Don't Play the Horror Index Game

I did not look at the pictures. The Yesha Council requested permission to publicize them and the Fogel family agreed. I respect their decision, but I did not look and I am glad that the media did not publicize them.

It's not that I cannot look at the horror. One must do what is necessary. But the problem in this particular case is that by publicizing the pictures, we are trying to portray ourselves as defenseless victims - to use the horror to make our case. The Yesha Council is attempting to convince the Israeli public, who will then proceed to convince the world that, "It is not true that we are the strong bad guys in this story. Look at how victimized we are!"

In the era of live coverage of every news event, the new factor that determines who gets world sympathy is the horror index. Whoever gets a photo-op of worse victimization is the winner. For 24 hours after the excruciating horror in Itamar, we enjoyed a dubious victory. Since we have chosen to play on the horror index field, we even got some building permits while the sights of the atrocity were still fresh in everyone's minds. But the "window of opportunity" closed very quickly. After all, Japan is also suffering terribly and the frenetic pace of the news quickly covers yesterday's feelings with a fresh coat of news-inspired adrenalin. Furthermore, on most days, the Arabs portray themselves as the victims better than we do - thank G-d. It is a bad mistake to start playing the victim game. We have no chance of winning. It is a game that brings no honor to our nation or to our victims.