The release of killers is not a cause for celebration

[oberliner]

An objection to a +972 post.

I looked at the photo essay published in +972 Magazine yesterday, about the West Bank celebrations for the 26 released Palestinian prisoners, and I thought: are we celebrating these killers’ release, too? Are we cheering them as heroes too?

+972 practices what’s called engaged journalism – the writers, editors and photographers here all take a stand on the subjects we deal with, and while there are differences of opinion among us, we’re all agreed that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and African refugees is wrong, and this opinion is right up front in all the stuff we publish. And when Activestills’ photographers take photos of Palestinian, Bedouin or African refugee protests, it’s clear from the photos that Activestills, and +972 as the publisher, supports them. And that’s fine with me because I support those protests, too.

But in the same way, the message from the photo essay of the heroes’ welcome for the freed Palestinian prisoners is that Activestills and +972 welcomes them as heroes, too. I doubt that anybody at +972 actually takes that view; I know I don’t. It’s one thing to support the release of these people from prison, and even to accept, in principle, as I do that Palestinians have the same right to strike back at their foreign masters as does any other subject people, including the Jews of pre-state Israel. It’s quite another thing, though, to cheer the killers as heroes.

And while I’m sure that the other people at +972 weren’t inwardly congratulating these prisoners on winning their freedom, either, that’s the message which gets conveyed by the photo essay.

http://972mag.com/the-release-of-killers-is-not-a-cause-for-celebration/84835/

Author of this piece is Larry Derfner.

[Violet_Crumble]

1. It shouldn't be a cause for celebration. It's a cause for accepting they've been released...

I agree with what Mr Derfner said there. People can accept that it's happened and it was necessary, but anyone who murders someone else, no matter how long ago, will never be any sort of hero and shouldn't be treated as one...

[Scootaloo]

6. Of course implicit is the assumption that it's the men, rather than the event being celebrated

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Don't you refer to Larry as "Larry the Liar?"

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=51125

or

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113444827#post3

or

http://election.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=46121

or

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113420389#post1

or

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=45250



But it's alright if you want to link to him.

It's alright.

[oberliner]

4. Yes indeed

He is not only a liar but also a ridiculous buffoon as is evidenced by another recent one of his articles posted here a little bit ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113455642

He is an embarrassment to himself and the publication that he contributes to.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

5. When one uses a writer they believe as a liar for a source I tend to find the originator

a little on the hypocritical side of the argument.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. I actually agree with not cheering on people as heros who kill.

How are these guys seen?

Twenty-seven Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in the West Bank in 2013, more than triple the number killed in the previous year, according to an annual report published late Monday by Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem.

The study found that for the first time in 10 years, more Palestinians were killed in the West Bank than in the Gaza Strip.

The group reported 21 fatal incidents in the West Bank during 2013, versus seven altercations in Gaza that left nine Palestinians dead.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/sharp-rise-seen-in-west-bank-palestinians-killed-by-idf/

You can add in the Palestinian school boy that was shot in the back and all the rest who have died at the hands of the IDF while their killers go free: cheered as heros.