Originally published in the New York Daily News
By James Kirchick

CockBomber: Just Do It!

There, he readily admits to his membership in the League of Extraordinarily Evil Men and taunts his captors with the news that, while he might have failed in murdering some 300 civilians, more such attacks are on the way. Told, however, that he has the right to remain silent and is under no compunction to divulge any information that might incriminate him in a court of law, this wanna-be mass murder quickly secures the services of a top-notch lawyer from a white shoe firm and, under the advice of his attorney, clams up.

This scenario, of course, is far from hypothetical, the stuff of college philosophy classrooms and speculative magazine articles. It is, rather, a fairly accurate description of the events that have transpired since last week, when the Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was subdued in his attempt to bring down a Delta flight headed for the Motor City. While the Al Qaeda-linked 23-year-old gave his interrogators a grim preview of what may soon come from the hive of Islamist terrorism that is the state of Yemen, he has, according to federal officials who spoke with the Washington Post, “restricted his cooperation since securing a defense attorney.”

We are thus presented with a version of the proverbial “ticking time bomb” scenario. Sure, the threat may not be as immediate as those regularly defused by Jack Bauer on “24.” The impending attacks may still be in the early planning stages, weeks or even months from execution. But now we have a real, live Al Qaeda operative – fresh from a foiled terrorist plot hatched in a country fast becoming the center point in the war on terror – in our hands.

Surely we ought to be using the tools at our disposal to find out the who, what, where, when and how of the next potential mass casualty attack.

Would it be inappropriate or immoral to pour water over the face and into the nose and mouth of Abdulmutallab, thus generating a drowning sensation (but not actually drowning him) to obtain this information? What about putting him in a small box with a caterpillar, a technique approved in a 2002 Justice Department memo for use against Al Qaeda mastermind Abu Zubaydah, who harbored a known fear of insects? Do you think slapping him across the face a few times – hard – is acceptable, if it might mean saving the lives of hundreds?

Some, including the President and senior members of his administration, believe these techniques amount to torture, and insist that their use should be proscribed in all situations, lest they besmirch American honor. But the question of whether or not to use these methods is now moot, given that Abdulmutallab has been bestowed constitutional rights afforded to American citizens – including the right to remain silent and the right to legal counsel.

The strongest arrow in the quiver of those who argue against the use of enhanced interrogation techniques is that those being questioned oftentimes do not possess reliable information regarding future terrorist attacks. But that stipulation does not apply to Abdulmutallab, who, even if his knowledge of ongoing terrorist operations is spotty and incomplete, has bragged that he knows what’s coming. The foreign minister of Yemen has confirmed Abdulmutallab’s warnings, expressing his concern that “hundreds” of Al Qaeda militants are planning attacks from his country.

In light of this information, how can the United States government, the highest duty of which is to protect American citizens, allow this vessel of valuable information to sit silent?

We wouldn’t be faced with this problem had the President decided to label Abdulmutallab an enemy combatant, thus depriving him of most of the rights enumerated in the Constitution. But in March of last year, the Justice Department announced that it would do away with the term and its legal implications, all in its quest to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. By placing Abdulmutallab under the purview of our criminal justice system, we no longer treat him as an intelligence asset in a broader war against a declared enemy, but rather as a defendant presumed innocent, whose heretofore-unavailable “rights” to due process and a fair and speedy trial take precedence over all else.

We never gave these rights to Nazi saboteurs captured during World War II; after extracting what useful information they possessed, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered them hanged. It’s difficult to see why today’s enemy combatants are not treated the same way.

Those who advocate treating foreign terrorists as civilian defendants point to the cases of Richard Reid, the British “shoe-bomber” arrested on a Miami-bound plane in December 2001, and Zacarias Moussaoui, the “20th hijacker” and French citizen taken into custody a month before the 9/11 atrocities on an immigration violation. Both men were processed in the early stages of the just-declared “War on Terror,” when the government was still in the preliminary stages of setting up the military commissions system. In hindsight, they ought to have been tried as enemy combatants, as it would have spared the United States a great deal of money and resources, not to mention made their interrogations more effective. Had Moussaoui and Reid not pled guilty, their trials would have inevitably turned into the circus that Khaled Sheikh Mohammed’s is bound to become.

The question of what type of legal status we ought to grant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab remains a live question with serious implications for the national security of the United States. As the situation now stands, with an untold number of plots in the works, treating this man as a criminal defendant requires us to count upon the discretion and good will of a would-be mass murderer.

Originally published in the New York Daily News

It was Tuesday, December 30. We had been running in and out of the bomb shelter behind our Sderot Media Center office throughout the day, as Palestinian rockets exploded all around. Usually, when we enter the shelter, it is just us–the SMC office staff–and sometimes a few strangers off the street. This time, when we raced into the shelter, there was a group of Arab construction workers inside who had made it before us.

Ironically, the Arab construction workers were working on building a new bomb shelter nearby. In any case, there were two groups of us, Israelis and Arabs facing each other, when an unarmed Israeli soldier ran into the shelter and stood between us–right in the middle!

The situation was so ridiculous that one of my co-workers burst out saying–”now we can all talk about peace!–we’re all in here together.”

The Arab construction workers looked at us and we looked at them and just burst out laughing. The tension of the day was broken for just a few seconds.

We ended up talking about the rocket attacks and how frightening the day had been. One of the construction workers proudly told us that the bomb shelters would stand against those Palestinian rockets without any problem. “The rocket is nothing compared to this shelter,” he told us in Hebrew.

After we waited for the seconds to be over and the rocket to explode, we said goodbye to our new friends, the Arab construction workers and the quiet Israeli soldier, in a day filled with the terror and absurdities of war.

A Palestinian rocket exploded right outside a Sderot supermarket on Wednesday evening, December 17, in one of the worst Qassam attacks on Sderot since the ceasefire began. Rocket shrapnel lightly wounded three people, with one man suffering a light head wound, according to a MADA spokesperson on scene.

Fire trucks and ambulances lined outside the supermarket as shattered glass littered the entire area. Nine people including three young women were evacuated to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon for severe shock.

The Qassam rocket caused heavy damage to at least 15 cars in the parking lot where it had exploded. The smell of serious gas leaks had Sderot firemen hosing the entire parking lot with water in order to prevent any fire.

Inside the supermarket, known as Victory, wine bottles lay shattered upon the floor, as shoppers made their way outside across puddles of wine and broken glass. Rocket shrapnel caused heavy damage to store merchandise, as the glass windows in the supermarket’s front entrance completely shattered.

A worker at Steimetsky Book Store across the street from the supermarket told Sderot Media Center, that she and her co-worker watched the Qassam rocket drop into the parking lot, about five meters away from the supermarket. “We saw the sparks and the smoke, and watched the rocket explode on impact. It was one of the most terrifying sights, I’ve ever seen,” said the worker, a student at Sapir College, who asked not to be named.

Another Sderot local, Shani, who works as a cashier at the Victory supermarket, heard customers yelling Tzeva Adom, and moved away from her cash register seconds before the Qassam rocket hit the parking lot. “The glass exploded everywhere,” Shani told Sderot Media Center. “If I had been standing at the register, I would have been one of those injured in terror attack.”

Over 23 Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot and the western Negev. Seven rockets hit the Eshkol Regional Council earlier in the day, and a mortar shell landed in Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, causing no reported damages or injuries. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for all the rocket attacks.

Since the ceasefire began on June 21, over 400 Qassam rockets have been fired at Sderot and the western Negev, making the number of rockets fired at Israel during this ceasefire significantly more than the number fired in the previous Hamas-Israel ceasefire in 2007. To date, over 10,000 Palestinian rockets have been fired at southern Israel since 2001.

Photo by Hamutal Ben-Sheetrit, Sderot Media Center

In addition to the incredible Holtzbergs, HY”D, four more special Jews were murdered in the Mumbai Chabad House. Herein follows a profile – courtesy of the Yeshiva World News website. Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz HY”D, Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz HY”D, Reb Bentzion Chroman HY”D, and Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitlebaum HY”D. They left behind at least 13 orphaned children under 13 as I can tell.

Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz HY”D

Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinowitz was planning to make aliyah to Israel on Monday. The 70-year-old member of the Mexico Jewish community was volunteering during recent months in the Mumbai Chabad House.

This week, Mrs. Rabinowitz was planning to move to Eretz Yisrael to join her son and his family, who live in Bnei Brak. It was Norma who phoned Israeli consular officials in Delhi on Thursday, with a gun pointed to her head. She told consular officials there were four bodies, including Rabbi and Mrs. Holtzberg.

Because she is a Mexican national, a request was made via Interpol to inform her son and family in Eretz Yisrael as well as family members in Mexico.

Foreign Ministry and consular officials have not succeeded in locating her son, who they believe is not currently in Israel. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitlebaum HY”D

In Yerushalayim’s Toldos Avraham Yitzchak beis medresh, this Shabbos was a painful one, one during which chassidim exhibit great difficulty trying to overcome the pain, sorrow and loss, seeking to embrace the Shabbos malka.

According to community leaders, Rav Aryeh Leibish was a well-know figure, one who was regarded for his profound Torah knowledge as well as his ability to welcome everyone on an equal level, always part of the tzibur, always there for those in need.

Born 37 years ago, on 23 Shvat 5731 to HaRav HaTzaddik Rav Nachum Ephraim Teitlebaum Shlita, the Volover Rebbe of America. Rav Aryeh Leibish was a dominant figure in the Rebbe’s kashrus organization, one known for its pristine standard.

Rav Aryeh Leibish studied in Binyan Dovid Yeshiva in Williamsburg, under the direction of Rav Chanina
Acraham Leitner ZATZAL. His keen abilities quickly became apparent to all.

A number of people who knew him from childhood testify to his unique character, abilities and his sensibilities to the troubles of others. At age 16 he exhibited his total familiarity with hilchos Shabbos. His knowledge was not superficial, but he would cite sources in depth, from a Gemara to the last detail of a Tur Beis Yosef.
…
Of late, he also ran a gemach to assist avreichim whose children were getting married.
His adherence to honoring his parents was exceptional, and despite the geographical distance, he was known to be his father, the Rebbe’s right hand. Even this last trip, he decided at the last moment to travel to India to inspect a factory to assist the Rebbe Shlita, a trip that was logistically difficult for him at this time.

His last conversation was with his Rebbitzin, who immediately tried making contact with him following the breaking news of the attack, but without success.

His last Shabbos in Eretz Yisrael was spend in Bet Shemesh together with his father-in-law the Toldos Avraham Yitzchak Rebbe Shlita. At the tisch, the Rebbe gave him a long gaze, finally signaling him to start a nigun. He started a Chabad nigun, “L’Elok-kim domi nafshi ki elecha tikvasi”.
Rav Aryeh Leibish is survived by his rebbitzin, 8 children, the oldest of which celebrated his bar mitzvah about six months ago. The youngest is 10 months.

Reb Bentzion Chroman HY”D

The residents of Kiryas Bobov in Bat Yam are having difficult accepting the painful news, that the young avreich, R’ Bentzion Chroman is no longer with them. He too was among the victims in the Mumbai Chabad House, a mashgiach for the Volover Rebbe of Boro Park Shlita. He is survived by a wife and three children, with the oldest being 3.5 and the youngest 3 months.
Bentzi as he was known, was a popular figure, someone who friends explain “got along with everyone”.

Bentzi was named after Rav Bentzion of Bobov HY”D ZY”A. His father is a pillar of Torah, and Bentzi was raised in a home where learning was not just a daytime activity. His mother toils to ensure her husband is permitted to continue occupying the halls of the beis medresh.

He was educated in his early years in Bobov Yeshiva in Bat Yam and from there to Yeshiva Kochav Yaakov. He was married in 5762 to the daughter of Rav Dovid Levin of Ganei Tikvah. Shortly after their wedding they settled in Bat Yam, near Bentzi’s parents.

The young couple decided not to burden the parents, and they purchased their home with their own funds, and Bentzi then entered into the kashrus world, deciding to be self-sufficient, not wishing to
place the burden of supporting his family on anyone else.

This however did not bring an end to his limudim, and he had a late night shiur and was a regular occupant of the large Bobov beis medresh in Bat Yam during the nighttime hours.

Of late, it was known that he added to his daily learning seder and he was in the beis medresh until the very late hours of the night. During the last yomim noraim, friends commented on the intensity of his tefillos.

His last visit to India was delayed over and over again due to difficulties pertaining to his visa. Last motzei Shabbos he finally left, and was scheduled to return on Wednesday. He packed up his belongings in the hotel and headed to the Mumbai Chabad House to say goodbye to Rav Gavriel and Rebbitzin Rivka, to daven and to thank them for their hospitality. It appears the terrorists arrived shortly after him – and it is believed he tried to run for his life. His body was found on the fifth floor, shot at point blank range.

The Vaad HaRabbonim for Tzedaka in Eretz Yisrael has launched a keren to assist his family – Keren Rav Bentzion Chroman HY”D – Keren number 2732. donations in Eretz Yisrael may be made by phoning 1-800-223-636 or *072.

Yocheved Orpaz HY”D

On Thursday, Avi Orpaz was anxiously awaiting the return of his mother Yocheved, 62, from India, where she traveled to visit her daughter Ayala and her two grandchildren. They began understanding what was taking place in Mumbai, fearing the worst, trying frantically to get in touch with Yocheved. On motzei Shabbos, they received official notification, the bittern news that she was among the dead.
Orli Yezdi-Ogev, Yocheved’s sister cannot believe this is really happening. “She traveled to India to see her family, her daughter and grandchildren who she missed so much”.

The mother of four, from Givatayim, Yocheved is described by friends as “someone with a big heart”.
Avi is still unable to refer to his mother in past tense. Alon, another son, left before Shabbos for India in the hope of finding his mother. They used all their connections and contacted many Israelis with family and friends in India, hoping to track down their mother.

She arrived at the Chabad House in Mumbai and sent Ayala an email, informing her she had arrived safely. (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Rivka Holtzberg (28) and Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg (29). May their memory be for a blessing.

But all that’s changed now. Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were targeted solely because they were Jewish. Had any of us been in Mumbai the day of the attack, we too would have been similarly targeted by mere dint of our religious affiliation. It wouldn’t have mattered in the least to the cowardly terrorists if we were atheist Jews, or cultural Jews, or left wing peacenick Jews, or secular, LWMO, Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist. If they called out for Jews and you had the balls to raise your hand, they wouldn’t have asked if your Mom was Jewish or if the Rabbi that performed your conversion was on the approved list of Rabbis put out by the Rabbinate in Israel. They would have targeted you without further question. Now I am not saying that we ought to allow our enemies to define who is a Jew, but what I am saying is that however we define ourselves, at least for the next little while, we are all Chabadniks.

Those of you wishing to contribute to a fund that will help rebuild the Chabad of Mumbai and benefit the surviving children of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, may do so by clicking here. It’s not much, but it’s the least we can do. You can read more about Gabi and Rivky at Chabad.org.

Hat tip to Talya for the link and the inspiration to not be angry.

Crazy. Two blocks from my house a terrorist took a bulldozer from a construction site and went nuts, crushing cars, knocking over buses and killing three people. Luckily he didn’t get far before he was killed.

In this dramatic video, you can actually see an off duty soldier take out the terrorist driving the bulldozer.

You can go to all the usual places for details – Jerusalem Post has good coverage. The point is, for those of you worried, all the residents of Beit Jewlicious are fine. Thanks to Sasha Perry for the pic…

There’s more video footage on Haaretz. It’s really disturbing too. I feel awful for the people that died, but I also feel bad for the guy that shot the terrorist and, call me stupid, but I also feel bad for the terrorist and his kids. How awful to be so full of hate…