If Hamas is Allowed to Win

by Alan M. Dershowitz  

What will happen if Hamas is allowed to win this war? If Hamas is permitted to accomplish what it intended by its mass murders, kidnappings and rapes? If the victims of these atrocities — the people of Israel and all countries fighting terrorism — lose? If the prospects for peace in the region and the Free World are seriously damaged? If the relationship between the US and Israel, and the loss of faith in the US as the guarantor of freedom, continues to be fractured?

Instead, the Biden administration may be rewarding Palestinian terrorists by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian State, which will, of course, soon become militarized.

The anti-Israel left-wingers are not going to vote for Trump, who is more pro-Israel than Biden. Nor are they likely to stay home on Election Day and help Trump. Centrist voters, on the other hand, are likely to vote against Biden if they think he is beholden to the Squad or other anti-American woke extremists.

As important as are the domestic electoral implications of Biden's weakening support for Israel, the international implications are far more consequential. The world will be a far less safe place if Israel is prevented from defeating Hamas and dismantling its military capabilities.

Israel is doing everything reasonable to decrease civilian casualties, while Hamas tries to increase them on both sides. American policy should be to help Israel defeat Hamas and prevent the recurrence and spread of its terrorism against civilians, rather than to help Hamas secure a victory by tying Israel's hands.

So, unless the Biden administration changes course and encourages Israel to achieve its legitimate military goal of defeating Hamas, terrorism will win and civilization will lose.

Good News, Bad News

 © www.benherskowitz.com  

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Judea & Samaria, the day after.

 What is really going on in Judea and Samaria? 

Can the PA really be reformed and 

take control of the Palestinians, "the day after?"

Golda Meir - Nothing Changes

 Golda Meir explains why nothing ever changes.

The Jews are always held to a different standard around the world.

Biden Executive Order Against "Settler Violence"

 Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich writes about the Biden executive order: “The new sanctions tools against Israelis announced by the Biden Administration is not about settler violence. First, it does not require acts of violence – anyone vaguely involved in doing or not doing anything the White House thinks undermines “peace” and “security” in Judea and Samaria (J&S) qualifies.”

“As to violence, the language of the Order applies to anyone complicit in acts of violence in J&S – which should mean the entire PA government should have their accounts frozen because of Pay-for-Slay, which federal law has already determined to be complicity in violence. But we know that won’t happen, because this is really a set of sanctions on Jews the Administration doesn’t like – a revolting response to Oct. 7…”

The next problem is with the invective term “settler violence” itself, as it implies that violence by “settlers,” Jews living in Judea & Samaria, is commonplace and a serious problem.

Not new, this term is a highly politicized attempt to delegitimize Jews living in Judea & Samaria, which the Biden Administration would prefer to see form the heart of a Palestinian state. We heard about “settler violence” with regard to an announcement by the US that visas would be denied to “violent” settlers. Now Biden has elevated the response.

The problem is that there is no major problem of “settler violence”! Some 99.9% of the Jews living in Judea & Samaria are peaceful. See http://tinyurl.com/ywjam3fb  

An excellent example of an incident against Jews that is represented as action by Jews against Arabs occurred last weekend: “A group calling itself ‘Staring into the Eyes of the Occupation’ on Saturday provided a stunning example of the blood libel that’s being created in collaboration between Arab terrorists, Israeli anti-Zionist NGOs, and the Biden administration, depicting ‘Settler violence.’

“On Saturday, Jewish farmers, alongside the Israel Police and the IDF found and retrieved a herd of sheep that had been stolen by Bedouins. Throughout the event, the thieving Bedouins threw stones at the rightful owners of the herd, and anarchists took pictures.

“A tweet by the anarchists intended for Biden and the White House: ‘Armed settlers invade barns to loot sheep under the auspices of the security forces.’” See http://tinyurl.com/3yb9n43p. Lies, Lies. and more lies.

 

Sacred Letters from Heaven

 When people leave this world, we mourn their passing and grieve their loss. When people die suddenly and tragically, we’re left wondering how they died and in what state of mind.

During the  war in Gaza, families have received some degree of comfort by hearing voices of fallen soldiers speaking from heaven. Letters they wrote and left behind in the case that they should fall in battle tell us their final thoughts. These heartbreaking voices of the heroes who left us too young tell us much about our world, our culture, our value system, while reminding us about everything that is good and honorable about our people.

For the families of those fallen soldiers, these final thoughts provide solace and comfort; for the rest of us, they provide inspiration. What do these letters say about our soldiers and our society?

Celebrating Life

First and foremost, the letters celebrate life rather than glorifying death. They were written with uncommon poise and remarkable courage given the risk of death. The soldiers encouraged their families to celebrate their lives rather than sink into despair over their deaths. While we aspire to life, and hope to live long lives based on our values, we are prepared to die for them if the situation demands. Jewish martyrdom doesn’t worship death, but ennobles life.

The Historical Moment

Second, many of the letters acknowledge the magnitude of this historical moment. Fallen soldier Rabbi Elkanah Weisel, z’l, expressed a similar historical vision when he wrote, “We are a redeemed generation, and we are composing the most dramatic moments of Jewish history.” The exquisite letters exude a lofty transcendence, recognizing that the war and their tragic deaths are a small part of a larger, more eternal historical narrative.

Living In Two Worlds

None of the letters, even those written by religious soldiers, mentions the afterlife. Judaism envisions a delicate union between this world and the next. We build our spiritual identity in this world and maintain spiritual experience in the next world without the obstacles this world poses. We build Heaven on Earth and take it with us when we die. Viewing afterlife as a “result” rather than a “reward” fastens us to this world. These heartfelt letters, composed by people on their way to the next world, are still firmly grounded in this world.

Selfless Letters

Finally, the letters are completely selfless, providing comfort for the families who may be facing a crushing loss. Chillingly, the soldiers explicitly forbid any prisoner exchange should they be taken hostage. Well aware of the horrific treatment of hostages, the soldiers put the welfare of their country above their own.

These are sacred letters of life, historical consciousness, and selflessness. May the memory of the heroic martyrs be a merit for our people and may we endeavor to make them proud.

Israel’s Progess in Gaza

 For full article go to http://tinyurl.com/2uy84s33

The war is far from over, but Hamas’s southern stronghold of Khan Younis is falling. Civilians have streamed out and Hamas’s remaining forces in the city’s west are encircled. They face an Israeli advance on all sides, and Israel is now fighting above and below ground in force.

Consider that the 2016-17 battle of Mosul against ISIS took nine months. “Mosul,” writes John Spencer, chief of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, “was one battle, in one city against 3 to 5k militants with limited defenses. Israel is fighting multiple battles in 7 cities against 30k militants with military grade underground cities built under civilian areas.”

Israel needs time to achieve victory, and Hamas is counting on Western powers to deny it that time. The “CNN strategy” of using human shields to gain media sympathy has worked every time so far for Hamas.

Israel believes it has killed, incapacitated or arrested some 20,000 of Hamas’s 30,000 men and dismantled 18 of Hamas’s 24 Gaza combat battalions. The losses have prevented Hamas from mounting military maneuvers and quieted its rocket fire, down more than 95% from the war’s early days.

The Biden Administration is using that domestic pressure as diplomatic leverage to promote a hostage deal and long pause in the war that it hopes will become a cease-fire. Never mind that leaving Hamas in control of territory is the definition of Israeli defeat. No matter the length of the pause, Israel would likely have to resume fighting afterward.

That may be why Hamas has resisted the U.S. pause and hostage-deal proposal and instead demands a cease-fire guarantee that Israel can’t give. Recall that Hamas consented to the first hostage deal after Israel took Gaza City faster than anticipated. An Israeli advance now could push the terrorists to Rafah, Hamas’s last major refuge, at the edge of Gaza.

Once Hamas’s last brigades are defeated, it will take time to sweep Gaza for terrorist cells and infrastructure. Israel is clearing urban terrain and tunnels at a “historic pace,” Mr. Spencer writes, but the tunnels are vast and soldiers are finding munitions in home after home.

Israel’s task for 2024 is to finish the job, but will U.S. political support hold? The Biden Administration, despite its second-guessing, continues to provide munitions and diplomatic cover that it would have a hard time withdrawing. The latest Harvard CAPS-Harris poll finds that large majorities of Americans support Israel and its war aims.

Europe’s elected leaders are also holding the line, and no Arab state has quit the Abraham Accords. Only Iran, which has escalated its regional war against the U.S., applies pressure. Even the United Nations International Court of Justice balked at ordering a cease-fire.

Winning the war doesn’t guarantee winning the peace afterward, but it is essential for a secure Israel and a chance for Palestinians to have a normal life in Gaza.