Chicago experienced one of the most violent weekends in the city’s history two weeks ago. It is impossible to escape the context for these killings; one can only try to avoid the problem altogether. But those who are forced to admit the truth say the politically charged policies put in place by the city’s progressives are keeping police from dealing with the violence in both the city’s South Side and West Side neighborhoods. The spike in the number of shooting deaths in Chicago is directly related to these progressive policies.
A similar approach has been adopted toward terrorism. The aim of some left-wing organizations in Israel and around the world is to create a friendly environment for terrorism, to deter the Israel Defense Forces and provide the terrorists with as much freedom of operation as possible. This system, which has been in development for nearly 20 years, is one of legal warfare. The courts, and in particular, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, are turning into political tribunals. “Values” and “rights” take the place of the law.
Instead of the rule of law helping enforce anti-terrorist operations, the rule of law has been eroded by the “human-rights” warriors who have in their sights those same people who defend peace and democracy. Take Peter Beinart, an American Jewish journalist who has become an anti-Israel political activist, and who recently completed a disinformation campaign that could serve to deter Israeli security officials from doing their job in the future.
The propagandist method is as follows: Direct the legal fire at Israel and allow the terrorists who carry out the real crimes against humanity to live comfortable lives. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas was just recently caught making two very serious anti-Semitic statements. His interpretation of the Holocaust, which places the blame on the victims, is indicative of his worldview: Judaism is indecent and nefarious. Abbas and his friends are not so far removed from the world of Nazi and Stalinist values—or the progressive values of a whole generation of international jurists and a few journalists intent on waging a holy war against Israel.
In such a world, the International Criminal Court can reach out to “victims of the situation in Palestine.” The move by the court apparently reflects a certain approach to the events on Israel’s border with Gaza in recent months. It seems the threat of legal action deterred the Israel Defense Forces from fulfilling its duty as the force tasked with protecting the state and its citizens. The legal-warfare strategy supported by transnational and irresponsible elites grants immunity to the band of criminals that control Gaza.
Amnon Lord, is an Israeli journalist with the daily newspaper Makor Rishon. His articles and essays about media, film and politics have been published in The Jerusalem Post, Mida, Azure, Nativ and Achshav.
