The Sharon government has acted with astonishing restraint to comply with American requests to maintain a low diplomatic profile. Despite the abject failure of Yasser Arafat to take the minimal steps to arrest known planners and executors of terror attacks, Israel implemented, under heavy American pressure, a series of steps to ease living conditions and movements of Palestinians, despite the continuing attacks and high security risks.

Israeli officials believe that the easing of the closure around Ramallah today was a contributing factor in the assassination of Minister Rechavam Ze'evi in Jerusalem. America may be understandably preoccupied by the anthrax scare and the campaign against the Taliban and bin Laden in Afghanistan. The U.S. is publishing wanted lists of terrorists and expressing its intention to capture them dead or alive. The United States is making clear that the pursuit of these individuals and groups is its natural right regardless of past practice, federal laws and UN resolutions.

But the U.S. State Department, charged by the President with defining and implementing the nation's foreign policy, has suddenly discovered that there are two different kinds of terror: one against the United States and one against the Jewish State.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, in a daily briefing several weeks ago, opined that terrorism against America and terrorism against Israel are "two different things." On the one hand, he said, "there are violent people trying to destroy societies, ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that and we are going to stop those people. On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that need to be resolved…. clearly issues that are different, not only in geography but also, to some extent, in their nature."

The distinction was further sharpened earlier this week when Boucher's deputy expressed his support for the targeting of bin Laden and others but not the planner of the disco bombing that killing 23 young people in Tel Aviv. "We oppose a policy of targeted killings," Philip T. Reeker said. "It's the same position that we've said over and over again, and that is that we oppose the policy of targeted killings,'' he added. When a persistent reporter suggested that the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Israel's tactics on the West Bank were comparable, he could only mumble: "I can't really draw a parallel between the two.'' Boucher, his boss, glossed over the issues the following day, when he admitted that, while there were similarities between Israel's policy to target terrorists and the pursuit of bin Laden and his colleagues, "that doesn't mean the two situations are comparable or require the same response.''

Well, the time has come to ask Boucher's boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, what exactly does his policy on targeted killings mean? Does it mean that when Israeli kids are mass murdered in a disco, and the Palestinian Authority refuses to arrest the terrorists it knows are responsible for the killing, that Israel should just throw up its hands, appeal to the World Court, and wait for the next explosion? Does the U.S.?

One is tempted to ask Secretary Powell, with respect: Imagine that a Cabinet Minister in the Bush Administration was gunned down one morning in a Washington hotel. At the same time, the three hooded assassins issued a taped confession via al-Jazeera, as their organization took full credit for the deed and promised more of the same. But, alas, the group was based in Maryland, and Maryland had for the past seven years refused as a matter of policy to arrest, try or extradite killers of Washingtonians or "foreigners" that happened to be killed by them in D.C. or while traveling on the roads of Chevy Chase and Silver Spring?

We observe what you are doing in Afghanistan, bombing the hell out of that mud-caked country to force the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, or better yet, to kill him and his people outright, and destroy his terrorist infrastructure there and around the world. We know that you regret bombing homes and Red Cross facilities and the inevitable loss of innocent life and the creation of a million or so more refugees. We understand and appreciate the fervor and tenacity of your pursuit of the terrorists who attacked your country.

When then, Secretary Powell, will you realize that Israel is defending itself -- its citizens and its way life -- against a clear and present threat in a way which, on a far smaller scale suitable to our small country, is exactly comparable to what the United States is doing in its war against (certain types of) terrorists? But of course you do realize it full well, and that is why you, as the man responsible for implementing foreign policy, owe Israel a clarification and, yes, a profound apology for unconscionable discrimination.

Your nation is executing a policy of targeted killings. Your nation is causing economic privations and even unintentional death to innocent civilians in your pursuit of terrorists. Your nation is holding the Taliban directly responsible for harboring and covering for the terrorists, and in fact working to subvert this terror-sponsoring regime.

We applaud and understand why and how the United States is doing so, difficult and complicated as your campaign may be. What we condemn and cannot accept is that you do not acknowledge that Israel, in its own way and in its own backyard, has been doing and will keep on doing, what your great nation now realizes is the only way to fight terrorism.

As Israeli anti-terror experts are over there advising American anti-terror experts on how to do the job better, State Department spokesmen stumble and mumble as they try to explain to the press why American actions against the Taliban are right and understandable, while Israeli actions against Palestinian terrorists and the regime that shields them are wrong and "unacceptable."

Secretary Powell, you know better. The American people sees through this nonsense, and you are needlessly insulting the intelligence of those you need to support your war efforts. You are undermining your own campaign by blurring the moral distinction between terrorism and actions to stop terror, a distinction essential to your campaign. You are embracing terror-supporting states, while weakening the one nation that has the greatest ability to fight terror. You are rewarding the terrorists who attacked you, awarding them a victory at Israel's expense, just as Sharon warned. And that, with all due respect, is "unacceptable."

We Israelis deeply admire America's historical determination to do what's right. We recognize that you are the driving moral force in an equivocating world. And for that precise reason, we are surprised and disappointed that you are not now taking a resolute stand in the war against terrorism.

So, with great personal respect for you and your office, Mr. Secretary, may we suggest that a fateful choice is yours. It is to apologize to your most loyal ally and clarify your anti-terrorist stand, or to continue appeasing opportunistic dictatorships that will surely abandon America and its troops in their time of need.

Mr. Powell, this can be your nation's finest hour, or the beginning of its tragic demise: show the world America's moral leadership or resign your nation, soon or latter, to ignoble and immoral defeat. Don't force us to fight the "evil-doers" alone. Lead the good fight against terrorism. Don't let terrorists and their backers lead America astray.

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