New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy took to Twitter to comment on yesterday’s terror attack in Yerushalayim.
“I am disgusted by the bombings in Jerusalem that took the life of a teenager and wounded at least 18 others, including the daughter of New Jersey native Rabbi Uri Pilichowski,” wrote Murphy. “I pray for the victims and stand firmly with our friends in Israel against terrorism.”
{Matzav.com}
Would a frum yid be “disgusted” by terrorist attacks? How does the verb “disgust” apply here? Perhaps one can be disgusted when, for example, one’s child behaved meanly to others. This is because one might have greater expectations from the child, and overturning those expectations can indicate that the child is far from the level he was thought to be at, which can make a parent disgusted.
So Gov Murphy thinks the terror problem in Israel is that we have people from whom we expect civility, and they not only don’t behave in a civil fashion, they actually cause much harm and mayhem in the country. So when they go so far as to bring that mayhem to children, he is disgusted.
Those of us who have a better understanding of the terror dynamic in Israel, however, recognize that there is no expectation of anything other than murderous activity from those groups, and we thus understand that the mitigation of terror can only be achieved by proactive government policies against these groups and their terror activities. We are horrified and pained by the murder and mayhem, but our disgust is reserved for the philosophy of the current Israeli governing body, which has been causing this situation since its inception.
A solid point that, in all likelihood, a lot of people, including myself, missed. You’re right on the mark, none of us would have ever said “I am Disgusted”, or “That’s disgusting”, after hearing about a terror attack.
My comment above was in response to H M’S comment.