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The wider context of the murder of the three Israeli teens

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.

 




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Open letter to Prime Minister Bennett ahead of visit to USA

(Hebrew edition in “Israel Hayom,” Israel’s largest circulation daily)

During your first official visit to Washington, DC, you’ll have to choose between two options:

*Blurring your deeply-rooted, assertive Israeli positions on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), which would be welcome by the Biden Administration, yielding to short-term political convenience and popularity inside the beltway;

or

*Tenaciously advocating your deeply-rooted, principle-driven positions, which would underscore a profound disagreement with the Biden Administration and the “elite” US media, while granting you and Israel long-term strategic respect, as demonstrated by some of your predecessors.

For example, the late Prime Minister Shamir honed the second option, bluntly introduced his assertive Israeli positions on Judea and Samaria, rebuffed heavy US pressure – including a mudslinging campaign by President Bush and Secretary of State Baker – suffered a popularity setback, but produced unprecedented expansion of US-Israel strategic cooperation. When it comes to facing the intensified threats of rogue regimes and Islamic terrorism, the US prefers principle-driven, reliable, patriotic, pressure-defying partners, irrespective of disagreements on the Palestinian issue.

Assuming that you shall not budge on the historical and national security centrality of Judea and Samaria, it behooves you to highlight the following matters during your meetings with President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Austin and Congressional leaders (especially the members of the Appropriations Committees):

  1. The 1,400-year-old track record of the stormy, unpredictable, violent and anti-“infidel” Middle East, which has yet to experience intra-Arab peaceful-coexistence, along with the 100-year-old Palestinian track record (including the systematic collaboration with anti-US entities, hate-education and anti-Arab and anti-Jewish terrorism) demonstrates that the proposed Palestinian state would be a Mini-Afghanistan or a Mega-Gaza on the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria.

It would dominate 80% of Israel’s population and infrastructures in the 9-15-mile sliver between Judea and Samaria and the Mediterranean, which is shorter than the distance between RFK Stadium and the Kennedy Center.

Thus, a Palestinian state would pose a clear and present existential threat to Israel; and therefore, Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria is a prerequisite for its survival.

  1. The proposed Palestinian state would undermine US interests, as concluded from the Palestinian intra-Arab track record, which has transformed the Palestinians into a role-model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism and ingratitude. Arabs are aware that a Palestinian state would add fuel to the Middle East fire, teaming up with their enemies (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Erdogan) and providing a strategic foothold to Russia and China. Consequently, Arabs shower Palestinians with favorable talk, but with cold and negative walk.

Hence, during the October, 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty ceremony, Jordan’s military leaders asserted to their Israeli colleagues that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, and lead, subsequently, to the toppling of all pro-US Arab Peninsula regimes.

  1. There is no foundation for the contention that Israel’s retreat from the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria – which are the cradle of Jewish history, religion and culture – is required in order to sustain Israel’s Jewish majority. In reality, there is unprecedented Jewish demographic momentum, while Arab demography – throughout the Middle East – has Westernized dramatically. The Jewish majority in the combined area of Judea, Samaria and pre-1967 Israel benefits from a robust tailwind of fertility and migration.
  2. Israel’s control of the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, bolsters its posture of deterrence, which has daunted rogue regimes, reduced regional instability, enhanced the national security of all pro-US Arab regimes, and has advanced Israel’s role as a unique force-multiplier for the US. An Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria would transform Israel from a strategic asset – to a strategic liability – for the US.
  3. As the US reduces its military presence in the Middle East – which is a global epicenter of oil production, global trade (Asia-Africa), international Islamic terrorism and proliferation of non-conventional military technologies – Israel’s posture of deterrence becomes increasingly critical for the pro-US Arab countries (e.g., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan), who consider Israel to be the most reliable “life insurance agent” in the region.

Contrary to NATO, South Korea and Japan, Israel’s defense does not require the presence of US troops on its soil.

  1. Sustaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge is a mutual interest for the US and Israel, which serves as the most cost-effective battle-tested laboratory for the US defense industries and armed forces. Thus, Israel’s use of hundreds of US military systems has yielded thousands of lessons (operation, maintenance and repairs), which have been integrated, by the US manufacturers, into the next generation of the military systems, saving the US many years of research and development, increasing US exports and expanding the US employment base – a mega billion dollar bonanza for the US. At the same time, the US armed forces have benefitted from Israel’s military intelligence and battle experience, as well as joint training maneuvers with Israel’s defense forces, which has improved the US formulation of battle tactics.

Prime Minister Bennett, your visit to Washington, is an opportunity to demonstrate your adherence to your deeply-rooted strong Israeli positions, rejecting the ill-advised appeals and temptations to sacrifice Israel’s national security on the altar of convenience and popularity.

Yours truly,

Yoram Ettinger, expert on US-Israel relations and Middle East affairs

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