Israeli P.M. Netanyahu had an Op-Ed in the 12/26/23 Wall Street Journal, laying out "Israel's Three Prerequisites For Peace." First prerequisite is that Hamas must be destroyed. That should be obvious to everyone. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hamas leaders have vowed to repeat the atrocities they carried out on October 7 "over and over and over again." What more could anyone need to know?
Second, Gaza must be demilitarized. "For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza." Why isn't this obvious to everyone? If the house next door to you houses (pick a number) 10 people, say, and they continually fire bullets into your home, and even invade your home and kill some family members, what would you want to happen? That one or two get arrested, and the rest keep attacking you? Or, do you want to see them thrown out, and also make sure that there are no weapons left behind - with your family guarding the house to make sure.
The third prerequisite is that Gaza "will have to be deradicalized." No more school books showing the "river to the sea" as being "Palestine" - with no Israel anywhere. No more teaching young kids to want to be martyrs. Teach them to respect life. No more Imams "preaching for the murder of Jews." In other words, a normal civil society. As Netanyahu pointed out, Abbas and the P.A. (Palestinian Authority) cannot be counted on for any of that. They did not condemn the 10/7 atrocities; they supported it. They continue to reward terrorists and their families for killing Jews.
And yet, the Biden Administration has apparently come up with a plan in conjunction with Qatar and Egypt (as reported by i24News), that, in a three step process, will end all hostilities. At each step some hostages will be released, and Israel will release Palestinian prisoners. At the third step there would be a permanent ceasefire, Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel, and the process would begin for creation of a Palestinian state. Qatar is involved with this? The same Qatar that helps fund Hamas, and gives sanctuary to Hamas leadership? Unbelievable. In the description that I read I saw nothing about ending Hamas and ending the P.A. I have seen elsewhere the idea that Gaza and the West Bank should be unified under the leadership of the P.A. Seriously?
Meanwhile, Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders (yes, I know he's an Independent, but he caucuses with, and votes with, the Democrats) proposed an extraordinary anti-Israel resolution. Thankfully, the measure failed by a vote of 72 nay to 11 aye, with 17 being absent. The other 10 voting with Sanders were all Democrats, except for Republican/Libertarian Rand Paul, who generally has a problem with all foreign aid. The measure would require the State Department to report on whether human rights abuses by Israel are occurring with U.S. aid, with the report due within 30 days. A failure to issue the report would result in an automatic cessation of aid to Israel.
Sanders has made his anti-Israel position quite clear. After saying that Israel has the right to go to war with Hamas, he said this: "It does not have the right to go to war against the Palestinian people and innocent men, women and children in Gaza." I'd like to ask Sanders some questions. How does that work? Israel is only allowed to kill Hamas leaders and soldiers? Does he really not know that Hamas stores weapons under schools, hospitals and mosques? That Hamas uses the people of Gaza as human shields, hoping that they become martyrs. It sounds as if Israel would only be allowed to send in "hit squads" targeting Hamas leaders and soldiers.
And what about the fact that polls show that 70% to 80% of the people in Gaza support what Hamas did on October 7? Sanders is a self-hating Jewish moron. Lest you have any doubt about Sanders personal opinion, here it is, explaining that Israel has "continued this military approach...in my view, that approach is immoral and is in violation of international law." I wonder if Sanders has ever called for cutting off aid to the P.A. (which Biden reinstated after Trump stopped providing it), which funds terrorists (and their families) for killing Jews. I wonder if Sanders has ever called for the cessation of funding to UNRWA (which Biden reinstated after Trump stopped it), the UN agency operating in, and as part of, Hamas. But all that money just funds the killing of Jews, so if I had to guess, Sanders has not objected.
Now we have 15 Jewish Democrats in the House issuing a statement critical of Netanyahu. "We strongly disagree with the prime minister...a two-state solution is the path forward." Israel is in the middle of a war, a war that will determine the ultimate safety and even viability of the Jewish state of Israel. So this is the time 15 Jewish members of the House decide to issue a statement against Netanyahu? These 15 Jewish House members include such "luminaries" as Jerry Nadler (NY), Jake Auchincloss (Mass), Mike Levin (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Brad Sherman (CA), Jamie Raskin (MD). and Steve Cohen (Tenn).
Here are a few remarks by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Referring to post-war Gaza, he said it "must include Palestinian led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority." Although he did say that "the Palestinian Authority also has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance..." What? How does one "improve" rather than replace a dictatorial, terrorist supporting regime? No, if there is a future Palestinian state (open to debate) it must NOT include either Hamas or the P.A.
Perhaps the most cogent position was stated by Professor Eugene Kontorovich in a 1/3/24 Op-Ed in the WSJ. In discussing how Jews were able to return to post-war West Germany, and live safely, he then discusses how Jews and Arabs live together in Israel. Yet, there seems to be an assumption that post-war Gaza will be free of Jews. He then states what should be obvious to everyone: "If Jews aren't safe in Gaza, they won't be safe in Israel either." That is really all anyone needs to know.
