Nothing Left To Say

I have been struggling to write my blog for the past few weeks, in the wake of the violent terrorist attacks by Hamas, and the shock of how quickly Israel went from constantly harassed to "at war." I confess that I had become used to reports of missiles and RPGs fired across the border into Israel over the past decade, and so I was taken aback when Netanyahu announced, within hours of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7th, that "we are at war." The ensuing graphic evidence of the barbarity of Hamas' campaign left all civilized people shocked and outraged. 

But events have convinced me that I must speak out - we all must speak out -- if only to hear our own voice reject the propaganda being peddled and the revisionist history being touted. In that spirit, I will share both my own thoughts, and some links to other worthwhile commentary.

Of course, at first there was no need for me to recount what we saw unfolding nightly on our TV screens and mobile news alerts (ABC news has a pretty good timeline here). And no surprise when so many members of the far Left rushed to defend Hamas, using both the moral equivalence argument and denial of the basic facts. So let us be clear: There is no circumstance in which beheading babies is OK. No matter what you have faced, no matter how oppressed you have been. It is NEVER an acceptable tactic, and there is no excusing it or explaining it away. There are lines that can never be crossed, if humanity is to survive. 

You may recall the Left was very clear and quick in condemning the G. W. Bush administration for purported instances of "torture" against AlQaeda enemies. Resort to torture and we lose our humanity, along with any moral equivalence claim. It doesn't matter what the bad guys did, it doesn't matter what we might gain from torture - it is simply wrong. So argued the Left, and many Republicans and conservatives as well.  "They did it, too" held no water - it is as childish as it is corrosive. (Wasn't that one of the things we "learned in Kindergarten," to quote a book which seems decidedly out of fashion these days?) 

Wars create borders and conquest creates countries. WWII created the modern state of Israel, as a refuge for Jews who had been very nearly slaughtered to extinction.  Gaza and the Golan Heights were added when the Arabs attacked Israel, and lost. Before American students lecture Israel about the "occupied territories," they need to take a course in world history, and acquaint themselves with a map.

It is true that the Palestinians have gotten the short end of the stick for decades, if not centuries. They have become pawns in a deadly, violent conflict in which their leaders seem to prefer war to peace and impoverishment to comfort. Lisa Daftari has a handy recap of the many times peace has been offered by Israel, and rejected by the PLO, Hamas, Iran, and other enemies of Israel. But let us also be clear on this: the Palestinians elected Hamas. Perhaps they felt they had no alternative. Perhaps we failed to give them one.

Which brings us to the woeful, deadly decisions made by the Biden administration since taking office. Empowering and coddling Iran ranks first among the foolish, dangerous and harmful policies Biden and co. pursued. Abandoning the Abraham Accords is a close second. Trading $6 Billion plus five Iranian criminals we managed to catch, for six American prisoners was also stupid - and dangerous. Allowing our southern border to become an easy access entry for Iranian-backed terrorists brings the threat even closer to home. What a fiasco. 

The nonsense going on across so many college campuses regarding the Hamas-Israel war is also deeply disturbing. The irony of college students with blood covered hands wearing "Free Gaza" t-shirts is completely lost on a generation of young adults who refuse to educate themselves on both history and geopolitics. Jim Geraghty, over at National Review, has an excellent piece on how absurd the Hamas apologists have become. 

It is not just on college campuses, however. Blue stars of David have been spray-painted on homes in Paris and Berlin, as have swastikas on synagogues. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, needs to speak out about this, to make sure your friends and neighbors and children know about it, and to condemn it.  Antisemitism is a curiously persistent and pernicious hatred, going back millennia, repeatedly exorcised and yet always lurking below the surface. It is like a cockroach, surviving global catastrophe when virtually all other life becomes extinct. I believe it will never be eliminated, which means we must be, to quote MadEye Moody, constantly vigilant.

There will be time to rehash what exactly prompted Hamas to attack at this moment in time. Certainly the imminent normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel was something Hamas (and Iran) could not tolerate. Iran clearly orchestrated the timing of the attacks, as documented by the Wall St Journal just days after the attack. Once again, peace is not Iran's goal. Wiping the Jews off the face of the earth is their goal. 

At least, I hope there will be time. I honestly try not to think about how easily this conflict could escalate into a nuclear war. Israel, Russia, Pakistan, North Korea - they all have nuclear weapons (while Iran is racing towards the same goal), and it is not at all clear what will prevent them from, or convince them to, use them. Israel understands that Iran's nuclear program is an existential threat to their existence, but how to eliminate that threat without triggering global disaster is not at all clear. A steady, strong hand in the White House would be really great - but that's not what we've got. 

And so we watch and we pray. Pray for antisemitism to retreat back into its hole. Pray for moderate Arab states like Egypt, Jordan, and even Saudi Arabia to convince Hamas to accept some sort of peace agreement. Pray for Biden to not buckle under to the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic party. And pray for Israel to resist the temptation of unlimited retribution. Once again, the light of the world must be an example to us all. Or we will all become pillars of salt.