Peace can only arrive through overcoming racial hatred and false narratives
On May 10, the United Nations General Assembly declared as the result of a substantial majority vote that the authority representing Palestine qualifies for Full Member Status, the precursor to a decree that awards the delegation a State.
In April the United States vetoed a resolution that would have recognized “Full Membership” for a Palestinian State. Their reason was and remains that any statehood cannot be dictated unilaterally, but must be the outcome of a negotiation between Palestinian representatives and Israel.
Yes, indeed, a state cannot be dictated by a United Nations that has never condemned the massacre by Hamas of at least 1200 Israeli’s, wounding thousands more. There are sickening, horrible, nightmarish revelations still emerging as a result of videos and testimonies of captured Hamas terrorists that attest to these bloodthirsty murderous rampages. Women were raped multiple times then killed, or raped in front of their husbands and entire families killed. There were beheadings of children. People were killed while they slept, or woken up and tortured. There were more than 250 hostages taken, many paraded through the streets of Gaza as dehumanized, sub human prizes, bounties to be shown off as evidence of the ‘heroism’ of these slaughterers that have been glorified as ‘freedom fighters’ on so many college campuses across the United States and in Europe. There are about 121 hostages unaccounted for, and about 37 that are presumed to have died in captivity.
I’ll say it again: the United Nations has never once condemned this diabolical, murderous rampage, but they are virtually unanimous in demanding an immediate state unilaterally!
Who would govern this state on the very border of Israel? Hamas, after terrorizing any moderate Palestinian authority as they did when Israel turned over all of Gaza in 2005? At that time Israel was willing to exchange ‘land for peace’, and they hoped, naively, that Peace would come about through withdrawing to the 1967 Green Line, removing over 9000 Israeli citizens living in twenty-five settlements. They dug up Jewish burial sites for reburial in Israel. They also evicted four settlements in Samaria.
When the Israelis withdrew from Gaza, they left intact greenhouses, which had the potential to boost agricultural production and generate income. Hamas destroyed them.
Israel left in place a network of roads, including highways that could have been expanded upon, becoming further modernized and improved over time, facilitating transportation within Gaza in perpetuity. Receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran to build hundreds of miles of tunnels located amidst and under Palestinian population centers,–tunnels that would be used for jihadist attacks dedicated to destroying Israel no matter how long it takes, even if it takes one thousand years–Hamas neglected these roads. Some observers of international infrastructure say that this once modern network of roads has been so neglected that it is worse than some of the ‘poorest African countries’.
Educational institutions and healthcare facilities were left intact, which could have improved access to education and medical services for the Palestinian population. Hamas built their tunnels under these places, intent on using them as staging grounds for their perennial attacks upon the soil of Israel, ammunition depots for their jihad.
We could go on and on. Factories and industrial complexes were left behind. These were the necessary infrastructure for the continued economic growth of Gaza, an economic development that would allow for a cooperative arrangement between Israel and the rest of the moderate Arab world, resulting in a Palestinian State. Hamas used these factories as weapons sites for war making capability.
Hamas built tunnels under the border between Israel and Egypt. As a result of this fact– the reality that Hamas became indistinguishable from innocent, peaceful Palestinians as they smuggled rockets above and below ground– blockades were placed upon civilians, restricting their movement, creating conditions ripe for Hamas’ own terror against the people it dishonestly claimed to help. Hamas has been as much an enemy of the Palestinian people as they have Israel. And in exchange for this betrayal of their own people, Hamas leaders likely have received hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth from Iran to fight their proxy war–a war to balance any influence from Saudi Arabia or any other moderate Arab nation that would work with the United States toward achieving a peaceful solution resulting in a Palestinian state.
And, of course, Russia trying to undermine the balance of power in Europe as they have invaded a sovereign nation, Ukraine, killing thousands and thousands of their people–abducting their children–savors this relationship in Gaza with Hamas and Iran, embracing a new ally, Iran, that provides them with drones for their savagery in Ukraine. This new ally, Iran, showed Russia their worthiness as a partner in this quest for geopolitical control when they launched more than three hundred missiles upon the soil of Israel–more than half of them of the deadly ballistic and cruise population killing variety. Virtually all of these missiles were destroyed before touching ground by Israel’s Iron Dome–with the help of the United States and other allies–but the intention of this attack had the same virulence as the one on October 7. They wanted to kill as many people as they could.
The restraint Israel showed toward Iran–apparently limiting their retaliatory strikes to several Iranian military targets–proved their deterrence capability and was admirable. No doubt, there were many in the Israeli war circle that would have wanted a more aggressive attack upon Iran, perhaps even targeting their nuclear power plants. A status quo deterrence violated by Iran was again recovered with superiority by Israel in the most minimal of ways.
And so we return to this United Nations demand for a state to be imposed upon Israel, unilaterally. Yes, who would govern this State ? Hamas ? Or another extremist group that with Hamas would kill off any moderate representation of Arab States seeking to empower a revitalized Palestinian authority ? Iran does not want a second state for Palestinians ! But if they have to have one they want it to be based on their jihadist doctrine of the destruction of Israel. The Hamas charter literally states that the “establishment of Israel is illegal.” Another section of their covenant states that “Hamas strives to raise the banner of Allah over inch of Palestine”. And the United Nations is not familiar with these declarations to establish a state from the “river to the sea”? Perhaps this body should be called the “United Nations of anti-Semitism”.
It would appear from the most recent numbers that I have been able to see that something like 25 of 28 Arab Nations does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a State. Does any Palestinian authority purporting to represent the people of Palestine recognize Israel’s right to exist ? It did under the Oslo accords, but it would appear that this recognition is suspended until Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 borders and establishes a Palestinian state. And so amidst all of this the United Nations demands the establishment of a Palestinian state with or without the recognition of Israel of that state and with no Israeli input in terms of their own security against a state of terror on their border ? This is incredible.
It is true that this war cannot end without the establishment of a plan for a Palestinian state, and a commitment by Israel to have in place a plan for the governance of Gaza the day after this war ends. Extremism and hatred on the part of much of the Arab world toward Israel has further hardened the extremist element in Israel. Can we really blame Israel and the Netanyahu government for hardening their resolve toward any Palestinian State after October 7 ? Would any nation be motivated toward endangering the lives and security of their citizenry and their very existence if the horror of October 7 happened to them ? No nation would be held to the standard to which the world seems to be holding Israel. And when we add to this that the Jewish people in 2024 have less of a population than they did before Hitler exterminated more than Six million Jews, we understand the mentality that Israel must survive at all costs, as a home to the Jewish people and a safeguard against a second holocaust.
A homeland with a national identity and their own flag must be in the future of the Palestinian people. And that flag cannot be the flag of Hamas. Hamas cannot be part of any political solution in the establishment of a Palestinian state. But therein lies the quagmire. They with the help of Iran ( and Russia) will continue to terrorize until the end of time, if they must. And this reality could not be supported any more clearly than the visit to Iran by Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, who visited Teheran as the Palestinian organizations representative at the funeral for Iran’s president Ebrahaim Raisi after he died in helicopter crash. “The divine promise to eliminate the Zionist entity will be fulfilled and we will see the day when Palestine will rise from the river to the sea”, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Haniyeh during a meeting.
There are well intentioned nations that want to see peace and security for Israel and a Palestinian state, and have thus endorsed the establishment of a Palestinian state unilaterally. But their idealism is exposed in a dangerous way when they are faced with the hard reality on the ground in Gaza.
Norway is a nation that has endorsed the establishment of a Palestinian state without addressing how security can be provided for Israel in the establishment of that state. When Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide was asked in an interview if he supported the goal of “eliminating Hamas militarily”, he answered, “I would very much like to see Hamas disappear, particularly as a military organization. We have said that Israel has a right to defend itself.”
But how does Israel defend itself and eliminate Hamas when the latter has become virtually indistinguishable and operates in the very middle of Palestinian population centers ? And how can you unilaterally support the establishment of a Palestinian state without arriving at a method for eliminating Hamas ? Dear Mr. Minister what are you going to say or do when this United Nations unilaterally recognized state sews hatred amongst its population and attacks Israel again and again and again ?
It is unconscionable that the United Nations has endorsed this recognition and not condemned Hamas! And it is the height of insensitivity to the pain and suffering of Israeli’s to go ahead and declare this State while there are Israeli Hostages that have not been released ! Bring these hostages home, work with your Arab nations that refuse to recognize Israel before you start declaring a State ! In this regard, Prime Minister Netanyahu is correct. This action rewards terror, diminishes the humanity of the Israeli’s and shows callousness to these hostages. It is wrong. It is wrong in the most desensitized way.
The attack of October 7 occurred on the watch of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And if for no other reason, he should call for elections or resign and let the country be led by someone not associated by this failure of security and intelligence. Let the nation select a leader that they feel will be strong on security but also recognizes that there must be a political solution in Gaza.
The nation must select a leader not beholden to the aggressive settlers on the West Bank that want to expand the territory of Israel and are on a messianic mission that does not recognize the pain, suffering, agony, homelessness of the Palestinian people and the hatred that it breads–a hatred that is bred, fomented, funded by Iran. But it is a hatred that is easy to exploit when Israel has not answers for the homeland of these people that are also indigenous to the area. The establishment of the state of Israel called for the creation of two states. And, yes, I would argue that this second state could not be realized because the Arab nations attacked Israel virtually upon its declaration of independence, using the Palestinian people as a staging ground for their war–just as Hamas is doing presently, and somehow gaining moral standing as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people in the eyes of much of the world, including the United Nations and students on college campuses that do not know the history of this region.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has faced corruption charges that are serious. And, sadly, these charges are likely behind his attempt to overthrow the sanctity of the judiciary, so that a governing coalition–which includes these hard right settlers and messianic elements–could over rule these charges. He might very well be becoming more extreme to to stay in power and out of jail. This grip on power requires the appeasement of these extreme political elements in Israel. And satisfying these extremists is not compatible with serving the greater good for the state of Israel and the Jewish people around the world. Thus, it would be my desire to see the Israeli court issue a pardon for any alleged crimes committed by the Prime Minister, and let him leave office with the knowledge that he has served his country proudly in the hour of its greatest tragedy. But the peace process must go forward and it cannot do so with Prime Minister Netanyahu at the helm. He has been a loyal, proud, Israeli Prime Minister during war time–the time has come or will come soon to transition to a peacemaker that is strong, wise, diplomatic and can see the future.
Israel has been delegitimized in the eyes of much of the world. It is a world that has bought into the narrative that Israel is a ‘criminal state’. It is a delegitimization based on a denial of its history in this homeland, dating back more than three thousand years and includes the founding of the first Temple in Jerusalem in 957 bce. And this delegitimization is a denial of Israel’s right to security, as we see in this unilateral vote by the United Nations to adopt a state without reference to Israels security. And all of this is a travesty based on the false, ignorant narrative that Israel is a racist, colonizer state–when in truth it is a state tolerant of every religion, tolerant of sexual and political freedoms. But it is a state whose existence is under attack by forces that have always tried to destroy the Jewish people throughout time.
The Decolonization narrative directed at Israel and embraced heavily by college students across America and the world is at the root of the cocktail of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that is malevolently spreading like a deadly virus.
In his brilliant article, “The Decolonization Narrative is Dangerous and False, published in the Atlantic, Simon Sebag Montefiore states, “How can educated people justify such callousness and embrace such inhumanity ? All sorts of things are at play here, but much of the justification for killing civilians is based on a fashionable ideology, “decolonization”, which taken at face value, rules out the negotiation of two states–the only real solution to this century of conflict–and is as dangerous as it is false. ” How true that is.
The country of Israel has provided so many brilliant life saving medicines and technologies to the world. They are a humane, brilliant, compassionate people. Medical advances of all kinds have been developed and–amidst terror–continue to be invented.
There is a breakthrough medication for Multiple Sclerosis that reduces the frequency and severity of relapses.
Israeli scientists are working on a Nasal Vaccine to protect people from Alzheimers and Strokes.
They have developed or are far into developing a blood test for detecting several different types of Cancer.
Their laboratories have been developing a cure for Acne, utilizing UV rays at high intensity, which kill Bacteria.
They have developed an electrical device that is implanted in the chest of Parkinson’s patients, similar to a pacemaker. This device blocks nerve signals that cause tremors.
One of their institutes has created sensors capable of sensing and registering biological markers that are capable of detecting the presence of lung cancer without the need for a biopsy.
They have created a method to produce clean drinking water that extracts humidity out of thin air. This was used during hurricane Maria in the northeastern Caribbean in 2017.
There is so much more to come from the brilliant minds and humanity of Israel. It has the capability to improve the health and well being of the entire Arab world, indeed the entire world. The ugly, hateful narratives based on ignorance may never go away, and thus Israel must always remain strong and capable of surviving at all costs. But at its heart, Israel wants peace, has strived for Peace since its inception in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust. It is a peace that may come but won’t come easily. The answers are actually quite simple but are complicated by geopolitical greed, hatred, anger, victimization on all sides. Dark forces that stand in the way of the light have to be overcome by a consensus of nations and people that can only be based on overcoming racial prejudice and false narratives.
Bruce Farrell Rosen
San Francisco