It’s A Catch 22
It is disquieting to sip one’s morning coffee with the constant roar of jet fighters overhead. Even the birds do not fly, apparently taking refuge from the roar overhead. The pigeons and the doves seek quiet under the eaves of rooftops and on windowsills until the noise quiets down.
Where are the jets going? What is their mission? Are they training for the inevitable and frequent wars which Israel must fight for its survival? Are they on a mission against Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, or some other enemy who has sworn to murder all Jews and Christians in the Middle East?
Later on in the morning I made the acquaintance of a man who definitely did not look like a young soldier. We got to talking, after I complimented his command of the English language. He told me that he had gone to school in Arizona, where he achieved his American college education.
He explained to me that he had been in Givati as a soldier. That is one of the most elite units in the Israeli Army. Now, he is a reservist among “older” Givati soldiers. He explained that since October 7th, he has been on activity duty, on and off, for 13 months.
What do you think of what is going on in Gaza? His response: “It’s a mess. All that fighting and destruction and we still do not have the hostages back. Of course, the reason why they took the hostages was to be able to exact an unsustainable deal with the Israeli people.”
Abe (not his real name) went on to say, with a shake of his head and a gentle nod, “It’s a Catch 22.” Further, “If we keep fighting this war, who knows if we’ll get the hostages back alive and the world will hate us more. If we stop the war and give Hamas what it wants, we are buying a future war and more mayhem, murder, and rape against Israeli civilians.”
There is no question that Abe represents the view of the majority of Israelis. There are those that want peace at any price and those who would opt for fighting to the death of Hamas, regardless of how it effects the fate of the hostages. However, most Israelis are like Abe. They serve unselfishly, work their butts off to support their families, and pray that a solution will be found.
It is clear that Hamas has sold the world a bill of goods. As it is pointed out in a recent essay in Tablet Magazine, the Hamas sell has not been difficult. The rest of the nations, with their decrease in populations and open immigration policies, have turned their cultures and societies over to those who have no respect for western civilization and seek to impose Middle Eastern Jihadist culture. The enemies of peace are succeeding in many countries.
Israel, facing wavering support from the West, is alone in fighting the terrorist agenda. There are some dictatorships among the Arab nations that quietly and behind the scenes support Israel, because they know that they can only stay in power as long as they keep the terrorist organizations at bay. The support and longevity of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates is weak and unreliable. Tomorrow they may be gone, just like the Shah of Iran in the 70s.
“What do you think of Netanyahu?” I inquired. Abe said: “He is a very divisive figure to most. There are those who say, ‘never Bibi,’ and those who think that he is the next Messiah.” The man sitting next to me then mused: “There does not seem to be the end plan and frankly, it is difficult to come up with one. The world has been convinced of privation and suffering in Gaza, much of which, it has turned out, is not true.” Unfortunately, the truth does not matter in a propaganda war.
Most of the rest of the world does not really care if the images of starving children are fake. The majority of populations in the west are not aware of the fact that something close to 90% of UN aid was stolen by Hamas who then charged its own people outrageous prices for the food. This was money that Hamas desperately needed for its terrorist operations. Our citizens are woefully uninformed about the fact that Israel has supplied more aid and food to a hostile population than any nation has done in the history of warfare. After World War II, the United States instituted the Marshall Plan which was a brilliant stroke. However, by that time, Hitler had committed suicide and both Hirashima and Nagasaki had been decimated by nuclear Holocaust. It was not difficult for the United States to create new democratic regimes in both Japan and Germany and to funnel plenty of aid to both nations. The war was over, and the United States had won.
Israel is not in a similar situation to the United States at the end of World War II. Israel has not destroyed enemy populations the way the allies did in World War II and is not in a position so to do. This is a small country. It is easy to drive from south to north in one day. At its thinnest point, one could easily walk from the Mediterranean Sea to the area run by the Palestinian Authority.
“The lack of cohesiveness among our own citizens makes it very difficult for Bibi to select and utilize a strategy of any kind.” In addition, “those of us that are reservists, receive letters and calls from our families and loved ones addressing stress on the part of our children and economic difficulties. We are tired.”
Abe went on to explain that while there is no substitute for winning, there is no option to lose. Israel cannot permit the reemergence of Hamas or any other terrorist organization. How can the United States and other civilized cultures help? They can put enormous pressure on Arab regimes to stop supporting and funding Hamas. This will take a Trump-like aggressiveness. President Trump and the leaders of the still free west will need to stop buying oil from the Arab states that support terrorism. They must impose severe repercussions on those Arabs states that continue to play the game of pretending to be friends of the west while undermining our very culture and civilization.
Want to see the suffering end? Demand that the United States and Western Europe become energy independent based upon modern nuclear technology. Deprive terrorist groups the blood money which flows so easily from our supposed Arab friends.
There are terrible problems, but there also are solutions. e simply need to have the courage to impose those solutions in a formidable and aggressive manner.
