# 264 – Victory for Palestine

August 8, 2014

I humbly apologise – for 2 main reasons:

1. For writing so much – can’t really stop myself…I feel it’s necessary.

2. For causing a few heart attacks with that headline.

I had 4 subjects in my mind when I decided to write this morning:

1. We have a chance to start the separation of the decent Palestinians from those who have actively been supporting the horror that is Hamas and its fellow-criminals. This could be a victory for the Palestinians against Hamas etc.

1. The audible sigh of relief across Israel this morning that Hadar Goldin, the missing solder is ONLY dead, rather than taken hostage by the terrorists, is a sign of the low level of normality to which these bastards have pulled us. (There are still quiet suspicions that we are not 100% sure of his death, that we are trying to avoid another 5-year Gilad Schalit story – and that we are trying to force Hamas to prove he’s alive. I cannot imagine this is the case..).

Whoever’s in Cairo today, waiting for that empty chair to be filled can just go on waiting. We have listened enough to ‘other people’s terms’ on how to solve ourproblem. (And despite the criticism, our Iron Dome defence system can afford us the opportunity to declare a ceasefire while they still shoot rockets). Whenever – and it is now, in my opinion, a matter of ‘very soon’ – we decide to stop this war, we shall be better able to make decisions which will help us for the future. Because we shall make the decision/s unilaterally.

1. And whenever that is, Hamas (remember, their leaders are living in ‘dire straits’ in Qatar) will announce this as a victory for them. Which illustrates the very different language spoken by them and their friends – Hamasspeak.

But then, I went through my morning paper, and I realised how much more I want to tell the World. For instance:

• 11 Lessons to be learnt before the next war.

• A further reminder of the pathetic a-kissing of the World towards Qatar, and a reminder of who/what that totally non-democratic country is, and how it resembles the tiny state in the 1958 Peter Sellers movie, ‘The Mouse That Roared’.

• Why suddenly did Hamas unexpectedly accept a ceasefire? Is it a coincidence that this was when they came out of a tunnel and attacked Israeli soldiers, killing 2 and capturing Goldin?

• A cartoon, depicting the leader of yet another group of protesters, holding up the usual ‘Death to the Jews’, ‘Hitler was Right’, ‘Christ-killers’ signs, and he’s telling the ‘objective reporter’: “Anti-Semitic? Heavens, No! We’re anti-Zionist. Totally different and completely respectable”.

• You ‘phooey’ this….but I can tell you that this is exactly what an ex-friend of mine, Emil Kaspar, said, when I last met him. He had previously launched a horrible anti-Semitic attack on me – my first real experience of this phenomenon. When we met some 1-2 years later, after I had totally ‘brushed him away’, he offered me his hand, saying almost exactly the above. “Let me know when you’ve changed”, I said to him, over my shoulder.

• 8 ‘Letters’ from overseas readers. Of course, these were the ‘chosen 8’, the newspaper’s prerogative. The 2 ‘negative’ to Israel were the reminder of the hopeless task we have of convincing ‘world opinion’ the difference between right and wrong.

OK – let’s stick 2 just 2 of those subjects:

11 Lessons to be learnt

1. A reminder that Hezbollah in south Lebanon (almost identical history to Gaza) is watching this with great interest. What we are currently having with Hamas is pathetic when compared with what Hezbollah is capable of.

1. Realisation of the strategic importance of Ben-Gurion airport. Close that and Israel is crippled. We can never give up control of the area around Ben-Gurion (which happens to be called the West Bank).

2. Hamas and its proxies ‘learn’ from every war. Next time, our nuclear reactor and the Kyria (equivalent to Pentagon) could be ‘within range’.

1. Propaganda war. As you know, this ‘Letter’ of mine is a minuscule attempt to make people ‘see the light’ about Israel. But the problem is more to cure World opinion’s stubborn deafness and blindness (call it ‘political correctness’) rather than showing them the picture or telling the story.

2. The fight against BDS (Boycott Sanction and Divestment) movement is an offshoot of the propaganda war. As you know, I have some ‘in my camp’ that I first have to ‘unbrainwash’.

1. Support for the ‘demonisation’ of Israel has to be stopped.  We have proven time and again that we want a flourishing Gaza next to us. When Israel abandoned the region in 2005, we left the 30,000 greenhouses standing. No – it was not our bombing that destroyed them…..We cannot allow cement with ‘Made in Israel’ end up as a means to killing us.

1. The security fence with the West Bank worked fantastically. And 5 years after the minute when there is ‘full peace’, it will surely be demolished. Sorry, but the same has to be done with Gaza. Perhaps not a fence. A moat, 70-foot deep and 1 km wide would suffice. A free maximum 10-person ferry service would be operated. I’d be happy to compose ‘The Isle of Gaza’ song.

1. Something has to be done about Europe, which is slipping down a very dangerous slope. Many European countries find it easier to boycott Israel than to face facts. This has to change.

Western naïvete. When will they start learning? When will they stop saying “Why don’t you just stop fighting and sit down and talk peace”? And, something I’ve been saying for many years….if/when this problem is solved, it will only be to illustrate that this is not the problem. It’s just the front line. We’re doing the work for you.

1. Differentiating between anti-Israel progressives and pro-Zionist liberals. In other words, stop this ridiculous and shallow focus on the settlements and occupation, when a) it’s not true, and b) it’s playing into the hands of movements like ‘Muslim Brotherhood’.

2. And as we lose our Western friends, we have to start focusing on our potential new strategic friends, such as China, India, S. Korea, Russia and Japan.

This guy (Eric Mandell, founder of MEPIN, Middle East Political and Information Network), ends with the title of our ‘Final Exam’:

‘In this part of the World, you can never placate an enemy. Please discuss’.

And, my 2nd subject:

Some Hamasspeak definitions

Long term Victory = 1-day closing of Ben-Gurion Airport

Maths of Victory = The more casualties on our side, the better.

Today’s friend = The one I stab tomorrow.

We do not target Israeli Arabs = Secret oxymoron.

Our people have no protection = No room in the tunnels for civilians

Refugee = Refugee

Palestinian Refugee = A person displaced by the (pause…siren… We had to run to the stairwell…WhatsApp check that the kids are OK…) war the Arab countries started, and a status which the World community has decided will continue until Hell freezes over.

Martyr = Someone who does our dirty work for us.

Jihad = Islamic peace

War = Peace

Black = White

World opinion = Our megaphone

Stephen