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The ADVANCE, April 19, 2023/Page 6A Stye Aiiuancg OPINIONS “I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his repute for the freedom to think, And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.” -James Russell Lowell editorials Palestinian Arab Terrorism and The West’s Moral Apathy By Ben Shapiro This week, Jews all over the world marked Passover, the celebration of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. As we congre gated around seder tables to read from the “Haggadah” — the compendium of texts telling the story of the exodus — we said the following words: “And this (God’s blessings and the Torah) is what kept our fathers and what keeps us. For not only one arose and attempted to destroy us, but in each generation, they stand to destroy us, and God saves us from their hands.” The Dee family, a family of seven origi nally from Great Britain but now from Efrat, Israel — the so-called West Bank, the heart of Biblical Israel — undoubtedly said the same words. Then, on Friday, Rina Dee (15), Maia Dee (20) and their mother Lucy (48) went on a drive through the Jor dan Valley on the way to Tiberias, just miles from where Joshua would have brought the Jews across the Jordan River. There, they were attacked and shot to death by a Pales tinian Arab terrorist who riddled their car with 20 bullets. Hamas, the governing Palestinian party in the Gaza Strip and a powerful force in Palestinian Arab areas of Judea and Samaria, celebrated the murders. “We congratulate the Jordan Valley operation and warn the occupation against continuing its aggres sion against our Palestinian people and the blessed AI-Aqsa Mosque,” they said. Mean while, husband and father Rabbi Leo Dee gave a eulogy for half of his family: “Let the Israeli flag today send out a message to hu manity which is: We will never accept terror as legitimate. We will never blame the mur der on the victims. There is no such thing as moral equivalence between terrorist and victim.” Sadly, the media played the moral equivalence game, treating the murder of two sisters and their mother as yet another round in the supposed “cycle of violence” between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Of course, in that “cycle of violence,” Palestin ian Arab terrorists target innocent civil ians and then hand out candies when they achieve their evil goals, while the Israeli Defense Forces seek to root out and destroy terrorists. But to the media, it’s all the same. “Daughters of British rabbi die in West Bank drive by shooting,” touted The Sun day Times (U.K.), leaving no explanation for who had committed the shooting or why. “Two British sisters killed and mother injured in West Bank shooting,” tut-tutted The Guardian; “2 killed in West Bank after Israel strikes Lebanon, Gaza,” the Associ ated Press lied by omission. The Biden administration has been lit tle better. In recent weeks, as terrorism me tastasized, the Biden administration urged Israel to “de-escalate,” as though any state could ignore its moral duty to defend its citizens from routine acts of terrorism. In stead, the Biden administration summoned Michael Herzog, Israel’s U.S. ambassador, to stress “the importance of all parties re fraining from actions or rhetoric that could further inflame tensions leading into the Ramadan, Passover and Easter holidays.” This vile moral equivalence motivates terrorists to murder civilians and step up other violence. After all, there’s no down side. When the media treat legitimate self- defense as terrorism and terrorism as le gitimate self-defense, terrorists thrive. And they are thriving today, raising the specter of violence all across Israel: 18 civilians have been slaughtered by terrorists in Israel since Jan. 27. As terror increases, the neces sity for larger-scale intervention grows, too. Then, the same media and Left-wing gov ernments will decry the “cycle of violence” again, fostering yet more terrorism. In every generation, the story is the same: In each generation, there are those who seek to destroy the Jews, and in every generation, through the grace of God, they fail. But that doesn’t relieve those who re tain any measure of decency from standing up against evil terrorists. The alternative is apathetic complicity — and that apathetic complicity costs lives. Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author: his latest book is The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators, com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM. Muslims Turning the Tide in the School Culture Wars By Betsy McCaughey In a slap to Muslim girls at Stuyvesant High School, the school is can celling single-sex swim les sons, even though swim instruction is required to graduate. That forces the girls to choose between preserving their modesty and getting a diploma. Count on Muslim fam ilies to fight back and likely prevail. Nationwide, Mus lims are taking up the bat tle in schools to protect traditional religious values, including modesty. Move over, Roman Catholics, evangelical Christians and conserva tive Jews. Reinforcements have arrived, and they’re turning the tide. Even in the Ivy League. After weeks of protests by female Muslim students, Yale University is switching its campus housing policy for the coming academic year to offer single-gender dorms and bathrooms. From Michigan to Vir ginia, Muslim parents are showing up at local school board meetings to oppose graphic sex education and gender fluidity indoctrina tion. Their engagement is impacting politics. More Muslims are voting Repub lican, concluding that the Democratic Party is tram pling Islamist values. In Dearborn, Michi gan, left-wing Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib op posed the Muslim parents in her district protesting sexually explicit materials in school. Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues its lurch to the extreme left. President Joe Biden’s De partment of Education an nounced double-barreled rule changes last week, one favoring transgender ath letes in elementary and middle school, and the other revoking a Trump- era commitment by the de partment to protect reli gious clubs and associa tions on college campuses. Flipping the bird to people of faith twice in a single week. The Democratic Party is blowing off traditional values. Sexual modesty is a core value in Islam. Mus lims observe a dress code and guard against physical contact between sexes once students reach ado lescence. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects an employee’s right to prac tice religion in the work place, but there is no com parable statutory protec tion for students. Muslims are waging the battle one campus demonstration and school board meeting at a time, often winning. Muslims are powerful at Yale. In 2021, under grads elected a Muslim woman to be student body president. And on March 10, Yale acceded to de mands from the Muslim Student Association, Or thodox Jews at Yale and Please see McCaughey page 7A uieOTeiDtb&\ wy TftUtAE .TRUMR.TRJMp/ vjevaiTTW/ Deciphering what our intrepid public servants say and what it means The fol lowing is a Pub lic Service an nouncement: Congress is in recess and members are back home. Ki- wanians and Rotarians, Chambers of Commerce and other assorted groups can likely expect a visit from their intrepid public ser vants. If you are tied up and unable to make it to one of their fly-bys because you have more important things to do like scrubbing the bathtub or learning to yodel, I hereby submit an expert analysis of what they will be saying and what they actually mean. Pay close at tention. “My friends.” (Actually, you aren’t my friends. I am only saying that be cause I want you to like me enough to vote for me in the next election so I can stay in Washington where every body kisses my ring and I don’t have to find a real job.) “It is good to be back home.” (Not really. I prefer Washington because lobbyists take me to all the best restau rants in town and laugh at all my jokes. Here, I have to open my own doors.) “I want you to know that I am working hard for you every day.” (In truth, the hard work is done by my staff who gets paid peanuts, works in credibly long hours and then has to watch me get all the credit.) “Things in Washington are a mess these days. (As if I am not a part of the problem myself.) “Congress doesn’t function well because ofthe (name opposingparty.)” (What this crowd doesn’t know is that there are 534 other members of Con gress out in the hustings at this mo ment making the same speech I am and all of us blaming the other party and each other. No wonder we don’t function well.) “You have given me the privilege of representing you in Washington, and I want to assure you that I am working hard for you.” (This is where I dazzle them with my fancy footwork and talk about stuff that has about as much chance of passing as I do of be ing elected Pope.) “During the last session, I intro duced bills in Congress to cut wasteful government spending as well as to give you hard-working folks back home a much needed tax break. I am also working on legislation to increase So cial Security payments for our senior citizens, trying to rein in campaign fi nancing and curb the undue influence of special interest groups and their lobbyists in Washington.” (Wow! Lis ten to the applause! They actually think I am serious! What they don’t know is I couldn’t do any of this stuff even if I wanted to. I don’t have that kind of influence. I do what the leader ship tells me to do. The rest of it is smoke and mirrors.) By Dick Yarbrough “I will also be a part of several Congressional fact-finding missions that will be traveling abroad to assure that the interests of the United States are aligned with our friends and allies in other parts of the world.” (Actually, we call these taxpayer-funded junkets. It’s a perk of being in Congress. I’m not sure where I am going, but I hope it is some place warm and that there is a golf course nearby.) “You have been a gracious audi ence today and before we adjourn, I would be happy to answer any ques tions you might have.” (They are so impressed to have a real live member of Congress as their speaker, there won’t be a question I haven’t heard before, and I will give them a long- winded answer they won’t understand. It’s like lobbing softballs.) “Folks, it has been a distinct honor to be with you today, but duty calls, and I must get back to Washington and back to the job you sent me there to do.” (And, you can be sure I will be hit ting you up for money as soon as I get back. There is always another election coming.) “Remember, my door is always open if you happen to be in Washing ton.” (It’ll be open but I’ll have you in and out of the office before you can be seated and then foist you off on one of my staff members and claim I am late to some committee hearing. It works every time.) “Again, it has been an honor and a privilege to be with you today. Thank you for your time and attention and God Bless America!” (Whew! Glad that’s over. Hopefully, I won’t have to do this again for another year. The meat loaf was terrible.) You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ dickyarb. sl,t A&uancE (The Advance Publishing Co., Inc) 205 E. First Street, Vidalia, GA 30474 Telephone: (912) 537-3131 FAX: (912) 537-4899 E-mail: theadvancenews@gmail.com The Advance, U. S. P. S. #659-000, successor to The Advance and The Lyons Progress, entered weekly at Vidalia, GA Post Office. Periodical Postage paid at Vidalia, GA 30474 under Act of Congress, March 4, 1886. 205 East First Street, Wm. F. Ledford, Sr. Publisher. Subscription Rates per year: $40.00 in county, $55.00 out of 304 zip code. (POSTMASTER: send address changes to The ADVANCE, 205 E. First St., Vidalia, GA 30474). Copyright © 2023, Advance Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. The design, concept and contents of The Advance are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission from the publisher. R.E. "LID" LEDFORD, PUBLISHER 1924-1976 WILLIAM F. “BILL” LEDFORD SR., PUBLISHER 1976-2013 Publisher & Managing Editor: WILLIAM F. LEDFORD JR. Vice President: THE LATE ROSE M. LEDFORD Regional Editor: DEBORAH CLARK Pagination/Typography: LEANNE RICHARDSON Quality Control: MILLIE PERRY Staff Writer: MAKAYLEE RANDOLPH Graphic Design: MATTHEW WATERS Sports Editor/Graphic Design: MIKE BRANCH Director of Advertlslng/Sales: DANIEL FORD Office Manager: BONNIE BAILEY Financial Manager: CINDY LAWRENCE Contributing Writers: JOE PHILLIPS, LORAN SMITH, DICK YARBROUGH & AMBER NAGLE Upr NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Member of the Georgia Press Association and the National Newspaper Association Winning Newspaper Belter Newspaper Contesls
