from the heart of jerusalem: rabbi binny freedman

‘Make it count’: These words stay with me forever

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Lying on a hill not 400 yards from two terrorists who were firing indiscriminately on the local Jewish civilians behind us, it should have been simple. It’s you or them, on top of which you are protecting civilians, women and children taking cover in the homes behind our position. But sometimes life is not so simple. 

It was getting darker, and as the sun dropped lower on the horizon, and the light mixed with shadows, it was clear why we could not open fire. Literally in between and all around the two terrorists who were firing were about 20 or 30 little kids.

The local Arab school they were firing from was one that was familiar to me, such that I knew this school was never open at 5 in the afternoon. They had brought these children there for a reason: they were hoping we would respond with fire so they could show a dozen dead Arab children on the evening news. Four hundred yards is a long shot for regular troops with M-16 riles.

Eventually, two IDF-trained snipers arrived, equipped with long-range sniper rifles — Barrettes — with a range of about 1,600 yards. After setting up, they were waiting on my command. Easy to say, hard to do. What if they missed? What if they hit a 6-year-old boy as a result of your command? But then, what if one of the Jewish women or children lying on the floors of civilian caravans behind me (on principle, they had refused to let us evacuate) was hit instead? The longer I hesitated, the more probable that possibility became.

I vividly recall the gleeful face of a Palestinian boy who was watching these two terrorists empty their magazines in our direction. Finally one of the snipers turned to me and said, “Nu? Give the order!”

In a moment, the image of what one such bullet can do to a human being’s head is implanted in my mind forever, leaving me wondering whether we would ever be able to make peace with those children, who had just seen us kill what must have been their heroes.

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