Under the Katyushas

National Review Online ^ | 7/27/2006 | Steven Plaut

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

Haifa, Israel — I am writing this in between ducking in and out of a bomb shelter as Haifa is bathed by the Katyusha rockets and other missiles that Ehud Barak has allowed to be fired at the city. Why Ehud Barak? Because, as Israeli prime minister in 2000, he ordered the cowardly unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from the security zone in southern Lebanon, which led to the positioning of thousands of Hezbollah rockets on Israel’s northern border.

It occurs to me that now would be as good a time as any to sum up everything that has been learned about the Middle East conflict — that is, everything that the Israeli government and chattering classes have refused to learn for the past two decades.

1. Nice fences do not stop missiles, rockets, and mortars.

2. Complete removal of Israeli forces and Jewish settlers from an area does not achieve anything positive, but merely signals Israeli weakness, inviting escalated terror and aggression from Israel’s enemies.

3. Hezbollah and Hamas cannot be defeated with air strikes. There is no effective alternative to ground invasion and ongoing control of the ground.

4. Unless the Israeli military controls the ground on the other side of fences, those fences achieve nothing.

5. Goodwill gestures by Israel tend to increase terror and invite further demands.

6. Goodwill gestures by Israel never produce moderation of Arab goals and demands, but rather produce the opposite.

7. Terror is not caused by settlements, but rather fueled by the removal of settlements.

8. Terror is not caused by Israeli military occupation, but rather allowed to flourish with the removal of Israeli military occupation.

9. It is impossible for there to be two sovereign entities between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.

10. No matter how many concessions Israel makes, the world will always justify Arab terrorism, because there is always one more capitulation that Israel has failed to make (e.g., giving up the “Shebaa Farm” on the Golan Heights).

11. No matter how nice Israel is to Israeli Arabs, no matter how many affirmative-action programs it implements, it will always be accused of being an “apartheid regime.”

12. Much of the Israeli far Left is essentially an anti-Semitic movement that seeks Israel’s destruction and automatically endorses the enemies of Israel in all things.

13. The Israeli Labor party and its Kadima cousin may be more effective at fighting terror, once they decide to do so, than Likud. The reason is that if Likud were fighting terror, the Israeli Left would take to the streets in mass demonstrations against Israeli imperialism and aggression, and the leftist Israeli media would declare that 400,000 protesters turned out.

14. The Israeli Left will oppose every conceivable act of Israeli self-defense, other than total capitulation.

15. Jewish far-leftism is a very real enemy of Israel.

16. Some international observers don’t mind seeing Jewish civilians murdered by terrorists, and will applaud and justify all such murders as comeuppances for the Jews’ being so insensitive.

17. Israeli niceness and flexibility often encourage and embolden anti-Semites.

18. Israel-bashing is often driven by anti-Semitism, and many Israel-bashers are increasingly open about their delight at seeing Jewish civilians murdered.

19. Israeli pursuit of the “peace process” has triggered a worldwide storm of anti-Semitism.

20. Terrorists cannot be appeased.

21. Arab terrorists do not morph into statesmen.

22. Looking for Palestinian moderates in politics is a fruitless endeavor.

23. Many Israel-bashers do not care about dead Arab civilians, other than as a useful bludgeon with which to de-legitimize Israel.

24. Much of the Western Left would celebrate the destruction of Israel.

25. The vast majority of Israeli Arabs want to see Israel destroyed and the Jews thrown into the sea.

26. There are hundreds of Jewish professors in Israel who serve as an academic fifth column for terrorism and will do almost anything to collaborate with the enemies of their country.

27. The Arabs will not accept an independent Israel in any set of borders, no matter how small. Thus nothing can be achieved by reducing Israel’s territory, other than signalling weakness and vulnerability.

28. Much of the Western media believes that there are no problems on earth that could not be greatly ameliorated by destroying Israel.

29. Most of the governments of Europe seem not to believe Jews should be allowed to defend themselves from aggression.

30. The only country on earth that is expected to respond to the mass murder of its civilians by turning the other cheek is Israel. The only country on earth that has spent many years trying to defeat terrorism by turning the other cheek is Israel.

31. Whenever Israel responds firmly to aggression and terrorism, it will always be criticized for a “disproportionate” response.

32. Most of those who claim that anti-Zionism is different from anti-Semitism are anti-Semites.

33. The only people on earth whom the Left believes should be denied the right to self-determination and self-defense are the Jews.

34. “Palestinians” are not a people and never were. They are simply Arabs who happened to migrate into historic Western Palestine. They have no right to statehood.

35. The Golan Heights are not “Syrian” and never were.

36. Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein are anti-Semites, and so are many of their supporters.

37. Israeli politicians are among the stupidest on earth.

38. Israeli leftists never learn from the failures of their policies and “ideas.” Every failure is explained away by the fact that their policies were not applied thoroughly enough.

39. The moral and legal responsibility for every single Arab civilian death or injury in the Middle East conflict rests squarely upon the shoulders of the aggressive Arab fascists and terrorists who have provoked Israel.

40. There is no moral or legal reason for Israel to refrain from attacking terrorists and murderers when they hide among civilians.

41. Many of the “anarchists” and others who protest against Israel’s security wall want the wall removed because they want terrorists to murder Jewish civilians.

42. Palestinians are the Sudeten Germans of the Middle East.

43. Israel has no obligation to share its water resources with the “Palestinians” or anyone else.

44. There are no non-military solutions to the problem of terrorism.

45. Talk of “peace” is revealing, because it is only necessary to consider making peace when you are faced with an enemy. Israel is faced with a host of committed enemies, and it is they who will not accept a fair peace settlement.

46. There are no significant differences between the agenda of the PLO and the agenda of Hamas and Hezbollah.

47. The Middle East conflict is not a marital spat. Going through the pretense of holding hands and holding talks does not calm tensions and achieves nothing.

48. One cannot make peace by pretending that war does not exist.

49. One cannot buy off anti-Semites and Islamofascists with trade concessions and subsidies.

50. The only way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists.

—Steven Plaut is a professor at the University of Haifa.

[quantfive]

"It is not inappropriate to use the term "Final Solution" when discussing that a truly effective military solution might involve the killing of 300 million Arabs or 1B+ Muslims. What term would you use?"

We don't have to kill all the muslims to win the war just like we didn't have to kill all the japanese during WWII. You have to destroy the leadership or the will to fight. That's how a war ends. We can do both but their indeed will be a billion or more casualties. Remember who is arming & supporting the proxy nations who in turn arm terrorists: Russia & China. They will become involved at some point as we continue lifting the smokescreens and that is where it really turns ugly.

[Ebenezer]

Perhaps the best primer on the Arab-Israeli conflict and a complete debunking of the "peace process" the United States has foolishly championed.

The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.

[Khepri]

You did notice that was from February? It's not new and has been making the rounds...

That said I'm glad you finally got to see it and you are excited about what she had to say...

It is a strong argument against the Kill 'Em All crowd....Kill all the jihadi's, not all the muslims....:)

[Khepri]

Barak was right in what he did.

As long as there were occupied territories no one could defend what Israel was doing to any effect.

Pulling back to pre-1967 borders diarmed them from that excuse. They foolishly continued to attack anyway, still Israel waited...then when they finally breached Israel proper in an act of aggression, Israel was completely justified in it's attack.

Finally, the only objection that could be mustered was the strength of the response! No one argued they did not have the right to respond, finally.

The simple fact that Egypt, Jordan, and the Saudis condemed Hezbollah proves the validity of the startegy. Who would have ever thought that the Sunni world would restrain themselves from blaming the entire incidient on the Israelis?

Ask your self why the Palestinians refuse to form a state? One reason is that Israel would be able to formally declare war on such a nation.

The pull back is disarming the agressors of their "legitimate" motives and is finally creating division within the Muslim world.

Painful as it is in the short term, the long term alternative of never ending warfare and terror is insane to endorse, IMO.

[Khepri]

The Israelis either will or won't achieve a total victory--laden phrases such as "final solution" to analogize what the Israelis are up against (which is purely and simply an existential threat from an implacable enemy) cheapens the discussion and frankly adopts the tactics of the left both in Israel and here.

So when they say the "real Holocaust" is coming, you're saying it's just "talk" that we would do well to ignore? And if we acknowledge such threats, we're adopting "the tactics of the left both in Israel and here"?

[Khepri]

Those who argue the ineffectiveness of non-military solutions may be entirely correct, but the military solutions that we're willing to accept may be no more effective.

"Final solution" is over-doing it a bit. Surely it was Nazi Germany's stated goal. However, it did not take an in-kind Final Soultion to subdue both Japan and Nazi Germany. In that light it seems that it would equally not take a Final Solution senario to subdue radical Islam....

I was recently wondering if it was going to take a Hiroshima or Dresden to force the radicals to relent to be honest.

Unfortuantely we will not have the guts to do it until we suffer the first blow. Likewise for Israel...:/

[Gritty]

After reading these 50 points and contemplating on the likely answer to many of them, I am wondering if Israel has the ultimate will to resist as long as she retains her huge Leftist elements?

The same 50 questions could as well be asked of Western civilization, but on a worldwide instead of regional scale. I'm not convinced the answers would be any different, or better.

[gallaxyglue]

Israel should have started the war of all wars--by attacking Syria and Iran. Leave Lebanon out of the picture. Either we go whole hog, or we do nothing.

[Canedawg]

Excellent. Thanks for the video link.

[justiceseeker93]

Kudos to Dr. Steven Plaut for his manifesto.

While blaming Ehud Barak for the current predicament in Haifa and elsewhere in northern Israel, though, he was remiss in not blaming Bill (B. J.) Clinton. After all, wasn't it plain for all to see that Barak was merely Clinton's lapdog? It's the dog owner's fault more than the dog's.

[Salem]

"50. The only way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists."

"They don't need an excuse for their hatred, and it is wrong to blame America for the anger and evil of the killers ... We don't create terrorists by fighting back, we defeat the terrorists by fighting back." - American President George Bush.

Same goes for Israel!

---

Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.





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[JasonC]

I disagree. It is not at all clear killing terrorists will remotely stop terrorism, and I suspect it won't. I don't think anything else will, either. They are always with us, and that is not the reason to kill terrorists.

The reason to kill terrorists is because the bastards fracking deserve it.

And to hell with the consequences.

[M. Espinola]

The IDF continues defeating the jihadist horde.

An Israeli soldier, atop of an armored personnel carrier, waves a captured Hezbollah flag while crossing the border into Lebanon in northern Israel Thursday July 27th, 2006.

An Israeli soldier throws his arms in the air as he climbs out of his armored vehicle after crossing back over the border from Lebanon from the front line Thursday July 27th, 2006.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Great pictures, thanks!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Its worked well elsewhere.

[JasonC]

For all the times it has worked, there are still a remarkable number of terrorists in the world. And there have been thugs and goons by any other name since the dawn of history. And there will be tomorrow, too. You can stamp out this or that lot, but the kind always comes back. It is in human nature.