In the past week, nearly 20 Israelis have been shot and stabbed — some to death — as Palestinian shooting attacks and rock-throwing at innocent passersby have once again become the norm. There are imams and Arab political leaders who praise the terrorists, brandishing knives at rallies and prayer. Some Palestinians praise what looks like another Intifada. There are banners hung up to honor the “heroes” who murder men, women and children in cold blood; the so-called “martyrs” who use their cars and knives to kill as many Israelis as they can; their “brave” comrades who fight their unholy war. There has been no substantive apology for the barbaric actions of these violent criminals.
If you expect here a digression trying to justify their behavior, or exonerate them because of something irrelevant but important-sounding, or blame Israeli police for taking action to stop them, then prepare to be disappointed. Don’t worry, the New York Times is always at your disposal. Headlines like “Violence Spreads in Israel, Despite Security Crackdown” point to “violence” as the culprit — yet never the violence from the terrorists who perpetrate and glorify it.
This is a simple story, and we have seen it play out before. The world loves to find a victim — and Palestine fits this narrative. The world simply does not care about Israeli deaths. But throw the word “oppression” around and people will rally around any cause. So we see explanations for Palestinian behavior and lengthy diatribes on the historical causes of Palestinian behavior and internet warriors asserting nonsensical rhetoric that is grounded nowhere near reality.
Palestinians in Israel have the full citizenship rights of any other Israeli citizen. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank live in horrific conditions caused by nothing more than the negligence, warmongering and stupidity of Hamas and the governing Palestinian Authority. So spare me your retaliatory attack on Israeli “domination.” And unless you would like to see Israeli citizens regularly stabbing Palestinians in a religious effort to erase that group from the face of the planet — and make no mistake, the complete annihilation of Israel is the stated goal of Palestinian terrorists and their supporters — spare me your rhetoric about “proportional response.”
As a society, the U.S. abhors hate crimes. It is considered unconscionable when “privileged” groups speak and advocate for others louder than those others advocate for themselves. In relation to this conflict, the U.S. is certainly a privileged group — yet many of its citizens defend Palestinians as victims. So why, when Palestinians and Arabs who call for the death of all Jews and avail lone-wolf terrorists of the means to carry out that goal, do we not cry out in anger? Why, when they do not try to justify their actions as anything but violent anti-Semitism, do we?
The Palestinians carrying out these attacks, and the wider Arab world which condones them, do not want American sympathy. They do not even bother with explaining away their actions, yet college students and would-be warriors for social awareness do it for them. Palestinian warmongers have found the sweet spot of advocating one goal — the destruction of Jews, Israel and the West. Yet the terrorists are still defended by a population that flatly ignores or dismisses that goal. As you decry the wall in Jerusalem, a Gaza imam jokes about the wall’s necessity to protect Israelis from the terrorists’ expressed murderous intent — while wielding and waving a knife. As you decry the Israeli military, Palestinian murderers gore an off-duty Israeli soldier with an axe while she waits for her bus home. As you decry Israeli police who shoot them, the terrorists joyously glorify dying for their despicable cause.
It is truly hard to comprehend the human capacity for stupidity. After all, I’d ask the many cause-seeking, self-riling murder apologists, who do you think they will come after when they are done with the Jews?
Let me be clear — violence is not an expression of self or society. These people are not freedom fighters. Every single Palestinian who stabs or shoots or throws rocks at or careens into an Israeli is a terrorist. Every person, Palestinian or otherwise, who openly and loudly condones these murders is a supporter of terrorism. And I hope everybody who would attempt to justify murder in cold blood can sleep well at night.
Freedom fighters do not stab a 14-year-old riding his bike. Terrorists do.
These are murderers who deserve no sympathy from the world. These are criminals without whom the world would be a vastly better place. And as long as there are no apologies for their actions, I will not apologize for Israel. I will not apologize for Israelis. And I will not apologize for my people’s right to exist without the constant threat of a knife in the back.
