The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Israel

May 2, 2011 by

Last night, President Barack Obama shared a huge news story with the word:

Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

Like many Americans, I had mixed emotions regarding this announcement. Unlike the Arab world that cheers and celebrates at the death of an enemy, I do not celebrate death. I am, however, relieved that this bloody chapter in the nation’s history has taken a grand step toward closure.

What does this mean for the United States? According to reports from Washington, the United States will continue with a plan to dramatically reduce the military presence in Afghanistan. That is good news, as enough men and women have been killed in this conflict which began on September 11, 2001.

What does it mean for Israel? Probably not that much. On the eve of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israelis and Jews around the world can see that a victory in a war against genocidal leaders is a victory for Democracy, freedom, and human rights.

I imagine that global support of Israel’s battle with Hamas and other terrorist groups will get a short window of increased support. However, we know that the world has a short memory and Israel will again be vilified for its actions against terrorist and murderers.

In Judaism, we never celebrate death. It is immature and disgraceful to do so. I am embarrassed by the chants of “USA, USA, USA” from around the United States (New York City gets a pass, they deserve to feel relieved and happy that justice has been served). However, our soldiers should feel proud of their effort to bring a horrible murderer to justice and the Democratic world should feel that a small victory has been won in the war against radical Islam.

The war is far from over, however. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas still seek the destruction of Israel. All hate the United States as well. Al Qaeda is alive and well in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and throughout the Middle East. The Bin Laden legacy will live on for many years to come.

At least today we can breathe a sigh of relief that one terrorist, the worst of them all, has been brought to justice.

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Eric

Eric is the founder and editor of IsraelSituation.com. He has been to Israel many times including a semester at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the former president of the Israel advocacy group at the University of Colorado and teaches about Israel and the Media at a local religious school.

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  • Jessica

    I think you are being a little too preemptively judgmental in calling those who celebrated and chanted “USA” immature and disgraceful. It wasn’t the fact that people were celebrating a death- to look at it that way is too shortsighted. People were on the streets because they wanted to express pride in their country, because this is a huge turning point for the States. It is symbolic as it is a desperately needed “win” in a seemingly endless spiral of losses.

    I am also offended by how you deem it is “okay” for those in New York to celebrate- but nowhere else? Did Washington, DC not suffer a similar tragedy when the Pentagon went up in flames? And as a whole country, don’t we also have the right to celebrate with our fellow Americans regardless of geographical location? Not going to lie, I am a fan of this blog but grossly disappointed in this entry.

    • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

      You are correct on the Washington DC part, and I should have included the victims of the Pennsylvania flight as well. That was short sighted of me.

      Something nice about the blogosphere is that we will not always agree. And something even nicer is that you can share your thoughts here as well. I do respect other opinions even when I disagree.

      I do agree that it is a very symbolic win in an long and drawn out battle against a very dangerous enemy, but I don’t think we should sink to the level of that enemy. I feel that we should be proud of our soldiers who were able to complete the mission, relieved that one less enemy is out to get us, and happy that he is gone, but I think the celebrations were over the top. I have seen it too many times from the Palestinians, such as on September 11th, and I do not want to see our country sink to that level.

      This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMOZvbYJMvU&feature=related

      is awfully similar to this:

    • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

      PS – This video did seem appropriate to watch today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNrdmjcNTc

      • Jessica

        Thanks for taking the time to reply and I see what you are saying. I actually wrote about this myself on my blog because I feel like it is really important for people to see what we saw last night. It was an electric feeling last night- and literally everyone at the White House was a college student. We are the so-called “9/11 generation” in which our childhoods are drastically split into pre-9/11 and post-9/11 and I think that acting out and dancing and singing in the streets was an almost child-like release of a lot of pent up frustration and anger at the situation and fear-driven climate in which we grew up.

        Another point that a lot of other people have made as well is that I believe that celebrations and reactions would have been just the same even if they had captured bin Laden alive- the point isn’t that we killed a man, but that for once in a very long time we felt like we had “won”- and for my generation and people my age, who went from a world of airline pilots handing out little airplane wing pins to following some color system that dictates what our level of fear should be for the day, this was an important victory for us, and something critical to our country.

        And on another note, one of the best tweets I saw from last night was “Dear Keith Urban, please do not write a song about this”- made me think about your link.

        Again, thanks for replying

        Jessica

        • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

          Of course, your comments are just as important as mine. Please come back and make your thoughts known more often!

  • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Anthony Reich

    While I can understand that sense of feeling that citizens of the USA will have over the death of Bin Laden after waiting 10 long years for this day, I feel that it changes little for the USA.

    This death would have been much more significant if it had happened 10 years ago. In reality, Bin Laden has established a powerful Al Qaeda movement which really no longer depends on his personal involvement. He has inspired a generation of Muslims who aspire to carry out attacks like those that took place on 9/11. We live in a new and different world than that of 10 years ago, and Bin Laden’s death unfortunately achieves nothing other than a personal sense of satisfaction and revenge for the USA. It also will score political browny points for Obama.

    The key question is whether citizens of the USA (and the rest of the world) understand the scourge of terrorism better than they did before 9/11. Unfortunately, I think that the memories are short. For those of us who are forced to suffer the consequences of terror on a daily basis, we feel that the world has forgotten what this is and is not suffficiently supporting those fighting it in their front yards day after day.

    • http://www.israelsituation.com/ Eric

      The short memory is why I believe Israel has a short window of international support to conduct anti-terror missions. On the heels of a major global success, Israel should capitalize on the opportunity.