Sunday, August 04, 2024

Netanyahu, Shukr, and Haniyeh

Fuad Shukr and Ismail Haniyeh are now in Hell where they belong (India Today)
There has been a lot of handwringing about Israel’s assassination of two top terrorist leaders: Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr and Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh. But not by me. I could not be happier that 2 of the worst terrorists on the face of the planet  - both of whom have pledged as their priority the destruction of Israel are currently in hell where they belong. 

Those who say that Hamas leader Haniyeh was a moderate compared to his partner, Sinwar - have a strange definition of moderate. It's like saying Adolf Eichmann was a moderate compared to Adolf Hitler.

Thank you, Prime Minster Netanyahu, for your determined and sustained  efforts in protecting the Jewish people.

It does not surprise me in the least that those criticizing these assassinations the most - are doing so because Netanyahu ordered it. Repeating the mantra that he did it for his own personal reasons. To which they attribute everything he does. If Netanyahu was responsible for a permanent peace between Arabs and Jews, they would find fault with it. 

I am so sick of people saying/ that everything Israel's prime minister does - he does for personal reasons and could not care less that it hurts Israelis, and Jews all over the world. Almost as though he  ordered Hamas to attack on October 7th so he could have the issue and thereby prolong his tenure as prime minister. 

Blame Netanyahu for everything all the time is just about what the anti Netanyahu narrative has descended to and I just do not buy it. That is no less a lie than saying the 2020 US election for president was stolen.  But  I digress. Point being that under his leadership Hamas leadership is being decimated. 

But... OK. What is the handwringing all about? I believe it is being done primarily by two  factions. One of which cannot be blamed and the other of which is at best naively political - if not downright blatantly anti Netanyahu

The families of the hostages are understandably upset by at least one of those assassinations. Ismail Haniyeh is the political head of Hamas and approved the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. And approved the kidnapping of those very hostages as well. 

Why then would they be upset that he was killed? Because he was supposedly the chief negotiator with Israel for the release of those hostages. And now he's gone! Leaving those negotiations in limbo.  The mainstream media has been reporting for some time now that hostages were on the precipice of being released based upon a deal that both sides agreed to with only some minor details to be ironed out. 

Problem is that I've been hearing that we are on the brink of a deal for many weeks now. I doubt we are on the precipice of anything except disappointment and more suffering for the hostages and their families. But I still can't blame them for feeling betrayed. 

Bearing that in mind, not taking the opportunity to blowup 2 of the worst pieces of human garbage that ever walked the plant - terrorist leaders who are responsible for untold numbers of innocent deaths would have been a mistake of epic proportion in my view. I just hope more of the same is coming.

The other handwringers are US liberal politicians, pundits, and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media. They say they fear an escalation in the hostilities that could lead to a much wider conflict. Which might lead to US boots on the ground to protect Israel in a 3 front war (Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran).  

But none of the main actors want this to happen. Not Israel. Not Hamas. Not Hezbollah And not Iran. The price of all out war is too high. The terrorist actors like to talk tough about wiping Israel off the map. But they know it can’t happen and any war attempting to do that would result in massive civilian casualties among their people. And probably drive Iran into the dark ages. Sure they would inflict serious damage to Israel with many Jewish casualties. 

But Israel would survive and the damage their own people would suffer would not be worth the pain they would inflict upon the Jewish people without their goal being realized. The terrorist entities have all promised retaliation. But my guess is that it will be short of anything that would escalate into an all out war. 

At this point, I would be remiss in not thanking the Biden administration for the following  as reported here:

“To maintain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East, the Secretary has ordered the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, currently on deployment in the Central Command area of responsibility,” reads the Pentagon statement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, “has ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command regions. The Department is also taking steps to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense.”

Thank you, Mr. President and Secretary Austin for your continued support in defense of our ally, Israel. I would also like to congratulate the president on his successful negotiations for the release of WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich and other American hostages held by Russia.

A word about the end game that would include a path to a 2 state solution. That is a pipe dream that is no longer realistic or even possible (if it ever was). There is no scenario that would resign Israel’s terrorists enemies to live in permanent peace with her. It goes against one of their most fundamental religious tenets. Which is that Palestine (all of it) is occupied by people that took it by force and enslaved the indigenous Arabs (now calling themselves Palestinians) living there. 

At the core this is what every religious Muslim believes. Even the so-called moderates who could be convinced to live side by side in peace. But moderates are not the ones running the show. Never were. And even they would not be unhappy if :Palestinian terrorists could somehow achieve that goal - restoring all of Palestine to its rightful owners. 

A two state solution is not possible with people that believe that Israel’s occupation of the entirely of ‘Palestine’ - from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - is illegal. And that as a religious imperative must eventually be removed.

This is what their terrorist leaders in Gaza and Lebanon are fighting for. And what Iran fully supports They do not believe in delaying things with a 2 state solution. They believe in taking it over by force in armed struggle with the Zionist enemy. Whatever it takes. Including planned events  like October 7th

They will never accept a 2 state solution except as a very short and very temporary step towards their final solution: Getting rid of the Jews in Palestine.  They live and work for the that day that this will  soon happen so that Palestine can be restored to its rightful owners. They do not  keep that a secret. They say it openly.  

This was yet again made abundantly clear last week on PBS where a rather mild mannered Hezbollah official  was interviewed in Lebanon. He said all the right things about not wanting to go to war with Israel and that the Lebanese people just want to live in peace. But when the subject of Israel came up, he just as plainly said that Israel occupies Palestine illegally and that ultimately it must be restored to its rightful owners the Palestinians. 

So those that think two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian is the solution to the conflict, wake up. It is not. Never was and never will be. What Israel is supposed to do in the meantime. I don't know. But a two state solution ain’t it.