Macron’s bad advice for Israel

Before giving advice, it’s always a good idea to ask yourself if this is an option that you, yourself would take. In this particular case, it’s doubtful that French President Emmanuel Macron would take his own bad counsel which he has offered to Israel.

Just yesterday, Macron admonished Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “avoid a cycle of reprisals in the Middle East, as fears of a regional war soar.” These words come amidst Israel’s highest alert as it braces for a multi-front attack that promises to severely punish the Jewish state for the recent targeted killing of several top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders who were responsible for the October 7th massacre as well as many prior vicious terror attacks. 

So, given the greatest tensions ever felt in this existential battle for Israel’s survival, is Macron suggesting that we not respond to a brutal, debilitating offensive by Iran, Lebanon and other proxies, which might launch thousands of rockets and drones into densely populated centers, with the capability of massive casualties and the decimation of infrastructure, housing and whatever they choose to destroy?

Is this well-placed advice that Macron would take if hostile nations were to come against his own citizens and their homeland? Would he follow the “turn the other cheek” rule and chalk it up to an effort to “give peace a chance” by not choosing to respond to their attacks, especially if they were meant as a prelude to the final solution of a world without France?

In the bizarre alternative world of Macron, however, he attempts to be even-handed by also encouraging the Iranians to “avoid a cycle of reprisals that would put the populations and stability of the region at risk.” Does he honestly think that they will consider his counsel? Because if he does, he’s more naïve than those who obstinately and foolishly believe that this conflict is all about Palestinian recognition and their desire to just have a piece of land they could call their own.

“From the river to the sea” is not meant to be a call for the sharing of land. Yet, there continues to be the predictable go-to proposal of a two-state solution whose dedicated crowd never abandons their rose-colored dream of a Middle East where both sides live peaceably and with full cooperation and regard for one another.

Macron conveniently forgets that this failing experiment has never succeeded nor will it, in the future, when one side is wholly dedicated to the eradication of the other. Nonetheless, hope springs eternal for the French president who has not given up the idea that a full-on war can be avoided by just repeating his ineffective and irrelevant mantra, which he feels will be the perfect guidance in preventing the inevitable. 

What he fails to take into consideration is that this showdown has been coming for some time already. It is a centuries-long stand-off, culminating in the prophetic establishment of a homeland, promised by God to the Jewish people who would return, en masse, to the place He intended for them to inherit, per His command. And since that time, jealous and warring factions have tried to undermine and prevent that divine regathering from occurring. 

In effect, Macron’s ineffective earthly wisdom is no match for the divine destiny of the Creator of heaven and earth, which was intended for His chosen people to fulfill their role in the purposes and plans that He determined for the redemption of all mankind. It is this profound understanding, which has escaped the rulers of nations who deign to know more than their Maker.

But it is also the reason that the advice of world leaders falls short from accomplishing the coveted peace, which cannot be realized until the correct alignment of God’s plan is adopted by godless nations and leaders who are unable to grasp the bigger picture of why conflict is always at the heart of the one piece of real estate, which has been at the center of this never-ending battle for millennia.

Yet, putting all that aside, Macron cannot offer advice that he, himself would not heed. Because even he knows that if Israel were to do nothing in a massive attack, their restraint would be translated into a show of weakness, essentially preparing the way for an even greater onslaught that would seek to further cripple and debilitate an already diminished nation whose military capabilities are able to end every offensive just by exercising their might and strength through their advanced weaponry.

It is only the language of power that is understood in this region and the real deterrence of escalation and force that continues to make its periodic cameo appearances in the hope of finally wreaking enough damage on the Jewish homeland. But, again, this proven fact seems to be missing from Macron’s calculations.

In truth, there would be no “cycle of violence or reprisals” if every country would respect and acknowledge the right of Jews to exist in their own land, a decision, which was legally and morally approved by a majority vote of world nations in 1947, following the greatest modern-day coordinated effort to rid the world of the Jewish people through the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. 

Once that insidious plan failed to accomplish the goal, others sought to replace it, the latest of which has been the barbaric and savage massacre that took place on our sovereign soil just ten months ago, causing a worldwide outbreak of the same hatred and animosity, which cannot be assuaged by ill-advised platitudes that will be ignored in any event.

In the end, Israel must do what any respectable nation must do when faced with the threat of hostile enemies who are dedicated to the annihilation of the people with whom they are incapable of accepting. We must protect our citizens, the amazing homeland we have built, and the principles to which we are committed, including mutual respect and regard for others, helping the weak and needy, giving from our abundance, and providing light to those who live in darkness. 

These are the values that our enemies neither possess nor admire and hope to extinguish but, with God’s help, will not be successful in their efforts, because, even with all their power and weaponry, they cannot supersede the strength of the Almighty who is able to return them to the dust from which they were formed.