Israeli – Islam Conflict

Thank you to Washington Post columnist Charles Lane for a sane perspective of the recent Hamas-Israel conflict in an otherwise insane world   Mr. Lane’s level-headed op-ed really provides more news than in the news reporting part of the newspaper.  His statement that Hamas “shooting unguided explosives toward civilian populations violates all the norms of warfare” should be in every article on this conflict, but sadly, it is not.  Lane continues that the 4,000 Hamas rockets were “more than 4,000 war crimes, or an average of 363 per day.”

As horrible as the recent fighting in Gaza was, it’s important that the Biden administration realize that the eleven-day conflict served as a dry run for the much larger and more devastating war that Iran is planning to wage against Israel.

In terms of the terrorist “ring of fire” that Iran is now surrounding Israel with, Hamas is the minor league. Hezbollah in Lebanon is the real A-Team. At the high end of the range, it’s estimated that Hamas could possess as many as 30,000 rockets. Hezbollah’s arsenal may be up to five times larger. It could fire as many missiles at Israel in a single day as Hamas fired over the course of an entire week. And unlike Hamas, Hezbollah has a growing stockpile of long-range Iranian precision weapons (and an indigenous production capability to make more) that, in theory, could accurately strike most of Israel’s most important economic and military targets, effectively shutting the country down and making life almost unbearable for America’s most important Middle East ally.

To judge by the jubilant Palestinian celebrations that greeted the ceasefire that ended 11 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden’s belief that the agreement presents a “genuine opportunity to make progress” on resolving tensions between Israel and the Palestinians seems naively optimistic.

Moreover, the same can be said of the president’s pledge to provide Gaza with humanitarian and reconstruction aid to help the Palestinian residents in the wake of the latest outbreak of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

Critics of Israel should think carefully about what they’re asking for.

After the latest round of Hamas missile attacks on Israel began two weeks ago, the media, numerous world leaders, and even a surprising number of American politicians quickly agreed that Israel should not exercise its military superiority in an unfair way.

Since the world appears united in its opposition to Israel’s “disproportionate” retaliation, I suggest it goes along with the demands. But the world should beware — if Jerusalem really fought proportionately, life in Gaza would be far worse than it is.

On the eve of his first official visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed support for a two-state solution as the only way to provide hope to Israelis and Palestinians that they can live “with equal measures of security, of peace, and dignity.”

During his visit to Israel and the West Bank, Blinken is expected to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been urging the Biden administration to work toward “achieving a just and lasting peace that would ensure the Palestinian people’s right to freedom and independence” and the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

A Rabbi has been charged by police after helping organize a protest that left the steps of the Israeli consulate in Toronto painted red.

Some members of the Jewish community, as well as other activists, condemned Israel’s violence in Gaza Friday morning by painting the steps of the consulate—something they say was meant to symbolize a river of blood.