A Critical Analysis of 'Real Islam'. Its People ... - Bukti dan Saksi

Chapter 25
Hard Options in Israel
So much emphasis is being placed on finding Peace in Israel, so much unwarranted blame for the
world’s Islamic problem laid at the feet of the Israeli people for their failure to sufficiently accommodate
and pacify Palestinian demands. The whole conflict, couched as it is in terms of a disenfranchised
persecuted people, is not the force that guides Islam’s hand against Israel and the West. Arabs and
Muslims living in Israel as citizens are treated infinitely better than Palestinians living in Jordan, Kuwait,
and other Arab lands. For orthodox Muslims, it’s all just a convenient pretext to practice Jihad on the
world stage while hiding behind the cloak of more widely accepted nationalistic goals. We go back to this
topic for study because the struggles facing Israel and the stark options she faces against a world
sympathetic to the Palestinian cause may be similar to the options the US faces in its "War" on terror.
In a misguided attempt to be even-handed, liberal editorialists suggest Palestinian terrorist activities
against Israel should be viewed as legitimate wartime action against a more powerful adversary, but all
such suggestions are nothing more than immoral attempts to manipulate public opinion to accept suicide
bombers and terrorists as legitimate. Without saying as much, these arguments presumably extend from
the 'total war' philosophy adopted to justify attacks against a nation’s infrastructure and civilians as
necessary for defense and victory. However, absent from these suggestions is the implication that any
nation or people adopting a 'total war' fighting philosophy, must also accept the same approach from their
declared enemies without complaint. As such, Israeli incursions are as legitimate as the bombers, and
anyone who laments Israelis response, while at the same time justifying the bombers and those who send
them as legitimate wartime activities, are nothing more than hypocrites. In fact, by extending the logic,
carpet bombings, or indiscriminately targeting the entire Palestinian population by any means is as
legitimate as the homicide bombing activity of the Palestinians.
Lets not beat around the bush, if a people or culture declare total war against another people or nation,
and employ total-war methods against that nation, that nation has the legitimate right of self defense and
must respond with even greater destructiveness and effect to avoid becoming the vanquished. Those who
support Islamic militant actions have absolutely no right to whine and complain about fences being built
or Israeli incursions. A people as a whole deserve any resulting hardship or loss as natural consequences
of their gross thinking errors and the acts that come from them. They and their children will undoubtedly
continue to point fingers at Israel, the US, the West et. al., but they lie to themselves. They are
individually and collectively responsible for all natural consequences arising from the actions of terrorist
leaders, sons, daughters, and neighbors springing from amongst them. On July 11 th 2002 even Amnesty
International, the London-based human rights organization normally against Israel, condemned
Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians as "crimes against humanity" and
unjustified by Palestinian political grievances.
The range of effective measures Israel could apply to protect itself against an autonomous neighbor is
limited. It would seem to be an impossible situation with no easy answers. Indeed there is nothing
currently on the table, which the warring parties can agree upon. The hard answers are rarely spoken. If
the current ‘cessation of hostilities’ declared by Sharon and Abbas do not hold, the possible Israeli
approaches to improve the safety of its citizens are guaranteed to be impalpable to all, and include the
following:
1. The do nothing approach, simply hope that international pressures and good conscience result in the
Palestinians abandoning their violent methods, so that Oslo or other ‘road map’ negotiations will later
become possible.
History has taught Jews more than any other people that weakness is not respected, but ruthlessly exploited.
Empirical data shows, and survival now dictates, that the passive, patient, and measured approach now be
rejected. Few live under illusions that any accords bearing similarity to Oslo offer any real hope. Most would
agree that Israel is correct in believing that pacifism means suicide. The mindset is very instinctive, fight or
flight. With each passing day, Israeli pacifists are becoming harder to find.