Stealing the Nobel Prize: A Parable

Many will say that Arafat was himself a terrorist, and therefore should never have been awarded the Nobel Prize. I’ll avoid that debate here.

The fact is that he was awarded the prize, and that it was kept in his home, which was recently ransacked by Hamas militants and ordinary citizens who looted with the blessings of Hamas thugs. The domicile was relieved of everything of value, including furniture, art work, and water pipes. They even pulled up tiles and absconded with them. And, yes, the Nobel Prize was among the stolen goods.

The prize is awarded annually to selected persons in several fields, including physics, chemistry, medicine and literature, who, through their efforts, “shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” One of the five annual awards is given to that person who has done the most to promote “fraternity among nations.”

All debate over Arafat’s worthiness aside, the prize itself has come to represent the greatest philanthropic achievements of human civilization. Recipients are those judged to have made positive and lasting contributions to the well-being of humanity. It stands for the dignity of humanity, the wonder of the human mind, the hope for a better world for our children, and, most fundamentally, the advance of civilization over savagery.

How ironic that the prize should have fallen into the hands of mere savages who could not begin to comprehend what it represents. It is as though baboons had broken into the National Museum of Natural History and made off with the Hope Diamond, or rats carried away the original American documents to be shredded for litter. I am waiting to see it around the neck of a hooded, murderous thug as he releases the video of the beheading of some hapless journalist or social worker.

What these vandals did to a single home is merely a microcosm of what these same, rabid Islamic militants would do to civilization itself if permitted. Islamic terrorists would shatter and dismember those bodies that Nobel physicians have sought to heal. Islamic clerics would darken the intellects that have been enlightened by Nobel scientists. The principles of democracy and equality would give way to theocracy and the rule of Sharia law. The human spirit, celebrated and encouraged by Nobel, would be fettered and fearful.

Free nations must not allow themselves to be looted of their treasures by Muslim vandals and thugs.