There will never be peace unless…

Sometimes the sheer wave of extreme Islamic terror that is sweeping over the world from Orlando to Paris to Tel Aviv is just overwhelming. In the midst of the horror and darkness there are some standout moments that are just so shocking they almost beggar belief.

One such incident happened last week in Tel Aviv when two well-dressed Palestinian cousins entered the Max Brenner restaurant in Tel Aviv’s trendy Sarona Market complex and, after ordering desert, commenced to shoot up the eatery with the resulting deaths of four innocent bystanders.

What followed is truly indicative of the poisonous hatred that has seeped through every level of Palestinian society. It wasn’t just the brazen murder of innocents, or the now predictable silence of the majority of the world when we Jews are killed in our homeland, or the refusal to label acts of terror against Jews in Israel “Terror,” that was just as predictably followed by Hamas press releases praising “the magnificent operation” followed by the now ritual distribution of sweets to celebrate murder.

Something is seriously broken in a society where political leaders, religious leaders, and even mothers praise their children for being murderers. Where children are incited 24/7 in school, by the media and in mosques to go out and murder. Where schools and public squares are named after murderers. Where murderers are extolled as the epitome of heroism (and rewarded with American supplied tax-payers dollars) by the PA.

The world community, which funds and ignores this poisoning of an entire society, needs to fix its moral compass and help the Palestinians press the moral “reset” button. Palestinians need to understand that one can’t murder oneself towards a state. As Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, “the international community cannot give the PA a pass.” The PA and Hamas are responsible for the current wave of incitement and the resulting violence, and to overlook this is to ignore the situation. The world is not doing the PA a favour by not holding them to account.  Indeed this is reinforcing the current deeply flawed mindset. Michael Oren observed, “Being Palestinian means never having to say that you’re sorry.” Unless the PA educate for peace there will never be peace.