Progress – but not at the cost of justice

22 Israeli families are taking legal action against the Bank of China for facilitating terrorist activities.

By NAFTALI MOSES
Peres and Chinese FM Wang Yi 370 (photo credit: Mark Neiman, GPO)
Peres and Chinese FM Wang Yi 370
(photo credit: Mark Neiman, GPO)
I sincerely hope that China’s foreign minister currently visiting Israel had a productive time here. Indeed, it is my fervent hope that during his visit, time will be spent developing the great potential for bilateral relations between our two ancient peoples, each now a leading contributor to the burgeoning advances of the 21st century.
As he discusses the many mutual political and economic interests with his Israeli counterparts, he may very well ask himself what has enabled our comparatively tiny nation to partner alongside China, a country blessed with such greatly vaster resources than our own. One of the answers (aside from our by now well-known status as the “start-up nation”) is the social solidarity we display in caring one for another. It has been this deep-rooted Jewish concern for life and survival (at times against unbelievable odds) that has propelled tiny Israel to make giant strides in health care, communication technologies, aeronautics and even space exploration – all of which can greatly benefit the Chinese people. Indeed it is that concern for life that has prompted me to write this piece.
I am the father of Avraham David Moses, a boy who was brutally murdered in a Jerusalem terror attack nearly six years ago. I am now also a participant in the legal action that 22 Israeli families are taking against the Bank of China for facilitating terrorist activities like the one in which my 16-year-old son was shot down in cold blood while studying in a library. Many in Israel understand that such heinous crimes against the Jewish people could not have taken place without the funds that flowed into the coffers of terror organizations like Hamas through financial institutions like the Bank of China. Our suit is meant to put a stop to such funding in order to put a stop to further carnage and suffering. As the representative of a nation that less than 70 years ago tasted the same horrid fruits of war that decimated the Jewish people, I feel certain that China’s foreign minister understands the need to protect the lives of the innocent.
After all, the visit of such a figure to Israel represents the future-bilateral relations between the Middle and Far East, economic growth and a new path for our two countries to walk side by side in the technological era. The incredible synergies afforded by the marriage of Chinese economics and Israeli technology can usher in untold blessings for the entire world. However, this shared future of cooperation must not be built on the forsaken memories of the victims of terrorism. It is essential that we allow justice to be done, and ensure that this visit not be used as a vehicle for repressing a plaintiff’s right to testify in a court of law.
I speak only for myself, and only in the memory of one murdered innocent boy and as part of just one family torn apart by the evil claws of terror, malice and blind hatred. But in pursuing the legal action against the Bank of China I seek not merely justice for my family, but for a way to ensure that other innocents will not share the fate of my son, and that other innocent families will never need to bury their murdered children. Only by stopping the flow of funds to those who foment terror can we help make this happen. And only by acknowledging the mistakes of the past can we move forward together towards the better future that awaits both of our great nations.
The author holds a PhD in medical history from Bar-Ilan University, and is the author of Really Dead?: The Israeli Brain-Death Controversy 1967-1986 and Mourning Under Glass: Reflections on a Son’s Murder. His son Avraham, of blessed memory, was murdered in the Mercaz Harav terror attack.