Police chief: Israel values life, enemies sanctify death

Israel values life more than its enemies, Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh said on Monday. Alsheikh's comments included thinly veiled criticism of an Army Radio host who recently equated Israeli and Palestinian bereavement.

Alsheikh was speaking in Eilat, at a retreat for bereaved families that was organized by Yad Labanim, a government organization tasked with honoring the memory of fallen soldiers. "We decided to sanctify life, to give them meaning, to tout the contribution of our fallen to society, while our enemies chose to sanctify death," Alsheikh said. "One cannot ignore the fact that the bereavement we share with you [the families] is starkly different than the kind of bereavement that is increasingly prevalent among some of neighbors."

Alsheikh went on to say that Israel's enemies' "ascribe no value to life, and they hold the view that one can move to a better place and dispose of the challenges of this world simply by pressing the button [of a bomb] or brandishing a knife."

Earlier this month, Army Radio host Razi Barkai asked a government minister why Israel was keeping the bodies of Palestinian terrorists. He then noted that parents of Shaul Oron and Hadar Goldin -- two Israeli soldiers killed in action in the Gaza Strip whose remains are believed to be held by Hamas -- may feel the same pain as the parents of Palestinians terrorists. Barkai's comments created a firestorm and he later said he had misspoken, but refused to apologize. "I believe bereaved mothers, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli, share the exact same feelings," he said.