A suggestion that has been made repeatedly since the start of the Oslo War is about to be adopted by Israel’s police force. According to a report by Maariv, the plan calls for the insertion of bags of pig fat in public buses and other central locations in the hope that it will deter Islamic terrorist suicide bombers aiming for martyrdom from detonating themselves there. The suggestion is based on the fact that Islam regards the pig as an unclean animal and Muslim law bars any Moslem who touches a pig before dying access to heaven. One of the basic motives for Islamic suicide terrorists is the assurance that as a ‘shahid’ or martyr, their place in paradise is guaranteed as they die in ‘holy martyrdom’ for the sake of Islam. Although the idea has been vocally suggested for years, and was practiced in various forms by the British before 1948, the Maariv report says that the police just recently “thought of the idea,” but wanted to obtain rabbinic assurance that the plan would not upset observant Jews. Rabbi Eliezer Moshe Fisher, of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court, issued his official ruling on Wednesday saying, “there is no halachic (Jewish legal) ban on using bags of lard in buses and other places” when saving lives is concerned. The Jewish legal permit says that bags of lard may be placed in any place that might be a target for suicide bombings, such as schools, shopping malls, railway stations, and any other crowded area. The rabbi also said that if the police do not use pig fat in buses, tens of thousands of Torah-observant Jews would arm themselves with spray guns filled with liquid lard, which they would then spray on terrorists as the need arises. Deputy Defense Minister MK Yaakov Edri (Likud) came out in support of the new idea. “If bags of pig lard will prevent zealous Muslim terrorists from carrying out attacks, I’m all for it”, he said. According to the Moskovski Komsomol newspaper, Russian security have been burying Chechen terrorists wrapped in pig's skin ever since the siege on a Russian theater last year. Reportedly, the actions have become a deterrent amongst Chechen Muslims but have done nothing to deter nationalist terrorism. Residents of Gush Katif have tried the formula in the past, inserting pig fat in the body of terrorists that have attacked their homes. Residents told Arutz-7 that a "right-wing kibbutz-nik" had supplied them with the swine tissues. Arab MKs responded to a report of such actions with outrage. Abdel Malek Dahamshe said, "The ethical inferiority and lowliness that the settlers have reached is intolerable. This is an act of first-degree desecration of God's name." MK Tzvi Hendel responded, "If these primitive murderers stuff their brains with nonsense about Paradise and who-knows-how-many virgins waiting only for them, then they certainly believe in the other nonsense that being buried with pigskin blocks their way to Paradise."
