Column
The same impulse that drove the eventual expulsion of nearly 800,000 Jews from the Arab world is now coming back to haunt us in the very countries where Jews sought freedom.
His political enemies claim that the fight with Hamas is either his fault or a plot to keep him in power. Though his decisions can be criticized, this wasn’t his doing.
There’s a profound need in the West for the Jews to be proved bad people. Among the Israel-haters is a breathless eagerness for the moment when they can shout “gotcha” and then put the Jews into the public pillory.
The first post-Black Lives Matter summer flare-up of Mideast fighting exposed a fundamental shift in the way many Democrats think about the Jewish state.
If Israel had targeted those outlets for their open and intentional support of its enemies—not simply hit the Hamas building in which they were housed—it may have been justified on those grounds alone.
After 75 years of making excuses and denying the plain fact that anti-Semitism is the root and the branch of the Arab conflict with Israel, Israelis of all walks of life and across the political spectrum need to accept that it is true.
There aren’t two legitimate opinions about this conflict. If you care about Jews or Arabs, then those who lie about apartheid and target civilians must be defeated, not rewarded.
The pattern of recent history suggests that once the Mideast hostilities end this time around, the legal and political warfare directed against Israel will only intensify.
A policy shift away from closeness to Israel created the opening. Along with Palestinian politics, the hope for a reward from the new president helped ignite riots and sent missiles flying into Israel.
When it comes to the Middle East, the Biden administration’s specialty is what’s been called the “values-feint”—making high-minded statements to disguise its morally bankrupt actions.
As a crisis builds with Jewish support remaining iffy, former ambassador Ron Dermer’s suggestion about the need for allies rather than critical friends raises an important dilemma.
Gaza is not where Hamas can be defeated, because Hamas is no longer about Gaza. It is about Jerusalem and the heartland of the Holy Land.