This may sound cynical, but...

Obviously I am upset about yesterday's terror attack.  But I'm having trouble putting my finger on what is troubling me most.

There's the senseless loss of life.  Four innocent people's lives were snuffed out as casually as you or I might swat a few flies.  If not for the happy accident that I left a bit early from work yesterday to be able to bring Yonah his new school knapsack (he starts 1st grade today) before he went to bed, I could easily have been arriving at the site of the attack just as the bullets began to fly.

Then there's the lack of outrage from abroad.  I know it's silly.  I really shouldn't care what the rest of the world has to say.  But talking heads and government spokespeople who ran out of synonyms for 'massacre' when protesting Israel's handling of the well planned flotilla ambush, have suddenly fallen silent... or worse, are offering faint protest of the "we condemn all acts of violence and aggression'"sort that slyly draws moral equivalency between deliberate terror against civilians and Israel's often feckless attempts to defend herself.

But strange as it may sound, what seems to be troubling me most right now is that the Palis seem to have figured out that if they simply confine their terror activities to 'settlers', they can neatly divide the Israeli public's sympathies along political lines, and give the far left and the rest of the world the term 'occupation' with which to qualify their luke-warm condemnations.

As if to prove my point, The New York Times helpfully explains to its readers today that the victims of yesterday's attack were not people... not mothers, fathers... husbands or wives.  They were settlers.... attacked near their settlement in the 'west bank'.   

By comparison, those who carried out the attack were described in a somewhat more established form as belonging to 'an Islamic group' (not, G-d forbid, a terror organization).  The article then takes a hard turn (bordering on non sequitur) to point out the real villains for anyone who might still be on the fence:

"Even before the attack, settlements were looming as a potential deal-breaker in the peace process. Mr. Netanyahu has steadfastly refused to commit to extending a partial moratorium on construction in the West Bank, which expires Sept. 26, while Mr. Abbas has said it will be very hard to keep talking if construction resumes."

If we're really such monsters (or insignificant insects) that the world can do no better than to passively blame us for bringing about our own demise, perhaps we have nothing to lose (and plenty to gain) by simply ignoring them and doing only what's best for us (for a change).