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Source: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/ban-ki-moon-wrong-terror/
Does "Occupation" Justify Terrorism?
(Commentary) Michael Rubin - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assumes that occupation causes, let alone justifies, terrorism. It might be very convenient to believe that the root rejection of Israel is based on grievance, but the problem for Hamas, other Muslim Brotherhood affiliates, and more radical Sunni Islamist groups, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hizbullah, is rooted in ideology and anti-Semitism. As Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah told Lebanon's Daily Star in 2002, "If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." Putting aside that what Ban labels "occupation" is technically more of an unresolved land dispute, if occupation is intolerable and justifies terrorism, will Ban acquiesce to the independence of Corsica? Or New Caledonia? Would Ban endorse Kurdish terrorism in Turkey, where they suffer a far worse situation than Palestinians in Gaza? Will Ban stand up to Putin to allow freedom for Chechnya? Or to Saudi Arabia to restore independence to Hijaz? Or to Tibet, crushed by Chinese imperialism? The writer is a former Pentagon official and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.