Being Silent About Evil

 

By Prof. Paul Eidelberg

 

he suddenness with which the Soviet Empire disintegrated came as a complete surprise to sovietologists.а With 20-20 hindsight, many attributed the Soviet collapse to its impossible economy:а a whopping $400 billion were spent on (unproductive) military hardware in the 1980s.а That decade witnessed the presidency of Ronald Reagan.а Some say that by trying to compete with the Reagan defense budgetЧremember Star Wars?Чthe Kremlin ran the Soviet Union into bankruptcy.

 

Others emphasize the SovietТs long drawn out war in Afghanistan, which undermined the Russian economy as well as Russian morale.а Mention should also be made of glasnost as having hastened the disintegration of the Communist superpower.аа

 

All these explanations are plausible, but allow me to offer an entirely different oneЧone relevant to the Arab-Jewish conflict.а Here I go beyond the conventional wisdom of political science and offer a metapolitical explanation for the collapse of Soviet Communism.

 

I contend that the Soviet Empire disintegrated because it was not only inherently evil, but because it was called the УEvil EmpireФ by President Reagan!а By calling that empire Уevil,Ф Mr. Reagan transcended the morally neutral domain of political science.а Being silent about evil (see Isaiah 5:20), encourages the designs of the wicked and corrupts the innocent.

 

Ponder, therefore, these words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.а He writes in The Gulag Archipelago:а УIn keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future.а When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.а It is for this reason Е that they are growing up Сindifferent.Та Young people are acquiring the conviction that foul deeds are never punished on earth, that they always bring prosperity.а It is going to be uncomfortable, horrible, to live in such a country.Ф

 

аThere is another УEvil EmpireФ in the world today, but no statesman dares speak of it.а Although this empire is fragmented, it is unified by one goal, the destruction of Israel.а Preoccupied with material interests, democratic leaders are silent about this evil.

 

Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda not only floods the Arab-Islamic world, but makes Der Sturmer tame by comparison.а Despite EgyptТs peace treaty with Israel, CairoТs state-controlled media denigrate anything Jewish, including УOld Testament.Ф

 

The fighting spearhead of Islamic hatred of Jewish УinfidelsФ is none other than Yasir Arafat, who praises suicide bombers as УmartyrsФ and repeatedly promises to wage jihad, a basic Islamic doctrine.а Not that ArafatТs PLO can conquer the Israel Defense Forces.а Nevertheless, supported diplomatically by Egypt, and aided financially by other Arab-Islamic states, ArafatТs goalЧadvanced by the Oslovian peace processЧis to truncate Israel so as to facilitate its eventual coup de grace by Egypt, Syria, and other members of the Arab League.

 

The danger confronting Israel, however, is not merely loss of land and Уstrategic depth,Фа but the consequent loss of national morale or spiritedness which, as any military scientist knows, is the most important ingredient of national power.а However, the morale or spiritedness of any nation will be undermined when people see that evil not only goes unpunished but is rewarded.аа Once a nationТs loses its sense of justice, and of honor as well, it will yield to any pressure, to any scoundrel, to any humiliation.

 

The people of Israel have seen countless Arab crimes go unpunished.а Hundreds of helpless Jewish men, women, and children have been murdered by the PLO under orders of Yasir Arafat.а Yet the people of Israel have seen this arch-murderer rewarded with money, land, and power.а They have seen four of their prime ministers hobnobbing with this Jew-hater.а Not only have these politicians been silent about ArafatТs evil acts, but they have dignified this bloody villain.а By so doing that have obliterated the distinction between man and beast.аа

 

Nietzsche defined man as a beast with red cheeks.а Unlike a beast, man blushesЧhe has a sense of shame.а It seems, however, that many political leaders in the democratic world are shameless, else they would not consort with Yasir Arafat and even reward this killer with a Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Come with me, then to Rumania.а General Ian Pacepa, head of Rumanian Intelligence under the former Ceaucescu regime, had this to say when Arafat visited Bucharest:а УIТve never before seen so much cleverness, blood, and filth altogether in one man.Фа Yes, ArafatТs hosts shook his hands, but Pacepa reports they could hardly wait to repair to the lavatory!

ааааааааааа

If IsraelТs political elites remain silent about the evil personified by ArafatЧit is stamped on his faceЧnay, if they consort with this obscenity, this hater of Jews and of Western civilization, they will implant evil in the souls of countless men.а They have already done so.а The price, as Solzhenitsyn would understand, is horrible to contemplate.