Terrorists - By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

I was shocked when a reporter asked me why I regard the Israelis as terrorists when it is the Muslims who blow themselves up so as to kill children. The Israelis are apparently not considered to be terrorists despite daily reports with pictures of the women, children and babies who have been killed and wounded.

Do the suicide bombers deliberately target children? Would they kill children if they could kill Israeli soldiers? What is their objective in killing children? Is it because they know it would win them the war?

I have no liking for people who resort to killing by blowing themselves up. But they are not regular soldiers who can be protected by tanks and powerful bombardment before they shoot and kill their victims. In fact the regular soldiers of the Israeli forces need not expose themselves to any danger as they choose their targets. They can shoot missiles from far off. Yet there can be no doubt that civilians including children have been deliberately killed by them in much greater numbers than the suicide bombers have ever done.

For the suicide bombers, fear of being discovered before they could blow themselves up must be very real. They have to control themselves and appear calm and innocent as they seek the most effective time and place to blow themselves up. The tension must be great for they know soon they would be dead, killed by the explosives they were carrying.

To get close to Israeli soldiers would be a great feat. The soldiers would not allow Arabs to get near them knowing that they might be suicide bombers. Not being able to go back with the bomb unexploded the bombers must blow themselves up somewhere.

Have they all targeted children? I don't think so. The Western media is biased and are controlled by Jews. The Israelis do not allow foreign Press reporters to see them killing the people of Gaza and elsewhere. The reports of the suicide bombers targeting children came from the Israelis. Can we believe them? Do we get any pictures of children being killed like the pictures we see of children in Gaza being killed?

In any case we know that the number of Israelis killed by suicide bombers or Hamas rockets are nothing compared to the nearly 1,000 Gazans confirmed killed so far. Even the Red Cross and other international agencies have condemned Israeli atrocities.

Yes the suicide bombers are terrorists. But they have no other choice. They don't have bomber and fighter planes, tanks, guns, rockets and chemical weapons to fight their enemies. The Israelis are terrorists by choice. They have been trained to kill using powerful weapons. We see them killing on television and in pictures in newspapers.

The whole world condemns Israeli attacks. It is strange that a reporter should think it is all the fault of the people of Gaza and the Hamas.

From an email received January 2009