MJ Rosenberg Can't Count

As my good friend Lenny Ben-David pointed out in this letter (which didn't make the website of the JPost at the time, just the print edition), MJ Rosenberg, arch-concessionist (email: mj847@aol.com), has used this number of Israeli dead in other presentations, but no one has challenged him before.

December 1, 2006, The Jerusalem Post

Idyllic? Come off it

Sir, - In arguing for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under virtually any conditions ("What's your solution?" November 24), MJ Rosenberg points to the pre-Aksa war period as almost idyllic - only "half [a] dozen civilians [were] killed inside Israel between the fall of 1997 and the fall of 2000." Wow, that averages out as only two per year.

Unfortunately, it's not true. Look at the Foreign Ministry's list of "Fatal Terrorist Attacks in Israel since the 1993 Declaration of Principles" between Israel and the PLO.

Rosenberg conveniently picks his starting point after July 1997, when 16 Israelis were killed in suicide bombings. What about the five killed in Jerusalem in a September 1997 suicide bombing? Well, the fall equinox didn't occur until two weeks later, so technically they were killed in the summer.

Still, the figures don't add up. Maybe he doesn't count the soldiers killed in terrorist attacks in that period. Perhaps soldiers are legitimate targets in his view.

But the numbers still don't jibe. It appears that Rosenberg elides the dead Israelis who were not "inside Israel" but, as recorded by the Foreign Ministry, were murdered in Alei Zahav in Samaria, in Hebron, in Yitzhar (Samaria), or Moshav Tomer in the Jordan Valley. He not only minimizes the toll exacted by Palestinian terrorists, but apparently also differentiates between the blood of Jews. Is it legitimate, in his view, to attack Jews over the Green Line? Are settlers "asking for it" because of their physical location?

The diplomatic process is vital, but it must be based on reality, not wishful thinking or misrepresentation.

Good going Lenny.