Hamas and Activism

For more than a generation, Israel has been trying to get along in the Middle East.  It started in 1967, when Egypt, Syria and Jordan (with the help of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco  and Algeria) attacked Israel in concert with the intention of permanently wiping the state out.

Israel, however, kicked their combined asses and took a large chunk of new territory as compensation. This territory originally served as a buffer zone between her enemies and her people.  But before long, Israelis were moving into settlements in this territory.

These are the facts.  Since then, Israel has made concession after concession, in an attempt to achieve a level of peace within and without its borders. It's my opinion that concessions aren't needed -- when aggressors attack a peaceful country, they should expect to take their licks if they lose.

The international community, for the most part, doesn't see things that way. They see Israel as an enemy, and never miss a chance to cast this nation as the "bad guy" in every situation.

In 2005, Israel withdrew troops from Gaza. According to observers, this would be a gesture of trust and peace. Predictably, Hamas took advantage of this opportunity to seize military control of the territory. So Israel instituted a blockade, preventing any shipping except for certain types of humanitarian aid.

For the most part, they have been able to enforce the blockade until recently. A coordinated attempt by hundreds of individuals on scores of ships to storm the blockade resulted in 11 lives lost. The point of this effort, one might presume, was to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza. But Israel was already allowing these supplies in.

The true purpose of this activism was to get Israel to kill activists. This would generate international anger against Israel, causing more pressure and continued concessions.

But in wartime, storming a well-advertised blockade is an act of war. When these ships were boarded, and the people on the ships attacked the security forces attempting to enforce the blockade, those people ceased being activists. The Israelis had to defend themselves against these enemy soldiers, and people got killed. It's too bad, but that's what happens to soldiers in wartime. 

Israel should stop making concessions. Something they understand, but too many others don't, is that there is only one thing they can do that will ensure peace for Israelis: surrender and die. Their enemies are hate-filled, angry, illogical, ignorant people who cannot be reasoned with.  They won't be satisfied until all Israelis are dead and Arabs are the only people left.

And then, they'll turn their hate-filled eyes towards other non-Muslim nations. Oh wait -- they already have.