Paula R. Stern Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company. More from the author ► Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of WritePoint, a technical writing company.

It isn't often that we can point to a simple phrase and decipher a world of truths. Today, though, we can, if we have the courage to listen - to Hamas.



If you are Hamas, if you inhale, I guess you dream about successfully murdering innocent Jewish children.

According to Hamas, Wednesday's murder of an Israeli infant was, "a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and invasion of Jews in our land."

Note what they did not say. The attack was not a natural response against settlers, not even against Israelis - no, the murder of this tiny child was a natural response against Jews.

Listen to their words; it was not a gaffe, it was not a mistranslation. It was and is, the truest expression of their beliefs.

Two interesting phrases in this short sentence. Each deserves our attention. First, as noted above, we can glean from Hamas' celebration of Abed a-Rahman a-Shaludi's deliberate attack against innocent pedestrians waiting at a bus stop that the target is - Jews.

Second is the term "natural response." A natural response is one that is to be expected. In this, Hamas is correct. We can expect little more than cold-blooded murder and the targeting of innocents from them. That a child died certainly matches their cowardly nature as well.

A natural response is one that is almost uncontrollable. You are tickled and so you laugh; you peel onions and you cry. You inhale and so you exhale and, if you are Hamas, if you inhale, I guess you dream about successfully murdering innocent Jewish children.

Abed a-Rahman a-Shaludi, all of 20 years old, has been arrested twice in his life. The first time, he served 16 months in prison and was then released. In February of this year, he was arrested again and served for one month before being released. This time, he fulfilled his wildest dreams, he became a martyr for Islam and in the twisted, misguided understanding of those who celebrate his actions today, a-Shaludi's supporters believe Allah celebrates that.

If there is anything to be learned from little Chaya's tragic murder - in these minutes when Israel is united in its horror and pain, it is that Chaya was targeted not because she was an Israeli and not because she was a settler (and I have no idea if she was or not, nor do I care). She was targeted because she was Jewish, as Hamas admits.

(It would be nice if just once, just once, Israel's left would admit this simple truth.)

May God avenge the blood of young Chaya and may God bless her memory.