Israel is fighting for YOU

These idiot Christians and Jews who do not understand Hamas/Isis/Hezbollah want them dead too, and that Israel is fighting these monsters FOR THEM. Israel’s fight today will be yours tomorrow By Ron Prosor July 31, 2014 | 5:11am Israel ambass. to UN In 1968, three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an Israel-bound El Al flight, diverting it to Algiers. It was one of the first terrorist hijackings in modern history. In response, Israel implemented a wave of unprecedented airport security reforms — including luggage checks and individual passenger screenings. For its efforts to protect passengers, Israel was scorned by the liberal elite for putting innocent travelers through an invasive and burdensome ordeal. Thirty-three years later, al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four US planes, crashing two into the World Trade Center. Today, Israel’s once-“insensitive” policies have become the standard procedure in every airport across the globe. In its short history, Israel has repeatedly confronted the moral dilemmas that go hand-in-hand with combating terrorism long before the rest of the world has woken up to the threat. Time and again, the international community has condemned Israel for its measures to protect its citizens, and time and again the international community has found itself adopting these same measures when the danger eventually hits home. Today, Israel is again under attack — both by Hamas and by the supposed liberals who find it easier to rationalize the actions of a terrorist group than defend a democratic nation. They employ a “yes, but” retort: “Yes, Hamas calls for Israel’s destruction, fires rockets at Israeli cities and kidnaps Israeli teens, but Israel brought this on itself.” It’s time to abandon the romantic notion of Hamas as “freedom fighters.” It should be clear by now that it is a radical terror organization with a global extremist Islamic agenda. In Gaza, nothing is off-limits for Hamas — not hospitals, where Hamas sets up command centers, and certainly not UN schools, where stores of rockets have been found in recent days. Below Gaza’s nurseries and nursing homes, Hamas has built a vast underground complex of terror tunnels that lead to the doorsteps of Israeli communities. For years, the international community believed that it was sending aid to assist the Palestinian people in Gaza. Hamas instead poured these funds into its underground terror operations. Any faith in Hamas by the liberal elite should have vanished the moment it became clear that Hamas has been exploiting houses of faith and other civilian sanctuaries to conceal its terror tunnels. Rather than expose Hamas’ duplicity, the media often fuel Hamas’ cycle of violence. Exploiting the news trope of “If it bleeds, it leads,” Hamas deliberately fires rockets at Israel from narrow alleys between mosques and clinics and elementary schools. When Israel responds to defend its citizens, the media reflexively broadcast images of dead Palestinians and grieving mothers — omitting the fact that Hamas intentionally put them in harm’s way. This leads to an outpouring of condemnation against Israel and gives Hamas powerful incentive to continue endangering civilians. In a region filled with complexities, at least one equation is simple: When it is quiet in Israel, it will be quiet in Gaza. Hamas, however, employs an entirely different calculation. It’s using its own people as human shields to rack up Palestinian casualties and win sympathy. There is nothing noble or responsible in suggesting a moral equivalence between a democratic nation and a terrorist group because of an unequal casualty count. What moral code demands that Israel be punished simply because Hamas has failed to commit the mass murder it intended? And, again, all this misses the real story: The Islamist terrorist threat that Israel faces today is not isolated or localized. From Boston to Brussels to Benghazi, extremists have brought their war to our skyscrapers, schools and subways. Groups like ISIS, al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hezbollah and Hamas all share a disdain for democracies, a contempt for modernity and a determination to destroy our way of life. Israel is on the frontline of this global war, facing phenomena that other Western democracies have yet to confront. Make no mistake, Israel’s battle today will determine how we all live tomorrow. Ron Prosor is Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.