“Free Palestine!” …From Hamas

“There will be peace in the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews.” Golda Meir

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Our friend and ally, Israel, is a small but powerful island of democracy, industriousness, peace, and prosperity in a boiling cauldron of religious fanaticism, hatred, and ignorance that is the Middle East. After fighting for independence, it has overcome every obstacle, and faced and defeated the united armies of all its Arab neighbors. Time and time again, it has suffered from homicide bombers, random terror attacks, and rockets raining down on peaceful villages. Although a handful of Arab states have recognized the right of Israel to exist and have denounced attacks on Israel, many remain openly hostile to the Jewish state or subtly support and finance Hamas and Hezbollah in their efforts to eliminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth. Others, like Saudi Arabia, publicly condemn terrorism yet remain the biggest financier and cheerleader of jihad in the world. (See, Shadow World, by Dr. Robert Chandler, and “Dangerous Illusions—Book Review of Shadow World by William Kevin Stoos ” amazon.com (2008) and Stoos Views) When Israel is attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, the Arab street protests, condemns Israel, and calls for its destruction. The pathetically irrelevant U.N. also condemns Israel for “over reacting,” and protests the “disproportionate” use of force by Israel when it retaliates with military force against Hamas or Hezbollah. Sadly, such retaliation inevitably leads to the innocent loss of life among the civilian populace—behind whom the cowardly terrorists are only too happy to hide. This of course begs the question: “What is proportionate?” When your neighbors equip, finance, and harbor Hamas and Hezbollah and vow to wipe your country off the map, when you are struggling for your very survival, the terms “ proportionate response” and “ equivalency” sound hollow and irrelevant. Just two months ago, Israeli intelligence sources noted that the terrorist group Hezbollah went on a shopping spree, purchasing three thousand missiles and an untold number of RPG-2s from Russia’s military weapons purveyor Bazalt. Bazalt is especially good at manufacturing the sort of rocket-propelled grenades designed to knock out Israeli tanks and missiles designed to be fired at peaceful Israeli villages. When the United States protested the sale, Russia politely noted our concern, and then sold them anyway.  Iran picked up the tab for this purchase. Where was the international condemnation of Hezbollah, Russia, or Iran two months ago when this terrorist organization purchased 3000 missiles? Just what did the world think this terrorist organization-- sworn to the destruction of the State of Israel --was going to do with these missiles anyway? For years, Hamas has also employed Russian missiles with against Israel. Neither the United Nations, nor the Arab street, nor any moderate Palestinian group strongly condemned the use of missiles either by Hamas or Hezbollah. Condemnation, it seems, is reserved exclusively for Israel. So long as the world fails to condemn, and the Palestinian people continue to support, the efforts of Hamas and Hezbollah, they have no right to expect Israel will do anything other than to defend itself. Remarkably, while Israel has agreed in principle to the establishment of a Palestinian State and taken good faith steps toward that end, Hamas and Hezbollah remain committed by their very charters to the destruction of Israel, and the world seems to ignore this fact. The Hamas Charter provides in relevant part: “Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it….There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.” Similarly, the Hezbollah Charter reads in relevant part: ”…our struggle will end only when [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements….We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies….” Unless and until someone--whether it be more moderate Arab regimes, or the Palestinian people themselves—rein in Hamas and Hezbollah, or the cold day in Hades comes when these groups renounce their charters and agree that peace should prevail, the idea of a lasting Middle East peace agreement is fanciful , even ridiculous. This week, CNN news is replete with coverage of anti-Israel protestors in the United States and around the world, holding placards that read “FREE PALESTINE!” Free Palestine, indeed. Free it from Hamas, and everything becomes possible. The moderate Arab world and the Palestinians themselves must first denounce and de-fang Hamas and Hezbollah and reject their fundamental tenet that Israel must be “obliterated.” Failing that, Israel will be left with no option other than to do that which any nation would do under the circumstances—protect its citizens and preserve its very existence.