There is presently quite a bit of outrage expressed on the part of the BDS crowd at the Israeli court decision regarding the death of Rachel Corrie (run over by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 during a protest against demolitions). This outrage appears to be founded on two premises, both patently false, and it would be useful to examine them in turn.
In the first instance, it is said that the Israeli court was wrong and the judge somehow biased because the Israeli bulldozer driver had to have seen her and purposefully ran her down to her death.
In answer to this, one must submit that “No, he hadn’t to have”. And, moreover, he didn’t. It was impossible for him to see her over the top of an armored bulldozer. She was not standing, but had sat or was kneeling in front of the bulldozer, out of the driver’s line of vision. Although she had had a bullhorn on previous occasions, she didn’t have one at that time.
Such facts as these are inconvenient, especially when one has fixated on a martyr and wishes to believe in the martyrdom. But the Israeli judge did not simply disregard evidence (as Corrie’s supporters appear to have done). It should be remembered that, in American (and other civilized) courts of law the burden of proof is on the prosecution. One must prove “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the driver acted with intent or deliberate negligence, and the proof just simply wasn’t there.
Knowing how things work in Israel, it would have been incredible and far-fetched that a bulldozer driver would have intentionally crushed a protester. Israeli troops (in contrast with Palestinian and other Arab “militants” [i.e. terrorists]) are actually trained to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible (as opposed to trying to cause as many of those as they possibly can).
One other point in this regard: If the protestor were killed by Hamas, or the Palestinian Authority, or the Egyptian military, or the Taliban, or ANY other organ of Islamic power, we would not hear (much less come to know) about it through the media. The ONLY thing that makes Rachel Corrie’s death “special” is that it was caused (intentionally or otherwise) by Jews. And there is no better Christian martyr than one who is (Christ-like) sacrificed by the stiff-necked Hebrew tribe. Soon, with the passage of time, the “faithful” will be able to intone: “Holy Saint Rachel, Martyr, Great in virtue and rich in miracles …”.
The other plaint heard from those dissatisfied with the Israeli court’s “Corrie verdict” is that, somehow, this verdict constitutes “proof” that Rachel Corrie’s life (and by devious extension, the lives of Arabs generally) doesn’t “count” for Israel and its supporters.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. However, at the same time it must be duly noted that if the Rachel in question were a Jewess, her life wouldn’t count at all. Read, if you will, Tom Gross’ piece about the OTHER Rachels, “The Forgotten Rachels”: http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/
No, the court’s verdict does not mean that Rachel Corrie’s life didn’t count. It means, rather, that there is NO compelling evidence that her death was not due to her own folly, her own hubris, her own negligence, and her own foolishness.
Of course Rachel Corrie’s life counts. In fact, Rachel Corrie’s life appears (from the attention paid to it after her death) to “count” much, much MORE than the thousands of Arabs murdered by Qaddafi or Assad, than the many Christians martyred more recently by the Islamic Brotherhood, than the many gays executed in Muslim countries, than the countless women murdered for the “honor” of their Muslim families, than the dozens of innocents beheaded, stoned, or shot in the head for imagined crimes against Sharia law.
I would contend that Rachel Corrie’s life counts for just as much as, but not a whit more than, each one of the hundreds of innocent Jews who have been blown up, shot, beheaded, or stabbed to death and gutted by the “put-upon” Palestinians. Unlike those innocents though, it needs be remembered that Rachel Corrie CHOSE to endanger her own life. All seventeen year old Rachel Levi did was to walk into a public supermarket on the wrong day and at the wrong moment. Doesn’t her life count? Apparently not for the craven and hypocritical BDS crowd (who can only come up with excuses for why a dead Jew doesn’t count).
When, and if, the Palestinians as a nation choose to live side by side with the Jews (as so many individual Palestinians have already done), then there won’t be any more Rachel Corries. And THAT, peace between the Jews and the Arabs, would be an unthinkable nightmare for some, because Rachel Corrie’s supporters don’t care nearly so much for the Palestinians as they simply hate the Jews. And you KNOW this is true.
