by Isi Leibler
In the midst of a bitter war – one that Israel sought to avoid -
the statements and initiatives from U.S. President Barack Obama and his
inept secretary of state, John Kerry, have convinced Hamas that if they
maintain their campaign of terror against Israel and the civilians of
Gaza, the international community will intervene on their behalf.
From Israel’s vantage, despite
the continuing tragic losses, there can be no turning back until the
weapons of destruction and the tunnels are neutralized. Failure to
achieve this will doom us to a future and possibly even more dangerous
confrontation with these genocidal barbarians.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s leadership has been exemplary. Despite extraordinary
pressure from all sides of the political spectrum, he succeeded in
charting a responsible policy. The initial restraint, his acceptance of
the Egyptian terms of cease-fire and his avoidance of demagoguery,
united the nation and even scored points among open-minded circles in
the international community.
The most incredible aspect to
this conflict was the almost total effectiveness of the Iron Dome, which
neutralized missiles directed to our heavily populated cities, and thus
precluded an otherwise much more extensive and costly ground operation.
Yet we suffered a profound shock
at the discovery of the extent and sophistication of the underground
city Hamas had constructed with prolific tunnels entering into Israel -
even into public dining rooms of kibbutzim - creating a scenario for
horrifying mass terrorist abductions and massacres of 9/11 proportions.
The Western media’s sympathy for
Hamas, inciting hatred against Israel by their excessive display of
gruesome images of children killed, was completely out of context. That
Israel possesses the fire power to level Gaza to the ground, if it
intended doing so, was ignored. Rarely did it acknowledge that Israel
had accepted cease-fires which Hamas had rejected. Nor that Israel
maintained a flow of humanitarian aid, electricity and water to Gaza and
that terrorist casualties were treated in Israeli hospitals. In fact,
Israel even established a field hospital for the sole purpose of
treating Gazan civilians.
The media behaved unconscionably
in failing to highlight the fact that most of the civilian casualties
in Gaza were incurred because Hamas had ordered women and children to
ignore Israeli early warnings to evacuate, obliging them to act as human
shields at rocket launching sites and command posts. Schools,
hospitals, mosques, and U.N. R.A. headquarters were used to stockpile
armaments and launch missiles. By this behavior, Hamas is responsible
for every civilian casualty, which is unquestionably defined as war
crimes. As Netanyahu stated, “Israel employs missile defense to protect
its citizens; Hamas uses its civilians to protect missiles.”
Whereas no army in history has
ever gone to the extremes of the IDF to minimize civilian casualties,
the obscene U.N. Human Rights Commission dominated by dictatorships and
rogue states, has launched an investigation of what it has already
defined as “Israeli war crimes.” In what is clearly intended to be a
repeat of the notorious Goldstone Commission, there is not even the
pretense of objectivity and no call to investigate Hamas. The U.S. voted
against this travesty but the Europeans, to their discredit, abstained.
Predictably, this led to a global eruption of massive anti-Semitic
demonstrations and violence, condemning Israel for allegedly targeting
or being indifferent to the fate of Gazan civilians.
In this context, we appreciate
that the American people and Congress have displayed overwhelming
support for Israel and remain grateful for the financial support
sponsored by Congress that enabled us to create and produce the Iron
Dome.
Yet the diplomatic posturing of
the Obama administration has been utterly deplorable at a time when we
are entitled to rely on the U.S. to fully support its only genuine
democratic ally in the region. Israel is confronting genocidal Hamas,
the equivalent of al-Qaida, whose charter explicitly calls for the
destruction of the Jewish state, and enjoins its supporters to murder
Jews whenever the opportunity arises. This same terrorist organization
condemned the United States for the murder of bin Laden. Our current
conflict is not between two states but against a barbaric genocidal
terrorist organization which the U.S. itself regards as illegal. This is
a clear case of good versus evil – surely something Americans unlike
postmodernist Europeans, do instinctively appreciate.
Aside from incanting mantras of
Israel’s right to defend itself, Obama has yet to condemn Hamas for
exploiting its civilians as human sacrifices. Instead, from the outset
he has sought to restrict Israel’s military response, repeatedly urging
restraint and “proportional response”. Obama set the pattern which the
rest of the world followed, providing Hamas with expectations that with
growing civilian casualties, Israel would be pressured to step down.
The hypocrisy of Obama and
others in their condemnation of Israel is mind-boggling when reviewing
the various military initiatives and drone attacks undertaken by the
U.S., NATO, France, et al. The odious moral equivalence must also be
viewed in the context of 180,000 innocent civilians literally butchered
in Syria, and with the massacres of the ISIS in Iraq and the rest of the
region.
As the Israel Defense Forces
continue to eliminate the myriad of terrorist tunnels, Obama stepped up
his calls on Israel to act more “proportionately,” expressing horror at
the casualties and indicating that we are not doing enough to protect
civilians. He even stated that once 1,000 Palestinian casualties have
been reached, he would force an end to the conflict.
It is also widely believed that
the Federal Aviation Administration decision to temporarily halt flights
to Israel was a calculated political ploy by the Obama administration
to further exert pressure.
Precisely what further steps
does Obama suggest Israel should take to minimize civilian casualties
without endangering its own citizens? Would the United States or any
responsible government enable terrorists to maintain their operations
from mosques, hospitals, schools and homes and continue indiscriminately
raining thousands of missiles on its citizens?
It is ironic that in the present
context, the Europeans, traditionally disposed to be hostile to Israel,
passed a resolution not merely condemning Hamas attacks, but also
demanding the demilitarization of Gaza -- something that Obama, who
merely calls for a return to the conditions governing the former
“truce,” has yet to demand.
The uninvited presence of Kerry
-- who many Israelis now regard as an unguided missile -- and who has
been making off-the-cuff sarcastic remarks about Israeli failure to
avoid Palestinian casualties, will only encourage Hamas to maintain the
missile attacks.
Kerry undermined the Egyptian
cease-fire initiative by inexplicably turning to Qatar and Turkey to act
as mediators. Qatar, regarded by the U.S. as an important “ally,” with
whom it recently signed an $11 billion arms deal, is a Muslim
Brotherhood-dominated entity and the principal funder of Hamas and ISIS.
Turkey’s demagogue Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an outspoken
hysterical anti-Semite who accused Israel of engaging in “barbarism
worse than Hitler.” Needless to say, Israel cannot be expected to engage
with those who openly promote the Hamas agenda.
His final act of betrayal of
Israel was his repudiation of the Egyptian cease-fire which Israel had
accepted. Instead Kerry conspired with Qatar and Turkey to seek to
impose new cease-fire terms which would prevent Israel from destroying
the tunnels it had discovered and he provided undertakings that the
“blockade” of Gaza and release of Hamas prisoners and other concerns
would be reviewed, with no reference to the demilitarization of Hamas.
The Israeli Diplomatic-Security Cabinet unanimously rejected this offer
placing Israel in direct conflict with the U.S.
The Netanyahu government is
fully aware that Israel cannot accept a long-term cease-fire that would
enable Hamas to again attack Israel with missiles or renew their
building of terrorist tunnels into Israel.
The U.S. will also be committing
another blunder if it seeks to recycle Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas to resolve the impasse. While initially he had backed the
Egyptian cease-fire and was happy to see his “partner” Hamas under
pressure, he has now decided to throw his lot with Hamas and the radical
jihadists. Israel can no longer contemplate negotiations with the PA so
long as it remains associated with Hamas.
Defensible borders are now an
absolute must. With the collapse of the artificial Arab nation states
created by the Sykes-Picot treaty in the aftermath of World War I, no
borders are sacrosanct, certainly not armistice lines that have never
been formally recognized as international borders. Under no
circumstances can we contemplate returning to the indefensible 1949
armistice lines. It is now also clear that should a Palestinian state
emerge, it must be totally demilitarized with the IDF retaining security
control.
We should also cautiously seek
to engage with Egypt and other pragmatic Arab countries that are opposed
to the jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood.
We still look toward the
American people and Congress to support us in this struggle of good
versus evil. We do not ask for Americans to shed their blood for us but
we expect their full diplomatic and political support in this battle
against a murderous global Islamic fundamentalist movement.
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com. His website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.
Source: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/14777a9cf8f1e4bf
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