Violence

In addition to their skill in getting communities to consider resolutions without the input of the public, Israel's detractors have another specialty: making emotional, heart-rending presentations of Palestinian suffering, complete with passion, photos and tales of violence inflicted upon the innocent.

One image that never seems to accompany their presentations, however, is this one:

This picture was taken on August 9, 2001 when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at Sbarro's Pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem. In case you are having trouble discerning faces amidst the body parts in the scene above, here are four of the 15 victims of the blast:

Yocheved Shoshan, Age 10	Hemda Schijveschuurder, Age 2
Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, Age 4	Tehila Maoz, Age 18

Israel's critics often request that we try to get inside the heads of someone who decides to blow himself up at a pizzeria, bar or school bus, asking us to imagine the pain and suffering required to drive someone to such a murderous act. Ironically, the people responsible for mass murders like those shown above have no trouble getting into the heads of their victims:

The image above shows a human skull, including the nail a Palestinian bomber thoughtfully placed around his explosives to maximize the body count of innocents. Screws, broken glass and even AIDS-infected blood have all been used as shrapnel by human bombs in order to ensure maximum civilian casualties.

Non-violence

When looking at these ghastly images, think for a moment about the Dali Lama, the spiritual and political leader of the people of Tibet, a nation occupied by the Chinese since 1959. Even with the mass expulsions and repressions that have been visited upon innocent Tibetans over the last four-and-a-half decades, the Dali Lama has kept his people on the path of non-violent resistance, the same non-violence that helped Martin Luther King free the South and Nelson Mandela free South Africa.

And all of his efforts and all of the efforts of the Tibetan people to stay this non-violent course have been rewarded with at least a dozen "Free Tibet" bumper stickers that can be found within Somerville's city limits. As far as I know, however, the drive to divest from China because of their occupation of Tibetan land has yet to come up before the Somerville Board of Alderman.

As we bring up and educate our children with the virtues of turning away from the fist, the sword and the gun, Somerville's Aldermen are being asked to send a very different message to the world; that blowing up Pizzerias shall be rewarded, and a lifetime of non-violent resistance ignored.