Calming down the world at Israel’s expense

The well-known term – “two-tiered system of justice” – became an expression over the last few years, more commonly referring to U.S. Republicans who were treated differently under the law, often being prosecuted for the same or even lesser infractions, which were perpetrated by their Democratic counterparts, who, almost all of the time, managed to escape prosecution and/or incarceration.

That same term can certainly be applied to Israel when it comes to defending herself, since she is constantly expected to abide by a completely different set of rules than other countries, retreat from the fight, just when she is making military progress and placate a world who only views her as the tyrannical aggressor. 

After initially having received a full-throated, staunch support from our greatest ally, the United States, in the end, they were unable to stand their ground, not waiver or vacillate from their decisive position that Israel, indeed, has a right to defend herself against her enemies. The moment that fickle world sentiment turned in the other direction, so did the Biden administration, weighing the political cost to them, especially once its supporters began to threaten the upcoming election.  

In order to placate the masses, they had to apply pressure on Israel to ease up on the progress that was being made in taking out Hamas terrorists because the world needed to be reassured that Israel was not getting the upper hand. Even though they could no longer claim the imminent danger to Gaza’s civilian population, once a safe passageway was made possible for them to escape the military operation, the pretext became a “pause” in order to facilitate humanitarian aid. But if Gaza is being emptied out of its population, who needs the humanitarian aid – Hamas terrorists?

For lack of a feasible justification, the hostages were invoked as a rationalization to halt the incursion. But with IDF soldiers already having surrounded the city, making their way into the labyrinth of underground tunnels and hiding places that houses the cowardly fighters, the implausible request was roundly rejected by the military, as well as the government, knowing that it would not be in Israel’s best interest to give the enemy the gift of precious time to reorganize and strategize.  

As massive, angry protests spread throughout the world, Israel is now being scolded by governments that are fearful of the growing extreme element embedded within its respective countries, all of which are loath to see Israel make headway. So, it was particularly refreshing to hear the powerful message given by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ,who came to Israel to, as he put it, to see for himself the situation on the ground.  

Perhaps his greatest observation was the resultant moral fog, which he says has descended upon so many who are now incapable of determining good from evil. They are no longer able to call out the obvious and stark differences of terrorism, as opposed to proper military retaliation, in order to deter future attacks on innocent civilians. In that regard, dishonest actors have done their best to deviously create a level playing field in order to camouflage the very lopsided events that have taken place over the last month.  

In fact, some have even rewritten the calendar, skipping from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8, as if Oct. 7 never even took place. But it did, and the realization of beheadings, beatings, torture, cold-blooded murders and kidnappings, as much as protesters would like to pretend didn’t happen, cannot be erased while the stain of evil still cries out for vindication.

When asked why he even came to visit in the midst of the war, he began by describing the events as being “the worst atrocity and massacre of the Jewish people we have seen since the Second World War.” Consequently, he felt it was important to “show his support and solidarity with the people of Israel after such an appalling attack.”  

It was so refreshing to hear a former world leader actually have the courage and moral clarity to call out “barbarism” as being a justifiable reason for Israel’s right to defend herself. 

Similar strong sentiments have also, likewise, been expressed by his successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has not wavered from his resolute support of Israel, for which we are grateful! Neither of these leaders have suggested that we pause our efforts in order to enter into lengthy negotiations with the likes of Qatar terrorist sympathizers who have no incentive to immediately free the hostages or help us rid our borders of these murderous reprobates, and without whom the world would greatly benefit as we facilitate their exit from planet earth. 

How very sad that the leader of the free world is incapable of firmly sticking to what he must know, in his heart, to be the right and moral response toward a nation that is fighting for its very survival, after having experienced the kind of savage slaughter for which the Cossacks and other savage tribes were known to perpetrate on mankind. What must befall the Jewish nation before the leader of the world’s super power is able to stand with unswerving allegiance and say, 'Do whatever needs to be done in order to purge the evil from within your midst?' 

Is there not enough moral clarity and convincing words to be uttered to a muddled world that finds itself in a dense fog of confusion and bewilderment as to what justice and decency look like? Has virtue, ethics and principle gone out of fashion? 

Thank goodness for Boris Johnson who has no difficulty in saying that there is no moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel’s actions to their attacks. Johnson minces no words when he tells protesters to look at the facts and not forget the poor, innocent people from the kibbutzim and the music festival who were entirely blameless civilian targets.  

However, those are, sadly, just inconvenient facts which stubbornly get in the way of making the case for demonizing Israel, so they’re best forgotten and unmentioned. But calming down the world cannot and must not be at Israel’s expense because, to attempt to tie our hands by depicting us as the real monsters who care nothing about innocent lives is only to hasten the day when the lives of all people will be at risk. And, without eradicating the agents of death, that day will come much sooner than everyone thinks.

So, here’s a tidbit to calm down the world in the midst of the thick fog of war. It is not for no reason that our national toast is “L’chaim” – to life, because our own soldiers, as Johnson reminds everyone, are trained to avoid the killing of innocents, even when it is militarily disadvantageous to our war efforts. But that’s who the Jewish people are – those committed to life both in times of war and times of peace!