[National Review] Clifford D. May - What took place in Gaza and Israel over the past three weeks was not a war - it was one battle in a war. Or, to be more precise, it was one battle in a "global insurgency" aimed at overthrowing what we used to call - in a more confident era - the Free World. "Yes, Allah is greater than America," Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal said on al-Jazeera television a few years ago. "Allah is greater than the superpowers. We say to the West: By Allah you will be defeated." Too many people refuse to understand: Hamas is not fighting for a Palestinian state. Hamas is fighting for the annihilation of Israel which it would replace with an Islamic emirate. Not the same thing at all. There are those who will argue that Hamas wins merely by having survived. But Israel would have lost had it not fought - had it continued to passively accept an endless rain of Hamas missiles on its citizens. Over the days ahead, Hamas may resume its attacks on Israel, or dig new tunnels to smuggle in new missiles to prepare for future attacks. If so, Israel may feel the need to respond strongly - to re-establish deterrence and demonstrate that it can withstand pressure from those in the "international community" all too eager to try to appease radical Islam. The writer is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2009-01-23 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive