If this were not a family news website, I would have used a more colorful title.
One of the defining features of our age is the incredible stupidity of many of those in the public eye. People with the IQ of an acorn lecture us about climate change or that boys and girls are interchangeable like socks. Sports stars, music makers, billionaires, and Hollywood grandees can never find the off switch to their mouths when they discuss things that they do not understand. That never stops them. Whichever way the wind is blowing left, they add their views, though the world would be better off without their empty "wisdom."
The latest expression of beautiful people telling the world how dumb they are involves none other than Marwan Barghouti. Two hundred of the know-nothing millionaires penned a letter demanding the immediate release of the mass-murdering Palestinian. They even made a website for the criminal, poor fellow smiling around his Israeli tormentors. I can only say that I wish that it had been their children. I wish that they had gone to see their wives and friends in a river of blood provided by Barghouti. Then I would ask them to sign the petition.
So who is Marwan Barghouti? He was one of Yasir Arafat's top lieutenants. He was considered a real candidate to replace the aging terrorist one day. During the second intifada, he played an outsized role in organizing attacks against Israeli citizens. His direct involvement in the attack in which my son and I were wounded involved his providing $600 to the cell that planned and carried out the suicide bombing on March 21, 2002, on King George V Street in Jerusalem. At the time, Barghouti was a member of the Palestinian Parliament, and as such, had an obligation to alert Israel to an impending attack. Instead, he gave the planners the money, though they claimed the day before the bombing that everything was ready and that they were in need of nothing.
In our attack, three people were killed. Two were a young couple just leaving an ultrasound appointment. She was pregnant with twins and died on the sidewalk. Her husband went through 30 units of blood before he died on the operating table. They left behind two young girls who were brought up by their grandparents. Shortly after the attack, thieves broke into the Shemesh home and stole personal items—as if the family had not suffered enough. The third person killed was a fellow who worked at a nearby toy store. He announced he was going out for an errand and never came back. I saw him near the spot where my bag had fallen. His face was completely blackened, with his eyes staring off into nowhere.
Two screws penetrated my left arm. Our son had the head of a screw pass through his right brain. Overall, 87 people were injured, from shock to serious life-threatening injuries. And all of that which I have written relates to only one attack associated with Marwan Barghouti and his Tanzim butchers. When he was caught shortly after our attack, he was accused of multiple murder charges. The Israelis decided to try Barghouti in a civilian court so that there would be no accusation of a military tribunal being biased toward conviction. He was found guilty on five murder charges and given five life sentences. Ever since his incarceration, do-gooders from Israel and the international set have bleated about the need for his release. In one of the very few things that Israel has done right, it has not agreed to his egress, not for Schalit and not for any of the recent hostage deals.
Marwan Barghouti has never taken responsibility for the crimes he committed. He has never asked for forgiveness from the families whose lives he destroyed. He has never sworn off terrorism because, like a 60-year-old model who tries to stay beautiful to remain relevant, he needs to be a terrorist to be useful to Palestinian society. They don't need a statesman, librarian, mechanic, or bus driver. They want killers, and Barghouti can only get this international push to get him out as long as he has not renounced terror as a tool for getting what he wants. My lawyers had mountains of documents from Palestinians arrested during the second intifada, and they all said the same thing: when Israel was giving away the store, there was to be no terror. If Israel dug in on Jerusalem or the "right of return," then Barghouti's lieutenants were given orders to send in the bombers. Barghouti is a mass murderer, and because he murdered Jews, the Left loves him—including Jews.
So, Paul Simon, whose music from now on sucks, could sign the letter. Non-Jews like Sting and Richard Branson could put their paw prints in favor of a killer who has never, not in one interview, suggested that he would never return to terror should he ever get out. So much for flying Virgin and Sting—I never liked his music, so now I really do not like his music. How could we have Jew hatred without Mark Ruffalo or Annie Lennox? If it were their kids not moving on a sidewalk after a huge bombing, would they also be supporting Barghouti's release? It's all so easy and fashionable when the dead and wounded were Jooz. My wife spent hours running between two surgery wards. I was having a screw taken out of my wrist and two arteries repaired, while our son was having a shunt put in his brain so as to prevent the build-up of fluids.
The beautiful people who know nothing are quick to throw their lot with a mass murderer, because his victims were mostly—but not only—Jews. How lovely it is to go to a dinner party over at Margaret Atwood's house and say, "Of course, I signed the petition to get that long-suffering man out of those evil Israelis' prison. Such a poor fellow. How long has he suffered! Where did the caviar go?" I can only wish that they should go through what we and others went through—to see their loved ones hovering between life and death, to wonder what kind of life they will face. I can only wish that they taste the pain of terror as they bury their loved ones and try to find meaning for such a painful loss. Maybe it sounds mean to say such things, but they are okay when I was the guy in the shower trying to figure out how to get my hospital gown off over an IV tube in order to take my first shower a week after the bombing. They think that it was cool when it happened to me, so I only wish to return them the good wishes. Let Stephen Fry and Miriam Margolyes—whoever the hell they are—learn that their being Jews will not protect them from Marwan Barghouti and his killers. You think that it's so cool to stand up for the "Palestinian Mandela"? You have attached your wagon to the Palestinian Himmler.
Gary Lineker had already exposed his pro-Hamas position, so his joining the letter is no big surprise. I would have thought that Branson would have been more brand careful, but being a leftist means never having to be right. They believe that their high walls and armed guards will protect them. May God give them what they wish for the Israeli people who would have to deal with a released Barghouti sending bombers into Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and beyond. Paul Simon can sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to raise money for Barghouti's new victims. Or he can keep his mouth shut over something about which he understands nothing.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting and opinion? Support our work by joining Townhall VIP! Use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member