An American ally was under attack this week.
Speaking at a rally in northern Gaza on November 5, former Hamas Minister of Religious Endowments Ismail Radwan said on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV that “those who cooperate and collaborate with Israel will be gathered in the Hellfire with the Jews whom Allah transformed into ‘apes and pigs.’”
The former Hamas Minister continued by arguing that “those who normalize relations with the Zionist occupation are the ‘villains of humanity,’ and that Israel is the one and only enemy of the Islamic nation and the Palestinian people.”
One week later, at 9:30 PM on November 12, the station was no longer broadcasting incitement. It was no longer broadcasting hate. It was no longer broadcasting anti-Semitism. Messages from a terrorist group were no longer on air.
The Israeli Air Force demolished the television station in a targeted strike.
This was one of 160 “terror targets” that the IAF struck or brought to rubble following two days of Hamas actions of indiscriminately firing approximately 460 rockets and mortars from Gaza towards Israel’s citizens. Each of these rockets had a goal to maim or kill civilians. Each of these rockets and mortars had a goal to instill fear and terror into Israel’s citizens.
How would President Trump respond if one rocket or mortar was fired by a terrorist group at New York City? At San Francisco? At Miami? At Chicago?
How would President Macron respond if one rocket or mortar was fired by a terrorist group at Paris? At Marseille? At Lyon? At Toulouse?
How would Prime Minister May respond if one rocket or mortar was fired by a terrorist group at London? At Birmingham? At Manchester? At Glasgow?
How would Prime Minister Trudeau respond if one rocket or mortar was fired by a terrorist group at Montreal? At Toronto? At Calgary? At Ottawa?
How would Chancellor Merkel respond if one rocket or mortar was fired by a terrorist group at Berlin? At Hamburg? At Munich?
How would China respond? How would Japan respond? How would Australia respond?
How would you respond if a terrorist tried to blow up your home with your kids in it? What would you expect your kids to say if they were sitting with you in your home’s bomb shelter — that is mandated to be built in all new construction in Israel because the firing of hundreds of rockets or mortars at civilians isn’t an outlier event? How would you respond when one of your infant girls tells her brother that he shouldn’t be afraid, because she’s there with him? Because this is the reality that Israelis live.
An Egyptian-coordinated ceasefire likely prevented a massive war in Gaza. The ceasefire perhaps prevented this war, but it doesn’t prevent the next conflict. It doesn’t prevent Hamas from continuing its terror campaign that inflicts punishment on not just Jews but also Palestinians.
All countries have a right to defend themselves from terror. And no rationale state or person should ever try to justify any form of terror.
The response to these 460 Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or other terror-group fired rockets by the Israeli government wasn’t strong enough for Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. He stepped down from his position and took his party out of the ruling coalition government on November 14 by saying that agreeing to the cease fire was essentially “surrendering to terror.”
Nearly 7,600 miles away from these infants in Israel reassuring their siblings that they’ll survive the latest rocket attack by Hamas is Los Angeles, California.
From November 16-18, UCLA — from the comforts of sunny California — will host a conference from a radical group whose track record insidiously ignores the cause and effect relationship between Hamas and other terror groups poking the bear... This week the poke was 460 rockets and mortars. That’s more than a poke!
The Los Angeles City Council, through a resolution that passed unanimously, asked UCLA to not host the event. The resolution cites members of the group posting “violent anti-Semitic rhetoric on social media, ranging from calling for the annihilation of the Jewish people, to the admiration of Adolf Hitler and hateful calls to ‘kill Jews,’ ‘kill all Zionists,’ and ‘let’s stuff some Jews in the oven.’”
If history repeats itself, this group will not condemn Hamas for firing rockets at civilians.
This group will not promote a fair and balanced perspective of the history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
This group will simply promote bias, hate, and incitement.
Members of the group or speakers may cross the line from speaking against Israel’s policy by making blatant anti-Semitic remarks. The conference will be a distraction because it will ignore the reality on the ground. It will ignore 460 rockets and mortars fired indiscriminately at civilians — each of which is a war crime. It will ignore that fair and just offers of land for peace have been offered and either ignored or not accepted by the Palestinians. It will not bring the Palestinians and the Israelis closer to the negotiating table to bring peace to their people. It will simply divide more Americans in a time when the fractured American public should come closer together with ourselves and with our allies. The conference will ignore the reality that peace will only come to the Palestinians when they accept peace and accept Jewish men and women’s right to their own self-determination.
Jason Langsner is an active member of the American Jewish professional community. Langsner formerly ran the digital strategy for B'nai B'rith International, the Global Voice of the Jewish Community, and participated in the Israel Diplomatic Fellowship program at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. He has been featured in The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, the Israel Video Network, Washington Jewish Week, eJewishPhilanthropy.com, and other publications. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.