Who was Sheikh Ahmed Yassin? A monstrous individual who, under the guise of religion, sent Palestinians to their deaths as suicide bombers and killed scores of innocent Israeli civilians.

An individual who ordered dozens of innocent Palestinians to be brutally tortured to death because they were suspected of collaborating with Israel. The fact that he was “loved and praised” among Palestinians only underscores the sad reality of just how deeply the ideology that excuses mass murder to achieve political gains has permeated Palestinian society.

Matt Denner in his March 23 column stated, “… the Israeli government has created one of the strongest provocations for violence among Palestinians in recent history.”

Please, don’t scapegoat Israel! Provocation comes from none other then the likes of Yassin. These are the individuals who breed hatred by brainwashing Palestinians by praising suicide bombers as martyrs.

Palestinian terrorists don’t need a provocation or a reason for terror. For them, terrorism is an end to itself. Especially for groups like Hamas, who as a fundamental part of their ideology, believe that peace can only come when every single Jew is dead.

Yes it’s true; Ariel Sharon cannot be naive enough to believe that the death of Yassin will bring forth peace right away. But any pragmatic person will realize that peace will never come at all so long that people like Yassin are around.

If peace is to come, monsters like Yassin need to be eliminated so they may never destroy another human life, and that their end may serve as a deterrent to anyone who would think of following in their footsteps.

Why was Yassin called a terrorist? Because terrorism is defined as intentional targeting of civilians for political gain.

Say what you will about Ariel Sharon, but he has never intentionally targeted civilians for any reason.

The killing of Palestinians in Lebanon of which Denner accuses Sharon were actually carried out by their fellow Arabs — namely a Lebanese militia led by Elie Hobeika.

What Sharon was found guilty of by the Israeli government was not massacring Palestinians, but of not anticipating the possibility of violence against the Palestinians by the Lebanese.

Maybe Sharon is not the right man to lead Israel to peace. If he is unfit to bring about an end to violence and a just peace, he can always be voted out of office. Sadly, the same isn’t true about his Palestinian counterparts.

Vlad Pogre

Sophomore

Genetics