a terrorist moves the goalposts

[nibs]

http://harpers.org/1997-08-ATerroristMovesTheGoalposts.html

A terrorist moves the goalposts

Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. From an interview with Rashid Sakher, an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber, in the documentary film “Shaheed” written and directed by Dan Setton and released in 1997. Sakher was arrested in April 1996 prior to his planned attempt to blow himself up on an Israeli bus. Originally from August 1997.
DAN SETTON: How were you recruited by the Islamic Jihad? What did they tell you?

RASHID SAKHER: They told me about martyrdom, about death in the name of God. They told me that as a Shaheed ["witness"] I will ensure a place for my family in Paradise and that I will marry seventy-two virgins in Paradise. I will be God's holy martyr. They told me that there is a sum of $6,000 for the explosion. When I exploded, my family would get the money.

SETTON: What did they tell you to do with the explosive device?

SAKHER: They told me to board a bus in Tel Aviv.

SETTON: Would you tell me a little bit about the Islamic Jihad?

SAKHER: The Islamic Jihad calls for the destruction of Israel as well as attacking Israeli targets all over the world, until Israel withdraws from Palestinian land and Palestine is liberated all the way to the sea.

SETTON: Do you personally hate the Jews?

SAKHER: Yes, I despise them. They took our land.

SETTON: Have you ever heard in the course of your life a sentence in the Koran forbidding the killing of women, children, and the elderly?

SAKHER: There is no such sentence.

SETTON: There is no such sentence in the Koran?

SAKHER: No.

SETTON: In the last bombing in Jerusalem, were women and children hurt?

SAKHER: I don't know who was there exactly. It's a fact, though, that soldiers were killed in the operation at Beit Lid. Soldiers who were someday destined to kill Palestinians.

SETTON: But there are millions of Jewish soldiers. How can you kill all of them?

SAKHER: The Prophet, what did he say? There is no way that when a Jew meets a Muslim he doesn't think of killing him.

SETTON: That means that every Jew--

SAKHER: Other than that the Prophet, may he rest in peace, said that not even one hour should pass when a Muslim does not fight a heretic. We should not be idle for even one hour.

SETTON: Rashid, what do you miss most being in prison?

SAKHER: I miss soccer.

SETTON: Which of the Israeli soccer players do you follow?

SAKHER: Reuven Atar from Haifa, Al Rahi from Petah Tikva, Haisham Zohabi from Be'er Sheva, Zahi Armeli from Tibeh. Of the Jews, Ronnie Rosenthal, Ronen Harazi, Itzhak Zohar.

SETTON: What do you think of the quality of soccer in Israel compared with soccer in the Occupied Territories?

SAKHER: With us, forget it. It hasn't reached even the minimum level. We have to improve, we have to develop. A man cannot climb all steps of a ladder at once.

SETTON: Will you allow me to ask you a difficult question?

SAKHER: Go ahead.

SETTON: If [the Islamic Jihad] came to you and ordered you to perform a terrorist attack in a large soccer stadium, where there are Jews and Zionists, what would you do?

SAKHER: No. I couldn't do that. No.

SETTON: But they are Zionists. They are nonbelievers.

SAKHER: Yes, they are nonbelievers. But on a soccer field? I couldn't do that.