Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine
There is no contradiction or conflict in supporting Ukraine, Israel, and the people of Palestine at the same time. Just yesterday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin used an American idiom to make this point, declaring, “We can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Except that even Austin was only referring to Ukraine and Israel. And that’s because it’s become all too easy to conflate the people of Palestine with their Hamas overlords.
But there’s a reason why the Norwegian Refugee Council described Palestine as “the world’s largest open-air prison.” In this grim context, its two million inhabitants lead lives nearly as harrowing as the 150 Israelis Hamas recently snatched as hostages.
It’s arguable that most people who live in authoritarian countries like North Korea and China suffer from mass Stockholm Syndrome. Well, people who live under terrorist control suffer an acute form of that syndrome.
Frankly, everyone knows Hamas has been using Palestinians for decades as little more than cannon fodder and human shields. And this, while Hamas leaders live in luxury in places like Qatar and Turkey.
So please, if not support, spare a thought for the Palestinians.
Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate
Panic and confusion gripped the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, where thousands of people were fleeing south after the Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of parts of the densely crowded, impoverished and besieged coastal strip that is home to more than two million Palestinians.
(The New York Times, October 13, 2023)
Honestly, this is like telling fish in a barrel to swim upstream before you start shooting. I reiterate what I suggested from the outset: Israel should not invade and raze Gaza. Instead, it should launch a barrage of surgical strikes and a series of commando raids (including in Qatar) to destroy Hamas.
Besides, Hamas’s dastardly and diabolical strategy is to hide within the population no matter where it is.
Nevertheless, the fact that Egypt fears a terrorist infiltration if it opens its borders to fleeing Palestinians speaks volumes about the state of Hamas governance. Tragically, just as Gaza is the world’s largest open-air prison, Palestinians are the world’s most forsaken people.
Lessons learned?
Hamas terrorists carried out their attacks with sickening and foreboding ease. That’s partly because they were on a suicide mission. They had nothing to lose.
Israelis are already discussing lessons learned from this shocking attack. Americans would do well to take heed.
3,000 Hamas terrorists killed nearly 1,500 Israelis. But it would be all too easy for just 30 jihadi terrorists to kill 20,000 Americans. Because, on any given Saturday, groups of 10 would only have to paraglide into 3 college football stadiums and begin shooting people like fish in a barrel.
Forewarned is forearmed.