Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
May 6, 2024
On this Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), whatever the latest machinations of an alleged ceasefire deal manifested by Qatar and Egypt have smartly been rejected by Israel. Hamas, a known terrorist organization, actually agreed to this deal, which, after rejecting all others, should tell Israel all it needs to know.
The fact of the matter is that a ceasefire existed on October 6, 2023 before Hamas permeated the peacefulness of a Shabbat morning by invading Israel, slaughtering more than 1,200 innocent children, women, and men. More than 250 hostages were taken by Hamas, a puppet, whose strings are pulled by the Islamic Republic of Iran. And while approximately 40 hostages have been released during an earlier ceasefire, the current ceasefire deal made no mention of further release of additional hostages. Quite frankly, there has been more than a little speculation as to how many of the hostages, if any, are actually still breathing. Such a proposal is only designed to make Israel look like the aggressor - belligerent for not accepting a ceasefire, flawed or otherwise.
Saying no to a ceasefire is the smart decision by Israel, not because they are warmongers, just the opposite. Israel knows a ceasefire is a false narrative because in the charters of Hamas and Hezbollah, both proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the language calls for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of the Jewish people. When someone says they want to kill you, take them at their word. Since the October 7 massacre there have been countless promises of a repeat of the very same October 7 massacre, not one more time, not 10 more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, but 10,000 times over. If calling for the destruction of Hamas, if calling for the unequivocal eradication of every last member of Hamas is perceived as overkill on the part of Israel, what then is the promise of 10,000 more October sevenths by Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the Islamic Republic of Iran?
“You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who has come to kill you.” Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister 1969-74
Prime Minister Meir’s prophetic words are also why a two-state solution is no lasting solution whatsoever. Who would support the establishment of a hostile, terrorist, state at their own border? Only a nation or state with a suicide wish. To reiterate, the charters of Hamas and Hezbollah call for the destruction of Israel and the death of the Jewish people. Is there really any other reason necessary to not support a ceasefire or two-state solution?
“The key thing is, the Israelis have to finish this thing. The Palestinians have to accept they’ve lost this war, and will come to some kind of terms. But, what we can’t have is them regrouping because they think the United States has their back, and they’re going to come back and do October 7 again,” said Victoria Coates, former Deputy National Security Advisor during the Trump administration.
Coates’ assertions speak the truth as Joe Biden has been less than full throat supportive of Israel since October 7. Biden has been playing both sides of the same Middle East coin, attempting to support Israel with lip service while simultaneously placating the far-left Hamas wing of his Democrat Party calling for Israel to temper its responses. In doing so, Biden continues to lose support from both constituencies. No problem. No self-respecting Jewish voter in the United States should embarrass him or herself before G-d voting for Biden and/or a party that openly supports raging anti-Semitism from coast to coast. The only real two-state solution Biden desperately wants is Michigan and Minnesota. Neither Israel nor the Jewish people have a friend in the White House right now.
But this is not about Biden. Nor is this about Trump. This isn’t even about the virulent anti-Semitism running rampant on more than 100 college and university campuses across the fruited plain, and the ruination of numerous graduation ceremonies by the pro-Hamas protesters. This is about the survival of Israel and the Jewish people pure and simple; and as a sovereign nation, Israel not only has the right, but the mandate to do whatever it takes to survive as the lone Jewish nation on G-d’s green earth. The majority of Israelis under age 30 do not support a two-state solution, more so than ever since October 7.
Israel exists under the hypocritical, watchful eye of the so-called United Nations, seemingly united only in its constant refutation and condemnation of Israel. Israel fights wars unlike any other nation - declaring its intentions in advance in an effort to protect civilians, providing its enemies with humanitarian aid, and is typically excoriated to temper its response after being attacked; no condemnation for the attacks on Israel. It took months before UN Women condemned the rape of Israeli girls and women. University presidents only condemned campus anti-Semitism in “context.”
In 2022 the United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn Israel more than all other countries combined, by a tally of 18 to 14. Of the 14 non-Israel condemnations, seven cited Russia, two against Iran, and one each against the United States, Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria. Israel didn’t fare any better last year either, outpacing the world 15 condemnations to seven. Two of the seven non-Israel condemnations cited Russia, and one each against the United States, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria. At best such a scorecard is a farce. Where’s China? Cuba? Haiti? Libya? Sudan? Venezuela? All paragons of virtue? Obviously not. Yet Israel, defending itself with one hand tied behind its back as described above, is taken to the woodshed more than any other nation.
In the battle of good versus evil, and while no nation is free of foibles and flaws, when Israel vacated Gaza in 2005, which should never have happened, what did the Palestinian people do? Leveled the standing infrastructure left intact by Israelis. Israelis saw no legitimate point in destroying what could still be used. Were the Palestinians to use their engineering skills, which are vast, see 300-plus miles of underground tunnels, livable infrastructure, and weaponry storage, and built houses, schools, libraries, businesses, including resorts on their portion of the Mediterranean Sea - that’s valuable undeveloped real estate, they would have a thriving economy. Instead they are being starved, literally, by the same terrorists they voted to lead them - Hamas. Hamas is responsible for hijacking more than 90 percent of the humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza from Israel and the United States. Hamas is responsible for the slaughter of more of its own people than is Israel, contrary to anti-Israel mainstream “news” reporting.
The Palestinian people have a long history of not taking yes for an answer, dating back more than a century to the 1917 Balfour Declaration when they were given 80 percent of partitioned land that should have all been designated for the return of the Jewish people from the Diaspora to their Biblical, ancestral, and historical homeland Eretz Yisrael. Jordan, then Transjordan, had been designated for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people have a one-state solution - an Israel free of Jewish people - in its entirety - no compromise. (https://besacenter.org/palestinian-rejectionism/)
From their Declaration of Independence, May 15, 1948, Israel suffered massive attacks from all sides - Egypt from the south and southwest, Saudi Arabia from the southwest, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria from the east, and Lebanon from the north. (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/map-of-the-arab-invasion-in-the-1948-war) Internally, Israel experienced attacks from Palestinians.
And thus the importance necessitating Israel’s Rafah operations. The people there have already been given their generous warnings to evacuate. After all, how many civilians are Hamas participants? Sadly, and obviously, unknown. This exercise is vital for the IDF to continue rooting out the more than 300 miles of underground tunnels and its accouterments. Hamas must never be permitted to regenerate. Doing so only keeps Israel at risk, and war a never ending constant in the region. No deal is better than a bad deal.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
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