By RON JAGER—
Extremist Islamic organizations like Hamas attack Israeli homes by firing thousands of missiles at civilian targets, hoping that Israel will retaliate and cause civilian Palestinain Arab casualties to be broadcasted all over the world. Hamas as policy uses Palestinian Arab civilians as human shields. Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
Despite the branding of the Palestinian Arab Authority as “moderates”, they attack Israel at every international forum, demonizing and libeling Jews as foreign intruders with no connection to Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arab Authority repeatedly rejects peace offers (including one offer of a Palestinian state on 97 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of Gaza). Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
Instead of sitting down to negotiate, these so-called Palestinian “moderates” go behind Israel’s back to international bodies already hostile to Israel such as the recent UN maneuver with the single goal of avoiding direct negotiations with Israel that might place the Palestinian Arabs in the embarrassing position of having to flee from another Israeli offer of Palestinian Statehood. Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
The Netanyahu governments as well as all previous Israeli governments over the past two decades have all publicly accepted the diplomatic peace process based upon a two-State solution. Yet every time Israel has been misguided enough to trade land for peace it has mostly led to the land being used as a launching pad for wars of annihilation against Israel. Land for Peace has always resulted in dead Jews. Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
If there are fewer dead Jews today at the hands of murderers who infiltrate from the Judea and Samaria, it is not because of any lessening of the commitment on the part of terrorists to murder them, but because Israel has built a security fence to keep the killers out. Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
The Palestinian Arab Authority is constantly being provided incentives to walk away from any direct negotiation with Israel and this is basically what is involved in this current proposition before the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Palestinian Arabs refuse to fully accept and understand that peace cannot be achieved unless they unconditionally accept Israel’s right to exist, if there is going to be any hope of achieving that peace. The resolution before the General Assembly of the United Nations only reinforces and makes it less likely that the Palestinian Arabs will walk away rather than accept the need for direct negotiations with Israel. The Europeans should have behaved in a principled manner and rebuff the UN upgrade as a clear violation of the Oslo Accords, but of course they didn’t. Yet Jewish Liberals remain silent.
During the past week, the Netanyahu government reminded the world and his country’s critics that Israel isn’t willing to lie down and accept the false narrative about Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem that was swallowed whole at the United Nations last week. The E1 decision by the planning commission sent a necessary signal to the Palestinian Arabs that they shouldn’t believe their own propaganda and be deceived by their triumph in the General Assembly. Finally, Jewish Liberals refused to remain silent.
Cries of joy by Jewish liberals were heard in the corridors of the Upper East and West Side to finally get tough with Israel and her “provocations” ; this was followed by calls to action against Israel. Suggesting touch diplomatic sanctions against Israel by the EU, calls for the Obama Administration to “shake off the diplomatic daze that has plagued it for the past several years with respect to Israel, and follow the EU’s example” as suggested by Laura Friedman in The Daily Beast’s Open Zion website, and lets not forget calling in America’s Ambassador to Israel, or economic sanctions (a kind word for embargo and boycott), or voting against Israel in future UN resolutions.
Mahmoud Abbas, the unelected leader of the Palestinian Authority, a man who denied the Holocaust in his doctoral dissertation and denies the link between Jews, the land of Israel, and Jerusalem upgraded the status of the PLO at the UN and Jewish Liberals applauded.
American Jewish Liberals seem to want to see Israel punished, yet applaud Abbas for his unilateral breach of the Oslo Accords and the hateful, racist speech he made at the UN. These Jewish Liberals should call up their Arab friends and suggest to them that if they want to find contiguous land for their future Palestinian state, they better sit down pronto with Israel right now and talk borders before all of Judea and Samaria fills up with settlers and reaches one million Jews beyond the green line within the coming decade. For some reason, I can’t hear their applause.
Ron Jager (www.ronjager.com), a 25-year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, served as the Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he has been providing consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psycho education programs to communities throughout Israel. Today, Ron serves as the Strategic Advisor to the Shomron Liaison Office To contact: medconf@netvision.net.il