A question for the Commanders for Israel’s Security

Two hundred retired Israeli commanders have gone public, telling us that we should make peace by embracing the formula posited by the Saudi despots and adopted by Israel’s venerable enemy, the Arab League, this in order to ensure peace and endless prosperity: The New Middle East revisited.

Let these commanders stick to their expertise, which is defending Israel from those same enemies if the commanders’ rosy vision turns out to be wrong. Again. Is it so clear, after all, that there would be peace if Israel were to accede to the Arabs’ demands, go back to the 1949 Armistice Lines, with agreed cosmetic changes, if any can be agreed on, including the abandonment of the Temple Mount, eastern, northern and southern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights?

The “hardliners” argue that the Arabs have amply proven, over the twenty years of the Oslo process, that they do not intend to give Israel a moment’s peace and that any concession Israel makes they will use to improve their ability to kill us. (Here is a recent example and they are touted as “moderates.”) Acceding to the creation of a Palestinian state would only weaken Israel strategically to the point of rendering Israel indefensible and thus would encourage the Arabs in their determination to destroy us.

What if those right wing “hardliners” are right? What if acceding to the creation of a State of Palestine in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, with its capital in Holy Jerusalem, really would be simply baring Israel’s throat to the Arabs who have waged war against us for the last century?

The 200 commanders, like the whole “peace camp,” have avoided facing the issue by assuming that Israel can have peace with the Arabs if only she would end the “occupation.” They must explain why they believe that, when everything Israel has conceded has been used to kill Israelis and delegitimate Israel.

Suppose the commanders’ goal of a two state solution is realized, Iranian proxy terrorist organizations control Judea and Samaria where they can launch rockets into the Center of Israel and dig tunnels along a 500 kilometer front above Ben-Gurion Airport and a few kilometers from the suburbs of Tel Aviv. In brief, suppose the “hardliners” turn out to be right, as they have been for the last twenty years.

Enough of fantasies of how wonderful peace would be and urging Israelis to continue to “make peace” with enemies who show no interest in peace but only in Israel‘s annihilation.

The commanders have to explain how Israel will be able to defend itself if their policy is implemented. If they cannot, then they been aiding Israel’s enemies and they must have the integrity to admit publicly that they cannot defend the country in that eventuality.