(JNS) Jonathan S. Tobin - Those who claim that the recent actions of the Palestinian killers were an understandable reaction to the "occupation" or to some other alleged Israeli sin are once again misunderstanding the nature of the conflict. As the Palestinians have made clear throughout the last century, their problem isn't with what Israel does but the mere fact of its existence. Having seen them reject numerous two-state-solution deals over the last generation, support for such a scheme among Israelis has dwindled. The idea of more than 7 million Israeli Jews giving up the sovereign state that protects their national existence is madness. That's not just because the invasion of Ukraine illustrates what happens when hostile neighbors feel empowered to attempt to destroy a country. It's also the lesson that even a cursory knowledge of Jewish history imparts to its students. For 20 centuries, Jewish powerlessness and the lack of sovereignty over its ancient homeland was a prescription for degradation, oppression and slaughter that culminated in the Holocaust. The Palestinian goal is not stripping Israel of the territories it won in a defensive war in 1967. They will not recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn. Anti-Zionists are taking the side of those who seek to eliminate the one Jewish state on the planet by the same violent means and hateful ideas that have always been the toolkit of anti-Semites.
2022-04-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive