Thursday, February 4, 2016

HADAR COHEN Z"L 19 YEARS OLD

     Nineteen. A young girl at the outset of her adult life. A shiny face, a beautiful face, filled with anticipation, with the soul of a good person. A child untested who stood up to the final test with courage and self sacrifice. Hadar Cohen, dead at age 19, killed by an animal, no, three animals, who stabbed her numerous times in the neck, who shot at her and her partner on patrol, who saved her partner with her last dying breath, another victim of terrorism. And the world? Well, let's see what the world has or had to say about this and terrorism.
     CBS, yes, CBS, right here in our own country, dared to say this on their news shows.
    Palestinians killed as daily violence grinds on”
There is no mention of the fact that these were three terrorists with pipe bombs, automatic assault rifles and knives who attacked these two young girls asking for some ID as they acted hinky.
An hour later it read  “Israeli Police shot three alleged Palestinian attackers.” This, after pressure from Israel for the truth. Alleged? Was Hadar Cohen allegedly dead or truly dead? Finally, we got this - “Palestinians kill Israeli officer, wound another before being killed.”
     Once again, Israel was at fault for defending itself. There were two girls, out on patrol, as they did their national service, patrolling the streets of Jerusalem. What they usually do, these kids, is answer questions from tourists and keep an eye on traffic, dangerous enough if you know Israeli drivers! Today was different though. Today Hadar Cohen and her partner noticed three young men acting strangely, furtive, and they approached to ask for their ID. As one supposedly went to pull his out, the other let loose with a barrage of automatic gunfire and the first then stabbed maniacally at the neck of Hadar Cohen. One cannot tell me anymore that these are lone wolf attacks. These young Arabs and not so young Arabs  such as the Palestinian security officer - what a misnomer - know exactly where and what to stab in order to kill. They are coached, encouraged and pushed to do this and then Abbas goes to their homes and praises them - for murder!
     So these kids who were waiting to go back to barracks where they would paint their toenails and giggle about boys, who would call their parents and hear their mothers plead, "Be careful, little one. Be alert, my baby. Come home to us, my daughter." And the fathers would worry about their girls, their sweet baby girls. But Hadar did not come home, was not safe and instead will be buried today in Jerusalem as a hero of Israel, but all this is worth nothing if we learn nothing from it.
     With her last dying breath Hadar shot the terrorist attempting to shoot her partner. She succeeded and then collapsed and died. And CBS and Reuters put the onus on her - no truth in their statements. Who attacked whom? Who was carrying pipe bombs planning a mass attack somewhere in Jerusalem? Who was in the wrong here? And how long, dear Lord, how much longer can this continue? And why must it be like this?
     Our "esteemed" leader, Obama, chose to go to a mosque, one whose leaders had questionable contacts with extremist organizations. And what did he have to say on such a day? Well, we should love our Muslim neighbors, protect them, speak nicely to them, be kind to them, honor them and sickeningly on and on. Was there nothing there of a pleading to them - speak out and against violence. Speak out against the alienation of your young. Condemn murder and terrorism. NOPE! What we got was another adoption by Obama - "These are my children." Really, well Hadar Cohen is my daughter as are all the other kids killed and maimed, all the mothers who died protecting their children, the men killed protecting their wives and families. All my family.
     So, Hadar Cohen, go to your eternal rest in peace, safely tucked up under the canopy of peace , under the wings and protective shadow of G-d who weeps as He sees the blood shed by His people once more. Find the other young people of your age who preceded you and giggle once more. You have done your job well and never mind the cruel words of the world who deny what you did and twist words and events to suit their own prejudice and hatred.
     May your memory be for a blessing and may your family be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. May the tears we all weep give growth to trees watered by your blood and devotion and may flowers of hope arise. Hadar Cohen, 19, brutally killed in the line of  duty because she was a Jew. Again.



2 comments:

  1. Terrific post Esther. I never respond to things like this, but this time I cried. You write good.

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  2. Thank you, Gary and I cried too as I wrote it.

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