“Mida Magazine“, https://bit.ly/3lkaKHy
The 2020 Palestinian Authority’s Arabic Language, Vol 2, Grade 5, pp 51-61 and Social Studies, Vol. 1, Grade 9, p. 40 herald Dalal al-Mughrabi, who led – and participated in – the March 1978 massacre of 38 Israeli civilians (mostly passengers of two Haifa-Tel Aviv buses), including 13 children and wounding 72. The 5th and 9th graders are encouraged to become “martyrs” and follow in the footsteps of “the crown of the nation” and “the role model of Palestinian resistance… whose struggle portrays challenge and heroism, making her memory immortal in our hearts and minds.”
Education mirrors leadership and society
Education is the most authentic reflection of the identity, core values, culture, track record, worldview and vision of the architects of the education system and (subsequently) the society at-large.
Education plays a major role in shaping the personality of individuals and society at-large, especially in non-democratic societies, such as the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian education system has been overseen by Mahmoud Abbas since 1993, when he established it in his capacity as Arafat’s deputy. The Palestinian education system is a byproduct of the 1959 and 1964/1968 Fatah and PLO Charters and the 1974 Palestinian Phased Plan, which stipulate the Palestinian vision.
Education in non-democratic societies mirrors the worldview of its leaders much more credibly than diplomatic statements, briefings and media interviews. The latter constitute “screen savers,” aiming to conceal the real vision, which is lucidly expressed by the educational curriculum.
While free societies promote education in order to enhance enlightenment, expand information and upgrade the standard of living, rogue regimes employ education as a means to advance their brutal goals and brainwash the younger generation into full-submission, including the perpetration of terrorism.
While free societies foster education as a hothouse of tolerance, peaceful-coexistence and innovative ideas and technologies, rogue regimes exploit education as a hothouse of fanaticism and violent intolerance, as well as terrorism and suicide-bombing.
The 2020-2021 Palestinian school curriculum highlights
According to a September 2020 report on the Palestinian School Curriculum, conducted annually by IMPACT-se, the 2020-2021 school textbooks of the Palestinian Authority are more inciteful, violence-oriented and martyrdom-driven than prior years, highlighting:
*Antisemitism (e.g., Jews portrayed as corrupt and enemies of Islam);
*Demonizing and repudiating Jewish history west of the Jordan River as forgery;
*Delegitimizing and dehumanizing Israel and Israeli Jews;
*Articulating the violent annihilation of Israel and Israeli Jews;
*Rejecting peaceful-coexistence with Israel and criticizing the Israel-Egypt peace accord;
*Inciting to anti-Israel terrorism (“martyrdom”) and Jihad (“Holy War”) as a personal religious obligation, while glorifying Jihad “warriors’ (mujahid), suicide-bombing and specific Palestinian terrorists (e.g., the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games);
*Glorifying women-terrorists as role-models in the struggle against Israel;
*Islamic inducements (including virgin brides in paradise) to terrorism;
*Promoting geographic maps, which exclude Israel, that is replaced by Palestine;
*Extending the “liberation struggle” from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean;
Documentation
*Islamic Education, Vol. 2, Grade 5, pp. 74-79: Girls are encouraged to kill and be killed in the battle against “Zionist occupation,” and follow in the footsteps of women, who elevated themselves as martyrs, during the early days of Islam.
*Islamic Education, Vol. 2, Grade 8, p. 93: Children are encouraged to engage in Jihad on behalf of Allah and the homeland.
*Islamic Education, Vol. 1, Grade 7, pp. 85-89: A chapter is dedicated to self-sacrifice in the service of Allah and in defiance of enemies/infidels, as the most noble sacrifice. It is rooted in Islamic history, relevant to the Palestinian reality, yielding martyrs a path to paradise.
*Islamic Education, Vol. 1, Grade 11, pp. 10-16: According to the Qur’an, Jews are corrupt and are doomed to be annihilated by Allah’s servants. “Allah said that the Children of Israel will spread corruption through sin and arrogance…. The Children of Israel’s corruption was and will be the cause of their annihilation….”
*Islamic Education, Vol. 1, Grade 11, pp. 114-117: “In Islam, war against infidels is a legitimate necessity…. Infidels should be given an option before the battle: to embrace Islam or live under the rule of Islam [as Dhimmi – “protected” second class citizen]…. War is defined by Islam as Jihad… in order to fight those who oppose the spread of Islam to other nations. The goals of Jihad are noble… unlike the goals of non-Muslim wars….”
*History, Vol 2, Grade 11, p. 52: “The Fedayeen [“martyrs”]… sought to strike at Zionist interests abroad, such as the Munich [Olympic Games] in 1972 [murdering 11 Israeli athletes and 1 German police officer].”
*Arabic Language, Vol. 1, Grade 5, pp. 14-15: “Khalil al-Sakakini [Nazi-supporter, who praised Hitler for revealing the weakness of Jews, a friend of the pro-Nazi Haj Amin al-Husseini, and urged the murder of Israeli civilians] has decorated the pages of history… lighting the darkness of our black nights…. The crown of the nation…. Immortalized by history….”
*Islamic Education, Vol. 1, Grade 9, p. 13: “Allah has made it clear that he is capable of annihilating the enemies [the “infidel” Christians, Jews and polytheists]…. Allah wants to take shuhada [martyrs] from among the believers and honor them by shahadah [martyrdom], to forgive their sins and raise their stature in paradise….”
*Islamic Education, Grade 12, p. 16: “Do not say that martyrs in the service of Allah are dead. They are alive. For Allah, martyrdom is a sublime status…. Martyrs live with their Lord; they were transferred from the life we know to the life, which we do not sense….”
*Social Studies, Vol. 1, Grade 6, p. 54: “The map of Palestine” [one of hundreds of similar maps in the curriculum] extends “from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Jordan river in the east, from Lebanon and Syria in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba and Egypt in the south, an area of approximately 27,000 square kilometers [replacing Israel].”
*Islamic Education, Vol. 2, Grade 8, pp. 49-52: Martyrdom in the battlefield is an integral element of Jihad, which is presented – by Qur’anic verses – as physical warfare, rewarding its participants. “Jihad relies on the holy Qur’an and the Sunnah [legacy] of the Prophet…. Rewards are awaiting the Jihad warrior…. Never think of martyrs as dead….”
*Arabic Language, Vol. 1, Grade 11, pp. 74-76: supported by Qur’anic verses, a poem glorifies the terrorist, who murdered 16 passengers in a Tel Aviv-Jerusalem bus, and was rewarded by happiness in paradise. Terrorists ” stand, blazing on the road, shining like stars…. Their rebirth will emerge from the depth of death and darkness….”
Peace process relevance of Palestinian curriculum
Western policy-makers have ignored the significance of the Palestinian education system, which is the most authentic mirror of the norms and vision of the Palestinian leadership and society, irrespective of Palestinian diplomacy and public relations, which serve as moderately-packaged “screen savers.”
The Palestinian curriculum (K-12) is consistent with the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, documenting the rogue profile of the proposed Palestinian state.
The Palestinian curriculum has been a most effective hothouse of terrorism, enticing almost two generations of young Palestinians to pursue the path of terrorism “in the service of Allah.”
Western policy-makers, who rightly condemn and don’t tolerate hate-education in their own societies, ignore a critical prerequisite and precondition to a constructive peace process: the uprooting of hate-education.
Therefore, hate-education, on the one hand, and a path to peaceful-coexistence, on the other hand, constitute a classic oxymoron.
Palestinian terrorists are graduates of the tightly-controlled Palestinian education system (K-12), which has forged the core beliefs, norms and values of the Palestinian society. Moreover, the Palestinian education system has reflected the worldview of its architects – Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas.
Historical experience has also played a major role in shaping the identity of all societies, but it is presented (in democratic societies) or misrepresented (in non-democratic societies) by the education system, which thus enhances or corrupts the foundations of the next generation.
Furthermore, the Palestinian education system is the most authentic reflection of the Palestinian reality, vision and tactics, which are camouflaged by the Palestinian “screen saver” of diplomatic pronouncements, briefings and interviews.
The moderately-packaged Palestinian “screen saver” aims to mislead and sooth the concerns of Western policy-makers and public opinion-shapers, who are driven by well-intentioned wishful-thinking and oversimplification. The West is eager to produce peaceful-coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians, in defiance of the Palestinian reality, and irrespective of the fact that peaceful-coexistence has yet to be established among Arabs/Muslims (“believers”), let alone between “believers” and the “infidel” in “the abode of Islam.”
Therefore, hate-education, on the one hand, and peaceful-coexistence, on the other hand, constitute a classic oxymoron. It highlights a major pitfall of Western policy-makers, who have grossly misunderstood and underestimated the dominant role played by Palestinian hate-education and incitement.
Western policy-makers have ignored the significance of Palestinian hate-education, which documents the intolerant, violent, immoral, terroristic, subversive and anti-Western profile of the proposed Palestinian state.
Western policy-makers tend to ignore a major prerequisite to a constructive peace process: the uprooting – and not merely trimming – of hate-education.
An April 2019 “IMPACT-se” study of the newly-restructured, more radical and more Islamist Palestinian school curriculum, conducted by Hebrew University Prof. Eldad Pardo, a veteran of Islamic and Middle East studies and a top expert on Palestinian curriculum, provides an elaborate documentation of the nature of the Palestinian education system.
For example:
*Urging Palestinian youth to follow in the footsteps of Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who participated in the 1978 PLO attack on two Israeli buses, murdering 38 civilians, including 13 children and injuring 72. According to the textbooks (5th grade Arabic Language volume 2, pages 51-54 and 9th grade Social Studies volume 1, page 53), “Dalal Mughrabi’s struggle portrays challenge and heroism, making her immortal in our hearts and minds…. Arab women, such as Dalal Mughrabi who led the 1978 operation, had a prominent role in…leading guerrilla operations against occupation….” Mughrabi is heralded as a martyr role model, and is commemorated, by the Palestinian Authority, through the naming of public schools and youth camps after her; a series of “Dalal Mughrabi seminars;” annual anniversaries of her death; a Dalal Mughrabi public square in al-Bireh; an official plaque; a women’s center in Bourqa, etc.
*Heralding the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games (11th grade History volume 2, page 54): “The Palestinian resistance resorted to many methods in their opposition to Zionist occupation, such as the 1972 Munich operation….” The massacre was praised by Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Ishtayeh.
*Clarifying that the term “occupation” also refers to the pre-1967 Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa, Safed, Tiberias, Nazareth, Beersheba, etc.), and that the conflict with Israel is not over the size – but over the existence – of a Jewish State in the “abode of Islam,” which is exclusively “ordained” to Muslims. According to the textbooks (6th grade Social Studies volume 1, page 56, 10th grade Arabic Language, volume 1, page 133, 8th grade Social Studies, volume 1, page 9, and 11th grade Geography volume 1, page 103), “Palestine is the geographic area between the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Jordan River in the east and from Lebanon and Syria in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba [Eilat] and Egypt in the south….”
*Presenting the concept of Jihad [holy war] and the global division – and the ongoing war – between “the abode of Islam” and “the abode of the infidel”: “Jihad [holy war] defends Muslims against attacks by infidels and the arrogant ones, and is conducted against those who stand in the way of Islam spreading to other nations…. The goals of Jihad are noble, defeating the aggressor and spreading the tenants of Islam, while the goals of non-Muslim wars are not noble…. Infidels should be warned before the battle, and offered an option to embrace Islam or live [as subordinates] under the rules of Islam….” (11th grade Islamic Education volume 1, pages 114-115).
*Emphasizing the sacrifice of one’s life – on the altar of Islam – as a most noble and rewarding mission: “Allah wants to take Shuhada’ [martyrs] from among the believers and honor them by Shahadah [martyrdom] to forgive their sins and raise their stature in Paradise…. They will be married to 72 wives from among the virgins…. I vow to sacrifice my blood, to saturate the land and eliminate the usurper from my country, annihilating the foreigners….” (9th grade Islamic Education volume 1, page 13; 3rd grade Our Beautiful Language volume 2, page 64).
In order to sustain the Palestinian state option, Western policy-makers have allowed rose-colored diplomatic communications with Palestinian leaders to supersede, and conceal, the harsh reality of Palestinian hate-education, which would produce a rogue, terroristic, anti-Western entity, implementing the aforementioned values and goals promoted by the Palestinian curriculum.
Can Israel rely on US/international security guaranteesand/or peacekeepers?
The Palestinian Authority’s school curriculum, dogmatic education system and controlled-media reflect its worldview and core values, as is the case in all non-democratic regimes.
The Palestinian school curriculum has been the most critical tool to indoctrinate and mold Palestinian youth – K through 12 – in accordance with the dominant ideology and policy of the Palestinian Authority, aiming to sustain the regime and advance its goals.
Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish themes, which have dominated the Palestinian curriculum and controlled-media, reflect the inherently primary geo-strategic goals of the Palestinian Authority. As documented by the Palestinian curriculum, the Palestinian Authority has not been preoccupied with the size – but with the existence – of the “infidel” Jewish State in the “abode of Islam.”
For example, “Where are the cavalrymen who will dash to liberate [the Jerusalem Al Aqsa Mosque] from the fists of the infidel aides of the devil [the Jews]” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 1, p. 66)? “The Jews did not honor the accord [with the Prophet Muhammad] and resorted to betrayal, treachery and hostility, which forced the Moslems to fight them” (7th grade, Islamic Education, volume 1, p. 50). “The Jews repeated their attempts to murder The Messenger [Muhammad]” (5th grade, Islamic Education, volume 2, p. 66). “Jihad [a binding Holy War] is one of the gates to Paradise” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 2, p.92).
The aforementioned quotes featured in a June 2018 study of over 200 Palestinian school books – many of them used in UNRWA schools – which was conducted by the veteran researcher of Palestinian curriculum, Dr. Arnon Groiss, commissioned by the Jerusalem-based “Center for Near East Policy Research” and published by Israel-based “Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.”
According to Dr. Groiss, “A thorough examination of the new [2017] PA schoolbooks revealed that they followed three main fundamentals: the de-legitimization of Israel’s existence and the very presence of Jews in the country; the demonization of Israel and Jews; and war indoctrination instead of peace education…. None of the PA textbooks, including those used in UNRWA schools, advocates peaceful coexistence with Israel, or hints at the possibility of solving the conflict peacefully…. The new [2017] books, which have been accepted for teaching by UNRWA, are generally more radical than their predecessors…. Peaceful coexistence with Israel is not an option. Instead, a violent struggle for the liberation of Palestine in its entirety is propagated, since the original occupation of Palestine took place in 1948, not 1967….”
An April 2017 study by Hebrew University Prof. Eldad Pardo, the Research Director at the “Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se),” documents a revival of the 1974 “PLO Phased Policy” to eliminate Israel in stages through the PA curriculum: “What used to be the strategy of one extremist guerilla movement has become the standard for all Palestinian students.”
In contrast to national liberation movements, Palestinian terrorism has targeted – deliberately, institutionally and systematically – Arab and Israeli non-combatants, sometimes hitting combatants.
Palestinian terrorism has haunted Arab societies in Jordan (especially during the 1968-1970 PLO terrorism), in Lebanon (particularly during the 1971-1982 civil wars), in Kuwait (during the 1990 invasion by Saddam Hussein), in Iraq (until 2002, serving as an arm of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless domestic oppression), in Syria (until 2012, bolstering Assad’s regime of horror) and currently in Egypt (collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood terror organization). Pro-US Arab regimes consider Palestinian terrorism a clear and present, lethal threat, never fighting on behalf of Palestinians, sometimes dealing them severe military blows (e.g., 1970 Black September in Jordan) and expulsions (e.g., 300,000 expelled from Kuwait), showering them with rhetoric, but not resources.
Since the establishment of the Arafat/Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in 1993, Palestinian terrorism has afflicted the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, denying civil liberties and instituting a corrupt, oppressive reign of horror. It caused the flight of most Christians from Ramallah (Abbas’ headquarters!), Bethlehem and Beit Jallah. In addition, Muslim emigration from the Palestinian Authority has increased since 2000: 25,000 net-emigration from Judea and Samaria in 2014 and 20,000 in 2013. While Egypt prevents emigration from Gaza through Sinai, Gaza’s Arabs have emigrated, in increasing numbers, via the Mediterranean. Moreover, Palestinians flow to Jerusalem’s municipal lines, escaping Abbas’ tyranny, in order to receive Israeli I.D. cards, social benefits and human rights.
Palestinian terrorists have targeted pro-US Arab regimes and “the arrogant, infidel, Great Satan,” the USA, joining the Ayatollahs in Iran (since the toppling of the Shah in 1979), Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS and other Islamic terror organizations. For instance, the role model, and spiritual mentor, of Bin Laden was Abdullah Azam from Samaria.
Palestinian terrorism has been a recent branch of Islamic terrorism, which has plagued the Middle East – and beyond – since the appearance of Islam in the 7th century. The current intensification of Islamic terrorism throughout the Middle East provides a tailwind to Palestinian terrorism.
Palestinian terrorism has inspired terror cells in Europe, Africa, Asia and the American continent, including sleeper cells in the US.
Anti-Jewish Palestinian terrorism has been a Middle East fixture since, at least, the 1920s, well before the 1948 establishment of Israel and the 1967 return of Jewish communities to Judea and Samaria. Its well-documented collaboration with Nazi Germany intended to prevent the existence – and not reduce the size – of the Jewish State. The political guideline of contemporary Palestinian terrorism – the Palestinian Covenant – was published in 1964, three years before the reunification of Jerusalem.
Palestinian terrorism is nurtured by 23 year of Palestinian hate-education in kindergartens, schools, mosques and media – the most effective production line of terrorists. It was established by Mahmoud Abbas (Arafat’s chief deputy) in 1993, highlighting the fundamentals of Islam, which have intensified Palestinian terrorism: the supremacy of Islam over all other religions; the permanent state of war between the Abode of Islam and the Abode of the “infidel;” the inadmissibility of “infidel” sovereignty over Waqf lands, which are divinely ordained to Islam; the sublime honor of sacrificing one’s life on behalf of Islam’s war against the “infidel”; and the provisional nature of agreements concluded with “infidels.”
Palestinian terrorism has been encouraged by Mahmoud Abbas’ systematic policy of naming streets, squares, monuments and sport tournaments in honor of terrorists, and extending generous financial assistance to their families.
Palestinian terrorism – an endemic feature in the Middle East – provides the writing on the wall, which highlights the destabilizing, anti-Western, terroristic nature of the proposed Palestinian state. An Israeli withdrawal from the mountain ridge of the Golan Heights would provide a platform for Islamic terrorists to traumatize northern Israel; but, an Israeli withdrawal from the mountain ridges of Judea & Samaria, would provide Muslim terrorists with a platform to topple the Hashemite regime in Jordan and traumatize Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ben Gurion Airport and 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructures.
Palestinian terrorism is adrenalized by the immoral moral equivalence (between Israeli counter-terrorism and Palestinian terrorism), misrepresenting Middle East reality. It is fueled by foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority, which funds hate-education. It is rewarded by calls to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, while Mahmoud Abbas conducts hate-education. It is emboldened by Western pressure for further Israeli concessions and Western denial of Israel’s moral high ground in the topographic high ground of Judea and Samaria.
In order to defeat Palestinian terrorism, it is necessary to defy political correctness, shifting gears from chasing individual terroristic mosquitoes to draining the terroristic swamp: to launch a large-scale, disproportional, preemptive military operation throughout Judea and Samaria and Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem; to precondition any (US and Israeli) direct and indirect contact with – and assistance to – the Palestinian Authority upon an end to hate-education; and to severely punish families and communities of terrorists for failing to exercise communal responsibility.
In order to frustrate Palestinian terrorism, which aims to set Israel on a path of retreat, Israel should proclaim a constructive response, expanding Jewish construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. While it would trigger short-term international pressure, it would yield long-term strategic respect, as documented by the legacy of Prime Ministers Ben Gurion, Eshkol, Golda Meir, Begin and Shamir, who defied much more severe international pressure with slimmer military and commercial resources at their disposal.
Contrary to Western conventional wisdom, the nature of Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority – which is burdened by a mere 17% favorability in the US, compared with Israel’s 70% – has turned most Palestinians against Mahmoud Abbas, has led most Jerusalem Arabs to prefer Israeli sovereignty, and catapulted Hamas to prominence on the Palestinian Street.
The nature of the KGB-graduate Mahmoud Abbas regime has been defined by a rare combination of endemic corruption, kleptomania (“Mr. 20%” is Mahmoud Abbas’ nickname), nepotism, hate-education, incitement, terrorism, anti-US and pro-Venezuela, Russia and China worldview, non-compliance with internal and external agreements, and egregious violations of civil liberties, which has fueled Muslim emigration and the flight of Christian Arabs from Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Ramallah.
The nature of the Palestinian Authority has been shaped – since its establishment in 1993 – by Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinians, who were imported from terrorist camps in Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and Tunisia, imposing themselves ruthlessly upon the indigenous Arabs of Judea and Samaria. In 2003, I was rebuked by a prominent Palestinian: “We shall never forgive the Jewish State for imposing upon us the Tunisia-based PLO Sodom and Gomorrah!”
Irrespective of the nature of the Palestinian Authority, the US has been, by far, its largest single-state donor (averaging $500mn, annually, in economic and security assistance), in addition to leading the pack of donors to UNRWA ($250mn in 2014), which has not reduced the threat of incitement and hate-education-driven Palestinian terrorism. It has not inclined Palestinians towards peaceful coexistence with the Jewish State, nor has it advanced the cause of democracy and human rights in the Palestinian Authority.
In September 1993, on the eve of the conclusion of the Oslo Accord, Elias Freij, the Christian Mayor of Bethlehem, and additional Christian leaders from Bethlehem and Beit Jala, (unsuccessfully) implored Prime Minister Rabin to refrain from transferring both towns – which were included in the Jerusalem District during the Ottoman, British and Jordanian rule – to the emerging Palestinian Authority. They expected severe repression of Christian Arabs, by the Palestinian Authority, which would cause Bethlehem and Beit Jala to be “top heavy on churches, but very low on Christians.” And indeed, Bethlehem’s Christian majority has been reduced to a 15% minority.
Before the signing of the Oslo Accord, I introduced the New York Times’ William Safire to a former mayor of Beit Jala, Farah al-Araj, who predicted that “the current state of affairs will produce a larger community of Beit Jala Christians in Belize, Central America than Christians left in Beit Jala.” In 2015, Christian emigrants from Beit Jala achieve prominence in Belize, politically and financially, while those remaining in Beit Jala are repressed religiously and physically.
Mahmoud Abbas’ stashed accounts and nepotism were highlighted by the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Stephen Lendman, who accused Abbas of “bribes, secret investments and hidden bank accounts…. earning $1mn monthly…. Abbas holds several Jordanian accounts… not under any national or international scrutiny…. Abbas urged Moscow to supply him with a new advanced presidential jet…. His sons, Tarek and Yasser, profit handsomely from all PA projects….” According to Jonathan Schanzer, “the conspicuous wealth of Abbas’ own sons, Yasser and Tarek, has become a source of quiet controversy in Palestinian society…. Yasser enjoys a monopoly on the sale of US-made cigarettes…. Chairs a Palestinian engineering conglomerate… boasting $35mn annual revenues…. Tarek is just as ambitious in the business world….”
Bassam Eid, the founder of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, concludes that “the Palestinians need strong democratic institutions and an end to human rights violations…. [However,] Abbas runs a corrupt dictatorship, using international funds to consolidate his own administration, rather than to develop the Palestinian economy. In East Jerusalem, the PA is so mistrusted that most Palestinians would prefer to live under Israel rule….”
American interests, morality and common sense behoove the US Congress to precondition further foreign aid, to the Palestinian Authority, upon dramatic transformation of its conduct.
Children (clash of civilizations)
The Israeli Spring was defined by the entire country – Left and Right, Doves and Hawks, secular and religious – marshalling its human resources to find the three teens (one of them a US citizen), who were murdered by Palestinian terrorists, and to embrace the bereaved parents. The Israeli concern for the children is perceived, by the Arab street, as a symptom of weakness, adrenalizing further terrorism. However, the intense sense of communal responsibility – felt by most Israelis – has been the secret weapon of the Jewish People and the Jewish state in face of perpetual lethal threats.
In contrast, the Palestinian street has glorified elementary school kids wearing suicide vests, on their way to murder Israeli civilians. Moreover, the Arab Tsunami has been characterized by the murder, rape, torture and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of children in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Iraq by fellow Arabs.
During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Teheran’s Ayatollahs formed a special force of 500,000 illiterate and poor children, the Basijii, who were tasked with clearing Iraqi minefields. Each child received a plastic key to paradise.
Palestinian Terrorism
Soldiers hit, rarely and usually unintentionally, civilian targets. On the other hand, terrorists murder, maim and intimidate civilians systematically and deliberately, as demonstrated by the abduction and murder of the three Israeli teens (Gilad and Naftali were 16 years old and Eyal was 19 years old). The focus on Jewish civilians characterized Palestinian terrorism during the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, since Israel’s establishment in 1948, during the 1987-1991 First Intifadah and the 2000-2003 Second Intifadah. It is demonstrated by the daily bombing of Israeli communities in the Negev by Gaza-based Palestinian terrorists. The focus on civilian targets has characterized the Arab Tsunami with Arabs/Muslim murdering Arab/Muslim and Christian civilians.
Who is the real Mahmoud Abbas?
Notwithstanding Mahmoud Abbas’ (sometime) moderate talk, his walk has been consistent:
*Since 1994, when he was Arafat’s loyal deputy, Mahmoud Abbas has conducted a hate education system, funded by foreign aid, brainwashing Palestinian children (K through 12) – via hate education in PA-controlled schools, mosques and media – to herald suicide-bombing and martyrdom, targeting Israeli civilians. Abbas has glorified terrorists by naming streets, squares and soccer tournaments after them.
*Mahmoud Abbas is using foreign aid to provide monthly allowances to families of Palestinian terrorists. The higher the number of Israelis murdered by a terrorist, the higher the allowance. The release of terrorists from Israeli prisons – and providing them with a hero’s welcome – has been Abbas’ top priority.
*According to the Oslo Accords, Mahmoud Abbas derives his authority as the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority from his current position as the Chairman of the PLO and Fatah. The covenants of both terrorist organizations specify that the conflict with Israel is over the existence – not the size – of the Jewish state.
*The recent establishment of a PLO-Hamas coalition government, by Mahmoud Abbas, is consistent with his track record: a top activist in the Palestinian cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo (1950s); an Arafat associate in subversive operations in Syria (1966), Jordan (1970), Lebanon (1970-1982) and Kuwait (1990); a graduate of Moscow University and KGB courses and the coordinator of PLO ties with the ruthless regimes of the Communist Bloc; the chief PLO-Hamas negotiator until Oslo, 1993; currently, maintaining close contacts with the regimes of Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
The Palestinian issue and Arab policy-making
The low priority accorded to the Palestinian issue by Arab policy-makers has been demonstrated by the absence of any Arab involvement during the last three weeks of intense Israeli operations against Palestinian terrorism. Arab policy-makers also stayed on the sideline when Israel launched large-scale campaigns against Palestinian terrorism in Gaza (2009 and 2012) and in Judea & Samaria (2000-2003 and 1987-1991), as well as during the Israel-PLO war in Lebanon (1982). What do Arab leaders know about the subversive nature of the Palestinian leadership that Western leaders have yet to learn?!
Israel’s national security
The murder of the three abducted Israeli teens, along with 40 aborted abductions last year, and the daily preemption of terrorism by the IDF and Israel’s Security Services, shed light on the potential of Palestinian terrorism, should Israel withdraw from Judea & Samaria. The 1994-5 immigration to Judea & Samaria of Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and some 70,000 Palestinian terrorists, and Israel’s withdrawal from 40% of Judea & Samaria – as stipulated by the Oslo Accords – catapulted terrorism to unprecedented levels as a result of Palestinian Authority hate education, incitement and sizeable inventories of military hardware accumulated by the PLO and Hamas terrorists. The reintroduction of the IDF and Israel’s Security Services into Judea & Samaria in 2003 – following the Second Intifadah – has reduced terrorism by 90%. Thus, Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea & Samaria constitutes an absolute prerequisite to the defeat of Palestinian terrorism. On the other hand, Israel’s withdrawal from Judea & Samaria would embolden Palestinian terrorism, inspiring Islamic terrorism, dooming the Hashemite regime in Jordan and other pro-US Arab regimes in the Middle East.
Will the April, 2014 accord between Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas and Islamic Jihad transition these two Islamic terrorist organizations to moderation, or does it shed light on Mahmoud Abbas’ core ideology?
Unlike Western policy-makers and public opinion molders, Arab leaders never doubted Mahmoud Abbas’ core ideology. Therefore, they deny him adequate financial support, while the Arab oil-producing countries provide Egypt multi-billion dollar assistance. Similarly, during the 1980s, Saudi Arabia provided Afghanistan’s Muslim rebels a billion dollars in annual aid, while extending Arafat a mere $100 million annually, which was cut off following Arafat’s and Mahmoud Abbas’ betrayal of Kuwait in August 1990, when they collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s invasion of the Sheikhdom. Moreover, Arab countries did not support the PLO and Hamas during their grand confrontations with Israel: the 1st and 2nd Intifadahs, the Lebanon War and the series of wars in Gaza.
The Arab attitude towards Abbas is driven by Abbas’ track record of intra-Arab subversion and terrorism. For example, during the late 1950s, Abbas and Arafat fled Egypt because of their subversive and terrorist activities, carried out as key Muslim Brotherhood operatives. In 1966, they fled Syria to Jordan, following their murders of a number of Syrian intelligence officers. In 1970, they were expelled from Jordan to Lebanon, following their attempt to topple Jordan’s Hashemite regime, which ignited a brutal civil war. By 1975, they had plundered large parts of Southern Lebanon, attempting to overthrow the central regime in Beirut, which triggered the Syrian invasion of Lebanon, a series of civil wars and the destruction of Lebanon. In 1990, Palestinian intelligence cells in Kuwait and Palestinian battalions in Iraq facilitated Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which since 1960 had been the preferred safe haven for 300,000 Palestinian relatives and allies of Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. As a result of that egregious betrayal, Kuwait expelled over 200,000 Palestinians. No Arab leader protested that expulsion!
While Egypt is cracking down on Hamas and its affiliates, Abbas – an ally of Saddam Hussein, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela – provides Hamas with a vital tailwind.
On March 15, 2013, Mahmoud Abbas, the Russian-speaking graduate of KGB courses and the Moscow University, the former steward of PLO ties with the ruthless East European Communist regimes, and (since 1993) the lead PLO negotiator with Hamas, told the Russian Today TV: “As far as I’m concerned there is no difference between the policies of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.” The frequent attempts to form the PLO-Hamas axis are based on their common strategic goal, while maintaining their tactical differences. Abbas’ strategic goal (the eradication of the Jewish state) and tactics (gradually, via diplomacy and terrorism) are specified in the 2009 Fatah platform, the PLO’s 1974 Phased, Step-by-Step Plan and the 1964 PLO Covenant (two thirds of its articles are dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state). Both terror organizations are chaired by Abbas, who – according to the 1993 Oslo Accord – derives his power as the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority from the PLO, which is the highest Palestinian authority! Fatah was established in 1959 and the PLO in 1964, before Israel reasserted itself in Judea and Samaria and before the establishment of the first modern-day Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. Thus, the strategic goal of Abbas has been directed at pre-1967 Israel. On November 29, 2012, Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that “occupation” and ”injustice” began in 1948, not in 1967!
Abbas highlights the claim of return to the “1948 occupied areas,” which explains his insistence to represent and release Israeli Arab terrorists. Being a devout Muslim, and a former top Muslim Brotherhood activist, Abbas adheres to cardinal principles of Islam. For example, Waqf, the supposedly divinely-ordained Muslim right over any area previously controlled by Muslims, including the Land of Israel. Also, the Hudaybiyyah Treaty, which considers agreements concluded with “infidels” a pragmatic, provisional agreement to be breached whenever possible to bring the infidel” to submission, and not to peaceful co-existence.
In order to achieve the strategic goal, Mahmoud Abbas has spoken softly, while carrying a horrendous stick of hate-education in schools, mosques and media, brainwashing Palestinian society: the most effective production-line of terrorists. One’s education is the most authentic reflection of one’s values, ideology and strategic goal. Hence, the popularity of the anti-Semitic Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on the Palestinian Street. Thus, the Mahmoud Abbas-driven Palestinian conventional wisdom: It’s not the size – but the existence – of the Jewish state, which is the crux of the conflict with Israel.
The central role played by terrorism in shaping Abbas’ worldview is highlighted by his demand to release Palestinian terrorists, who deliberately and systematically murdered, maimed and intimidated Israeli civilians; by providing monthly allowances to families of terrorists; and by naming streets, squares and soccer tournaments after terrorists; and by featuring terrorists as role-model to Palestinians.
Germany and Japan were transformed from hateful – to peaceful – countries by uprooting hate-education and terror regimes, not by engaging and funding them.
Should the US taxpayer continue funding the hate-education system of Mahmoud Abbas, who caused the flight of Christians from the Bethlehem area, and is known as “Mr. 20%” for his corruption?
Should Israel accept Mahmoud Abbas in view of the ferocity of Hamas’ terrorism? Only if Jack the Ripper’s vicious style made the Boston Strangler an acceptable member of society!
According to Winston Churchill, “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
The US Administration is leading the easing of economic sanctions against –and the legitimization of – the regime of Iran’s apocalyptic, almost-nuclear Ayatollahs and Mullahs, the allies of North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and other anti-US rogue regimes. They are the chief sponsors of anti-US Islamic terrorism, the role model of anti-US incitement and non-compliance with agreements, double-talk, repression, public executions, state-sponsored terrorism and subversion against the pro-US oil-producing Arab states.
Simultaneously, and against the will of the American people and the US Congress, the White House and the Department of State imply a not-so-subtle support of supposed European economic sanctions against the fallible Jewish state, which is the most reliable, stable, predictable, capable, democratic and unconditional ally of the US in the Middle East and beyond. Israel is the only country, whose alliance with the US is based on shared Judeo-Christian values, the foundation of Western democracy and American morality. Contrary to the state of mind of the American people and the US Congress, the US Administration has not warned anti-Israel Europeans of the dire consequences, should they resort to sanctions against the Jewish State – a besieged island of Western democracy surrounded and assaulted by an ocean of anti-Western Islamic tyrannies. Instead, the current US policy– shaped largely by a foreign policy establishment, whichcourted Hafiz Assad, Bashar Assad, Saddam Hussein, Khomeini, Arafat, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood – provides a tailwind to misguided Europeans, and fuels unrealistic Palestinian expectations, radicalism and violence.
Western governments have chosen to pressure and threaten the Jewish state – the only Middle Eastern country where Jews, Christians and Muslims enjoy civil liberties and Muslim women benefit from equal opportunities – while placating and appeasing the regime of Mahmoud Abbas:*The author of the Palestinian Authority death penalty for Arabs selling land to Israeli Jews, while Israel uproots Jews who settle disputed land;
*The ethnic-cleanser who reiterates opposition to the existence of Jewish communities in the proposed Palestinian state, while the Jewish state extends freedom of religion, press, expression, assembly and association to the 1.7 million Israeli Arabs, who – including most East Jerusalem Arabs – prefer Israeli to Palestinian citizenship;
*The founding father of Western-bankrolled Palestinian hate education, who heralds suicide bombers, using Western financial aid to provide monthly allowances to families of Palestinian terrorists;
*The head of a repressive and corrupt regime, nick-named, by Judea and Samaria Arabs, “Sodom and Gomorrah” and “Mr. 20%” (kickbacks);
*The liquidator of the ancient Christian communities in Bethlehem, Beit Jallah, Ramallah and Beit Sakhour. There are more Christian refugees in Belize, Central America, than there are Christians left in Beit Jallah. From a Christian majority in Bethlehem before the 1993 arrival of Mahmoud Abbas, the Christian community has been reduced to a 15% minority.
*A graduate of KGB training and Moscow University (Ph.D. thesis – Holocaust Denial); the coordinator of PLO ties with the Communist Bloc; an ally of Russia, China and North Korea; the loyal deputy of Arafat, systematically betraying the trust of Egypt (1950s), Syria (1966), Jordan (1970), Lebanon (1970-1982) and Kuwait (collaboration with Saddam’s August, 1990 invasion of Kuwait) through subversion and terrorism.
*A systematic violator of most agreements with Israel since 1993, when Israel imported some 70,000 PLO terrorists from Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Tunisia and provided them with control over 40% of Judea and Samaria and all of Gaza. The Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, Jordan nor Egypt ever allowed this when they controlled that area. Mahmoud Abbas reciprocated with unprecedented hate education, terrorism and non-compliance.
The current US Administration, however, has chosen to pressure the Jewish State and placate Iran and the Palestinian Authority.
Regardless, the ideological and strategic fabric of the mutually beneficial, win-win US-Israel relationship – based on shared values, mutual threats and joint interests – will withstand appeasement and cynicism. But, vital US interests could be severely compromised unless the US heeds the following advice by Winston Churchill: “This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup, which will be proffered to us year by year, unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the old times.”
Historically, Israel’s release of Palestinian terrorism bolstered the scope of Palestinian terrorism.
Israeli concessions to the Palestinian Authority yield further Palestinian hate education, terrorism and non-compliance with agreements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP-dGGgCYlo. A Hebrew TV interview.
On October 24, 2013 (the Diplomatic Conference) and October 16, 2013 (the memorial ceremony for Prime Minister Rabin), President Peres, the architect of the September, 1993 Oslo Accord, claimed that the Israeli-Palestinian accord was the “opening to dialogue and peace.” Is Peres’ claim vindicated by a reality check?
The Oslo state of mind
The Oslo state of mind was most accurately pronounced by Peres, at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, on Sept. 16, 2000, on the eve of the 2nd Intifada, 2000-2005 wave of Palestinian terrorism: “I believe that the previous borders, made of barbed wire, minefields, military positions, are irrelevant to our life…. I sincerely believe that a good hotel on the border will provide more peace and security than a military position…. I can see very little use for the past. Two things lose their importance: land and history. … To imagine is more important than to remember…. War is out of the question now…. I doubt very much if the Palestinians will go back to terror. … Once a nation’s economy turns from a focus on land to a focus on brains, borders are irrelevant….”
The blueprint for the Oslo Accord was documented by Peres in his October, 1993 book, The New Middle East: “The international political setting is no longer conducive to war (p. 80)…. Peace is the means for security (p. 84)…. We need soft – not rigid – borders…. While signing the documents on the lawn of the White House… you could almost hear the heavy tread of boots leaving the stage…. You could have listened to the gentle tiptoeing of new steps making a debut in the awaiting world of peace (p. 194)…. “
The new – VS the real – Middle East
The Oslo Accord state of mind, and the new Middle East vision, have been trounced by the Arab Tsunami, which imploded the real Middle East, transitioning the region toward further fanaticism, terrorism, tyranny and anti-“infidel” sentiments, away from moderation, peace, democracy and tolerance.
The Oslo state of mind underestimated the potency of the deeply-rooted 1,400 year old fundamentals of the real Middle East, which are sweeping the combusting Arab Street in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and other Arab countries: violent unpredictability, uncertainty, unreliability, instability and shifty regimes and policies; religious, ethnic, ideological and geographic fragmentation; violent intolerance toward other Muslims and the “infidel;” no freedom of speech, religion, press and association and no gender equality; no intra-Arab comprehensive peace and no compliance with most intra-Arab agreements, which are tenuous in nature.
Has Oslo transformed Israel and the Palestinians?
Ariel University’s Dr. Yuval Arnon-Ohanna, formerly with the Mossad and one of Israel’s leading experts on the Palestinian issue, documented in Line of Furrow and Fire– the conflict for the Land of Israel, 1860-2013 (Achiasaf Publishing, 2013) that the 1993 Oslo Accord snatched the PLO from the jaws of oblivion. Arab regimes severed financial assistance to – and most contacts with – the PLO, due to the PLO’s collaboration with Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The US suspended its dialogue with the PLO in 1990. The 1st Intifadah – wave of Palestinian terrorism – was largely subdued by Israel in 1991. The PLO lost two key co-founders, Khalil al-Wazir (1988) and Salah al-Khalaf (1991). Its popularity, among Palestinians, was significantly marred by corruption and embezzlement, attributed primarily to Arafat and his wife, Suha, Mahmoud Abbas and his sons, Yasser and Tareq, Arafat’s financial advisor, Muhammad Rashid, and the Tsumud (steadfastness) Fund. The Oslo Accord resuscitated the PLO, which still oversees the Palestinian Authority, legally and operationally.
The Oslo Accord transformed Israeli policy dramatically, strategically and tangibly. Israel made concessions to the Palestinians, never extended by the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate or the Arabs, transferring parts of Israel’s own cradle of history to its arch-enemy and advancing Palestinian sovereignty. Israel imported some 70,000 Palestinian terrorists from Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia to Gaza and the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – the door steps of their intended victims – arming them with weapons and lobbying on their behalf in Washington, DC.
Contrary to Israel, the PLO was transformed tactically and intangibly, while sustaining its strategy, as enunciated by its 1964 Covenant, considering the Land of Israel a divinely ordained Muslim land (Waqf). Arafat stated that the Oslo Accord was provisional, aiming to destroy Israel, triggering an unprecedented level of Palestinian non-compliance with agreements. Mahmoud Abbas established a hate-education system. And, an unprecedented wave of Palestinian terrorism erupted in April, 1994, producing so far over 1,600 Israeli fatalities, five times as large as the toll of the twenty years prior to Oslo. 160 Israelis were murdered during the pre-Oslo 1st Intifadah, compared with 1,000 during the post-Oslo 2nd Intifadah. In June 2001, Faisal Husseini, the PLO darling of the Western media, clarified that the Oslo Accord provided the Palestinians with a Trojan horse in the heart of Israel.
The Oslo-driven Palestinian conduct has been consistent with the Palestinian intra-Arab track record of subversion and treachery, which caused Arafat’s and Mahmoud Abbas’ expulsion from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait. It has also been consistent with the Palestinian collaboration with the Nazis, the Communist Bloc, Khomeini, Saddam Hussein and Bin-Laden.
The Oslo Accord reality check documents that contrary to the hope of its architects, the Palestinian leopard does not change spots, only tactics.
The Ettinger Report 2023 © All Rights Reserved
Official Palestinian demographic numbers are highly-inflated, as documented by a study, which has audited the Palestinian data since 2004:
*500,000 overseas residents, who have been away for over a year, are included in the Palestinian census, contrary to international regulations. 325,000 were included in the 1997 census, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and 400,000 in 2005, according to the Palestinian Election Commission. The number grows steadily due to births.
*350,000 East Jerusalem Arabs are doubly-counted – by Israel and by the Palestinian Authority. The number grows daily due to births.
*Over 150,000 Arabs, who married Israeli Arabs are similarly doubly-counted. The number expands daily due to births.
*A 390,000 Arab net-emigration from Judea & Samaria is excluded from the Palestinian census, notwithstanding the annual net-emigration since 1950. For example, 15,466 in 2022, 26,357 – 2019, 15,173 – 2017 and 24,244 – 2014, as documented by Israel’s Population and Migration Authority (exits and entries) in all the land, air and sea international passages.
*A 32% artificial inflation of Palestinian births was documented by the World Bank (page 8, item 6) in a 2006 audit.
*The Judea & Samaria Arab fertility rate has been westernized: from 9 births per woman in the 1960s to 3.02 births in 2021, as documented by the CIA World Factbook. It reflects the sweeping urbanization, growing enrollment of women in higher education, rising marriage age and the use of contraceptives.
*The number of Arab deaths in Judea & Samaria has been under-reported (since the days of the British Mandate) for political and financial reasons.
*The aforementioned data documents 1.4 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria, when deducting the aforementioned documented-data from the official Palestinian number (3 million).
In 2023: a 69% Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel. In 1947 and 1897: a 39% and 9% Jewish minority. In 2023, a 69% Jewish majority benefiting from fertility tailwind and net-immigration. Arab fertility is Westernized, and Arab net-emigration from Judea and Samaria. No Arab demographic time bomb. A Jewish demographic momentum.
More data in this article and this short video.
Support Appreciated
Jewish Policy Center’s inFOCUS, Spring, 2023
Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations
*Riyadh does not allow the resumption of the Saudi-Iranian diplomatic ties to befog the reality of the tenuous and shifty Middle East regimes, policies and agreements, and the inherently subversive, terroristic, anti-Sunni and imperialistic track record of Iran’s Ayatollahs.
*Saudi Arabia is cognizant of the 1,400-year-old fanatic, religious vision of the Ayatollahs, including their most critical strategic goal – since their February 1979 violent ascension to power – of exporting the Shiite Revolution and toppling all “apostate” Sunni Arab regimes, especially the House of Saud. They are aware that neither diplomatic, nor financial, short term benefits transcend the deeply-rooted, long term Ayatollahs’ anti-Sunni vision.
*Irrespective of its recent agreement with Iran – and the accompanying moderate diplomatic rhetoric – Saudi Arabia does not subscribe to the “New Middle East” and “end of interstate wars” Pollyannaish state of mind. The Saudis adhere to the 1,400-year-old reality of the unpredictably intolerant and violent inter-Arab/Muslim reality (as well as the Russia-Ukraine reality).
*This is not the first resumption of Saudi-Iranian diplomatic ties, which were previously severed in 1988 and 2016 and followed by the Ayatollahs-induced domestic and regional violence.
*The China-brokered March 2023 resumption of diplomatic ties is a derivative of Saudi Arabia’s national security interests, and its growing frustration with the US’ eroded posture as a reliable diplomatic and military protector against lethal threats.
*The resumption of Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations constitute a major geo-strategic gain for China and a major setback for the US in a region which, until recently, was perceived as a US domain.
*The US posture of deterrence has been severely undermined by the 2015 nuclear accord (the JCPOA), the 2021 withdrawal/flight from Afghanistan, the systematic courting of three real, clear and lethal threats to the Saudi regime – Iran’s Ayatollahs, the “Muslim Brotherhood” and Yemen’s Houthi terrorists –- while exerting diplomatic and military pressure on the pro-US Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.
*US policy has driven Saudi Arabia (as well as the UAE and Egypt) closer to China and Russia, commercially and militarily, including the potential Chinese construction of civilian nuclear power plants and a hard rock uranium mill in Saudi Arabia, which would advance Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030.”
Saudi “Vision 2030”
*Effective Israel-Saudi Arabia cooperation is a derivative of Saudi Arabia’s national security and economic interests, most notably “Vision 2030.”
*The unprecedented Saudi-Israeli security, technological and commercial cooperation, and the central role played by Saudi Arabia in inducing the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan to conclude peace treaties with Israel, are driven by the Saudi assessment that Israel is an essential ally in the face of real, clear, lethal security threats, as well as a vital partner in the pursuit of economic, technological and diplomatic goals.
*The Saudi-Israel cooperation constitutes a win-win proposition.
*The Saudi-Israel cooperation is driven by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’ (MBS’) “Vision 2030.” He aspires to catapult the kingdom to a regional and global powerhouse of trade and investment, leveraging its geo-strategic position along crucial naval routes between the Far East and Europe (the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Arab Sea and the Red Sea).
*”Vision 2030″ has introduced ground-breaking cultural, social, economic, diplomatic and national security reforms and upgrades, leveraging the unique added-value of Israel’s technological and military capabilities.
*Saudi Arabia, just like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, are preoccupied with the challenge of economic diversification, realizing that they are overly-reliant on oil and natural gas, which are exposed to price-volatility, depletion and could be replaced by emerging cleaner and more cost-effective energy. They consider Israel’s ground-breaking technologies as a most effective vehicle to diversify their economy, create more jobs in non-energy sectors, and establish a base for alternative sources of national income, while bolstering homeland and national security.
*”Vision 2030″ defies traditional Saudi religious, cultural and social norms. Its future, as well as the future of Saudi-Israel cooperation, depend on Saudi domestic stability and the legitimacy of MBS. The latter is determined to overcome and de-sanctify the fundamentalist Wahhabis in central and southwestern Saudi Arabia, who were perceived until recently as the Islamic authority in Saudi Arabia, and an essential ally of the House of Saud since 1744.
“Vision 2030”, the Middle East and Israel’s added-value
*MBS’ ambitious strategy is preconditioned upon reducing regional instability and minimizing domestic and regional threats. These threats include the Ayatollahs regime of Iran, “Muslim Brotherhood” terrorists, Iran-supported domestic Shiite subversion (in the oil-rich Eastern Province), Iran-based Al Qaeda, Iran-supported Houthis in Yemen, Iran-supported Hezbollah, the proposed Palestinian state (which features a rogue intra-Arab track record), and Erdogan’ aspirations to resurrect the Ottoman Empire, which controlled large parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Currently, Erdogan maintains close security and political ties with the “Muslim Brotherhood” and the pro-Iran and pro-“Muslim Brotherhood” Qatar, while confronting Saudi Arabia in Libya, where they are both involved in a series of civil wars.
*Notwithstanding the March 2023 resumption of diplomatic ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia is aware that the Middle East resembles a volcano, which frequently releases explosive lava – domestically and regionally – in an unpredictable manner, as evidenced by the Arab Tsunami, which erupted in 2010 and is still raging on the Arab Street.
*The survival of the Saudi regime, and the implementation of “Vision 2030,” depend upon Riyadh’s ability to form an effective coalition against rogue regimes. However, Saudi Arabia is frustrated by the recent erosion of the US’ posture of deterrence, as demonstrated by the 43-year-old US addiction to the diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs; the US’ limited reaction to Iranian aggression against US and Saudi targets; the US’ embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood; and the US’ appeasement of the Ayatollahs-backed Houthi terrorists. In addition, the Saudis are alarmed by the ineffectiveness of NATO (No Action Talk Only?), European vacillation in the face of Islamic terrorism, and the vulnerability of the Arab regimes. This geo-strategic reality has driven the Saudis (reluctantly) closer to China and Russia, militarily and commercially.
*Against this regional and global backdrop, Israel stands out as the most reliable “life insurance agent” and an essential strategic ally, irrespective of past conflicts and the Palestinian issue. The latter is considered by the Saudi Crown Prince as a secondary or tertiary issue.
*In addition, the Saudis face economic and diplomatic challenges – which could benefit from Israel’s cooperation and can-do mentality – such as economic diversification, innovative technology, agriculture, irrigation and enhanced access to advanced US military systems, which may be advanced via Israel’s stature on Capitol Hill.
*The Saudi interest in expanding military, training, intelligence, counter-terrorism and commercial cooperation with Israel has been a byproduct of its high regard for Israel’s posture of deterrence and muscle-flexing in the face of Iran’s Ayatollahs (in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran itself); and Israel’s systematic war on Palestinian and Islamic terrorism. Furthermore, the Saudis respect Israel’s occasional defiance of US pressure, including Israel’s high-profiled opposition to the 2015 JCPOA and Israel’s 1981 and 2007 bombing of Iraq’s and Syria’s nuclear reactors, which spared the Saudis (and the US) the devastating wrath of a nuclear Saddam Hussein and a nuclear Assad.
*A deterring and defiant Israel is a cardinal force-multiplier for Saudi Arabia (as it is for the US). On the other hand, an appeasing and retreating Israel would be irrelevant to Saudi Arabia’s national security (as it would be for the US).
*On a rainy day, MBS (just like the US) prefers a deterring and defiant Israel on his side.
Saudi interests and the Palestinian issue
*As documented by the aforementioned data, Saudi Arabia’s top national security priorities transcend – and are independent of – the Palestinian issue.
*The expanding Saudi-Israel cooperation, and the key role played by Riyadh in accomplishing the Abraham Accords, have contradicted the Western conventional wisdom. The latter assumes that the Palestinian issue is central to Arab policy makers, and that the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is preconditioned upon substantial Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, including the establishment of a Palestinian state.
*Contrary to Western conventional wisdom, MBS is aware that the Palestinian issue is not the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict, neither a crown-jewel of Arab policy-making, nor a core cause of regional turbulence.
*Independent of the pro-Palestinian Saudi talk, Riyadh (just like the Arabs in general) has demonstrated an indifferent-to-negative walk toward the Palestinians. Arabs know that – in the Middle East – one does not pay custom on words. Therefore, the Arabs have never flexed a military (and barely financial and diplomatic) muscle on behalf of the Palestinians. They have acted in accordance with their own – not Palestinian – interests, and certainly not in accordance with Western misperceptions of the Middle East.
*Unlike the Western establishment, MBS accords critical weight to the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, which is top heavy on subversion, terrorism, treachery and ingratitude. For instance, the Saudis don’t forget and don’t forgive the Palestinian collaboration with Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which was the most generous Arab host for Palestinians. The Saudis are also cognizant of the deeply-rooted Palestinian collaboration with Islamic, Asian, African, European and Latin American terror organizations, including “Muslim Brotherhood” terrorists and Iran’s Ayatollahs (whose machetes are at the throat of the House of Saud), North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. The Saudis are convinced that the proposed Palestinian state cannot be different than the Palestinian rogue track record, which would add fuel to the Middle East fire, threatening the relatively-moderate Arab regimes.
Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords
*Saudi Arabia has served as the primary engine behind Israel’s peace treaties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and the Sudan, and has forged unprecedented defense and commercial cooperation with Israel, consistent with the Saudi order of national priorities.
*Contrary to Western conventional wisdom, the Saudis do not sacrifice Middle East reality and their national security interests on the altar of the Palestinian issue.
*The success of the Saudi-supported Abraham Accords was a result of avoiding the systematic mistakes committed by Western policy makers, which produced a litany of failed Israeli-Arab peace proposals, centered on the Palestinian issue. Learning from prior mistakes, the Abraham accords focused on Arab interests, bypassing the Palestinian issue, avoiding a Palestinian veto.
*Therefore, the durability of the Abraham Accords depends on the interests of the respective Arab countries, and not on the Palestinian issue, which is not a top priority for any Arab country.
*The durability of the Abraham Accords depends on the stability of Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries which signed the Abraham Accords. Their stability is threatened by the volcanic nature of the unstable, highly-fragmented, unpredictable, violently intolerant, non-democratic and tenuous Middle East.
*The tenuous nature of most Arab/Muslim regimes in the Middle East yields tenuous policies and tenuous accords. For example, in addition to the Arab Tsunami of 2010 (which is still raging on the Arab Street), non-ballot regime-change occurred (with a dramatic change of policy) in Egypt (2013, 2012, 1952), Iran (1979, 1953), Iraq (2003, 1968, 1963-twice, 1958), Libya (2011, 1969) and Yemen (a civil war since the ’90s, 1990, 1962), etc.
*Bearing in mind the intra-Arab Palestinian track record, regional instability, the national security of Saudi Arabia, the Abraham Accords and US interests would be severely undermined by the proposed Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. It would topple the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River; transform Jordan into a chaotic state in the vein of the uncontrollable Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen; and produce another platform of regional and global Islamic terrorism, which would be leveraged by Iran’s Ayatollahs, in order to tighten their encirclement of Saudi Arabia. This would trigger a domino scenario, which would threaten every pro-US Arab oil-producing country in the Arabian Peninsula, jeopardizing the supply of Persian Gulf oil; threaten global trade; and yield a robust tailwind to Iran’s Ayatollahs, Russia and China and a major headwind to the US and its Arab Sunni allies, headed by Saudi Arabia.
*Why would Saudi Arabia and the Arab regimes of the Abraham Accords precondition their critical ties with Israel upon Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, which they view as a rogue element? Why would they sacrifice their national security and economic interests on the altar of the Palestinian issue? Why would they cut off their noses to spite their faces?
The well-documented fact that Arabs have never flexed a military muscle (and hardly a significant financial and diplomatic muscles) on behalf of the Palestinians, provides a resounding answer!
Israel-Saudi cooperation and Israel’s national security interests
*Notwithstanding the importance of Israel’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia, it takes a back seat to Israel’s critical need to safeguard/control the geographic cradle of its history, religion and culture, which coincides with its minimal security requirements in the volcanic Middle East: the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West Bank), which dominate the 8-15-mile-sliver of pre-1967 Israel.
*The tenuously unpredictable Middle East reality defines peace accords as variable components of national security, unlike topography and geography (e.g., the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights) which are fixed components of Israel’s minimal security requirements in the non-Western-like Middle East. Israel’s fixed components of national security have dramatically enhanced its posture of deterrence. They transformed the Jewish State into a unique force and dollar multiplier for the US.
*An Israel-Saudi Arabia peace treaty would be rendered impractical if it required Israel to concede the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, which would relegate Israel from a terror and war-deterring force multiplier for the US to a terror and war-inducing burden upon the US.
*Contrary to the Western (mis)perception of Israel-Arab peace treaties as pillars of national security, the unpredictably-violent Middle East features a 1,400-year-old reality of transient (non-democratic, one-bullet, not one-ballot) Arab regimes, policies and accords. Thus, as desirable as Israel-Arab peace treaties are, they must not entail the sacrifice of Israel’s most critical national security feature: the permanent topography of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, which dominate 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructure.
*In June and December of 1981, Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor and applied its law to the Golan Heights, in defiance of the Western foreign policy establishment. The latter warned that such actions would force Egypt to abandon its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. However, Egypt adhered to its national security priorities, sustaining the peace treaty. Routinely, Western policy makers warn that construction in Jerusalem (beyond the “Green Line”) and in Judea and Samaria would trigger a terroristic volcano and push the Arabs away from their peace treaties with Israel.
*None of the warnings materialized, since Arabs act in accordance with their own interests; not in accordance with Western misperceptions and the rogue Palestinian agenda.
US departure from the recognition of a United Jerusalem as the exclusive capital of the Jewish State, and the site of the US Embassy to Israel, would be consistent with the track record of the State Department, which has been systematically wrong on Middle East issues, such as its opposition to the establishment of the Jewish State; stabbing the back of the pro-US Shah of Iran and Mubarak of Egypt, and pressuring the pro-US Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while courting the anti-US Ayatollahs of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Arafat, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the Houthis of Yemen; transforming Libya into a platform of global Islamic terrorism and civil wars; etc..
However, such departure would violate US law, defy a 3,000 year old reality – documented by a litany of archeological sites and a multitude of documents from Biblical time until today – spurn US history and geography, and undermine US national and homeland security.
United Jerusalem and the US law
Establishing a US Consulate General in Jerusalem – which would be a de facto US Embassy to the Palestinian Authority – would violate the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which became US law on November 8, 1995 with substantially more than a veto-override majority on Capitol Hill.
According to the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which enjoys massive support among the US population and, therefore, in both chambers of Congress:
“Jerusalem should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected….
“Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the state of Israel; and the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem….
“In 1990, Congress unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 106, which declares that Congress ‘strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected….’
“In 1992, the United States Senate and House of Representatives unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 113… to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, and reaffirming Congressional sentiment that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city….
“In 1996, the state of Israel will celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem since King David’s entry….
“The term ‘United States Embassy’ means the offices of the United States diplomatic mission and the residence of the United States chief of mission.”
United Jerusalem and the legacy of the Founding Fathers
The US Early Pilgrims and Founding Fathers were inspired – in their unification of the 13 colonies – by King David’s unification of the 12 Jewish tribes into a united political entity, and establishing Jerusalem as the capital city, which did not belong to any of the tribes (hence, Washington, DC does not belong to any state). King David entered Jerusalem 3,000 years before modern day US presidents entered the White House and 2,755 years before the US gained its independence.
The impact of Jerusalem on the US founders of the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist system and overall civic life is reflected by the existence, in the US, of 18 Jerusalems (4 in Maryland; 2 in Vermont, Georgia and New York; and 1 in Ohio, Michigan, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Utah, Rhode Island and Tennessee), 32 Salems (the original Biblical name of Jerusalem) and many Zions (a Biblical synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel). Moreover, in the US there are thousands of cities, towns, mountains, cliffs, deserts, national parks and streets bearing Biblical names.
The Jerusalem reality and US interests
Recognizing the Jerusalem reality and adherence to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act – and the subsequent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the site of the US Embassy to Israel – bolstered the US posture of deterrence in defiance of Arab/Islamic pressure and threats.
Contrary to the doomsday assessments by the State Department and the “elite” US media – which have been wrong on most Middle East issues – the May 2018 implementation of the 1995 law did not intensify Palestinian, Arab and Islamic terrorism. State Department “wise men” were equally wrong when they warned that Israel’s 1967 reunification of Jerusalem would ignite a worldwide anti-Israel and anti-US Islamic volcanic eruption.
Adherence to the 1995 law distinguishes the US President, Congress and most Americans from the state of mind of rogue regimes and terror organizations, the anti-US UN, the vacillating Europe, and the cosmopolitan worldview of the State Department, which has systematically played-down the US’ unilateral, independent and (sometimes) defiant national security action.
On the other hand, US procrastination on the implementation of the 1995 law – by Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama – eroded the US posture of deterrence, since it was rightly perceived by the world as appeasement in the face of pressure and threats from Arab/Muslim regimes and terrorists. As expected, it radicalized Arab expectations and demands, failed to advance the cause of Israel-Arab peace, fueled Islamic terrorism, and severely undermined US national and homeland security. For example, blowing up the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and murdering 224 persons in August 1998; blowing up the USS Cole destroyer in the port of Aden and murdering 17 US sailors in October 2000; the 9/11 Twin Towers massacre, etc.
Jerusalem and Israel’s defiance of US pressure
In 1949, President Truman followed Secretary of State Marshall’s policy, pressuring Israel to refrain from annexing West Jerusalem and to accept the internationalization of the ancient capital of the Jewish people.
in 1950, in defiance of brutal US and global pressure to internationalize Jerusalem, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion reacted constructively by proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish State, relocating government agencies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and settling tens of thousands of Olim (Jewish immigrants to Israel) in Jerusalem. He upgraded the transportation infrastructure to Jerusalem, erected new Jewish neighborhoods along the 1949 cease fire lines in Jerusalem, and provided the city land reserves for long-term growth.
In 1953, Ben Gurion rebuffed President Eisenhower’s pressure – inspired by Secretary of State Dulles – to refrain from relocating Israel’s Foreign Ministry from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In 1967, President Johnson followed the advice of Secretary of State Rusk – who opposed Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence – highlighting the international status of Jerusalem, and warned Israel against the reunification of Jerusalem and construction in its eastern section. Prime Minister Levi Eshkol adopted Ben Gurion’s statesmanship, fended off the US pressure, reunited Jerusalem, built the first Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the 1949 ceasefire lines, Ramat Eshkol, in addition to the first wave of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights.
In 1970, President Nixon collaborated with Secretary of State Rogers, attempting to repartition Jerusalem, pressuring Israel to relinquish control of Jerusalem’s Holy Basin, and to stop Israel’s plans to construct additional neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. However, Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to rescind the reunification of Jerusalem, and proceeded to lay the foundation for additional Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the 1949 ceasefire lines: Gilo, Ramot Alon, French Hill and Neve’ Yaakov, currently home to 150,000 people.
In 1977-1992, Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir defied US and global pressure, expanding construction in Jerusalem, sending a clear message: “Jerusalem is the exclusive and non-negotiable capital of Israel!”
“[In 1978], at the very end of [Prime Minister Begin’s] successful Camp David talks with President Jimmy Carter and President Anwar Sadat, literally minutes before the signing ceremony, the American president had approached [Begin] with ‘Just one final formal item.’ Sadat, said the president, was asking that Begin put his signature to a simple letter committing him to place Jerusalem on the negotiating table of the final peace accord. ‘I refused to accept the letter, let alone sign it,’ rumbled Begin. ‘If I forgot thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning,’ said [Begin] to the president of the United States of America, ‘and may my tongue cleave to my mouth’ (The Prime Ministers – An Intimate Portrait of Leaders of Israel, 2010)”
In 2021, Prime Minister Bennett should follow in the footsteps of Israel’s Founding Father, Ben Gurion, who stated: “Jerusalem is equal to the whole of the Land of Israel. Jerusalem is not just a central Jewish settlement. Jerusalem is an invaluable global historical symbol. The Jewish People and the entire world shall judge us in accordance with our steadfastness on Jerusalem (“We and Our Neighbors,” p. 175. 1929).”
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The goal of Passover’s liberty was not the subjugation of the Egyptian people, but the defeat of the tyrannical Pharaoh and the veneration of liberty throughout the globe, including in Egypt.
Moses received the Torah – which includes 50 gates of wisdom – 50 days following the Exodus, as celebrated by the Shavou’ot/Pentecost Holiday, 50 days following Passover. Moreover, there are 50 States in the United States, whose Hebrew name is “The States of the Covenant” (Artzot Habreet -ארצות הברית).
Passover aims at coalescing the fabrics of the Jewish family and the Jewish people, commemorating and strengthening Jewish roots, and refreshing and enhancing core values such as faith, humility, education, optimism, defiance of odds and can-do mentality, which are prerequisites to a free and vibrant society.
Passover is an annual reminder that liberty must not be taken for granted.
Jerusalem has been the exclusive capital of the Jewish people since King David established it as his capital, 3,000 years ago.
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Synopsis:
*Israel’s control of the topographically-dominant mountain ridges of the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria has enhanced Israel’s posture of deterrence, constraining regional violence, transforming Israel into a unique force-multiplier for the US.
*Top Jordanian military officers warned that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, transforming Jordan into a non-controllable terrorist heaven, generating an anti-US domino scenario in the Arabian Peninsula.
*Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria has eliminated much of the threat (to Jordan) of Judea and Samaria-based Palestinian terrorism.
*Israel’s posture of deterrence emboldens Jordan in the face of domestic and regional threats, sparing the US the need to deploy its own troops, in order to avoid an economic and national security setback.
*The proposed Palestinian state would become the Palestinian straw that would break the pro-US Hashemite back.
*The Palestinian track record of the last 100 years suggests that the proposed Palestinian state would be a rogue entity, adding fuel to the Middle East fire, undermining US interests.
Israel’s and the US’ counter-terrorism
*Islamic and Palestinian terrorism consider Israel as a critical beachhead – and a proxy – of the US in the Middle East and a significant collaborator with the pro-US Arab regimes. They perceive the war on “the infidel Jewish State” as a preview of their more significant war on “the infidel West” and their attempts to topple all pro-US Sunni Arab regimes. Therefore, Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has been engaged in intra-Arab subversion, while systematically collaborating with enemies and rivals of the US and the West (e.g., Nazi Germany, the Soviet Bloc, Ayatollah Khomeini, Latin American, European, African and Asian terror organizations, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba). The more robust is Israel’s war on terrorism, the more deterred are the terrorists in their attempts to bring the “infidel” West to submission.
*Islamic and Palestinian terrorism has terrorized Jewish communities in the Land of Israel since the late 19th century, adhering to an annihilationist vision as detailed by the Fatah and PLO charters of 1959 and 1964 (eight and three years before 1967), as well as by the hate-education system, which was installed by Mahmoud Abbas in 1993 following the signing of the Oslo Accord.
*Israel battles Palestinian terrorism (Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) and Islamic terrorism (Iran and Hezbollah), which are not preoccupied with the size – but with the eradication – of the “infidel” Jewish State from “the abode of Islam.”
*Israel and the West fight against deeply-rooted and institutional Islamic and Palestinian terrorism, that is inspired by 1,400-year-old rogue values, which are perpetrated by K-12 hate-education, mosque incitement and official and public idolization of terrorists.
*Israel and the West combat terrorism, that has astutely employed 1,400-year-old Islamic values such the “Taqiya’ ” – which promotes double-speak and dissimulation, as a means to mislead and defeat enemies – and the “Hudna’,” which misrepresents a temporary non-binding ceasefire with “infidels” as if it were a peace treaty.
*Israel and the West confront Islamic and Palestinian terrorism, which is politically, religiously and ideologically led by despotic and rogue regimes, rejecting Western values, such as peaceful-coexistence, democracy, human rights and good-faith negotiation.
*Israel and the West face off against Palestinian and Islamic terrorism, which does not allow lavish financial and diplomatic temptations to transcend intrinsic, fanatic, rogue and annihilationist vision. Moreover, terrorists bite the hands that feed them.
*Israel and the West are not assaulted by despair-driven terrorism, but by hope-driven terrorism – the hope to bring the “infidel” to submission. The aspiration of these terrorists contradicts peaceful-coexistence.
*Israel and the West clash with terrorists, who view gestures, concessions and hesitancy as weakness, which inflames terrorism.
*Israel and the West struggle against terrorism, which is not driven by a particular Israeli or US policy, but by a fanatic vision. Thus, Islamic terrorism afflicted the US during the Clinton and Obama Democratic Administrations, as well as during the Bush and Trump Republican Administrations.
*The US State Department has embraced a “moral equivalence” between Palestinian terrorists – who systematically and deliberately hit civilians, while sometimes hitting soldiers – and Israeli soldiers, who systematically and deliberately hit terrorists, while sometimes, unintentionally, hitting civilians. It emboldens terrorism, which threatens all pro-US Arab regimes, undermining regional stability, benefiting US’ rivals and enemies, while damaging the US.
War on terrorism
*The bolstering of posture of deterrence – rather than hesitancy, restraint, containment and gestures, which inflame terrorism – is a prerequisite for defeating terrorism and advancing the peace process.
*The most effective long-term war on terrorism – operationally, diplomatically, economically and morally – is not a surgical or comprehensive reaction, but a comprehensive and disproportional preemption, targeting the gamut of terroristic infrastructures and capabilities, draining the swamp of terrorism, rather than chasing the mosquitos.
*Containment produces a short-term, false sense of security, followed by a long-term security setback. It is the terrorists’ wet dream, which does not moderate terrorism, but adrenalizes its veins, providing time to bolster its capabilities – a tailwind to terror and a headwind to counter-terrorism. It shakes the confidence in the capability to crush terrorism. Defeating terrorism mandates obliteration of capabilities, not co-existence or containment.
*Containment aims to avoid a multi-front war (Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah and Iran), but it erodes Israel’s posture of deterrence, which brings Israel closer to a multi-front war under much worse conditions.
*Containment erodes Israel’s posture of deterrence in the eyes of the relatively-moderate Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, the Sudan, Jordan and Egypt), which have dramatically enhanced cooperation with Israel due to Israel’s posture of deterrence against mutual threats, such as Iran’s Ayatollahs, the “Muslim Brotherhood” and ISIS terrorists).
*Containment is also a derivative of White House’s and the State Department’s pressure, subordinating national security to diplomatic priorities. It undermines Israel’s posture of deterrence, which plays into the hand of anti-Israel and anti-US rogue regimes. Precedents prove that Israeli defiance of US pressure yields short-term tension, but long-term strategic respect, resulting in expanded strategic cooperation. On a rainy day, the US prefers a defiant, rather than appeasing, strategic ally.
*The 2002 comprehensive counter-terrorism Israeli offensive, and the return of Israel’s Defense Forces to the headquarters of Palestinian terrorism in the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) – and not defensive containment and surgical operations – resurrected Israel’s effective war on Palestinian terrorism, which substantially curtailed terrorists’ capabilities to proliferate terrorism in Israel, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula.
*The containment option intensifies terrorists’ daring, feeds vacillation and the self-destructive “don’t rock the boat” mentality. It erodes steadfastness and confidence in the capabilities to withstand the cost of terrorism, and feeds the suicidal perpetual retreat mentality.
*The addiction to containment is one of the lethal by-products of the 1993 Oslo Accord, which has produced a uniquely effective hot house of terrorism, highlighted by the importation, arming and funding of some 100,000 Palestinian terrorists from Tunisia, the Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria to Gaza, Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem, who have unprecedentedly radicalized the Arab population of pre-1967 Israel, established a K-12 hate education system, launched an unparalleled wave of terrorism, and systematically violated agreements.
The bottom line
*The 30 years since the Oslo Accord have featured unprecedented Palestinian hate-education and wave of terrorism. It has demonstrated that a retreat from the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria has boosted terrorism; that the Palestinian Authority is not committed to a peace process, but to the destruction of the Jewish State; and that terrorism requires a military, not political, solution. A successful war on terrorism behooves a preemptive offense, not defense, containment and reaction; and that fighting in the terrorists’ own trenches is preferable to fighting in one’s own trenches. No Israeli concessions could satisfy international pressure; and diplomatic popularity is inferior to strategic respect. Avoiding a repeat of the critical post-Oslo errors requires a comprehensive, disproportional, decisive military campaign to uproot – not to coexist with – terroristic infrastructures.
*The historic and national security indispensability of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – which dominate the 8-15-mile sliver of pre-1967 Israel – and the necessity to frustrate Palestinian terrorism, behooves Israel to eliminate any sign of hesitancy and vacillation by expanding the Jewish presence in this most critical area. It will intensify US and global pressure, but as documented by all Prime Ministers from Ben Gurion, through Eshkol, Golda Meir, Begin and Shamir, defiance of pressure results in the enhancement of strategic respect and cooperation.
*The Palestinian track record during the 30 years since the 1993 Oslo Accord has highlighted the violent, unpredictable and anti-US rogue nature of the proposed Palestinian state west of the Jordan River, which would force the toppling of the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River. It would transform Jordan into an uncontrollable, chaotic state in the vein of Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, triggering a domino scenario into the Arabian Peninsula (south of Jordan), which could topple the pro-US, oil-producing Arab regimes. This would reward Iran’s Ayatollahs, China and Russia, while severely undermining regional and global stability and US economic and national security interests.
