Israel has been a key strategic partner and close ally of the United States for decades, and has remained committed to the maintenance of a free, liberal-democratic political system in the face of extreme odds. The lone democracy in a region of tyranny deserves the utmost support of the United States, yet there is a cohort of Americans who have deep reservations about Israel, most notably over the Israel-Palestine conflict. The situation is undoubtedly complicated, and it has eluded resolution by some of the world’s best statesmen and women. However, these complications do not justify the increasingly militant anti-Israel sentiment arising on the American and European left. There is an excessive preoccupation with the perceived evil of the Israelis towards the supposedly oppressed Palestinians, and there are growing calls for radical, and in some cases anti-Semitic, policy change. I intend to outline the case for why Israel, rather than deserving our condemnation, deserves our full-fledged support, and why the much-lauded Two State Solution is simply not an option as the situation currently stands. It is essential that the circumstances are clarified, and that the left-wing anti-Israel (and increasingly anti-Semitic) attitude be confronted.
I want to be perfectly clear before entering into the argument: when referring to the ‘Palestinians,’ ‘Arabs,’ or ‘Gazans’ that is in reference to the governing authorities, not to the general population. To tar the entirety of the population of Palestine (or Israel for that matter) would be absurd and wrong. The majority of the Palestinian people are good, well-meaning people, and deserve the utmost respect. What is being criticized are the government, the radicals, the criminals, and the violent. There are flaws in Israel as well, and those will be noted.
The Palestinians are not a separate ethnic group, they are Arabs like those in Jordan, Syria, or Egypt. Palestine was never a country; what tends to be defined as ‘Palestine’ today are simply the regions that Israel took over in the previous wars, be it Gaza or the West Bank. Israel can not be ‘occupying’ those territories, as there are no competing claims to them by any other legitimate country. Therefore the rhetorical tricks Israel’s critics use to try to tar Israel as an occupying power that is somehow violating international law are most often absurd. In the same vein, the idea that the vast majority of Israeli ‘settlements’ are illegal holds little water. Most of the settlements are simply areas where Jewish people live and have existed for many years. While there are some areas that are likely improper, the preponderance of settlements are legitimate.
To better understand the current situation between Israel and Palestine, it is worth analyzing the situation in the two Palestinian regions that effectively govern themselves: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The West Bank is under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is currently led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has been in power since his initial election in 2005, and has refused to allow any elections since then, which should put the lie to any pretensions of an existing Palestinian democracy. Abbas has also been quoted as saying he does not want any Israelis present in any Palestinian nation, meanwhile 20% of Israel is Arab, and Israel has no pretensions of ejecting them. According to Human Rights Watch, the government of the Palestinian Authority routinely engages in the arbitrary arrests, detention, and torture of its citizens. The PA also makes no substantial effort to stamp out widespread support for terrorism. Towns in the West Bank routinely celebrate terrorists and their heinous acts, and go so far as to name streets after them. In 2010, a street on which the house for the President of Palestine was to be built was named after a terrorist, Yihyeh Ayyash, who was responsible for the deaths of over 100 Israelis. In 2015, the town of Surda-Abu Qash named a street after the terrorist Muhannad Halabi, who was also given the distinction of an honorary degree from the Palestinian Authority Bar Association. Most recently, in 2019, a street in Bruqin in the West Bank was named after another terrorist and murderer of two Israelis, Omar Abu Lila. If that is not enough, while Palestinians are quite safe in Israel, Israelis, and Jews in particular, are in serious danger should they enter Palestinian territory. Around the city of Hebron, there are large red signs declaring the danger posed to any Israeli should they exit the highway. If the Palestinian government is looking to convince the world of its worthiness for statehood, its behavior in the West Bank does it no favors.
The Gaza Strip, however, is far worse. The Israelis took the major step of withdrawing from the Gaza Strip completely in 2006, including the removal of all Jewish settlers in the area.This was precisely what the Palestinian activists demanded, and what they now demand for the West Bank. Rather than providing an exemplary case of what a free Palestinian state could do, Gaza became a poster-child for a failed state. Since 2007, the Strip has been governed by the Iran-supported terrorist group Hamas. Hamas explicitly denies the right of Israel to exist, and calls for military action against the State of Israel. As if to back up this goal, Hamas sponsors summer camps in Gaza where males from 15-18 years old are put through military-style training, including live-fire. According to a Hamas official, the intention is to prepare “for the liberation of Palestine.” Similar to the PA, Human Rights Watch documents the consistent use of arbitrary detention and torture by Hamas authorities. Gaza has also been a major player in the incessant terrorist attacks on Israel. Due to the trouble, both Israel and Egypt have maintained an effective blockade on the territory since Hamas took control in 2007. Since 2018 alone, there have been over a thousand rockets fired into Israel from Gaza. In November 2018, Hamas fired 300 rockets into Israel, compelling hundreds of civilians in Israel to find cover. In May 2019, Hamas again fired upwards of 250 rockets into Israel with the same effect, but this time resulting in the death of a civilian. Most recently, on 13 November 2019, after the killing by Israeli forces of the leader of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad that Hamas gives refuge to in Gaza, Hamas fired over 360 rockets into Israel. Further, along the border with Gaza, Hamas, with the help of Iran (which has been providing weaponry and logistical support), consistently build terror tunnels into Israel, to smuggle in arms and terrorists. To think that any rational actor would or should even begin to contemplate the creation of a Palestinian state after the disaster of Gaza is simply absurd.
In 2018-2019, there were major protests along the Gaza-Israel border, which resulted in nearly 200 deaths, and Israel was roundly criticized internationally for its use of force. But it is important to look at the situation in its context. The protests originated in Gaza to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel, and was aimed at retaking the land that Israel occupied. The Israelis had endured two devastating Intifatas before, innumerable terrorist attacks, and during the protests themselves, dozens of fire kites were sent over the border, setting aflame Israeli farmland. Thousands of Gazan protestors wielding slingshots, Molotov cocktails, stones, and other weapons charged the border fence multiple times. It would be ridiculous to contend that the IDF soldiers should have simply allowed them to storm the fence and endanger the lives of Israeli citizens. The IDF is one of the most effective and humane militaries in the world, and it takes extreme efforts to avoid unnecessary casualties. There may have been particular situations where excessive force was used, and those specific cases should be condemned, but those mistakes were the outliers, not the norm. Of course, much of the media took up Hamas’ narrative of ‘peaceful protests’ and an ‘unacceptable’ Israeli response. They repeatedly pointed to the number of youth casualties that occurred as evidence of Israeli malpractice, but fail to recognize that it was Hamas and the protest’s organizers that allowed them to be at the front of the protests. Hamas is well known for using innocent civilians as human shields, and there were many reports of them moving youth and women to the front lines in an attempt to make any IDF response far more difficult.
With the situation in the Palestinian-governed territories outlined, it should be clear why the Israelis deserve the support of the United States and its allies. But it is also worth noting the values that Israel itself offers. Israel is the only liberal-democratic nation in the Middle East, and provides the full range of freedoms that that entails. Its citizens are free to worship as they please, whether they are Jewish, Muslim, or Christian. In fact, Israel is the only country in the region in which the Christian population over the past century has held relatively firm. And contrary to the belief that Israel oppresses its Muslim minority, the Israeli government actually bars Jews from praying at their most holy site, The Temple Mount, which in Islam is known as the Dome of the Rock. Additionally, the Joint List, the exclusively Arab bloc in the Israeli Knesset, holds 13 seats. Beyond religious minorities, Israel provides civil rights for many other groups that are traditionally persecuted or oppressed in the Middle East. It is the only country in the region that actually provides full civil protections for homosexuals, unlike countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia that are known to execute LGBT citizens. However, to present the full story, it is also important to note the failures of Israel. There are documented cases where Israel has arbitrarily arrested many under the auspices of ‘secret evidence,’ which violates the individual’s right to know what crime he or she is being charged of. There are also cases where Israel has been credibly accused of using positional torture, which involves forcing prisoners to be in painful positions for extended periods of time. Human Rights Watch did not mention any incidents of torture by Israel in its World Report 2019 on Israel, however. While the law and civil liberties are respected the vast majority of the time in Israel, there have been exceptions. These cases should not be excused, and are entirely contrary to the values Israel espouses and largely adheres to.
While it would be narcissistic to try to propose any serious solution to this long-standing problem, there are some basic points that can be made. Before there can be any Palestinian state, the Palestinian authorities must halt all terrorist activity, including the glorification of terrorists. Both the PA and Hamas must recognize Israel’s right to exist (which the PA tacitly does, but Hamas certainly does not), and stop supporting violence against the Jewish state. Hamas must cut all ties with Iran and squelch the network of terrorist activity in its borders, as must the PA work harder to break the back of the terrorists in the West Bank. Any Palestinian state must be democratically governed, with free elections, an independent judiciary, and the full array of civil liberties. Both the PA and Hamas must accept the entirety of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, for the city will not be divided. An arrangement must be made for the guaranteed protection of Jews in any Palestinian state. Finally, both Israel and any Palestinian state must allow for free travel between each state for family visits, religious pilgrimages, or other valid reasons, subject to security procedures.
Within this basic framework, there is a viable path to a Palestinian state, but at the moment these requirements are simply not being fulfilled. It is unrealistic to expect Israel to even begin to contemplate accepting a Palestinian state when the Palestinian territories that exist now are in such awful condition, and when hundreds of attacks originate from them every year. Israel has made numerous attempts at peace, and by and large, the Palestinians have proven unwilling to pursue any of them.
To tie this back to the US political situation, it is important to address the growing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views on the American far-left. There is a swell in support on the left for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement in the United States, which is by and large an anti-Semitic movement. To be clear, the policy itself is not anti-Semitic, nor are all those who support it. The BDS movement is meant to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel, Israeli companies, and Israeli products for alleged human rights abuses among other issues towards the Palestinians. In a vacuum, that argument would be as acceptable as any other, albeit based on an incomplete, generally overblown, and one-sided perspective. But nothing in politics can be considered in a vacuum. If the argument is that Israel should be boycotted because of alleged human rights abuses, than the same should be applied to China (which has over 1.2 million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps and regularly persecutes dissidents), Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and so forth. The fact that most BDS supporters are silent on that front leaves their motives in question. If they are unwilling to equally apply their principles, then there has to be some other common denominator to the problem. The only thing that makes Israel unique from every other country is its Jewish religious and ethnic makeup. Again, that does not mean all BDS supporters are anti-Semites, but it does mean that those who support the BDS movement should think long and hard about why they do. Beyond BDS, the increasing acceptance of anti-Semitic rhetoric on the American far-left regarding Israel is deeply concerning. When two sitting members of congress can get away with blatantly anti-Semitic remarks without much more than a belated slap on the wrist and still remain icons of the left-wing, there is reason for worry. Israel deserves America’s support in its endeavors. Of course, any support can never be all-encompassing, but it never has been. As America’s most reliable ally, and ranking among the free nations of the world, Israel is a shining light in a region beset by darkness. The anti-Israel ideals that are permeating the American left-wing must be confronted, for to sit by is to be complacent in the attempted undermining and destruction of the only state where Jews are guaranteed to live freely and safe from persecution. Freedom and liberty are not too much to ask for.