Value of life

Two seemingly unrelated news items from the Middle East conflict caught my eye this week.

One was that Palestinians so far paid $294,332 in terror stipends for the 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing that murdered 15 Israelis (“Sbarro bombers and families got almost $300k from PA, watchdog group says,” August 12) This works out to $19,622.13 per Jewish corpse

The other was that a new Twitter blood libel against Israel posted a picture of a cute US toddler and claimed falsely she was a victim of Israel’s bombing of Gaza.

Among honest people, there’s no serious disagreement that Israel hit back in response to the firing by Gazans of over 200 missiles and mortars at Israeli civilians. This was in addition to the thousands of incendiary balloons Gazans sent to scorch Israeli farms and natural habitats just over the border and further afield.

So what is human life really worth? Is it $19,622.13 per Jewish teenager eating pizza? Is an Arab child’s life worth more or less than that? How about if the child portrayed didn’t really die, but people lied that she did in order to generate sympathy?

It’s a difficult question to answer, but I would argue that the life of anyone who wants to deliberately take the life of a child or puts their own child’s life in danger by doing something to provoke a lethal response has no value at all. DESMOND TUCK

San Mateo, CA