THE GAZA BLOCKADE AND TERRORIST HAMAS

By D. E. Lovett

The recent events off the Mediterranean coast of Gaza have given Israel another ill-deserved black eye. In enforcing its blockade of Gaza, Israeli forces killed nine supposed “peace activists” from Turkey, while they were attempting to deliver banned material to the Gaza Strip. The “international community” has almost universally condemned the Israeli action, and issued calls for sanctions against Israel. It is to be noted that the crews of the “peace flotilla” actively provoked lethal response by attacking Israeli forces trying to enforce the Israeli embargo. Israel had previously agreed to forward humanitarian cargo, but that was not the objective of the “activists.” Their aim was to provoke a response which could then be branded as “disproportionate,” and they were successful beyond their dreams. When Palestinians, and their sympathizers, provoke a response, that response is always portrayed as disproportionate. Incredibly, the latest blood-letting is, in some quarters, attributed to a less-than-desirable use of force, where a more over-awing display would have achieved Israeli objectives without the loss of life realized. The world ignores suicide bombings and rocket attacks aimed indiscriminately at killing both Jews and Muslims, but pretends outrage at the killing of those self-same militants who perpetrate indiscriminate murder.

First, in considering the Israeli actions, it must be acknowledged that the State of Israel has every right, under International Law, to declare and enforce an embargo against an entity which has effectively declared war against it. The aim of the Hamas government of Gaza is not to promote the welfare of its citizenry, normally the first duty of any government, but to destroy the State of Israel, regardless of the effects of its actions on its subjects. This is perfectly in keeping with the Arab and Muslim policy of keeping the “refugee” issue as an open sore, and placing the entire plight of Palestinian Arabs at Israel’s door. The Arab/Muslim community has an innate hatred of all things Jewish, from individuals, to practices, to policies, to the very existence of the State of Israel; and proactively teaches this hatred to its children, so that the hatred will never die. The Holocaust must be perpetuated!

Having failed repeatedly, and inexplicably, to destroy Israel by force of arms, the Arab/Muslim world is now engaged in an international campaign to destroy Israel via the route of delegitimilization, using the tactics of boycott, divestiture and sanctions (BDS.) In this, they are joined by the usual self-proclaimed “progressive” forces, who use the cry of “justice” to cover the ages-long persecution of Jewry. It is hard to reconcile the imbalance of outrage over the actions of Israel with the actions of its enemies. A seven-year-old boy was executed by Hamas for “collaborating” with Israel; Hamas encourages rocket attacks on civilians; and the world yawns. But let an Israeli shoot an activist, and the world rises up in outrage.

All condemnations of Israel begin with a pious proclamation of “the right of Israel to exist,” and “the right of Israel to defend itself,” then degenerate into vituperous criticism of the very means employed to assure those rights. To be sure, Israel has made mistakes in its international relations, including installing the hawkish Avigdor Lieberman as its Foreign Minister, who is “persona-non-grata” in enough countries to eliminate his effectiveness as a spokesman for Israel. But one has to wonder if anyone in that position could soften the outcry against Israel. The BDS campaign had no chance of advancing Arab/Muslim aims as long as America stood behind Israel. In the past this has been a given; but the advent of the Obama administration has given Israel’s enemies hope that America’s resolve to stand by Israel is not unconditional. Every American President since Jimmy Carter has made it a central point to “solve” the Middle-East problem, but there is no solution short of either Israel committing national suicide, or the Arab/Muslim world deciding peace is better than war. Neither outcome is likely in the near or distant future, and misguided efforts to punish Israel for defending itself are doomed to failure- as long as America continues to support Israel.

All efforts to achieve peace in the Middle-East by extracting unilateral concessions from Israel are doomed to failure. But there is no comparable effort to extract any concessions from the Palestinians, except meaningless assurances of peace, once Israel accepts conditions (the “right of return,” recognition of the 1967 boundaries, ceding East Jerusalem to Palestinian control, signature of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty) designed to be ruinous to the State of Israel. The Arab Palestinians are really quite content with their status at present, and have no incentive to negotiate away anything. Their population has grown from about 700,000 in 1948 to over 7,000,000 today, as they prosper from charity, mostly from other Muslim countries, but in large part from the US and other western countries. The Western fixation on BDS against Israel to coerce it into national suicide only feeds the aspirations of murderous Muslims to kill Israel itself, and as many Israelis as possible, completing the “final solution” begun by the Nazis.