Question: How can you support a country like Israel when they are letting that poor Palestinian die in their custody?
Answer: Shalom,
I can only assume that the “poor Palestinian” you are referring to is Khader Adnan, who, as of this writing, is 55 days into a hunger strike as mentioned in this news article. This is the case that I will address.
Your question is based upon a false premise; that false premise being that Israel is in some way responsible for the plight of Khader Adnan. Khader Adnan is currently hospitalized, and has been so for quite some time. Khader Adnan did not ask for medical assistance, did not request request to be hospitalized, and is not financially responsible for the care that he is being given. Israel took care of those things. Khader Adnan has refused to eat, and that continuing act of self-starvation is the sole reason for his poor health. The unrequested aid currently being rendered to Khader Adnan by Israel is quite likely the only reason that he is still alive. Khader Adnan is an adult, and responsible for his own actions. Khader Adnan is committing suicide, and should he continue to refuse nourishment that is freely available, when he dies, suicide will be the cause of his demise.
A hunger strike seldom fails to tug at the heart strings of many. Khader Adnan’s hunger strike appears to have succeeded in this, or you would not be asking this question (and the U.N. Would not be rushing to “express concern”). There are other questions, however, that are more pertinent to what is going on.
Should a parent give in to the demands of a child when that child is threatening to hold his or her breath until the child gets his or her way?
A hunger strike is the same type of action, only with far more serious consequences for the one who is refusing to eat than those for a child refusing to breath.
Should Israel (or any other nation) abandon its national principles and change its laws because an individual does not approve of them?
Such a lack of integrity would be fatal to any nation. You like to do drugs and want them to be legal?… Stop eating for a month and you get your way. You want the government to pay for your food and housing?… Stop eating for a month and you get your way. The enforcement of the laws of any nation rarely result in the incarcerated individual being happy about the situation.
Let us not forget that Khader Adnan is a former spokesman for Islamic Jihad, not just some random, innocent man on the street who was picked up without cause. Khader Adnan is not being detained for being “Palestinian”, he was not arrested for being Muslim. Khader Adnan has actively worked with an organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and responsible for numerous terrorist attacks.
Khader Adnan’s hunger strike is a test of wills, and potentially a battle to the death. There are only a few possible outcomes. Khader Adnan can succeed in starving himself to death, in which case many will blame Israel for Khader Adnan’s actions and he will join a long list of phoney “martyrs”; Khader Adnan can realize the stupidity of his actions, start eating, and live, in which case he will proceed through the trial process that he is protesting and face possible imprisonment and probable rejection by his fellow terrorists; or Israel will cave in to the foolishness of his demands and in so doing announce to the world that its laws, its integrity, its safety, its defense, its principles mean nothing.
Khader Adnan is, in effect, holding a gun to his head and demanding that Israel commit suicide or he will pull the trigger.
Israel is not “letting that poor Palestinian die”; Israel is doing everything it can to preserve the life of Khader Adnan while maintaining its own integrity.
Cowboy Rabbi 