The American Spectator

At Large

(Page 3 of 3)

br> /blockquote> br> As noted, change boils down to blaming Israel for the actions of Hamas and Islamic hatred of Israel. p>Here's Daniel Levy blaming terrorism and genocidal acts on...Israel, of course: br> /p>

There is also very strong case to be made that the endless humiliations of the occupation and its manifestations in checkpoints, closures, military raids, and sonic boom over flights, etch a more powerful image into a young Palestinian conscience than words occasionally heard on unpopular TV stations or on a mosque on a Friday.

SETTING ASIDE THE "blame Israel first" approach of these groups, what exactly would their Carteresque approach to negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas accomplish? These groups call for UN forces or a "robust" international military presence. A good example can be drawn from the recent ceasefire in Lebanon. Since the UN forces entered Lebanon, Hezbollah has been rearming itself with tons of weapons, including Russian-made antitank missiles, short- and long-range rockets, small arms, mines, and ammunition. Hezbollah now has substantially more rockets in its arsenal than the 14,000 it had before the conflict -- likely more than double that number.

Similarly, each time a ceasefire has taken place in Gaza, Hamas has re-armed and re-grouped for its next round of attacks on Israel, courtesy of Iran. As David Hazony has pointed out, thanks to Iranian cash and training, Hamas now has a terrorist Army equal to Hezbollah. The al Qaeda presence has grown with Iranian assent. Hamas functions as an arm of Iran. It exists so that there will be another front against Israel's Western flank, to parallel the one up north.

Which is exactly the strategic vision that binds Jimmy Carter and his supporters on the Jewish Left. To them, Israel's ultimate configuration, demographic, strategic, political, should be decided by others than the Israeli people -- especially those despicable settlers and Orthodox -- who are obviously too stubborn to know what's best for regional peace.

But there is also something else growing. Groups like the IPF consist of Jews who feel uncomfortable with a powerful Jewish state instead of a scattered and battered Jewish people. They wish to reduce Israel into an extension of the Jewish Diaspora, assimilated and marginally committed to Jewish continuity. They rush to defend Israel's most venal critics. But worst of all, to paraphrase Mitchell Cohen in Dissent magazine, there is nothing Hamas does that they ultimately don't blame on Israel. That's an enslavement of a totally different type to contemplate during Passover.

topics:
Foreign Policy, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Islam, Books, Military, Iran, Russia, Israel, Oil