Kuntar is not a psychopath- Arab society has different moral values than the west
Reader comment on item: Samir Kuntar and the Last Laugh

Submitted by Guy Livnat (United States), Jul 21, 2008 at 10:04

I think it's erroneous to assume Kuntar is a psychopath on account of his cold blooded murder of a civilian family- including a 4 year old girl.

Based on Arab societies' embrace of his acts - the issue is not Mr. Kuntars Psychological make up- but the moral values of Arab society.

It is thus understandable why Arabs danced in the streets after 9/11, and why Osama Ben Laden is so popular in the Middle East. It is understandable why Arab masses demonstrated against the Syrians in Lebanon after Hariri's' murder, and against Abu Musab Zarkawi in Jordan after the erroneous bombing of an Arab wedding party- but never against intentional mass murder of Israelis- or other western societies by suicide attacks

It is understandable why statements made that the vast majority of Arabs reject terrorist acts- are in fact made by only by western leaders- and never by Arab leaders - (in Arabic).

As a society that teaches against hate- and has even gone to the extreme of inventing language to ensure a nonjudgmental attitude (i.e. Political correctness) - we are at a disadvantage to understand this type of mentality.

Thus- we falter in Iraq- as we assumed that the problem was Saddam Hussein- and that be removing him- we would get a society with values like our own. In fact - Saddam Hussein was not the problem of Iraq- he is a reflection of Iraqi society

Same in the Gaza Strip- we assumed that democracy would allow sanity and pragmatism to prevail -but in fact we learned that the problem in Gaza was not the method of governance- not the technique by which Gazan society makes its' decisions- but in the choices they make.

Thus- this is not a surprise. The underlying "core" issue in the Middle East is not religion or politics- It's moral values- the basic codes that societies run by. It is clear that Arab Society is unlike our own in that respect.

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