I haven’t written about the murder of the two boys this past Friday because I don’t really know what new perspective I can offer on it.

As was just revealed, the Arab terrorists were members of the PA security forces, and they used weapons supplied by the US whose transfer was approved and authorized by the Israeli government. No surprises there.

I wonder if Bush will mention that on his trip to Israel this month.

What more surprises me is that reactions by some in the Jewish community.

They ask, “What were the boys doing there?” and “What right did they have to endanger their lives by hiking there?”

I honestly don’t know if it is even possible to dignify those questions with an answer.

I don’t understand how they can compare hiking in Israel to walking through Washington Heights (and why is it always above 125th St. - aren't there other dangerous areas in the US?).

I don’t understand people that criticize someone for living in what they perceive to be a “dangerous area” in Israel.

Israel isn’t Washington Heights.

It’s Israel. If we don’t fight for all of it, we will lose all of it. It is an all-or-nothing proposition, because our enemy isn’t after a diminutive state in the “West Bank and Gaza”, they are after everything.

A suicide bomber was caught in Tel Aviv this past Yom Kippur. The Dolphinarium in South Tel Aviv was blown up and children killed.

Should we also abandon this front line community and question the intelligence of parents who let their kids ride the buses in that town or go to clubs (with knives)?

These boys were armed and took reasonable precautions (not that that should matter).

What happened to them could just as easily happened in a drive-by shooting on the road, a knifing at a checkpoint, a bomb in a hotel, or an airplane into a skyscraper.

They aren’t the problem and they aren’t the cause. The problem is that the government is choosing to abandon the entire country, not just the “West Bank”.

It’s a domino effect.

The Gemorah describes a situation where a frontier/border town is robbed (could someone please find me the source). The reaction called for is an extremely disproportional response compared to what would normally be permitted or required.

The Gemorah doesn’t ask what these people are doing living there. The Gemorah doesn’t ask why are they are putting their lives at risk. The Gemorah doesn’t tell them they must leave because of Pikuach Nefesh or Makom Sakanah.

No, the Gemorah realizes that they are fulfilling the necessary task of protecting the interior cities just by their presence and hiking, and if the frontier towns fall or weaken, then the big cities are next.

I wish our Jews knew that too.