Remember what President Bush said to Congress on Sept. 21, 2001 – just 10 days after 9-11? He said: “From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”
And remember what President Bush declared on Oct. 7, 2003: “Israel’s got a right to defend herself. Israel must not feel constrained in defending the homeland.”
What about defending Israel’s homeland from the wave of Palestinian suicide bombers and from the two Palestinian gunmen who murdered an Israeli expectant mother and her four children – each killed with bullets to the head – plus a bullet to kill the fetus?
We are, believe it or not, still sending $50 million a year in taxpayers’ money to the Palestinian Authority – which, under the 1-year-old so-called Roadmap For Peace was obligated to disarm and close down all terrorist groups. But it has not ever done so.
This has led the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, to declare:
Why did the overwhelming majority of members of Israel’s ruling party vote against unilateral Gaza surrender?
Look at the events of the past decade and it’s easy to understand why – and where we should go from here.
Israelis were told that if they surrendered large parts of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to the Palestinian Arabs, it would bring peace. But they soon learned that giving up land only increases terrorism. Since 1993, Israel has surrendered more than half of Judea and Samaria, and virtually all of Gaza, including the areas where 98 percent of the Palestinian Arabs reside and yet it has been subjected to the worst terrorism in its history.
Israelis were assured that making concessions to the Arabs would lead to international acceptance of Israel. Yet, despite massive Israeli territorial concessions since 1993, anti-Israel hatred and anti-Semitism have increased dramatically throughout the world.
Even when Israel undertakes a basic act of self-defense, such as eliminating a terrorist leader such as Hamas chief Abd el-Aziz Rantisi, Israel finds itself condemned. The international community will not even let Israel exercise its right to simple self-defense against mass murderers.
Israelis were told that international financial aid to the Palestinian Authority would help build a moderate, peace-seeking regime. Yet despite the over $1 billion that the U.S. has given, and the additional billions that European Union countries have given, the Palestinian Arabs continue their war to destroy Israel and murder Jews.
Israelis were told that if they gave weapons to the PA police force, the PA police would use them against Arab terrorist groups. Israel gave the weapons. The PA used them against Israelis.
When members of the Likud Party went to the voting booths this week, they rejected a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza – by landslide proportions – because Israel has spent the last 10 years making unilateral withdrawals, and received nothing in return except more terrorism. Under these circumstances, a Gaza surrender would mean permitting the creation of a terrorist state next to Israel, and the forcible mass expulsion of more than 8,000 Jewish men, women and children from their homes simply because they are Jews.
Where do we go from here?
And let me add: Why on earth does President Bush keep talking about a “peaceful Palestinian state” when his press secretary Scott McClellan cannot name one single Palestinian who will stand up to the terrorists who dominate?
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