UBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" Purim's moral clarity Sunday, February 28, 2010       14 Adar, 5770         Web JPost.com create JPOST.COM your Home Page       Jerusalem 13 °C fresh York 1 °C London 5 °C   Home | Headlines | Iranian Threat | Jewish World | idea | Trade | true Estate | Local Israel | Blogs | Arts & Culture | Français  | Classifieds  Israel | Middle East | International | Health & Sci-Tech | Features | go | Cafe Oleh | Magazine | Sports | Israel Guide | Subscribe | Services Archives JP Toolbar Christian World Youth Magazines RSS Feeds News Ticker More Services JPost Store Israel Hotels Vacation Rentals Philanthropy Green Israel Car Rentals Learn Hebrew JPost Mall Sderot Dove JP Travel Guide Links Purim E-cards Christian World Ten Tribes Advertise on JPost Media Kit לימוד אנגלית      Breaking News     JPost.com Opinion Editorials   .large_body p, .large_body span { font-size: 18px; } .small_body p, .small_body span { font-size: 12px; } Purim's moral clarity By JERUSALEM POST EDITORIAL 26/02/2010 05:50 The Booklet of Esther might seem like a fairytale, yet it is a political book from which Europe and Australia could learn. Talkbacks (2)     With each day’s new Dubai police revelations about the assassination of Hamas’s missile-importing murderer Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the plot thickens and the circle of implication widens. Indeed, the swirling,amazing details of the Dubai drama are beginning to hold on the feel of a Purim spiel. There are the costumes: The assassins used fake beards and wigs and dressed up in traveller garb and tennis outfits.There is the Persian connection: Mabhouh’s source of the arms he purchased for Gaza was Iran and, confusing the assertions of those who insisted only the Mossad could have carried out the hit, it emerged on Wednesday that at least two of the suspects in the assassination escaped by boat to Iran across the Persian Gulf.There is even a Purim-esque closing of a circle: The man who plotted to slay the Jews lost his own life, while those who foiled him got away unharmed – at least for the time being.However if Britain, Ireland, Germany, France and now Australia have their way, those who stopped Mabhouh would and could be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated for murder. Interpol’s Internet homepage features pictures of 11 of the 26-and-counting suspects on its “most wanted list” after they were “charged by UAE/Dubai authorities with coordinating and committing the murder of Palestinian national and Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.”This European and Australian reaction to the occurrences in Dubai is an instructive, and worrying, example of wrongheaded morality. While suspects in the Mabhouh killing are chased to the four corners of the world – and an Interpol official asserted yesterday that any suspect who tried to leave his or her state would immediately be arrested – Mabhouh, a self-confessed killer who boasted last year to Al-Jazeera about kidnapping and then murdering IDF soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sa’adon and who facilitated the smuggling of thousands of Iranian-made missiles into Gaza to be used against Israeli citizens, did not appear on Interpol’s list and traveled freely. Nor is it likely that the International Illegal Court or the UN Human Rights Council would have been willing to take action against Mabhouh for violating Israelis’ basic human rights by trying to ruin them. But Dubai, in its clamor for the arrest of Mabhouh’s “murderers,” is receiving European support. Similarly, IDF officers who defend their country against Palestinian terrorism are liable to be arrested and charged for war crimes when traveling to Europe, while members of Hamas and of Fatah terror cells can often plod unhindered from country to country.FUZZY MORAL relativism is ravaging Europe and reversing long-accepted notions of truth and falsehood. Muslim terrorism is rationalized as a legitimate act of self-defense, while Israel is demonized and disparaged for its attempt to root itself in a particular history, language, legal system, cultural tradition and religious heritage. Meanwhile, Europeans are losing touch with their own distinctive cultural and national identities in the name of a vacuous multiculturalism.In this intellectual atmosphere, it is not surprising that the Netherlands’ government coalition fell apart at the beginning of this week over irreconcilable differences on whether to extend its army mission against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. The country’s Labor Party, one of the main coalition partners, declined a NATO and Washington request to extend the mission. The collapse of the government is expected to result in the withdrawal of all 1,600 Dutch troops from south Afghanistan. Of particular concern is the possibility that the Dutch might drag with them wavering politicians in Germany, or in Canada, which is now planned to pull out its troops at the end of 2011.THE BOOK of Esther, the centerpiece of the Purim holiday, might seem like a fairytale, but it is a quintessentially political book from which the Europeans and the Australians could learn. Adrift in a sea of multiculturalism – Ahasuerus ruled 120 nations from India to Kush – the Jewish people overcame their enemy by maintaining a distinctive identity and culture which fostered unity. In a similar vein, Europeans, who are fighting a war of ideas, must strengthen their ties with their own culture and the values it represents if they are to resist the culture of destruction emblemized by Hamas, al-Qaida and other representatives of radical Islam, the avowed foes of everything that is most admirable about the West.       Rate this article         Talkback Add a Talkback describe Abuse Read all Talkbacks end Thank you for sending your comment. Your reply has been recieved. If selected for publication, it will appear on our site as soon as feasible. The JPost.com Team Close Add Talkback: Please enter a valid name Please enter a valid address Subject *Author   Country Message (MAX 600 characters) 600 *Email ( Will not be released ) I wish to recieve updates and offers from JPost.com *I have read and accepted the Readers' Submissions policy Submit *Required fields 1. You got the numbers wrong!JasonAustralia2/28/201003:26Ahem! Doesn't the Book of Esther state, Ahchashverosh ruled over 127 nations? Never mind, what's a seven here or there - the rest of the article read well.   Send big little Print       Most Talkbacked UK interviews 'passport victims'Dubai Police chief Dahi Khalfam Tamim: We have DNA, fingerprints of hit team.Talkbacks (55)27/02/2010 08:08'Iran moves uranium above ground'Official: Teheran's odd move is akin to painting bull's-eye on stockpile.Talkbacks (44)27/02/2010 13:35IAF expands training for rapid refuelingExclusive: Long-range destinations like Iran would necessitate risky practice.Talkbacks (21)28/02/2010 03:47     Purim Al Qaida Hamas Iran editorial opinion   Web JPost.com     JPosts Sites: The Jerusalem Report JPost Mall Philantropy Center Green Israel Jpost Edition Francaise Invest in Israel Christian World America's Voices Our Magazines Sites Of Interest: Car Rental Israel Car Rental in Israel Jpost Store Israel Hotels Vacation Apt. 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