Life, as the cliche says, is full of surprises. For many years, the media and the academies, unchallenged, treated barbarians and their victims as morally equivalent. Today, their attitudes put them on the fringe, their voices drowned in the outpouring of patriotism by the millions of Americans waving flags throughout the land. The New York Times, still exquisitely sensitive to "root causes," refers to "Mr." bin Laden and "Mr." Arafat, and the usual civil liberties groups are worried about "racial profiling" of Muslims and the dangers to democracy of military tribunals. On the other hand Lawrence Tribe of the Harvard Law School, who defended Gore's challenge to the election victory of George Bush in 2000, is now a staunch defender of the Attorney General. Geraldo Rivera, formerly devoutly even handed between Israel and the PLO, is reporting from Afghanistan, and refers to the Taliban as "the rats" and the United States armed forces as "the good guys." Who would have imagined it?
With respect to Israel, much has changed. Benjamin Netanyahu, a dismal failure in elected office, is outstanding in presenting Israel's case in the West. Except for a vainglorious and false claim that during his tenure as prime minister terrorism abated in Israel, his performance in focusing attention on Arafat's direct involvement in terrorism has been excellent. Furthermore, he highlighted the duplicitous double talk, which speaks of "peace" to the West in English, but incites to murder and genocide in sermons, editorials and newscasts in Arabic. At every opportunity, Netanyahu describes "kindergarten terrorist schools" which extol suicide terrorist acts and schoolbooks which teach hatred of Israel. And the media's response to him has been respectful and thoughtful. Even the European nations have called upon Arafat to rein in terrorists.
Abba Eban used to say the Arabs never failed the opportunity to miss an opportunity. His words apply with at least equal force to Israel.
It is galling that it took the latest atrocities in Jerusalem and Haifa to expose Arafat's role in international terrorism. It is painful that for Israel to be "in," so much blood had to spill. It is dreadful that it took the brutal murders in New York and Washington to make so many aware of and sensitive to Israel's struggle. It is unforgivable that Israel's victims were referred to as "casualties of peace" by Israel's Labor governments.
Thousands of innocent civilians have been victims of Arab terrorists in Israel as well as throughout Europe, South America and Asia. Children in cafes, bus stops and markets and malls were brutally murdered a few months ago. There were daily murders and injuries perpetrated on residents of the towns of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. The PLO's list of terrorist acts matches bin Laden's in scope, purpose, and numbers, but they were largely ignored by the unrelenting practitioners of the "peace" process.
Forgive us our cynicism, but we don't trust the Israeli government to seize this opportunity. They missed it in 1967 when they did not annex Judea, Samaria and Gaza. They missed it in 1973. They missed it by acceding to the Camp David Accords, where they gave up security and strategic depth for flimsy promises. They missed it after the Gulf War with the banishment of Arafat and his disastrous choice in backing Saddam Hussein. Instead of implementing defensive policies they embarked on the disaster of Oslo. Abba Eban used to say that the Arabs never failed the opportunity to miss an opportunity. His words, alas, apply with at least equal force to the Israelis.
On a happier note, on December 11th President Bush commemorated the tragic events of September 11th by standing smack in front of Israel's flag, the Star of David prominently displayed near the president's shoulder. He and the first lady lit a menorah in the White House for the first time in history. As I said, life is full of surprises. On that note, I wish all AFSI members and supporters a happy 2002.
There are recent news reports that former President William Clinton is anxious to burnish his "legacy." We'll leave it to others to discuss his impact on the economy or his efforts to create a more centrist Democratic Party. His role with respect to terrorism is unambiguous. In his obsessive effort to further the "peace process" in the Middle East, he elevated a documented terrorist into a "most favored" statesman who enjoyed unprecedented invitations to the White House. To be fair, it was the Rabin-Peres government that handed the American president the opportunity. However, the president was willfully blind and deaf to Arafat's unrelenting terrorism and violation of every tenet of the Oslo Accords. With the aid of Madeleine Albright, Dennis Ross, Samuel Berger and others, the Clinton government bludgeoned Israel into dangerous and irresponsible concessions--while the PA responded with incitement to violence and increased terrorism.
As Clinton and Co. continued to coddle Arafat, a greater menace was brewing in Sudan and eventually Afghanistan. Serious blunders of the Clinton administration with respect to Al Qaeda and Bin Laden are detailed in a special report in the January issue of Vanity Fair magazine by David Rose titled "The Secret Bin
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Outpost - 10 - January 2002