The six murdered hostages in Gaza should be a “wake-up call” for foolish Americans who believe, first, that we have any hope of a cease-fire or of “dealing” with Hamas — capitulation, maybe, but not a chance on a “deal.” And second, that there is any moral equivalence between what Hamas did on October 7th and Netanyahu’s response in Gaza. There is NOT.
While we all grieve the loss of innocents, on either side, let’s be very clear. Collateral loss of life is what you get when you attack a foreign nation and start a war. And let’s be very clear about something else. No government, anywhere or anytime, has tried harder to avoid collateral loss of life than Israel has done in the past 11 months.
Had Israel not been so concerned about the Palestinian civilians, this war could have been over almost immediately, and most of the hostages who have been murdered by Hamas would still be alive. More importantly, Hamas and, possibly, Hezbollah would be gone. Trump took out ISIS — it’s POSSIBLE! Unfortunately, Biden has allowed both ISIS and the Taliban to reconstitute.
The cease-fire and release of any remaining hostages is completely in the hands of Hamas. They perpetrated a vicious, unprovoked attack on innocents on October 7th, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and Americans and taking more than 250 hostages. It was an act of war, and Israel responded. Now, Hamas is using the useful idiots here and elsewhere to whine about the hell they unleashed on themselves.
We live in a time that is nearly devoid of strong leadership. People the world over quake in the shadow of terrorists and totalitarian murder. The response immediately following the 9/11 attacks was the last time that the world saw any backbone, any actual push-back against the hell rained down by the actions of Islamic terrorists. It didn’t last long, but it was there for a short time. We need to get some of that backbone back.
While the Biden/Harris administration, first, invited Putin to invade Ukraine with their weak, hapless foreign policy, then supported and shielded Zelensky (likely, in part, because Zelensky “had the goods” on Biden), Israel was defending itself against daily rocket and mortar attacks on civilian targets . . . tens of thousands of rockets, well over 30,000 since 2004. And what have we done?
I don’t know that the Israelis have ever had much reason to trust in their “friendship and alliance” with the United States, but certainly they should have been able to do so since 9/11. On that day, their enemies became our enemies. But it’s always been too convenient for the U.S. government, with their interest in mid-east oil, to call on the right side of the mid-east conflicts, the Israelis, to use restraint. Enough.
Americans support waste, corruption, slavery and terror all over the world with our foreign policy. There is little value to international organizations like the United Nations – have you seen who sits on the UN Human Rights Council? Ridiculous. Yet, we pay a lion’s share of the cost of that group of antisemites and international thugs, while we slow-walk the promised weapons for Israel to defend herself. Again, ridiculous.
Unless and until the Palestinian people rise up and throw out the terrorists who have taken control of their government, they will live in this nightmare. If the current apocalyptic situation in Gaza ended tomorrow, Hamas would start another war with another murderous attack the day after. I won’t mince words here. Hamas are not human beings. Terrorists are not human beings. They are animals.
No one wants war. Well, no one in the west wants war. Some in the Middle East revel in it. And Putin has no hesitancy, when he smells weakness, to invade another sovereign nation . . . but he’s always been a bully, and other administrations have managed to keep him in check. The problem is what to do when war lands on your doorstep, particularly when delivered by persons you know are missing any spark of humanity.
That is what faced Netanyahu on Oct. 7th. Options included immediate, full-scale attack that would have taken care of the problem, once and for all, but may also have increased civilian deaths. Or he could do as he did, which was to use the restraint that the U.S. and her allies always demand of Israel, warn civilians of retaliatory attacks and endanger, instead, Israelis and the hostages.
I don’t think that I would have responded as Netanyahu did. I think I would be disinclined to “restrain” myself . . . yet again. The only “solution” these terrorist groups want is to eradicate the Jews, period. Does anyone seriously expect any people to just lie down and be crushed? It defies human nature. We are programmed to survive. Israel must survive.
