Suicide Bombers Score Successes by Tommy Schnurmacher Montreal Gazette Sunday, April 07, 2002 Suicide bombings work. We saw how Palestinian terrorist organizations trained naive young teenagers and carefully taught them how to kill. They learned their lessons well and managed to slaughter 25 Jews sitting down for a seder in Netanya and 15 Arabs and Jews eating at a cafe in Haifa. One would have imagined such back-to-back mass murders would have been enough to elicit some international sympathy for Israel. One would have been wrong. Instead of focusing their outrage against terrorist groups that teach young Palestinians to kill and maim civilians, governments around the world much preferred to gang up on Israel and pressure it to halt its attempt to dismantle a massive terrorist infrastructure. That suited the masterminds of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade just fine. They want to kill as many Jews as possible and would have a much easier time of it if Israel were prevented from taking effective counter-measures. In Thursday's New York Times, a front-page article by Joel Brinkley noted bombers were gloating in Gaza. Ismail Abu Shanab, one of the leaders of the organization, said, "Our spirit is high; our mood is good." He described the attacks in Netanya and Haifa as the most successful to date and explained Hamas was now using weapons-grade explosives instead of home-made bombs. Shanab is not one for any two-state solution. He told the Times "there are a lot of open areas in the United States that can absorb the Jews." What is Israel supposed to do? The left is thoroughly convinced Israel would have peace and quiet if it only withdrew from the disputed territories. A noble sentiment, but Hamas and Islamic Jihad have categorically insisted they would continue the suicide bombings until all of Israel became an Islamic state under Islamic law. As usual, Israel's friends are few and far between. Pope John Paul II, who turns 82 next month, might be frail, but he summoned up the strength to prepare an impressively long list of criticism of Israel. Sixty years ago, Vatican criticism of Nazi Germany's plan to exterminate the Jews was considerably more muted. After World War II, the Vatican helped Nazis escape to South America. These days, it merely shelters Palestinian gunmen in the Church of the Nativity. New Democratic Party MP Svend Robinson plans to serve the interests of his constituents in British Columbia by flying to Ramallah to "demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people." Which group in particular? The relatives of the 11 suspected Palestinian collaborators who were executed on Monday or the relatives of the Palestinian gunmen who shot them to death? Robinson, foreign-affairs critic for the NDP, wants to highlight what he calls Israel's "brutal and violent occupation." Robinson shows no equivalent interest in Iran, which has openly called for the annihilation of Israel. Nor does he seem perturbed by Saddam Hussein, who rewards the families of suicide bombers with $25,000 in American currency. Saudi Arabia and Qatar also chip in, but not a peep from Robinson. The federal Liberals have also taken Israel to task for using "disproportionate" force. What would they consider more proportionate? Bombing a pizzeria at random in Nablus or trying to confiscate weapons and root out the terrorist infrastructure? The Liberals, by the way, are the same party that felt it proportionate to send tanks into the streets of Montreal and arrest hundreds of innocent people in the middle of the night because one nervous FLQ terrorist cell had killed Pierre Laporte. The Liberals are the same party that sent the army into Quebec when a few Indians tried to defend an ancient burial ground. Aboriginals in Canada might have many valid grievances and can rightfully claim their land has been taken from them. Yet they have never taught their children to wrap themselves in explosives and kill Canadian civilians in suburban shopping centres. Israel has decided to isolate Yasser Arafat, but sadly, it is Israel that has become isolated. If Israel ever does sit down to negotiate with the groups hellbent on its destruction, it should call on Svend's help. After all, he's an expert in assisted suicide. ---- Tommy Schnurmacher is heard weekdays nine a.m. to noon on CJAD 800 Radio. His E-Mail address is tommys@total.net.