As horrible and unacceptable as we all believe the terrorist attacks were against civilians and non-military targets, which is the definition of terrorism (and this would make practically the entire war against the Iraqis and Afghanis a terrorist attack undertaken by the United States and its allies, following the long and inglorious history of them from Hiroshima onwards), we can�t help but be shocked by the utterings of Tzipi Livni regarding the attack.

MFA briefing excerpt: �During the past days the entire world, and we in Israel, have witnessed a murderous terror attack in India. There is no doubt that among the targets chosen by the terrorists were Jewish and Israeli targets, which are viewed as Western.�

Why is there �no doubt�? It is always good practice in events like this to have ONLY doubt, since certainty is lacking. Among the targets were also train stations, hotels, restaurants . . . Sites that are places of aggregation for people in transit, be they locals or foreigners. I didn�t really know before this moment that the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, headquarters of the Central Railway was Jewish, Israeli or even Western, and how does one explain the bombing of the Vile Parle railway, which is basically a suburban residential area? Is that all of a sudden a Western target too?

Livni continues: �The world is under attack, and it makes no difference whether it takes place in India or elsewhere. There are extremist Islamic elements who do not accept our existence and do not accept the values of the Western world. Only when such events occur do the leaders of the world understand that we are all partners in the same battlefield. It is sad that such bloodshed is required to remind some world leaders of this fact. Some live with this understanding, and some wake up on such a morning and suddenly understand that we are the target -- we meaning not only Israel, but the entire Western world.�

Holy Cow. The extremist elements that do not accept �our� existence (here making us try to see Israel and The West as interchangeable concepts, ones that �We� must defend, because we are the same thing) are only �Islamic.� Well, how would that explain the policies of the entire Israeli government and the majority of the Western governments that go along with them? They do not accept the existence or even allow the mere survival of the people penned in Gaza and those who are victims of the settlement and control system of Israel in the West Bank. Yes, Livni sees the world as a battlefield, and there is on one side �the Good Guys,� i.e., Israel and those who support it, which she lumps together as The West that are engaged in a constant battle against �the Bad Guys,� well, The Rest.

Livni continues: �This attack was carried out by a little-known local organization which claimed responsibility several months ago for another attack in India. The Chabad house in Mumbai is located at the end of an alley, and it is clear that it was chosen as a target. I understand that also those terrorists who attacked the hotels were looking for tourists of American, British and Israeli citizenship. This was a deliberate attack.�

Uh huh. Tourists. Yes, hotels are crawling with them, usually. But more interesting is the idea here that the Israelis killed were peaceniks who don�t have any political views that would cause trouble to others in nations where Islam is a religion that is practiced by a sizable number of people and at times the majority. Anyone familiar with the Lubavitchers is aware that they are Jewish Extremists. This does not mean that they deserve to die in terrorist attacks; it just means that it is simple to understand how they could be viewed as being hostile to Muslims and being very, very vocal about it, as well as acting upon this belief in order to inhabit and illegally occupy lands that are clearly Palestinian.

During the days of the unilateral Gaza disengagement, the Chabad Lubavitchers were the most vocal critics of the �abandonment of Eretz Yisrael� to the �enemy.� Their site has always been a propaganda to get American Jews to settle in Gaza.

�So the military in Israel is going to follow us wherever we go. Well, not exactly but they will be there to protect us from this sick and deranged enemy that Israel has nurtured and armed. It�s as if we had this beautiful garden at our disposal and of all the things we could have planted in the garden we chose to plant cancer. Are we crazy? Who else would do such a thing?�

and, they even see themselves as MILITARY TARGETS . . .

�The point of all this is that Jews everywhere are targets of the current craziness. If we are being shadowed by Israel Air Force planes and escorted by police cars then even though we are not in uniform, I think that by not too much of a stretch we are all members of Israel�s Defense Force. Okay so maybe you�re stationed at the Plaza or the King David. It doesn�t make you any less of an important foot soldier.�

So, the question begs; if they see themselves as foot soldiers in the mission of military occupation of Palestine, why wouldn�t anyone else?