A World Turned Upside Down

I borrowed the headline of this post from Melanie Phillips’ book title. In her book, published in 2011, Phillips argues that the world has undergone an inversion of values.

Since the book was published, the so-called Arab Spring has taken on full steam, and rather than improving the situation of all Muslim countries in the Middle East, it revealed that radical Islamic insurgency was ready to jump in and hijack the momentum created by the lone Tunisian man that burned himself in protest against the totalitarianism prevailing in his country.

Why is Israel’s fight against Hamas so relevant to this discussion?

Because Hamas is not a Palestinian national movement. Rather, it is a radical Islamic insurgent movement, with the same goals and tactics of its peers of Al-Qaeda, ISIL, Hezbollah and Boko Haram among others: resorting to terrorism to propagate Islam in its radical form into as many places as possible, starting with their closest, easiest and most vulnerable target – the Middle East.

Looking under the above prism, the free world should understand that all these terrorist organizations are closely watching the outcome of Israel’s fight against Hamas. Anything but a clear defeat of Hamas would be a sign for these organizations that they too, can withstand the civilized world fight against them.

By looking at how Kerry and his peers are handling this matter, either they do not seem to understand the magnitude and consequences of the outcome of Israel’s battle, or their long-term vision is being blurred by short-term commercial gains, like the $11 billion contract signed past week with Qatar. This is not about proportionality and much less about a two-state solution. It’s about Hamas showing its peers in the Middle East and around the world that it can come out of this venture standing on both feet with some scars, but unabated and ready for the next confrontation.

Hamas understands well what is at stake here. They understand it so well that they are willing to sacrifice their own children and the Gaza population. Victory for them has far reaching implications – well beyond Gaza. Their peers in other parts of the Middle East and Africa also understand that killing and sacrificing their own people is a cheap price towards victory. That is why we see over 150,000 deaths in Syria and daily suicide bombings in eighteen countries around the Middle East and Africa, with thousands of deaths of innocent civilians. And where is the world?

The world is upside down: this is a critical moment when it should throw its unconditional weight behind Israel, so that a clear defeat of Hamas sends a strong sign to radical Islam and their associated terrorist movements that they will be defeated as well. Instead, under the guise of proportionality and human rights, it is giving them breathing room and sending the wrong message.

The world is upside down because too many in the media are playing the role of useful idiots, as Stalin would have called them, and the world is susceptible to a well-oiled propaganda machine that hides the facts and the real motivation of Hamas and radical Islam.

This is the moment when Israel needs to stand firm, when Israel should get our strong support, so that even during moments of incredible pressure, our moral compass can remain a lighthouse to a world that is upside down.