This was a tragic week in Boston where two terrorists exploded bombs that took the life of an 8 year old boy and another young lady. To add to the misery the men killed a security officer at MIT and another policeman is fighting for his life, although at press time he was expected to pull through. My heart and prayers have gone out to those who were killed or injured.

As the week progressed and the fugitives were being tracked down, citizens of the city of Boston were ordered to “Shelter in Place.” In effect, for roughly two days, the Cities of Boston and Cambridge looked like ghost towns. The cost to the economy probably ran in the hundreds of millions of dollars but history will show an even larger cost; the reputation of the American people. We have now demonstrated to every would-be terrorist in the world that a nineteen year old kid can paralyze an entire American city. That’s not resolve; it is cowardice.

In the Jerusalem Post on Saturday, April 20, 2013 Yakov Katz, who has spent years covering terrorist attacks in Israel and who is now on Sabbatical leave at Harvard, wrote about a terrorist attack in Israel:

“There was no lockdown in Israel and there was no order by the mayor to seek shelter. Instead, people were out in the streets, filling up coffee shops right next to the one that had been bombed or standing at bus stops waiting for the next bus from the same line that had just exploded. This has always impressed me as a sign of true resilience, of a refusal to allow terrorism to change our way of life.

I am not judging the people of Boston and their leaders and yes, there is something to be said about being safe than sorry. But, I wonder about the long-term strategic ramifications and if this won’t be viewed as a near-surrender to terrorism.

Yes, on Friday there was a 19-year-old terrorist on the loose but did that mean that nearly 5 million people needed to stay locked inside their homes?

Did it warrant the complete suspension of public transportation, of taxi cabs, of Amtrak trains between Boston and the rest of the East Coast? The postponement of the Red Sox-Royals game, the Bruins-Penguins game? I’m not sure.”

I think Mr. Katz has it exactly right. I don’t think that New England’s founders, who were celebrated on “Patriots Day” would have been hiding in their homes worrying about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; they would have been outside on the streets hunting this guy down.

As my good friend Dave Delano asked me yesterday, “How many of those Boston liberals that have voted ten times for Barney Frank and supported the likes of Ted Kennedy secretly wished that they owned a gun while they were cowering in their basements on Friday?” I wonder.

You may find Katz’ entire article at:  http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/What-message-is-US-sending-with-a-Boston-lockdown-310424