A War And Then A Wall [FROM AUGUST 2001]

Jewish World Review ^ | August 17, 2001 | George Will

[beaversmom]

AMONG reasonable people, who are now impervious to the diplomats' anesthetizing imbecilities about "preserving" the Middle East "peace process," there is a crystallizing consensus: Israel needs a short war and a high wall.

> SNIP <

A short war -- a few days; over before European and American diplomats' appeasement reflexes kick in -- should have four objectives.

First, to kill or capture those terrorists (and those who direct them) whom Arafat has permitted to remain at large, in violation of his Oslo undertaking and of his promise to CIA Director George Tenet after the disco bombing.

Second, to destroy the Palestinian Authority's military infrastructure built up in violation of detailed Oslo restrictions.

Third, to destroy other physical infrastructure useful to the Palestinian Authority, including all newspaper and broadcasting facilities.

Fourth, and most important, to define, with finality, Israel's borders, around which a wall should be built. All of Jerusalem should be within the wall. Israel's seizure of the Palestinian Authority's East Jerusalem headquarters, Orient House, which has been constantly used for political activities forbidden by Oslo, should signal the end of all talk about the indivisibility of Jerusalem.

The State Department, that brackish and bottomless lagoon of obtuseness, where Secretary of State Colin Powell has gone native with disgusting speed, will respond with the rhetoric of moral equivalence -- "both sides" must stop "the cycle of violence" -- to whatever Israel does in self-defense.

> SNIP <

[George] Mitchell cannot be blamed for failing to reconcile irreconcilables. But blame, and complicity in murder, attaches to all those who willfully refuse to recognize the limits of diplomacy and the duty of active self-defense.

[beaversmom]

This article is from August 2001. I know George Will is not thought of highly around these parts. Believe me, I have had my issues over the years with some of the things he has come out with, too. But I was looking at some videos/articles today about the Palestinians, in general, and Shirley Temper, specifically. I had not known about this little demonic dynamo prior to today.

Anyway, this old article is right on the mark. I love the part talking about Colin Powell and his ineffectual (to any solution that would work) and harmful moral equivalency. And I love the ending paragraph.

I'm truly happy that we have a president now that is smart to know the score on all this and courageous enough to speak out and act.

[beaversmom]

And for context, this article was written not long after the terrorist bombing of the pizza place in Jerusalem where a number of civilians, including kids, were killed. It’s mentioned in the article, but article had to be excerpted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_restaurant_suicide_bombing

[4Runner]

Looks like Israel will have another wall long before we get ours. Their voting public isn’t nearly as fractious as ours where no one agrees with anyone else, a hundred languages are spoken, presidents and secretaries of state literally get away with murder, there are 350 million versions of political reality, Mexicans demonstrate in our streets and California elects them to public office, and the taxpayers pay sixteen thousand a semester to send the offspring of border jumpers to state “universities” where they’re taught America is evil DJT’s a racist and they have rights. Trump needs to concentrate on the rot in America. He’s off message with this kind of crap and I think we all know it. Buyer’s remorse. Bannon in 2020. If not, we’ll get Kamala (Obama II) and the whole house will come crashing down. And when that happens the white male will become an extinct species.