Glenn – No Beauty In The Beast – Israel Without Her Mascara

178INDEPENDENCE DAYflag over the rubble in what was the only act of defiance he cold muster at this moment. 14 year-oldIsmail turned and stared at his oppressors with a controlled yet determined stare.The three armed Israeli soldiers, recently arrived from the former Soviet Union and not able to speakeven one word of the same Aramaic that was the language of the Biblical ancestors from whom theyclaimed to be descendents, finally got what they had been hoping for that day. After all, what good wereguns for anyway if they remained cold and unfired? Was there no truth to the old saying that a weaponunused was a useless weapon? Therefore, without any concern paid for what might be future consequences,one from among them chuckled, lifted the American-made rifle that had been gifted to him by virtue ofhis ethnic superiority from a nation that dares to calls itself Christian, aimed its sights squarely betweenthe boy’s eyes, and in the plain sight of all who were present, launched one of his .22 caliber missilestraveling at 3,300 feet per second through the boy’s head, resulting in a spray of pink mist that left thesmell of human blood in the air.Even before the echoes of the gunshot had died, the family was screaming in agony and running to thespot where Ismail lie as motionless as a child’s doll. His last act of defiance, of simply saluting the flagand of swearing loyalty to the land that his forefathers had inhabited for over a thousand years resultedin the execution of a death sentence under which he had lived from the moment he was born. And as thefamily members hold him in their arms, watching as his life flows out of him in rivers of red, wailingtowards heaven and begging the Almighty who created him to spare his life, those who were responsiblefor authoring this misery-laden event simply walk away snickering, thinking to themselves that they arenow one step closer to having finished the business of exterminating Amalek, the people whom theirancestors were commanded to eradicate in cleansing the promised land, Eretz Y’Israel and of making itracially and spiritually pure. Later that evening, there would be drinks and discussions of what kind ofmedals would be forthcoming as a result of the day’s hard work…...And these were just some of the thoughts going through his mind as he looked out the window thatevening, watching the night sky as its darkness was interrupted every few seconds by brilliant displaysof light. It was July 4 th , 2004; Independence Day in America, but his thoughts could hardly be focused onthe festivities that were supposed to mark this event. Not now, and not anytime soon. His eyes had beenopened to something so horrible that precluded celebrating anything, much less the freedom that he wassupposed to have as an American.It must have been quite a scene down there in town where all the fireworks were taking place. Over-sizedAmericans stuffed into under-sized clothing, beer in one hand and something to shove into their mouthsin the other, congregating for the purpose of celebrating something that in reality they no longer possessed.Waddling around like penguins and peppering their base and trivial discussions with language that onewould hear in an x-rated film, they had painted themselves into the ultimate picture of black humor, andhad it not been for the fact that such terrible consequences were attached to this situation, one could havebeen moved towards laughing at all of it.But laughing was out of the question now, for to do so would have been as vulgar as telling dirty jokes ata funeral. The tragedy was too great, too monstrous, too serious. Besides the fact that it was the ultimatein contrasting images, as well it was all taking place in the midst of unimaginable suffering for millions ofothers around the globe. Just imagining the audacity of it all made the bile in his throat rise and causedhis brain to scream out loud in pain. They were like a group of individuals who had inherited a greatfortune generations past, but who today, unbeknownst to them were as penniless as street bums, and allof this the result of their having allowed shyster lawyers to administer their estate and bleed it dry of allits wealth. Tonight as they celebrate their perceived fortunes and congratulate themselves for having