Until the international community confronts this culture of celebrating violence and death, they will never understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The real question is why do so many Jews accept this state of affairs? Why does Israel accept that it is ok for "Palestinian" Muslims to murder them in the streets, in cafes, on sidewalks, at bus stops, on and on? The proper response is to send the troops into Ramallah, kill the PLO leadership, dismantle the PA, annex all of Judea and Samaria and lock down the "Palestinians" until they emigrate and ensure those that remain behave, without any voting rights in Israel. Then we would not have to worry about the immorality of the West because the Muslims could go on their killing sprees in Britain and Canada and Australia and France and Norway and Spain and Belgium and Germany, all of whom will recognize a dead Palestinian state.
The Israelis were seriously contemplating annexation of the West Bank, but UAE told them it would be the end of the Abraham Accords so Netanyahu said they were dropping the plan.
The Israelis can ignore the UAE. Their objections do not hold a candle to the safety of Israeli citizens. If the UAE cannot stomach Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria let them withdraw from the Abraham Accords if they wish. That will show the Accords are as worthless as the Oslo ones. If Israel shrinks from declaring sovereignty because the UAE objects that is tantamount to giving the Muslims the keys to the kingdom. It also indicates that Jewish trauma is still at work, refusing to sign on to the deal God proposed at Sinai whereby a law-based society will exist in the land of Israel; and the latter in turn means no idol worshippers in the land. Complaining about the world's misunderstanding is useless if we do not understand the situation either.
Let's see if we have this right: The Arab countries which made peace with Israel are now dictating her domestic policy. Not only that, but a country — Saudi Arabia —which not only has no diplomatic relationship with Israel but even refuses to this date to recognize her as a sovereign state is leading the pack.
Not surprised Netanyahu caved. Since Oct. 8th, he has backtracked on many of his declarations about the government's war aims. Of course, US and European allies' periodic forcible arm wrenchings and headlocks may have had something to do with it.
One solution is to allow all Israelis that have served in the IDF to carry firearms when out of uniform and when not on active or reserved duty. Armed civilians can more quickly neutralize such armed attacks by terrorists.
👏👏👏 I wish I could say none of this true, Joshua but it is. You knocked its out of the park yet again with another thoughtful essay. Mainstream media would run this piece if they had any integrity. The problems you discuss here are why I’m glad Bari Weiss will be taking over at CBS News. Because among other things, the murders of Israeli civilians by Palestinian terrorists will finally get coverage. Perhaps, the Palestinian culture that celebrates death will also finally get coverage. This is something people need to understand: the murder of Jews happens nearly every day in Israel. In the privileged West we would be a wreck if the kind of attacks Palestinians perpetrate on Israelis so frequently happened to us. The recent murder of several Israelis was just sadly, par for the course for Israelis. But there was no international outrage. The UN didn’t say a word. Britain, France and Germany aren’t talking about how the Palestinians need to show restraint and stop their terrorism.
Also, what is this headline? “Shooting in “occupied” East Jerusalem” no, East Jerusalem is part of Israel, period! Israel took it back fair and square in the Six-Day War. You know what’s in East Jerusalem? The Wailing Wall, the Temple Mount, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb, and the Old City of Jerusalem. As to the shooting itself, it’s absolutely horrific and the Israeli “occupation” doesn’t justify it. That’s not resistance! Resistance doesn’t involve slaughtering civilians. The 1972 Munich Massacre, the 1974 Ma’alot Massacre, the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, the two Intifadas, snd October 7th weren’t “resistance” either.
The world needs to wake up and see that in the Palestinian Territories they celebrate the murder of Israelis and the terrorist who did it is proclaimed “a martyr.” They’ll hand out sweets to people in the streets after the death of an Israeli soldier or civilian. A good percentage of Gaza’s population supports Hamas and celebrated October 7th as well as 9/11. Hamas and their civilian collaborators acted like it was Ramadan or something when they sent Oded Liftshitz and the Bibas family’s bodies back to Israel. The mainstream media doesn’t cover any of this because it’s inconvenient to the narrative they want to create that the big bad Jews are oppressing the poor, helpless Palestinians.
This culture of celebrating death, for example hoping their children will die in service to their country makes Palestinian parents happy. Remember that Hamas terrorist who on October 7th took a dead Israeli’s cellphone, called his parents and started bragging about how many Jews he killed? That’s a great example right there. His parents were overjoyed at his “accomplishment.” Had they been normal parents they would’ve been disgusted, hung up on him and disowned him. Instead they acted like he had just won the Nobel Prize or something. Or how about when Hamas use children in school or cancer patients in hospitals as human shields? How about when family’s assist Hamas in luring IDF soldiers to their deaths? This kind of stuff is what the West needs to understand is common place with the Palestinians. Ireland, Spain and Norway wouldn’t be so eager to back a Palestinian state if they knew what happens every day in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.
The Palestinian National Movement is and has always beena murder cult in which terrorists are exalted as the greatest heroes. Lately, under the rule of Hamas it has become a death cult as well, reminsicent of Jonestown. Until the rest of the world wakes up and recognizes that this unfortunate people cannot have and for that matter do not want a state this will never end. Any other murderous minority that behaved like the Palestinians do would have been disbursed decades ago.
For my money their "culture" resembles that of the Thuggees of 1800's British India. Glorifying "martyrdom" and killing ARE the predominant features of this so-called "Palestinian culture."
The west does not want to confront the reality that there are people who care so little about life that they’ll teach martyrdom even to children and then go into war just to sacrifice civilians as martyrs. Until western leaders truly grasp that mindset, their policies will fail.
Hamas cares so little about the life of their civilians that they torture and execute them publicly, posting the videos to Telegram to assert their power. Nearly 100 of these videos are documented on this website. We should all be discussing this.
Thank you for illuminating the brutality of "Palestinian" culture. Missing from your discussion, however, was any hint that the religion of Islam has anything to do with their murderous hatred of Jews and Israel. You wrote: "Israel is the front line in a broader war against terrorism", but the broader war is not against terrorism which is only a tactic in the war. The broader war is against JIHAD as mandated by standard Islam as taught and preached in all the mosques.
Until the international community understands that Islam is not a religion of peace, it is difficult to comprehend this psychology, which is completely different from western psychology as we currently know it. I recall Donald Rumsfeld saying that we would be "greeted as liberators" in Iraq - instead we found humanity not much more removed from 10 centuries ago and resentful of us for trying to change them.
For all the screaming about apartheid - here it is - directed at women who live as 3rd class citizens in their black burquas with eyeholes cut into them. Rape and other violence is common place, yet the world wants to project this onto Israel instead of facing the fact that Israel does not commit this violence, but has to live with it everyday. This is not western philosophy or western psychology at work. This is barbarism. This is a death cult where their society encourages their sons (and daughters) to hate and murder Jews, and the UN applauds them, or at best, stays silent. And of course there are the hundreds of sanctions on Israel for simply existing.
How we got to be a world that cheers on terror (Hamas in Palestine) while denouncing Israel after a terror attack there that killed 1200 in Israel is chilling to me. Have we learned nothing from history?
I seriously wonder if humankind is capable of evolving.
If Israel was smart they would totally eliminate Palestine. After they defeat Hamas, they need to expell all Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank and integrate them into Israel. No more Arabs anywhere near Israel. And more importantly, no more Palestine, ever.
Last week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, explicitly forbids us to cut down our enemies’ fruit trees (Deuteronomy 20:19-20). We know this is not the first time Israelis have done so. I am not completely sure myself of all of the reasons why this bothers me so much, but it does. Care to comment?
Excellent piece. But important to add that there are Palestinians who want peace & abhor/blame Hamas - but they are threatened, tortured, and/or must flee.
The real question is why do so many Jews accept this state of affairs? Why does Israel accept that it is ok for "Palestinian" Muslims to murder them in the streets, in cafes, on sidewalks, at bus stops, on and on? The proper response is to send the troops into Ramallah, kill the PLO leadership, dismantle the PA, annex all of Judea and Samaria and lock down the "Palestinians" until they emigrate and ensure those that remain behave, without any voting rights in Israel. Then we would not have to worry about the immorality of the West because the Muslims could go on their killing sprees in Britain and Canada and Australia and France and Norway and Spain and Belgium and Germany, all of whom will recognize a dead Palestinian state.
The Israelis were seriously contemplating annexation of the West Bank, but UAE told them it would be the end of the Abraham Accords so Netanyahu said they were dropping the plan.
The Israelis can ignore the UAE. Their objections do not hold a candle to the safety of Israeli citizens. If the UAE cannot stomach Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria let them withdraw from the Abraham Accords if they wish. That will show the Accords are as worthless as the Oslo ones. If Israel shrinks from declaring sovereignty because the UAE objects that is tantamount to giving the Muslims the keys to the kingdom. It also indicates that Jewish trauma is still at work, refusing to sign on to the deal God proposed at Sinai whereby a law-based society will exist in the land of Israel; and the latter in turn means no idol worshippers in the land. Complaining about the world's misunderstanding is useless if we do not understand the situation either.
Yesterday's attack on the bus underscores it.
I believe that Israel should have sovereignty. It is in the best interest of Israel.
Let's see if we have this right: The Arab countries which made peace with Israel are now dictating her domestic policy. Not only that, but a country — Saudi Arabia —which not only has no diplomatic relationship with Israel but even refuses to this date to recognize her as a sovereign state is leading the pack.
Not surprised Netanyahu caved. Since Oct. 8th, he has backtracked on many of his declarations about the government's war aims. Of course, US and European allies' periodic forcible arm wrenchings and headlocks may have had something to do with it.
One solution is to allow all Israelis that have served in the IDF to carry firearms when out of uniform and when not on active or reserved duty. Armed civilians can more quickly neutralize such armed attacks by terrorists.
They usually do. But after the attack.
👏👏👏 I wish I could say none of this true, Joshua but it is. You knocked its out of the park yet again with another thoughtful essay. Mainstream media would run this piece if they had any integrity. The problems you discuss here are why I’m glad Bari Weiss will be taking over at CBS News. Because among other things, the murders of Israeli civilians by Palestinian terrorists will finally get coverage. Perhaps, the Palestinian culture that celebrates death will also finally get coverage. This is something people need to understand: the murder of Jews happens nearly every day in Israel. In the privileged West we would be a wreck if the kind of attacks Palestinians perpetrate on Israelis so frequently happened to us. The recent murder of several Israelis was just sadly, par for the course for Israelis. But there was no international outrage. The UN didn’t say a word. Britain, France and Germany aren’t talking about how the Palestinians need to show restraint and stop their terrorism.
Also, what is this headline? “Shooting in “occupied” East Jerusalem” no, East Jerusalem is part of Israel, period! Israel took it back fair and square in the Six-Day War. You know what’s in East Jerusalem? The Wailing Wall, the Temple Mount, the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb, and the Old City of Jerusalem. As to the shooting itself, it’s absolutely horrific and the Israeli “occupation” doesn’t justify it. That’s not resistance! Resistance doesn’t involve slaughtering civilians. The 1972 Munich Massacre, the 1974 Ma’alot Massacre, the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, the two Intifadas, snd October 7th weren’t “resistance” either.
The world needs to wake up and see that in the Palestinian Territories they celebrate the murder of Israelis and the terrorist who did it is proclaimed “a martyr.” They’ll hand out sweets to people in the streets after the death of an Israeli soldier or civilian. A good percentage of Gaza’s population supports Hamas and celebrated October 7th as well as 9/11. Hamas and their civilian collaborators acted like it was Ramadan or something when they sent Oded Liftshitz and the Bibas family’s bodies back to Israel. The mainstream media doesn’t cover any of this because it’s inconvenient to the narrative they want to create that the big bad Jews are oppressing the poor, helpless Palestinians.
This culture of celebrating death, for example hoping their children will die in service to their country makes Palestinian parents happy. Remember that Hamas terrorist who on October 7th took a dead Israeli’s cellphone, called his parents and started bragging about how many Jews he killed? That’s a great example right there. His parents were overjoyed at his “accomplishment.” Had they been normal parents they would’ve been disgusted, hung up on him and disowned him. Instead they acted like he had just won the Nobel Prize or something. Or how about when Hamas use children in school or cancer patients in hospitals as human shields? How about when family’s assist Hamas in luring IDF soldiers to their deaths? This kind of stuff is what the West needs to understand is common place with the Palestinians. Ireland, Spain and Norway wouldn’t be so eager to back a Palestinian state if they knew what happens every day in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.
Brilliant article. Best summing up of the Gazan death cult i have read. Thank you
The Palestinian National Movement is and has always beena murder cult in which terrorists are exalted as the greatest heroes. Lately, under the rule of Hamas it has become a death cult as well, reminsicent of Jonestown. Until the rest of the world wakes up and recognizes that this unfortunate people cannot have and for that matter do not want a state this will never end. Any other murderous minority that behaved like the Palestinians do would have been disbursed decades ago.
For my money their "culture" resembles that of the Thuggees of 1800's British India. Glorifying "martyrdom" and killing ARE the predominant features of this so-called "Palestinian culture."
The west does not want to confront the reality that there are people who care so little about life that they’ll teach martyrdom even to children and then go into war just to sacrifice civilians as martyrs. Until western leaders truly grasp that mindset, their policies will fail.
Hamas cares so little about the life of their civilians that they torture and execute them publicly, posting the videos to Telegram to assert their power. Nearly 100 of these videos are documented on this website. We should all be discussing this.
https://www.hamaskillsgaza.com
Thank you for illuminating the brutality of "Palestinian" culture. Missing from your discussion, however, was any hint that the religion of Islam has anything to do with their murderous hatred of Jews and Israel. You wrote: "Israel is the front line in a broader war against terrorism", but the broader war is not against terrorism which is only a tactic in the war. The broader war is against JIHAD as mandated by standard Islam as taught and preached in all the mosques.
Until the international community understands that Islam is not a religion of peace, it is difficult to comprehend this psychology, which is completely different from western psychology as we currently know it. I recall Donald Rumsfeld saying that we would be "greeted as liberators" in Iraq - instead we found humanity not much more removed from 10 centuries ago and resentful of us for trying to change them.
For all the screaming about apartheid - here it is - directed at women who live as 3rd class citizens in their black burquas with eyeholes cut into them. Rape and other violence is common place, yet the world wants to project this onto Israel instead of facing the fact that Israel does not commit this violence, but has to live with it everyday. This is not western philosophy or western psychology at work. This is barbarism. This is a death cult where their society encourages their sons (and daughters) to hate and murder Jews, and the UN applauds them, or at best, stays silent. And of course there are the hundreds of sanctions on Israel for simply existing.
How we got to be a world that cheers on terror (Hamas in Palestine) while denouncing Israel after a terror attack there that killed 1200 in Israel is chilling to me. Have we learned nothing from history?
I seriously wonder if humankind is capable of evolving.
If Israel was smart they would totally eliminate Palestine. After they defeat Hamas, they need to expell all Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank and integrate them into Israel. No more Arabs anywhere near Israel. And more importantly, no more Palestine, ever.
Joshua, I understood that the PA recently stood down from their position of endowing families of terrorists. Is that not the case?
You already know that I agree with almost everything you write, but, could you address the recent destruction of an olive grove in al-Mughayyir by the IDF? https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-said-to-uproot-thousands-of-west-bank-olive-trees-after-palestinian-shooting-attack/
Last week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, explicitly forbids us to cut down our enemies’ fruit trees (Deuteronomy 20:19-20). We know this is not the first time Israelis have done so. I am not completely sure myself of all of the reasons why this bothers me so much, but it does. Care to comment?
They choose death, Israel chooses life.
All you need to know…
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/03/poll-71-of-palestinians-support-october-7-massacre-majority-wants-hamas-returned-to-power-in-gaza/
Excellent piece. But important to add that there are Palestinians who want peace & abhor/blame Hamas - but they are threatened, tortured, and/or must flee.
Did you know that Israel took out the leaders of Hamas in Doha, Qatar this morning?
If you want to understand Palestinian culture then read Mein Kampf