Israel battles Hamas so the U.S. and the rest of the world don’t have to!
(Article on FLAME web site)
As you know, last week outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni signed an agreement in which the U.S. affirmed its commitment to preventing Hamas from rearming in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Fortified by this support, Israel’s National Security Cabinet voted Saturday evening to end the military operation in Gaza. The cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.
Since then, more rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel, even as Israeli forces have begun to withdraw from Gaza. Later Sunday, Hamas also declared a cease-fire and demanded all Israeli forces be withdrawn in one week’s time.
Thus the Middle East equation becomes even more complex for U.S. president Barack Obama. The situation should also be a wake-up call for American supporters of Israel: We must stand ready to write letters to newspapers, magazines, members of Congress, and the President himself, demanding that our government do the right thing.
In order to determine the appropriate diplomatic path for the U.S., it’s helpful to review some key facts about Hamas and the current conflict in Gaza, which we can’t let our friends, colleagues, media outlets and elected representatives forget:
1. Hamas is a terrorist organization—so declared by the U.S. and the E.U. and factually demonstrable by its constant rocket attacks on Israeli civilian populations. (Surely the irony is not lost on you: Israel is daily condemned for targeting civilians in Gaza [which it does not do], while Hamas, which openly does target civilians, gets a free pass from the international community.)
2. Hamas is dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and Jews. This is no secret: Destruction of Israel is part of the Hamas charter.
3. Hamas believes in global jihad. As a fundamentalist Islamic organization, with ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Hizbollah and Iran, Hamas wishes to impose Shari’a—Islamic law—upon the world’s people. As such, it is the enemy of all nations that don’t subscribe to fundamentalist Islam, including the U.S. (and Egypt and Saudi Arabia). Again, Hamas makes no secret of its jihadist mission.
4. Hamas militia hide among Gaza’s civilians, risking the lives of thousands of innocent people. Hamas does not deny this tactic—indeed they revel in it, citing the willingness of Palestinians to martyr themselves for the cause. Example: An Israeli response to Hamas rocket fire last week hit a U.N.-sponsored school in Gaza and killed several people. According to the NY Times, a Palestinian witness reported that the rockets were fired just 25 yards from the school.
As obvious as these facts seem to us, it’s astounding that the press, many world leaders and NGOs, like Amnesty International, completely ignore this self-evident reality. Each of us needs to continue to drive these facts home and place the current conflict in context.
In point of fact, the world would be well served if Hamas were put out of business once and for all.
