The Jewish nation was mistaken in thinking that they had left the horrors of the Holocaust behind them on European soil. On the morning of October 7, 2023, everything became topsy-turvy. A thoroughly planned massacre was unleashed by the Gaza Strip’s Arabs against the people of Israel. They slaughtered, raped, and beheaded children – not holding back from any inhumane act.
In the first days following the massacre, I visited the southern communities. The sights and the horrors taught me that the terrorists in Gaza could be the mentors for ISIS.
Despite the astonishment, these horrors cannot be described as a surprise. Anyone who has monitored the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in recent years, who opened their official Education Ministry textbooks, listened to their official media, and the words emanating from their religious and political leaders, might have been surprised by the timing and scope of their military capabilities, but not by the actions themselves. Those who live here and hear the incitement from the mosques every week were not surprised.
The real surprise came precisely from our friends overseas. While the State of Israel is fighting for its existence like sheep among a pack of wolves in the Middle East, the US administration, led by the president, chose at this time to impose a calamity on the State of Israel and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
This foolish and outdated act is being pushed by the US as if the Palestinian terrorist state, established in Gaza at the initiative of Israel and with America’s blessing 19 years ago, did not explode in our faces. The establishment of a Palestinian state will mirror the Gaza model and bring the savages of Hamas and Fatah closer to our homes in Judea and Samaria, and only 20 km. from Tel Aviv.
Israel's need for weapons is being exploited by US
The establishment of a Palestinian state after the October 7 massacre by Hamas is an enormous danger to Israel’s existence and a moral disgrace. The American administration is pushing to realize the vision of Hamas terrorists who targeted the communities in the South with the aim of murdering Jews and establishing a state. In return, they are rewarded as the powerful Americans are working on their behalf, as they continue to fight over all of Israel, hoping for its destruction.
Imagine if the US would recognize al-Qaeda’s sovereignty over Central Park following the 9/11 attacks, an idea that did not cross the minds of any Americans, yet this is the type of logic they are holding over Israel’s head.
IT CANNOT be that Israel’s existential need for American weapons is being exploited by the administration and held over the Jewish state’s head, which could lead to the next October 7 tragedy.
The Israeli people are grateful for the American aid in providing ammunition and in the political arena. But the State of Israel is more deserving of a bigger “thank you.” Israel fights alone on the frontlines against the global forces of evil who know their way to New York’s skyscrapers.
US assistance to the Jewish people for self-defense against those who are working to destroy them stems from a moral position. More important than Israel receiving planes and bombs, the United States needs to be an active partner out of a sense of morality.
And if this were not enough of a blow for Israel, the United States under President Joe Biden is promoting further measures against Israel in a time of war. The president recently signed a draconian executive order that imposes unprecedented sanctions against those who think differently from the American administration regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Without trial and evidence, the US tramples on the most basic values of human rights and freedom, and does so even while blatantly interfering and trampling on the sovereignty of the State of Israel.
The executive order is not only skewed and immoral, it is embarrassing. The “settler violence” campaign turned out to be fake news that the administration fell for. The insistence that government representatives not get to know the area, and not to talk to those who live here, brings about such charlatan decisions.
The political strangulation plan of the US administration that forces Israel to establish a Palestinian state must be stopped, and the weapon that has been pressed on the temple of the free world’s greatest friend in the Middle East must be lowered.
The writer is chairman of the Yesha Council.