Short Opinion Piece, 2007
My Friend, the Assassin
by John Little | May 11, 2007
I have a friend who is an assassin.
Her job is to go in and kill those who murder the innocent. It is a terrible job, and she hates it. But, she hates worse the idea that more people will die if she doesn’t do her duty.
She has the dubious advantage of looking like a Palestinian, of speaking Arabic with a Palestinian accent, of knowing the customs and body language expected of a Palestinian. She is unimposing. And good at her job.
She is one of the nicest, most sensitive people that I know.
She once had to go into the West Bank and kill an assassin hired by Hamas to murder Palestinians who were troublesome to them. That assassin was twelve years old.
Can you imagine having to do that?
Kill a child?
When you love children, yourself?
However, Hamas wanted certain Palestinians dead, and this boy had been hired to make that happen. He was also very good at his job. As long as this boy killed for them, Hamas allowed his parents and siblings to live in a nice house with a nice income.
A child who kills people for money, and my friend who loves children had to go and kill him.
Somewhere in the West Bank, there is a little grave with a boy’s body in it, because my friend is very good at what she does. And, she suffers for that child, as she suffers for all the other people that she’s had to kill – so that others may live.
This is what Golda Meir meant when she spoke to Anwar Sadat, the leader of Egypt, just before the peace talks in 1977:
We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours.
– Golda Meir
Countless innocent Palestinians and Israelis owe their lives to my friend, but she doesn’t know them. And, they don’t know her – so they can’t tell her how much they appreciate her efforts to keep them safe. But, she does know the people that she’s had to kill, and that hurts.
I haven’t talked to my friend in a long time. I hope that she is still alive.
Too many Palestinians and Israelis depend on her ability to do what she does.
Copyright © 2007 John Little. All Rights Reserved.