I see that the inestimable Mr. Steyn got my letter.
L
If it is the letter I am thinking of it is posted on his website.
He makes the point that ancient anti-Semitic bigotry is breaking out like a cancer that has metastasized and is now in the process of killing the victim. But in this case, the victim could be all of Western civilization because the cancer now has nuclear weapons.
Hey, Lurker!! Always good to see you. I've always enjoyed our camaraderie on the Libertarian threads, and you'll be happy to know I'm starting to take my armed-citizen responsibilities more seriously than in the past; I've still only one gun in the house, but I've upgraded to .380 ACP. (Okay, stop laughing. I'd rather have a 380 and not need one, than... etc.)
With respect, Israel does have some responsibility here.
If modern Israel is founded upon the ethnic and religious heritage of Ancient Biblical Israel as the religious Zionists claimed, AND/OR if it is founded upon the Legal Rights granted to the "Jewish National Home" in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 as the secular Zionists claimed (read all about it in my Essay, A HISTORY OF BETRAYAL: The Zionist Establishment of Israel), then Israel already enjoys an established Legal Right to Judea and Samaria (i.e., the so-called "West Bank")... and what was good enough for Jordan in 1949, should be good enough for Israel post-1967: ANNEXATION.
It is not at all unconventional, according to the Canonical Rules for Just War, for a Victor of a Defensive War (Israel in 1967) to annex such territories from the Aggressor as are necessary to prevent an Aggressor from initiating War again; this is especially true when the Defender enjoys prior Legal Right to the territory in question, as Israel already does due to the Paris Peace Conference allotments.
By her short-sighted failure to formally ANNEX Judea and Samaria (the so-called "West Bank"), Israel has actually contributed to her own military and public relations problems over the long term.... rather like a cancer patient refusing to undergo Chemotherapy because of the (admittedly brutal) short-term effects, while the malignant tumor grows, and grows, and grows. As long as Judea and Samaria are classed as "occupied territories" (rather than simply Annexing the territories, as did Jordan in 1949), Israel is allowing the fiction of a "Palestinian Nation" to gain international credence and support... year after year, 39 years and counting.
Israel needs to ANNEX Judea and Samaria, and I mean do it tomorrow. Preferably, the day before. Or better yet, 39 years ago. And if she is unwilling to face the international outcry from doing so (if perhaps she has now allowed the "palestinian" tumor to grow too large), then she needs to finish building the Security Wall around the main Jewish settlements and FORMALLY ANNEX at least that portion... and then cut the rest off, period.
The Philistines of the Gaza Strip have, currently, about the same population of Hong Kong Island, with five times the land area. They can either follow the Hong Kong route ("hey, everybody... we're peaceful economic-libertarians -- come do business here!") and survive and prosper, or they can die on the vine.
Israel shouldn't care which... they should "cut and run", walling off Gaza and leaving it to its own devices; and, if the Arabs of the West Bank are unwilling to live with the Jews, then Israel should do the same there.
As long as Israel leaves the Legal Status of the "West Bank" unresolved, her problems with the "West Bank" will also remain... violently, bloodily, unresolved.
Best, OP