with no
hope of release in a prisoner exchange — something that is not the case
when they kill Israelis.
So,
yes, it is relevant that Richard Lakin was an American. It’s not just a
question of narrow national pride, or ethnic solidarity, or curiosity.
For important moral, legal, and strategic reasons, the American victims
of Palestinian terrorism should matter to American Jews, to the American
public, and to the American government.
Stephen M. Flatow, an
attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered
in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.