The White House’s Misdirected Anger

After proclaiming Arafat untouchable and refusing to meet with him; after putting American interests ahead of toothless multilateralism by withdrawing from the ICC and the ABM Treaty; after beginning the deployment of missile defenses; after abandoning the law-enforcement approach to terrorism; after making specific the link between terrorists and the state apparatuses that support them; after launching a just war against an existential threat; after asserting the right to active self-defense in an era of new threats; after liberating millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from bestial rep

After proclaiming Arafat untouchable and refusing to meet with him; after putting American interests ahead of toothless multilateralism by withdrawing from the ICC and the ABM Treaty; after beginning the deployment of missile defenses; after abandoning the law-enforcement approach to terrorism; after making specific the link between terrorists and the state apparatuses that support them; after launching a just war against an existential threat; after asserting the right to active self-defense in an era of new threats; after liberating millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from bestial repression; after proclaiming a democratic revolution for the part of the world most in need of one – the Arab and Muslim world – the President of the United States has let us down by directing his frustration with Palestinian terrorism at ISRAEL.

It’s bad enough that Israel buries its children on a regular basis, but now Israel will be punished for Palestinian terrorism. The President has made clear through the State Department the American view that:

a) Palestinians will continue to receive American support for a state even as they continue to sponsor terrorism and refuse to undertake the democratic reforms once required by the President as quid pro quo for provisional support for independence. The death of American citizens in terrorist incidents will not be considered an impediment to this support;

b) Regardless of the number of Israeli dead, Israel must continue to hold out the possibility of negotiations with terrorist groups and their allies;

c) Israel cannot eliminate the Palestinian terrorist-in-chief, exile or threaten him. Nor can Israel eliminate terrorists who violate the Geneva Convention by hiding among civilians;

d) Israel cannot apply non-lethal pressure on the Palestinians in the form of continuing work on items the Palestinians don’t like, i.e., fences and houses.

Israel will be penalized financially, but more importantly, Israel will be undermined by the understanding among its enemies that the U.S. will protect them from Israel’s righteous anger.

Secretary Powell mentioned his fear of the “Arab Street.” But the “Street” has been remarkably quiet about Afghanistan and sophisticated about Iraq. It is odd for JINSA to give the Arabs more credit than does the administration, but they seem largely prepared to deal with the consequences of a firm American defense of stated American interests. The President shouldn’t let Mr. Powell’s fear of Arabs make Jewish lives cheap.

We’re optimists by nature, otherwise we couldn’t stand to be in this business. We have to believe that at the end of the day, the United States stands for the good, the right, the just, and the free. By and large, we aren’t disappointed. But today we are.

Israel deserves American support for hard decisions about security in the face of ongoing terrorism, not the misdirected anger of those who can’t make the Palestinians pay for their depredations, and don’t want Israel to.