Is this the way to go?

In the May/June issue of Moment magazine, (the piece to be found at: http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2009/2009-06/200906-Ask_Rabbis.html) various Jewish leaders respond to the question of “How should Jews treat their Arab neighbors?”

A wide spectrum of such leaders responded. The most provocative answer is this one from a leader in the Chabad movement.

Chabad
I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.
Rabbi Manis Friedman
Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

Do you agree that this is the way to peace in the Middle East? Is this the way “righteous” people should think, regardless of which side of the Middle East conflict that person is on? How is this any different from the position taken by extremists of any religion against their “enemies?”