July 19, 2006
On Israel
I have not commented fully on the situation regarding Israel, Hezbollah and Lebanon before due to an overly-busy schedule, but I have been doing plenty of reading, listening and thinking on the subject. I would like to state here and now why I support Israel's current efforts, and why I support Israel overall.
Since its inception in 1948, Israel has been the butt of derision and scorn of not only the Arab world, but many so-called allies in the rest of the free world. The Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years, and giving them a country to call their own has not slowed that down one whit.
Until just a few years ago, with the advent of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel was the only democratic country in the Middle East. And you don't have to be Jewish to be a citizen with voting rights! Plenty of Arabs are living peacefully in Israel, supporting themselves and their families and enjoying the rights accorded all citizens.
This is, I think, what irks Israel's enemies the most.
Despite having had official statehood for less than 100 years, Israel is a successful and dominant force in the Middle East. Other Arab countries, under the thumbs of mullahs and kings, continue to wallow in medieval attitudes an mores, despite the oil wealth of some of these countries. Those countries that don't have oil wealth are also saddled with the burden of struggling economies.
Combine the above with deeply-rooted hatred of the Jewish people and you have a stewpot ready to boil over.
Israel has been blamed as an oppressor of the Palestinian people, but it is the Palestians themselves who have dug their own proverbial graves. Yasser Arafat, for example, signed peace accords and promptly violated them. He was a terrorist, first and foremost, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, certainly as grotesque an idea as someone like Kim Jon-Il winning it. (Who knows, maybe North Korea's "Dear Leader" is on the short list as I write this?)
In spite of all this, Israel decided to once again make peaceful overtures. They pulled out of Gaza and the West Bank, forcing settlers to leave their homes and businesses. Palestine has also had elections. Unfortunately, Hamas has now made inroads in the Palestinian government, proof that Palestinians have no interest in peace. If they wanted peace, why would they elect a slate of leaders from a terrorist group?
Now we have the situation with Hezbollah and Lebanon. The issue isn't Lebanon, but the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which has been ensconced in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese government, still recovering from its own civil war, has been unable to dislodge them. And so they have had a place to arm, plan, and bide their time. The time is now.
Hezbollah makes no secret that it wishes to drive Israel out of existence. It kidnapped Israeli soldiers and sent explosives into Israel. These are hardly friendly overtures, and so Israel jumped into the driver's seat and began bombing Lebanon with the hope of squashing Hezbollah.
And the world looks on, calling Israeli reaction "disproportionate force." Countries such as France and Russia are calling for an immediate cease fire. As usual, Israel is the one being criticized when they are the ones who were attacked first. The UN now wants to bring in peacekeepers. But the UN, which has called for the disarming of Hezbollah in the so-far uninforced Resolution 1559, hardly has a great track record with its peacekeeping forces (consider the sex scandal involving peacekeepers and children in the Congo).
We constantly hear gripers here in the US calling for our government to withdraw all support from Israel. Not only does this mirror isolationist tendencies, but it reflects a hatred of Jews that continues to flourish in our so-called tolerant society. By withdrawing support from Israel, we may well be condemning it to its doom. And by doing so, a beacon of freedom in the Middle East is also extinguished.
Do the naysayers think that if we give Israel the cold shoulder we won't be in danger of terrorist attacks? Just like they think if we pull out of Iraq (and Afghanistan) today we will be on good terms with the terrorists? If so, they are more naiive than a newborn baby. Islamofascists want to establish radical Islamic rule across the globe. We will be the Great Satan no matter what we do because we, as well as Israel, represent everything that Islamofascists hate: freedom and democracy.
Hezbollah and its sponsors (Iran, etc.) want Israel demolished. Palestine wants Israel demolished. And if they succeed, they will be one step closer to installing radical Islamic rule over that corner of the world and, if they have their way, the rest of the world.
This is why Israel must succeed, and why we must continue with our support.
Show Comments »
