Two wars, two standards

Israel Insider ^ | July 28, 2002 | Larry Hall

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Two wars, two standards By Larry Hall July 28, 2002

It is true that Israel and the United States are not fighting the same war on terror. There are many differences.

Israel is fighting for its very physical survival and to prevent the Palestinian terrorists from achieving political gains from their relentless attacks on Israeli targets of every kind.

The United States is not fighting for its physical survival, but to prevent mass terror attacks on its soil and to achieve the defeat of the Islamist movement, which uses terror as a prime strategic weapon against the West.

Israel's war against terror is a war against terrorists, their bases and a supportive population -all of which are located within (at most) half an hour's drive from the country's main population centers.

The U.S. war is against an international terror coalition based mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan (though with satellite 'offices' in many countries).

Israel has used mostly targeted attacks against terror organizers, ambushes of terrorist gangs and destruction of terror bases, while avoiding the overthrow of the Palestine Authority that harbors, funds, equips and exhorts the terrorists. It has taken large-scale and small-scale incursions against terror bases throughout the Palestinian-controlled territories.

The U.S. has used massive aerial bombardment mixed with some ground operations. It has overthrown the Taliban regime that provided haven to the Al Qaida terrorists, and established a pro-American regime in Kabul. It has set up large, quasi-permanent American bases throughout the region.

Israel finds its citizens - whether in the disputed territories or in 'legal' Israel - under daily attack. For every attack that takes place, many more are foiled.

The United States' citizens are attacked sporadically, and often abroad, though Al Qaida terrorists do seek to enlarge upon the mass attack of September 2001.

Israel has not substantially enlarged its military since Yasser Arafat functionally declared war on it in September 2001. It has kept the same basic military and civil defense structures, and is actually cutting back on military expenditures due to budget constraints.

The United States has massively increased military spending, created a new Cabinet-level department (Homeland Security), and greatly increased its monitoring of suspicious domestic activities.

The international community has widely condemned most of Israel's responses to the multi-layered threat against it. The United Nations has repeatedly excoriated Israel's government, while nations, labor unions, companies and universities have boycotted Israel. At the same time, official governmental responses to attacks against Israeli citizens have mostly been tepid or simply non-existent.

The international community reacted with great and immediate sympathy to the 9/11 attack on the U.S. The United Nations, NATO and most individual governments around the world offered - at least officially - their full support for President Bush's aggressive war on terror. Though some have condemned the American military response, few have claimed that a solution to the conflict requires the West reconciling with radical Islam as manifested by Al Qaida. None, except radical Muslims, have demanded territory and sovereignty for Al Qaida.

Many see Israel's struggle for its physical existence as either a misguided conflict between two irrational parties, or the expression of 'colonial' and 'racist' urges in the disputed territories. Some voices call into question Israel's right to exist, and blame Israel for 'creating' the radicalism that the United States and its allies struggle against.

Many of the same people view the United States' war against radical Islam as a necessary struggle whose outcome must be the destruction of Al Qaida. They do not question the sovereign right of the American people to exist - nor do they question the consolidation and past expansion of the United States.

In fact, none of these voices question the founding and continuation of any of their own nations, complete with scattered genocide, religious persecution, willy-nilly expansionism and colonialism, racism and anti-Semitism.

It is clear to most Israelis that they face an enduring double standard whose constant application erodes the nation's most basic efforts at self-defense.

Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.

© 2001-2002 Koret Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.

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The analysis here is so simple it should be clear to all.Alas it is not.