by Yoram Ettinger
Hat tip: Jenny Grigg
The US State Department has embraced a "moral equivalence" between Palestinian terrorists – who systematically and deliberately hit civilians
*Islamic
and Palestinian terrorism consider Israel as a critical beachhead – and
a proxy - of the US in the Middle East and a significant collaborator
with the pro-US Arab regimes. They perceive the war on "the infidel
Jewish State" as a preview of their more significant war on "the infidel West"
and their attempts to topple all pro-US Sunni Arab regimes. Therefore,
Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has been engaged in intra-Arab
subversion, while systematically collaborating with enemies and rivals
of the US and the West (e.g., Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Ayatollah
Khomeini, Latin American, European, African and Asian terror
organizations, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba). The more robust is
Israel's war on terrorism, the more deterred are the terrorists in their
attempts to bring the "infidel" West to submission.
*Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has terrorized Jewish communities in the Land of Israel since the late 19th
century, adhering to an annihilationist vision as detailed by the Fatah
and PLO charters of 1959 and 1964 (eight and three years before
1967), as well as by the hate-education system, which was installed by
Mahmoud Abbas in 1993 following the signing of the Oslo Accord.
*Israel
battles Palestinian terrorism (Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) and
Islamic terrorism (Iran and Hezbollah), which are not preoccupied with the size – but with the eradication – of the "infidel" Jewish State from "the abode of Islam."
*Israel
and the West fight against deeply-rooted and institutional Islamic and
Palestinian terrorism, that is inspired by 1,400-year-old rogue values,
which are perpetrated by K-12 hate-education, mosque incitement and official and public idolization of terrorists.
*Israel
and the West combat terrorism, that has astutely employed
1,400-year-old Islamic values such the "Taqiya' " - which promotes
double-speak and dissimulation, as a means to mislead and defeat enemies
- and the "Hudna'," which misrepresents a temporary non-binding
ceasefire with "infidels" as if it were a peace treaty.
*Israel
and the West confront Islamic and Palestinian terrorism, which is
politically, religiously and ideologically led by despotic and rogue
regimes, rejecting Western values, such as peaceful-coexistence,
democracy, human rights and good-faith negotiation.
*Israel and
the West face off against Palestinian and Islamic terrorism, which does
not allow lavish financial and diplomatic temptations to transcend
intrinsic, fanatic, rogue and annihilationist vision. Moreover, terrorists bite the hands that feed them.
*Israel
and the West are not assaulted by despair-driven terrorism, but by
hope-driven terrorism – the hope to bring the "infidel" to submission.
The aspiration of these terrorists contradicts peaceful-coexistence.
*Israel and the West clash with terrorists, who view gestures, concessions and hesitancy as weakness, which inflames terrorism.
*Israel
and the West struggle against terrorism, which is not driven by a
particular Israeli or US policy, but by a fanatic vision. Thus, Islamic
terrorism afflicted the US during the Clinton and Obama Democratic
Administrations, as well as during the Bush and Trump Republican
Administrations.
*The US State Department has embraced a "moral equivalence"
between Palestinian terrorists – who systematically and deliberately
hit civilians, while sometimes hitting soldiers - and Israeli soldiers,
who systematically and deliberately hit terrorists, while sometimes,
unintentionally, hitting civilians. It emboldens terrorism, which
threatens all pro-US Arab regimes, undermining regional stability,
benefiting US' rivals and enemies, while damaging the US.
War on terrorism
*The bolstering of posture of deterrence
– rather than hesitancy, restraint, containment and gestures, which
inflame terrorism - is a prerequisite for defeating terrorism and
advancing the peace process.
*The most effective long-term war on
terrorism – operationally, diplomatically, economically and morally –
is not a surgical or comprehensive reaction, but a comprehensive and disproportional preemption, targeting the gamut of terroristic infrastructures and capabilities, draining the swamp of terrorism, rather than chasing the mosquitos.
*Containment produces a short-term, false sense of security, followed by a long-term
security setback. It is the terrorists' wet dream, which does not
moderate terrorism, but adrenalizes its veins, providing time to bolster
its capabilities – a tailwind to terror and a headwind to
counter-terrorism. It shakes the confidence in the capability to crush
terrorism. Defeating terrorism mandates obliteration of capabilities,
not co-existence or containment.
*Containment aims to avoid a
multi-front war (Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah and Iran),
but it erodes Israel's posture of deterrence, which brings Israel closer
to a multi-front war under much worse conditions.
*Containment
erodes Israel's posture of deterrence in the eyes of the
relatively-moderate Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain,
Morocco, the Sudan, Jordan and Egypt), which have dramatically enhanced
cooperation with Israel due to Israel's posture of deterrence against
mutual threats, such as Iran's Ayatollahs, the "Muslim Brotherhood" and
ISIS terrorists).
*Containment is also a derivative of White
House's and the State Department's pressure, subordinating national
security to diplomatic priorities. It undermines Israel's posture of
deterrence, which plays into the hand of anti-Israel and anti-US rogue
regimes. Precedents
prove that Israeli defiance of US pressure yields short-term tension,
but long-term strategic respect, resulting in expanded strategic
cooperation. On a rainy day, the US prefers a defiant, rather than
appeasing, strategic ally.
*The 2002 comprehensive counter-terrorism Israeli offensive,
and the return of Israel's Defense Forces to the headquarters of
Palestinian terrorism in the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West
Bank) – and not defensive containment and surgical
operations – resurrected Israel's effective war on Palestinian
terrorism, which substantially curtailed terrorists' capabilities to
proliferate terrorism in Israel, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula.
*The
containment option intensifies terrorists' daring, feeds vacillation
and the self-destructive "don't rock the boat" mentality. It erodes
steadfastness and confidence in the capabilities to withstand the cost
of terrorism, and feeds the suicidal perpetual retreat mentality.
*The addiction to containment is one of the lethal by-products of the 1993 Oslo Accord, which has produced a uniquely effective hot house of terrorism,
highlighted by the importation, arming and funding of some 100,000
Palestinian terrorists from Tunisia, the Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria
to Gaza, Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, who have
unprecedentedly radicalized the Arab population of pre-1967 Israel,
established a K-12 hate education system, launched an unparalleled wave
of terrorism, and systematically violated agreements.
The bottom line
*The 30 years since the Oslo Accord have
featured unprecedented Palestinian hate-education and wave of
terrorism. It has demonstrated that a retreat from the mountain ridges
of Judea and Samaria has boosted terrorism; that the Palestinian
Authority is not committed to a peace process, but to the destruction of
the Jewish State; and that terrorism requires a military, not
political, solution. A successful war on terrorism behooves a
preemptive offense, not defense, containment and reaction; and that
fighting in the terrorists' own trenches is preferable to fighting in
one's own trenches. No Israeli concessions could satisfy international
pressure; and diplomatic popularity is inferior to strategic respect.
Avoiding a repeat of the critical post-Oslo errors requires a
comprehensive, disproportional, decisive military campaign to uproot –
not to coexist with – terroristic infrastructures.
*The historic
and national security indispensability of the mountain ridges of Judea
and Samaria – which dominate the 8-15-mile sliver of pre-1967 Israel -
and the necessity to frustrate Palestinian terrorism, behooves Israel to
eliminate any sign of hesitancy and vacillation by expanding the Jewish
presence in this most critical area. It will intensify US and global
pressure, but as documented by all Prime Ministers from Ben Gurion,
through Eshkol, Golda Meir, Begin and Shamir, defiance of pressure
results in the enhancement of strategic respect and cooperation.
*The
Palestinian track record during the 30 years since the 1993 Oslo Accord
has highlighted the violent, unpredictable and anti-US rogue nature of
the proposed Palestinian state east of the Jordan
River, which would force the toppling of the pro-US Hashemite regime
east of the River. It would transform Jordan into an uncontrollable,
chaotic state in the vein of Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen,
triggering a domino scenario into the Arabian Peninsula (south of
Jordan), which could topple the pro-US, oil-producing Arab regimes. This
would reward Iran's Ayatollahs, China and Russia, while severely
undermining regional and global stability and US economic and national
security interests.
Yoram Ettinger
Source: https://bit.ly/3KvGjwe
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