“You have to understand the culture in which we live,” said Dr. Mordechai Kedar, speaking to a Hebrew (“Hakol Diburim” [“It’s All Talk”]) radio show about what it would take to deter or stop Hamas.
“Terrorists like those who kidnapped the children and killed them – the only thing that deters them is if they know that their sister or their mother will be raped in the event that they are caught. What can you do, that’s that culture in which we live.”
The show’s host, Yossi Hadar, made certain to note that it was not an option for Israel to engage in such actions.
“I’m not talking about what we should or shouldn’t do,” Kedar went on. “I’m talking about the facts. The only thing that deters a suicide bomber is the knowledge that if he pulls the trigger or blows himself up, his sister will be raped. That’s all.”
Concerns mounted after the professor made the statements that they could potentially incite such activities. Bar-Ilan University issued a statement regarding them to Haaretz.
Dr. Kedar “did not call and is not calling to fight terror except by legal and moral means.” The statement went to say that Kedar “wanted to illustrate that there is no means of deterring suicide bombers, and using hyperbole, he gave the rape of women as an example. In order to remove all doubt: Dr. Kedar’s words do not, God forbid, contain a recommendation to commit such despicable acts. The intention was to describe the culture of death of the terror organizations. Dr. Kedar was describing the bitter reality of the Middle East and the inability of a modern and liberal law-abiding country to fight against the terror of suicide bombers.”
