Israel continues to defend itself in response to Hamas and Gaza militants bombing their country with more than a thousand Iranian-funded rockets since Monday.
Rep. Ilhan Omar ignored reality on the ground to accuse Israel of committing “acts of terrorism.” Because the Minnesotan is ill-informed and unoriginal, she retweeted from an anti-Israel propaganda outlet.
Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism.
Palestinians deserve protection.
Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians.
It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid. https://t.co/vWWQfMqBkT
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 10, 2021
The genesis of hostilities has many aspects, including the Israeli government’s planned eviction of six Palestinian families from East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The evictions are now postponed.
Arabs have been squatting in homes where Jordanian forces evicted Jews 73 years ago when they sought to destroy the nascent Jewish state. Since the city’s reunification after 1967’s Six-Day War, Jews have sought to reclaim property where Palestinian Arabs have been living for decades, without paying rent.
“The Israeli government did not wake up last week and suddenly, out of the blue, decide to evict the freeloading squatters,” Jeff Dunetz reported Monday at The Lid. “What is going on is the result of a private civil action. The Israeli government is not a party to the legal action.”
The Biden administration appears frozen with platitudes, since Democrats are inexplicably divided, and their primary Middle East focus still is on reviving the failed nuclear deal with Iran. Though Secretary of State Antony Blinken was more straightforward Wednesday, the State Department originally responded with moral equivalence, calling for “all sides” to “act decisively to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence.”
Meanwhile, other issues emerge.
Palestinians have resorted to violence in the streets of Jerusalem supposedly over concerns about mosques on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, and the place where God gathered the dust used to create Adam.
The impetus for Hamas’ rocket fire into Israel — now including Nazi-like synagogue torching — could also be due to Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in the aftermath of the Six-Day War.
Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Hamas targeted Tel Aviv, Israel’s economic and scientific center, with hundreds of rockets. Israel, heaven forbid, defended itself with airstrikes and now braces for more attacks from Gaza terrorists.
But a larger reason for violence is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who seeks to divert attention from canceling elections again, as he serves the 17th year of a supposed four-year term. The 85-year-old fears defeat at the hands of Hamas terrorists.
Surreptitiously distracting Palestinians from their corrupt leaders by fomenting hatred against Jews — the “settlements” are a mythical grievance — is old but useful chicanery. And it’s no coincidence this is happening in 2021.
In the aftermath of last year’s historic Abraham Accords, Abbas wants to win concessions from the new administration in Washington, D.C. While his advisors may be ignorant, President Joe Biden, with a half-century’s experience in this realm, should realize the clashes are signs of Palestinians’ refusal to accept Israel’s existence, not a major change in American policy.
Despite Israel being the lone liberal democracy amid a sea of theocratic totalitarians, the global media, western progressives —often secular, wealthy and overeducated — consistently stand against America’s top partner.
They should understand why the U.S stands with Israel, but a reminder never hurts:
- Gaza is where you’ll find true apartheid. They, like many Muslim nations, don’t allow religious minorities.
- Israel’s held four democratic elections in the last year; Hamas zero.
- No Jews live in areas controlled by Hamas. Almost 2 million Arabs live as full citizens in Israel, nearly 20% of the population.
- Homosexuality is illegal in Gaza. Israel hosts the largest annual gay pride celebration in Asia.
- Married women in Gaza need a husband’s protection to travel and their rights are restricted. Israeli women have equal rights in almost every area.
- Terrorists are celebrated in Gaza and their families often receive money. Military members in Israel are frequently prosecuted for abuse of force.
- Selling land in Gaza to Jews is punishable by death. Israel has no religious restrictions on land sales.
- Hamas fires rockets at civilians, and uses women and children as shields. Israel targets attacks on military installations and operatives.
The Palestinians could have their own state right now. That’s what Israel set up when they unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and dismantled 21 settlements. But Hamas and Palestinians aren’t interested because then they could no longer blame their failures and missed opportunities on Israel. Having their own state would incur a responsibility to end terrorism and improve the lives of Palestinians, instead of killing Jews.
That’s why the Islamists and their media allies pretend innocuous construction of suburban homes is a bigger obstacle to peace than supporting Jihadists.
Maybe one can strain to understand anti-Jewish bigotry from naïve radicals like Omar and her fellow crypto-fascists, but from septuagenarian progressives like Elizabeth Warren? Either it’s open anti-Semitism or anti-Americanism. Regardless, hatred of Jews and America’s chief ally has no place in Congress.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
