Time to open our eyes to reality
This op-ed has caused me great pain in writing, and I am sure it will have a similar effect on many readers.
Gil Solomon
In spite of the fact that Israel has now been subjected to a massive missile barrage from Iran which it overcame with its defence systems, the Jewish nation is now being advised by the usual array of Western countries, led by the US, which urge restraint! What is Israel waiting for – to restrain itself until it depletes its missile defence stockpile to the point it is defenceless?
Showing its true colours, the Biden Administration declared its “ironclad” support for Israel while it was under attack but subsequently declared that if Israel retaliated instead of showing “due restraint”, then Israel “would be on its own”. Sadly, other Western countries have disgustingly followed this lead and called for restraint. The Jewish world should urgently wake up to the fact that it has no true allies, period.
Israel has lost momentum in the war against Hamas due primarily to fighting a war with self-imposed restrictions that no other country on this planet would, from the outset, impose upon itself. Israel has delayed its military operations from the outset and, by doing so, has allowed Hamas to win the propaganda war and who knows what else. I am sick and tired of hearing well-meaning gentiles proudly proclaiming what a moral army Israel has and seeing Western Jews beaming with delight at hearing those nonsensical words. This self-imposed morality could see many Israelis killed.
The insanity of Israel giving warnings of an impending attack on a vicious enemy is something no country would ever remotely contemplate, simply for the reason that the terrorists will be the first to flee, leaving any civilians (innocent or otherwise) they may be hiding behind to fend for themselves. To then risk the lives of ground troops to kill those same terrorists who were initially in the crosshairs is incomprehensible. Then to announce the date of a supposed invasion of Rafah or wherever, compounded by a commitment to give the US a detailed operational plan in advance, is bound to cause the unnecessary deaths of many young soldiers of the IDF.
Time and time again, for seven decades, Israel fights its wars to an imposed ceasefire, never to the unconditional surrender of the enemy. It is clear that at the behest of Western Governments, mainly the US, the Gentile world cannot allow those pesky Jews to ever have victory and worst of all, Israel has for seven decades bowed to this dogma. It is obvious that Jews make the best enemy that a terrorist combatant could ever dream of. They will always leave the antagonist with the ability to rise and fight another day. Even to this day, the “Palestinians” receive electricity by courtesy of the Israeli grid, a courtesy showered upon them all those years while they built kilometres of tunnels throughout the length and breadth of Gaza. As this is war, the days of unfettered access to electricity must end. This war being an existential threat, Israel must seek no less than the unconditional surrender of the enemy and ignore the incessant ranting of Western nations.
As one example of international interference, I refer to the tragic accidental death of an Australian civilian volunteer killed in Gaza. The Australian Foreign Minister has demonised Israel for a tragedy that has taken place in virtually every war zone. However, what is particularly galling is the demand for an investigation of possible war crimes committed by Israel! While this comment is an utter disgrace in its absurdity, what is additionally disgraceful, however, is for the Jewish nation to even indulge this woman in dialogue on this issue while in the middle of a war!
Western Jewish “supposed” leadership, too, does not appear to have a backbone.
They generally speak in politically correct terms, never calling a spade a spade for fear of offending anyone. If not now, then when will Jews worldwide ever realise that barring a 180-degree turnaround, the political Left is no friend of theirs?
One might ask where Israel’s Hasbarah is.
While Israel claims to have killed over 13,000 or more terrorists, Hamas claims over 30,000 civilian deaths “mainly women and children”. What about the men? Why is it only knowledgeable Gentiles who point out the absurdity of Hamas figures which are quoted verbatim by the world media?
Then there is the absurdity of what transpires in the “democracy” of the Jewish nation.
The Left in Israel is using the tragedy of the hostage situation to demonstrate in the thousands the implementation of their political agenda, that is the overthrow of the elected Netanyahu Government. By doing so, they are aiding and abetting the Biden Administration’s attempt at installing a leader more inclined to abide by US dictates and in the process showing reckless disregard to their nation’s survival. One could argue that the Israeli Left is courting treason.
Recently, the Supreme Court of Israel has given the Government a deadline to demonstrate it has taken steps to increase the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza. The case has been brought by NGOs that accuse Israel of restricting entry of relief items and failing to provide basic necessities.
Who are these NGOs?
Why are they being allowed to even operate in Israel?
This is the same Supreme Court that appoints Leftist lawyers from within the Israeli legal fraternity to replace those on the bench who die or retire in office. It is an organisation only accountable to itself and is well overdue an overhaul.
Putting it bluntly, it is time for the Israeli Supreme Court to be brought to heel.
We often hear world leaders and media representatives repeat that patronizing and demeaning mantra: “Israel has the right to defend itself”. Of course Israel has the right to defend itself, as does any other country, but which nation on this planet is spoken to in this disgraceful manner? Unfortunately, never once have I heard any Israeli leader ever expressing outrage at this statement. It will take only one and the Diaspora will follow. To my astonishment, Diaspora Jews worldwide repeat that nauseating phrase: “We have the right to defend ourselves”, as if pleading for understanding from world masses who in the majority understand nothing but the propaganda they’ve been fed.
By accepting condescending statements such as this, without challenge or outrage, Israel is at a disadvantage on the world stage as Western countries feel at liberty to repeat this mantra at every opportunity. Many world leaders have a habit of building these or similar words into many speeches: “While Israel has the right to defend itself it nevertheless must abide by the rules of war” etc. etc. ad nauseam. Who do these people think they are to lecture Israel about the rules of war or anything else for that matter?
We constantly hear the expression “The State of Israel”.
To me, the word “State” has demeaning connotations in the English-speaking world. What other country on this planet is referred to and refers to itself as the State of…….?
To be referred to as a “State” implies a not quite equal status with other nations, implying some benevolent authority has graciously bestowed a degree of autonomy to Israel.
It is time that Israelis and Diaspora Jews refer to Israel as Israel, period.
The issue of allowing hostile networks into Israel to report and comment on anything they wish in a time of war and from anywhere they choose, regardless of the accuracy of the commentary, is mind-boggling and reflects the naivete of a nation of Jews who think they will receive a fair commentary by the world press. To the best of my knowledge and belief no country on this planet would tolerate this nonsense.
The Western media and the public, including many Jews, speak about “Palestine” with most having no clue of history. Below is a brief historical reality.
In 960 BC King Solomon constructed the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar around 586 BC. A second Temple was built on the exact same site around 520 BC, but this was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 AD.
The “Arch of Titus” that can be seen today in the Roman Forum in Italy depicts the sacking of Jerusalem with Jewish slaves transporting artefacts like a Menorah back to Rome. In this regard, it is a tragedy of immense proportions that the issue of stolen Jewish artifacts from the time of the destruction of the 2nd Temple has not been aired publicly by any Jewish organization in the Diaspora or even by any Government of Israel. The Vatican needs to be publicly shamed into opening its vaults for historical scholars to inspect all they contain as it relates to the 2nd Temple period. It is time we demand to know what, if anything, the Vatican still holds that belong to the Jewish people and must be returned. Why has the Jewish world been silent on this issue for decades?
What is wrong with us?
Centuries after the destruction of the 2nd Temple, the Dome of the Rock Mosque was built around 685 AD on the exact same site where both Temples stood. Yet this holiest piece of real estate in all of Judaism, known as the Temple Mount, has been allowed since 1967, after the 6-day war, to remain in the hands of the Muslim WAQF!
Thus, the claim of Jewish sovereignty to the land of Israel is clearly established by the historical record – Jewish and only Jewish well before the birth of Christianity or Islam.
After the 2nd Temple’s destruction in 70 AD, the Romans named the entire area Philistia to rub salt into the wounds of the defeated Jews by naming the entire Jewish homeland incorporating Judea and Samaria (the West Bank as commonly known today) in honour of the Jews’ ancient enemies, the Philistines – A people who were not native to the Middle East but who came from around Greece and the Greek Islands.
Many centuries later Philistia was anglicised to Palestine. Immediately following World War 2, to be referred to as a Palestinian implied that one was Jewish. It was Yasser Arafat, the PLO leader, who took it upon himself to commandeer the term Palestinian as a term reserved solely for himself and his band of PLO terrorists and followers.
Some of today’s “Palestinians” claim they were descendants of the Philistines with no apparent historical, geographical or cultural evidence supporting this claim. If today’s “Palestinians” had a country that was stolen from them to make way for the establishment of Israel, then:
Where were the country’s borders?
Who were its Rulers?
What currency did they use?
Again, where is Israeli Hasbarah?
Does it even exist?
Gil Solomon is a retired Finance Manager
