When Pig Fat Will Fly

In Israel, there is another plan to help deter suicide bombers: place bags of lard on buses. The reasoning goes that suicide bombers, who consider pigs unclean (as do we), will not want to blow themselves up on buses that are filled with lard. This follows a similar earlier plan mentioned in the article of wrapping up the bodies of suicide bombers in pig skin with the belief that they will be less willing to suicide bomb in the future. Also, pigs have been considered as a replacement for bomb sniffing dogs, with the reasoning that they can do a better job. Generally speaking, in Judaism, even though pigs and other animals are not kosher, they are, however, permitted for other uses. For example, there is nothing wrong with using a football made out of pigskin. Thus, using lard or pigskin for the purpose of deterring suicide bombers is fine. The only problem I have with the whole idea (with the exception of the bomb sniffing pigs) is the utter futility of it. A suicide bomber may be religious but he (or she) is also a murderer. They are using religion as an excuse for murder. Once someone does that, that opens the door to all sorts of perverted interpretations of their religious beliefs. For example, at one point, the religious leaders of Hamas considered it wrong for a female to be a suicide bomber. Once it suited their purposes, that idea was quickly changed. So, a simple matter of pig fat will not impede their desire to kill Jews.