An Israeli who shot and killed four Palestinians and injured another in August last year was sentenced to four life sentences plus 12 years by an Israeli court on Wednesday. Asher Weisgan shot his victims in the West Bank the day the Gaza disengagement began in an attempt to halt the Israeli withdrawal, which he was vehemently opposed to. Weisgan told authorities that his motive was to provoke an Arab retaliation which would then prevent the Gaza pullout from taking place.

Of course, such a story demonstrates that Jews are not immune from carrying out misguided violent acts in support of their beliefs. But what is more significant is the response taken by Jewish authorities to stamp out such extremism—and how this contrasts to the official Arab response to similar acts of violence by Palestinians.

In addition to the four life sentences Weisgan was given, he was ordered, because of the nature of the crime, to pay $236,000 to the families of those he killed and injured, “in an unusual court-ordered monetary penalty for a murder case” (Jerusalem Post, September 27).

The unanimous court ruling revealed the basis upon which such crimes are tried in Israel: “The basic prohibition of ‘Thou shall not murder,’ which is part of the Ten Commandments … reflects the minimum of legal norms of all of humanity,” the ruling read. It referred to the murders as a “moral failure.”

The contrast between how Palestinians and Israelis respond to the murder of innocents could not be more stark: When a Palestinian murders Israeli civilians, he is hailed a hero, and his family is paid sums of money as a reward. When a Jew murders Arab civilians, he is jailed for life and ordered to pay damages to the families of those he’s murdered.

One group rewards murder; the other condemns it. One society is built on the principle “Thou shall not murder,” the other on the glorification of murder. Why the Western liberal media for the most part chooses to ignore this stark difference between the two ideologies can only be explained by either gross ignorance, political correctness, or—more likely—a deeply ingrained anti-Israel bias.