Why All Morally Decent People Must Support Israel

October 14, 2023 11:23pm

Since 1948 (and really before that), there has been an easy litmus test to determine if a person is good or bad. I don't mean behaviorally on an individual basis in terms of politeness or etiquette. I mean in terms of one's worldview. That litmus test has been how someone views Israel. If someone believes Israel is a proper nation with decent people who have an absolute right to exist, then that person is good. If someone believes Israel is a pariah nation with bad people who are living on land stolen from innocent Palestinians, then that person is bad.

With the Middle East dominating the news in the aftermath of Hamas' most recent terrorist attack on Israel, it has become even easier to judge someone's intellect and morality. If someone expresses support for Israel and its military action against Hamas, that is an indication the person has a sense of decency. But if someone condemns Israel's actions and expresses support for the terrorists, then that person is an evil and despicable human being who is no better than the Hamas terrorists themselves.

During last week's attack, Hamas terrorists killed more than 1300 Israelis. It was the largest single day terror attack in Israel’s history. The largest number of deaths in the United States due to terrorism was the 2977 killed on September 11, 2001. The population of Israel is only about 9 million. The population of the United States in 2001 was 281 million. So those 1300 Israeli deaths would be the percentage equivalent of 40,500 Americans being killed on 9/11. That's how massive the Hamas attack was.

America's response to those 2977 deaths was to engage in a massive global war against Islamic terrorists. If you think Israel should not go to war over the 1300 deaths inflicted by Hamas, then you've got a serious problem with your intellect and morality. Or you're a disgusting anti-Semite. But neither is acceptable. If you have any decency about you whatsoever, you will condemn Hamas for the attack, and you will support Israel in its response to it.

Joe Biden has publicly denounced Hamas' attack and has expressed support for Israel. That is good. He should express America's support for Israel. And he should denounce Hamas. He said America's support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering. And I'm glad he said it. But don't believe that support for Israel will last. It's early. I am one-hundred percent certain that, as living conditions in Gaza deteriorate and civilian deaths mount, Biden will demand that Israel cease its military actions against the terrorists. And he will make that demand long before Israel completes its justified response to being attacked.

Yet it is Hamas, not Israel, that is responsible for every civilian death in Gaza. Hamas teaches their children pretty much from birth that the reason for their existence is to kill as many Jews as possible; that the best way to please Allah is to kill Jews. And they train the children of Gaza to become terrorists - not just via propaganda to support Hamas, but by training them in the use of weapons to literally kill as many Jews as they can. Such is the disgusting level of hate that Hamas promotes in Gaza.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said it best when she said "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." Golda Meir also said, "When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons." Where did she get such decency about her to say that? Where does Israel get such decency?

The Islamic terrorists have no such decency. They WANT their sons and daughters to be killed. Because they think it pleases Allah. And because it helps create anti-Israel propaganda. It is quite clear that the Muslim terrorists hate Israel more than they love their own children. How pathetic is that, huh?

Even Benjamin Netanyahu, who is certainly no peacenik, described the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel."

Many uninformed people are citing the Geneva Conventions as they pertain to civilians in war zones. But just because people are identified as civilians doesn't mean they aren't legitimate military targets. The Geneva Convention IV governs the protection of civilians. Under Geneva IV, if civilians engage in hostilities without clear, visible identification associating them with a militia force, they lose the protections they would otherwise be entitled to receive.

Geneva Convention IV, Article 5 says, "Where, in the territory of a Party to the conflict, the latter is satisfied that an individual protected person is definitely suspected of or engaged in activities hostile to the security of the State, such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such rights and privileges under the present Convention as would, if exercised in the favour of such individual person, be prejudicial to the security of such State."

In other words, if person in civilian clothes engages in combat and is engaged, killed, or caught by the enemy, they are NOT entitled to the protections enumerated in the Geneva Conventions. Israel is well within its rights to kill anyone in Gaza who is engaged in warfare against them. Even so, most civilian deaths in Gaza are collateral damage from the perspective of the Israel Defense Forces. Civilian deaths are INTENDED damage from the perspective of Hamas. Hamas WANTS civilian deaths. It is part and parcel to their tactics, strategies, and objectives.

It is Hamas, not Israel, that uses its people as human shields. Hamas hides behind women and children. Hamas seizes humanitarian supplies and uses them to create ways to attack Israel. Hamas uses concrete intended for the construction of schools and hospitals to instead construct tunnels in which terror operations are conducted. Hamas uses ambulances intended to provide medical services to instead transport weapons. Hamas uses money given to it for humanitarian purposes to instead build rockets and other weapons they use to attack Israeli neighborhoods. Hamas places their weapons inside civilian homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques knowing that Israel is a nation of decent people who won't attack those places - although they're attacking those places now; and rightfully so.

Hamas demands that Gazans remain in buildings they know Israel has targeted for destruction. How does Hamas know what buildings Israel has targeted for destruction? Because Israel usually announces beforehand what buildings they will destroy. They do that so the people in those buildings can evacuate. Israel gives that advanced notice because they don't want to kill innocent civilians.

But Hamas WANTS civilian deaths so they can cry to the propaganda press about how evil Israel is. And that fake news gladly amplifies those cries without reporting that Israel warned the residents to flee those buildings before they attacked. Hamas wants civilians to be killed so they can blame the deaths on Israel and get sympathy they don't deserve. By announcing their targets in advance so civilians can evacuate, Israel is also giving Hamas terrorists the opportunity to evacuate and to remove weapons from the targeted locations. But Israel is such a decent nation that they would rather the weapons of their enemies be moved and used against them in the future than for the children of their enemies to be killed. Where does a nation get such decency? I wouldn't do it. The U.S. doesn't do it. But Israel does. Israel goes out of its way to preserve innocent human life even when those lives are the lives of people who support the acts of terrorism being conducted against Israel.

It is Hamas, not Israel, that is responsible for EVERY death in this war. Whether the death is of an Israeli, a Gazan, or anyone else caught in the crossfire, there is only one party responsible for it. And it ain't Israel. It's Hamas.

Hamas exists for one reason and one reason only. That reason is to destroy Israel. Jew hatred and the destruction of Israel is not the outcome of Hamas' existence; it is the raison d'être. The Hamas Charter calls for the total destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. These excerpts are directly from the Hamas Charter:

"(We) the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realization of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

"Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes."

The Hamas Charter goes on to deny the Two-State Solution with, "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with."

"Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day? This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement."

"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight."

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith: 'The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

"The day the enemies conquer some part of the Muslim land, jihad becomes a personal duty of every Muslim. In the face of the Jewish occupation of Palestine, it is necessary to raise the banner of jihad. This requires the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses, locally [in Palestine], in the Arab world and in the Islamic world. It is necessary to instill the spirit of jihad in the nation, engage the enemies and join the ranks of the jihad fighters"

"The Islamic Resistance Movement - proceeding from these general concepts which are in harmony and agreement with the laws of nature, and following the current of divine destiny towards confrontation with the enemies and jihad against them in defense of Muslims, Islamic civilization and Islamic sanctities, primarily the Al-Aqsa mosque - calls on the Arab and Islamic peoples and their governments, and on their NGOs and official organizations, to fear Allah in their attitude toward the Islamic Resistance Movement and in their treatment of it. They should act towards it as Allah wants them to, namely back it, support it, assist it and continuously reinforce it, until Allah's word is fulfilled. Then the ranks will all be united, jihad fighters will join other jihad fighters, and the masses all over the Islamic world will rush out and answer the call of duty, shouting: "Hasten to jihad!" This call will penetrate the clouds in the sky and continue to ring out, until liberation is accomplished, the invaders are defeated and Allah's victory is revealed."

The Hamas Charter even states how Palestinian children are to be trained as Jew-killers: "The woman in the jihadist home and family, as mother or sister, has the primary role in managing the household, raising the children according to the moral ideas and values inspired by Islam, and teaching them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the jihadist role that awaits them."

Do those quotes from the Hamas Charter sound like the beliefs of a decent, sane people? No. They're the beliefs of crazy, devil-worshipping Muslims who believe that the key to pleasing Allah and achieving eternal life in paradise is to murder infidels. And they define infidels as all non-Muslims. So don't think for a minute this is just about killing Jews. Oh, sure, the Muslims want the Jews dead. But they just want the Jews dead first. They want all of us dead eventually. They want everyone except fellow Muslims dead. The Koran says that's what they're supposed to want and what they're supposed to do.

The Koran's Sura 9:5, known as "The Verse Of The Sword" says, "And when the sacred months have passed, kill the Infidels wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and pay jizyah (taxes levied upon Infidels), let them go on their way. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Some Muslim apologists will claim Sura 9:5 is quoted out of context, and that there are many verses in the Koran that instruct Muslims to be peaceful. There are peaceful verses in the Koran (i.e. Sura 6:151 says, "Do not take a human life made sacred by Allah, except with legal right. This is what He has commanded you."

But context and scholarly knowledge is important. The Koran has two categories: the Meccan verses and the Medinan verses. Although they are interspersed in what appears to be a random order, the Meccan verses were written first. They are largely peaceful. They were written in the early years of Islam when Mohammad lived in Mecca with one wife and had to tread carefully so as not to annoy the political leaders. He was a teacher and prophet who encouraged worship of Allah via prayer, fasting, and good works. The peaceful Sura 6 is part of those Meccan verses. The violent Sura 9 is part of the Medinan verses.

The Medinan verses were written after Mohammad was forced to flee Mecca, and he relocated to Medina. In Medina, he was the political and military leader, so he had no fear of persecution and no need to seem like a nice guy. It was in Medina that he took on multiple wives and forced people to convert to Islam by the sword. The Medinan verses, because they were "revealed" more recently than the Meccan verses, are considered to be in greater effect than the Meccan verses in much the same way that Christians believe the New Testament is in greater effect than the Old Testament.

So did Mohammad say not to kill people? Yes. He did. And then he later said to kill, enslave, or tax all Infidels who won't convert to Islam. It is indisputable that the Koran and the Hadiths are replete with instructions to commit acts of violence in the furtherance of Islam to please Allah. To state otherwise is to deny the truth.

What drives all this hate? Why do Muslims so despise the Jewish people? It isn't because the Muslims have any legitimate claim to Jerusalem, although that's the lie you've been fed. But Jerusalem is not really a holy place for Muslims. They just want it so the Jewish People can't have it. Muslims claim that Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam (behind Mecca & Medina) because of the story that Mohammad rode the winged horse from Mecca to Jerusalem on his “night journey” (Isra and Miraj). It is claimed that he then ascended into Heaven from the location of the Al-Aqsa Mosque accompanied by the Angel Gabriel.

The problem with this nonsensical story is obvious. The night journey to Jerusalem (referred to in the Hadith as “the farthest mosque”) supposedly took place in 621. But there was no mosque in Jerusalem in 621! Umar bin al-Khat'tab built the first mosque in Jerusalem during the Rashidun Caliphate, which didn't begin until 632 following the death of Mohammad. But Jerusalem was not conquered by Muslims until 637, so the likely date for construction of the first mosque in Jerusalem was 637. That is 16 years AFTER Mohammad's Night Journey! So clearly Islam's religious claim to Jerusalem is complete rubbish.

But Jewish connection to Jerusalem goes back to at least 1300 BC. Jews believe that the rock below the Dome of the Rock is the Foundation Stone from which all creation began. It is also believed to be the site where God instructed Abraham to slay Isaac. And it is unquestionably the site of the Jewish Temple.

Jerusalem (al-Quds) is not mentioned at all in the Koran - not a single time. It is mentioned 806 times in the Bible (660 in the Old Testament and 146 in the New Testament). Interestingly, the Koran does state that the Holy Land was written by Allah to Israel. "Oh, my people, enter the holy land that God has written for you, and do not turn your backs, or you will become losers." - Sura 5:21. "And we said after him to the Children of Israel: dwell in the land, then, when the time of the second promise comes, we will bring you all together as a mixed crowd." - Sura 17:104.

So who has the legitimate claim to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount? The Jewish People. Only.

Israelis are mostly good. Palestinians are mostly evil. But it's important to note that the Palestinians are not inherently evil. They are taught to be evil from the moment of birth. It's sad, really. Because if the Palestinians put half the effort into being decent that they put into being evil, they would prosper AND have their own State.

I say that "Palestinians are mostly evil" because it's true. They are not ALL evil any more than ALL Israelis are good. But generalizations are generally true. Palestinians are generally bad.

Hamas is a terrorist group. Hamas was ELECTED by a MAJORITY of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is less evil than Hamas. But even Fatah calls for the destruction of Israel.

Hamas claims they want a peace deal with Israel that includes a Palestinian state. But they really don't. What they want is the total destruction of Israel. The stated desire for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel would just be a step toward Israel's complete destruction. Don't forget that the PLO was offered 98% of what they wanted, yet they turned down the deal because the deal didn't include the eradication of Israel and the Jews.

Hamas was given Gaza in a "land for peace" deal in 2005 when the Israel Defense Forces pulled out of Gaza. The IDF even forced Israeli Jews to leave Gaza. So Gaza was left for the Palestinians to run. Although the people of Gaza are so obsessed with prioritizing their fight with Israel that they have little concern for anything else. Consequently, Gaza relies on Israel to provide it with food, electricity, gasoline, and pretty much everything else it needs to survive. Through the years, while Hamas has been either gearing up to attack Israel, actually attacking Israel, or rebuilding its forces to re-attack Israel, Israel has provided Gaza with what is needed to live in modern society. But did that result in peace with Gaza? No. Egypt was given back the Sinai in a land for peace deal. Has there been peace in the Sinai? Yes. Because the Egyptian Muslims are not as hateful as the Palestinian Muslims.

Peace cannot happen as long as one of the parties (the Palestinians) continues to call for the total destruction of Israel. If the Palestinians would renounce terrorism, abolish their anti-Semitic charter, and show that they can actually get along with their Jewish neighbors, there would be peace. Unfortunately, the chance of that happening any time soon is zero. In the meantime, Israel must continue to defend herself from Islamic aggression. And they should pull no punches in doing so.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not stop its military operations in Gaza until it eliminates the ability of Hamas to attack Israel and eliminates Hamas' ability to govern the Gaza Strip. Those two are related, of course. It is by governing Gaza that Hamas is able to build up enough military supplies that it can attack Israel. Hamas has been attacking Israel nearly nonstop for decades. Those attacks on Israel from Gaza are so common that they don't usually make the news. What made last week's attack so newsworthy was its size and its success.

Israel needs to respond to last week's attack with overwhelming and unrelenting force. And they need to get it done as soon as possible. Because while Israel currently has the support - at least the publicly stated support - of most of the world, we all know that support won't last. The day will come when most of the world - including the United States, sadly - will say that Hamas has been punished enough and that Israel needs to stop attacking Gaza.

But the fact is that Hamas, Hezbollah, and its benefactors in Iran will settle for nothing less than the total destruction of Israel. Israel and all decent nations need to make sure that doesn't ever happen.

But it isn't going to be easy. Israel is engaged in serious warfare with Gaza to its south. Iran backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon are a threat to Israel's north. And if The Fatah Palestinian Authority in the West Bank decides it's time to make a move, Israel will find itself getting attacked from its east also. With the Mediterranean Sea to its west, Israel could find itself surrounded not just by people who hate Israel, but by terrorists actively engaged in attacking Israel. And that doesn't include what Syria, Iran directly rather than through its proxies, and perhaps even Russia may decide to do if it senses an opportunity to exploit the chaos.

Israel needs to prepare for that possibility. Israel needs to engage in all-out war against those who attack it. This is no time for pulling punches. Israel has always pulled punches. Israel has always allowed enough of its enemies to survive that they re-group, re-arm, re-strengthen, and re-attack. But just like a cancer, if you don't eradicate all of it, it will grow back with a vengeance and kill. Well, Israel's enemies are a cancer. And they need to be eradicated by whatever means are necessary to ensure the survival of Israel and its citizens.

The Unites States and the rest of the decent world need to let Israel do what needs to be done. I'm not advocating we engage American forces in direct warfare. But I am saying we need to let Israel do what needs to be done without condemnation or demands for restraint or proportional responses. And we need to supply Israel with whatever conventional weapons it will take to pulverize Hamas and every single person in Gaza who supports Hamas. Remember, Hamas is the ELECTED government of Gaza.

My advice to Israel is this: "Kill 'em all. Let Allah sort them out."