Capital Punishment: America Vs. Israel
By Irwin N. Graulich (12/05/03)
Two Western moral democracies with polar opposite views on a very important issue. America, "land of the free and home of the brave" executes murderers. Israel, "the biblical founder of morality," allows murderers to live out their natural lives. Who is right and why?
On this particular issue, Israel has forgotten its ethical foundations, influenced by the morally bankrupt European Union. Europe's "progressive" system has evolved to show compassion for people who take the lives of innocents in the most cruel manner. It is America virtually alone that has the temerity to stand up to the world with great moral judgment by executing individuals who murder our beautiful brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives.
Where does America get such arrogance? From the bible of course. The only biblical/Torah law which is actually repeated in each of the 5 Books of Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is capital punishment for murder. The idea that a Jewish nation might somehow imbibe these values seems a bit absurd to the Israeli elite. In this instance, America's Judeo-Christian ideals are more in keeping with what God had in mind.
Unfortunately, Israel has fallen into the trap of the outdoor cafe philosophy crowd of the pseudo intellectual European left with its flawed logic and neurotic reasoning. The four main arguments against capital punishment can easily be refuted by any thinking teenager. It is only when you get brainwashed at a university do you find excuses for cold-blooded murderers paying the ultimate fair penalty.
Fraudulent Argument #1--An innocent person could get executed--Although no one has ever proven that such an error has actually occurred, it is the only argument with any validity. However, many more innocent people get killed in automobile accidents, so perhaps we should stop driving. People fall from tall buildings, and office workers have been victims of terrorists acts, so perhaps we should stop building skyscrapers. People die from taking drugs, so perhaps we should stop making those tiny pills which save so many lives. Perhaps the police should stop carrying guns. Innocent people have been shot accidentally in crossfire.
The reality is that everything in life has risk associated with it, and in virtually every circumstance, innocent people will die. Unfortunately, that is part of life. The trick is to make the risk as small as possible which includes making cars safer, buildings safer, drugs safer, cops safer and the court trial system as safe and accurate as possible. Societal laws are all about minimizing mistakes because in virtually every case, from building codes to traffic laws, a mistake can take innocent lives.
Fraudulent Argument #2--The death penalty does not accomplish anything, because you cannot bring back the dead person--Of course it accomplishes something. In most cases, it revives the outlook and provides closure for the relatives of the dead person. There is immense relief. Just ask a mother whose daughter has become fertilizer while her murderer watches cable tv and lifts weights in prison. We should be more concerned with the families of the victims than the murderer and his relatives.
Even more profound, the death penalty ends the murderer's "essence" on earth. According to Judaism, when someone is truly evil, you say the words "Y'mach shmo" after his name; which means "may his name be erased." A murderer who lives, even in prison, still has a name, is interviewed on tv, has a web site like Charles Manson, emails people and even gets married while behind bars. Only when "his name is erased from life" does he stop enjoying it and will society stop hearing from him.
Fraudulent Argument #3--Capital Punishment is state murder. Who are we to take a life?--Only the well educated can call capital punishment murder. There are 2 words for the act--killing and murder. Murder is taking an innocent life and killing is usually associated with a moral act, like in war, a policeman shooting a sniper or capital punishment. Killing Adolf Hitler was one of the most moral acts of the 20th century. The same act can be moral or evil depending on its context. Just like rape and love-making are the same act; one is truly evil and the other is one of the most beautiful acts in which the human can engage. So too, there is moral killing, and immoral killing which is called murder.
In the final analysis, unless one believes in God who tells us what to do with murderers, all punishments become mere intellectual exercises in higher education which provide valid reasoning for somehow releasing a Joseph Stalin from his just desserts. Amazingly, there are 2 words for that very same act in the Hebrew Bible just like in English--killing is taharog and murder is teertzach. The 10 Commandments say, "Lo Teertzach," do not "murder."
Fraudulent Argument #4--Minorities are disproportionately executed--This is simply a lie developed by the anti-capital punishment crowd. Minorities are disproportionately represented on death row, but not executed disproportionately. The true statistic is that "poor" murderers are disproportionately executed over "rich" murderers like OJ Simpson and Robert Durst. Fancy, expensive lawyers who could probably win a plea bargain for Pol Pot, are the real problem. We should mete out the death penalty fairly, not drop it.
Yet Israel executed Adolf Eichmann after an extensive trial in 1962. If capital punishment is against Israeli law, why was Eichmann hanged? In some bizarre fashion, Israel has announced that Jews living from 1941-1945 are somehow worth more than Jews living in Israel today, who are being blown up by Palestinian suicide bombers.
Although some may argue that Eichmann "deserved" this punishment because he was involved in the genocide of 6 million Jews, that idea is totally contrary to Judaism. According to the Torah, every life, Jewish and Gentile, is worth an entire world. Therefore, a person who murders is evil and must give up his own life for the life he took, whether he murdered 1 innocent, 1000 or 6 million.
Even more significant, is that Eichmann never "personally" murdered anyone. He was the Nazi numbers cruncher, organizer and accountant. On what grounds did Israel execute him, while the suicide bombers who have actually murdered and maimed thousands of innocent men, women and babies are given three meals a day, daily walks in the prison yard and the freedom to worship to their heart's content? Something is totally wrong with this picture in Israel. If you blow up babies in pizza parlors, you receive free room and board for life!
The reason that Israel thinks in these nonsensical terms is because European socialists were instrumental in founding the state in 1948. The further Israel diverts itself from European thinking and beliefs, instead following the American Judeo-Christian model, the more Israel will return to being a moral beacon and "light unto the nations." Until then, it is "lights out" for Europe and Israel.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Irwin N. Graulich
