In September both PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the U.N. General Assembly at its annual meeting. It is worthwhile to read what these leaders said.
Once again Abbas referred to the establishment of the State of Israel as "Al-Nakba," the "catastrophe." He referred to Israel's defensive war over the summer with Hamas as "genocide," which was "unmatched in modern times." In reply, Netanyahu said: "Genocide? In what moral universe does genocide include warning the enemy's civilian population to get out of harm's way? Or ensuring that they receive tons, tons of humanitarian aid each day, even as thousands of rockets are being fired at us? Or setting up a field hospital to aid for their wounded?" You probably never read/heard in the mainstream media about the ongoing humanitarian aid or the field hospital during the war.
Genocide unmatched in modern times? Abbas is very good at the Big Lie. He never heard of the killing fields of Cambodia, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria or others. No, 2000 Palestinian deaths, substantially caused by Hamas putting their own people in harm's way, is "unmatched." Abbas repeatedly referred to Israel as "racist," forgetting that he has declared that no Jew may live in a future state of Palestine.
Abbas is good at propaganda. He knows the words the West wants to hear, so he engaged in other Big Lies. Abbas said the state of Palestine will be "living in peace and building bridges of mutual cooperation with its neighbors...(and) strengthen(s) the values of citizenship, equality, non-discrimination, the rule of law, (and) human rights and pluralism." Does he not know that his partner (Hamas) in their unity government summarily executed about 19 Palestinians based on allegations of aiding Israel during the recent war. The rule of law? These people were given no trial.
"Building bridges...with its neighbors." So how should we account for this comment: "...I affirm here today: we will not forget and we will not forgive." Does that sound like building bridges? Abbas also referred to "Palestinian enlightened traditions of tolerance, coexistence and non-exclusion." Who buys this nonsense? Tolerance? Not for Jews or Christians. Coexistence? The Palestinians had an opportunity for co-existence for 66 years - the same length of time that Israel has again existed. They passed it up in favor of war after war, intifada after intifada, and relentless suicide bombers and rockets and mortars. More recently, they refused a state offered by Israeli P.M. Barak in 2000, and again by Israeli P.M. Olmert in 2008 during Bush's Administration. Non-exclusion? See above comment about no Jews being allowed in any future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu rightly compared Hamas to ISIS, quoting the leaders of each with their expressed desires to rule the world. He went on to say that all the Islamic terrorist groups are branches of the same poisonous tree. Said Netanyahu: "The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith."
President Obama also spoke at the U.N., stating that "the world will be more just with two states living side by side, in peace and security." Last week Obama met with Netanyahu. At the same time, those opposed to any building by Israel in their Capital city of Jerusalem, revealed that Israel had planned on authorizing over 2500 housing units in Jerusalem. The reaction by the Obama Administration and European Union was swift and harsh. Said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki: "This development will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from even its closest allies," and poison its relations with the Palestinians and other Arab countries.
Josh Earnest on behalf of Obama was nearly identical in these coordinated comments: "This development will only draw condemnation from the international community." Both Psaki and Earnest claimed such a development would call into question Israel's commitment to peace. The European Union also questioned "Israel's commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement." Want to know what might call into question the Palestinians commitment to peace? NOTHING!
Not thousands of rockets and mortars aimed at Israeli cities this summer. Not tunnels built into Israel from Gaza for the sole purposes of killing/kidnapping Israelis. Not Hamas calling for Israel's destruction. Not Abbas saying no Jew may live in a state of Palestine. The list is endless - and that's the point here. There really is nothing whatsoever that the Palestinians can do or say that will lessen the West's commitment to their statehood.
There remains one leader willing to speak the truth; one who understands what is going on in the Middle East. His name is Benjamin Netanyahu. Said Netanyahu at the U.N.: "The Middle East is in chaos. States are disintegrating. Militant Islamists are filling the void. Israel cannot have territories from which it withdraws taken over by Islamic militants yet again, as happened in Gaza and Lebanon. That would place the likes of ISIS within mortar range - a few miles - of 80% of our population." He observed that the suburbs of Tel Aviv would be as close as Times Square is from the UN!
Next month the Palestinians will be able to get a resolution introduced at the UN Security Council calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders (Gaza, the West Bank and so called East Jerusalem). The measure will also seek some resolution of the "refugee" problem. Will Obama have the U.S. veto such a resolution? The State Department will not say. It will be after the midterm elections. He will not need Jewish votes or money anymore. A similar measure passed the General Assembly in 2012. However, the G.A. has no enforcement power; the Security Council does. The Security Council could send in U.N. troops in an effort to evict Israel from those lands. Would the the U.S. send in troops against Israel?
Let's be clear. Israel will never give up any part of Jerusalem. "East" Jerusalem contains the Old City - with the Western Wall (Kotel) and the Temple Mount, the holiest sites in Judaism. Biblically and historically Jerusalem is the home and focal point of the Jews. When Jordan controlled those Holy sites from 1949 to 1967 no Jews were allowed access. Under Jewish rule, all religions have access. The obvious outcome of such a resolution passing the U.N. Security Council will be war.
Said Netanyahu: "...as Prime Minister of Israel, I am entrusted with the awesome responsibility of ensuring the future of the Jewish people and the future of the Jewish state. And no matter what pressure is brought to bear, I will never waiver in fulfilling that responsibility."
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ReplyDeleteBesides that fact that about a third of the 2,500 units are designated for Arabs, since when was any part of Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state? For that matter, when was there ever a Palestinian state at all? Israel has no desire to rule the Arabs of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) indefinitely, but you hit the nail right on the head when you say the world has never made the Palestinians suffer any consequences for their actions. After a century of virulent Jew-hatred, wars, international terrorism, and intifadas, the western world is still as fixated as ever on the two-state solution. All of this despite the fact that the Palestinian Authority, led by the allegedly moderate (in actuality repressive and violent) Fatah, is rife with corruption and woefully inept at any true institution building. Not to mention that after Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon in 2000, from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and from the non-stop aggression that has emanated from them ever since (constant rocket fire from Gaza ring a bell?), it is increasingly clear that pulling out of the West Bank would be a blunder of historic proportions that could quite literally spell the beginning of the end of a safe and secure Jewish state. The lack of any true intellectual critique of this outrageous obsession in western capitals is disappointing to say the least. Elliott Abrams makes a great argument that the so-called "unsustainable" status quo is actually the least worst option in an increasing unstable and bloody Middle East (http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2014/09/what-now-for-israel/).
ReplyDeleteIt is incomprehensible that the US and Europe get so offended when Jews build homes for Jews (and Arabs, as mentioned above) in their ancient capital of Jerusalem. If Jerusalem is occupied territory for Jews, than as Americans we better stop building in our neighborhoods, because we are all living in occupied Native American territory, from the West Bank (the Pacific) all the way to the East Bank (the Atlantic). The only difference is the white settlement of North America was purely offensive, whereas Israel's creation is more steeped in international law than any other country, and its acquisition of East Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria was the result of a purely defensive war forced upon it by a plethora of Arab states.