What Would YOU Do, Mr. President?
What would you do if terrorists came to America to kill innocent people, and did, in fact, kill them in dramatic numbers? Oh wait, we already know. You would declare war on terrorists and the states that harbor and support them and you would take America to war under difficult circumstances and you would plan to stay at it until we won – for which you have our sincere gratitude. Despite criticism from some longtime friends, you didn’t abdicate American security decisions to the UN or the EU or the Quartet or anyone else who claimed to have a better idea. It was and it is your job.
What would you do if terrorists came to America to kill innocent people, and did, in fact, kill them in dramatic numbers? Oh wait, we already know. You would declare war on terrorists and the states that harbor and support them and you would take America to war under difficult circumstances and you would plan to stay at it until we won – for which you have our sincere gratitude. Despite criticism from some longtime friends, you didn’t abdicate American security decisions to the UN or the EU or the Quartet or anyone else who claimed to have a better idea. It was and it is your job.
The 840 Israeli dead and 7,200-plus wounded in the current 34 months of the Palestinian war against Israel are the equivalent of 45,000 dead and nearly 311,000 Americans wounded (roughly a factor of 43).
How many dead are enough for you to give Prime Minister Sharon the benefit of the doubt on the Security Fence?
No more than America can protect every office tower can Israel protect every cafe, synagogue and shopping mall. You went after the perpetrators, where they live, where they train, where they (temporarily) hide. Israel, in Operation Defensive Shield, did the same but wasn’t allowed to effect a regime change, so the long-term impact was less in much closer quarters. From Kalkilya to downtown Netanya, the site of the Passover Massacre, is about 8-1/2 miles.
The Israeli public demands of its government no less than we demand of you – a determination to protect us.
The fence is a reaction to the violence and terrorism incited, fomented, paid for and lovingly hailed by the Palestinian Authority, which is still run, in fact, by Yasser Arafat, and from which Abu Mazen declines to distance himself. It wasn’t until hundreds of Israelis were killed in this round of violence, begun when Arafat wasted the Palestinian people’s last best chance for a real country, that Israel started the fence.
Is a fence a great idea? Maybe, maybe not. The JINSA Flag & General Officers group visited the Fence at the Seam Zone in June – and had mixed feelings about its utility. But there were no mixed feelings about Israel’s right to take the actions it deems necessary to protect its population under extreme security circumstances. No second-guessing.
If you don’t like the fence, be assured that many Israelis don’t like it either. If you worry that it might become a border, be assured that many Israelis share your concern. And if you want to see it come down, be assured that many Israelis would like that as well. But the only way to take it down is to remove the source of its legitimacy – terrorism against the people of Israel.