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Israeli Territorial Concessions Worsen Anti-Semitism in the West

(Mosaic) Evelyn Gordon - The peace process had damaged Israel's standing overseas. Every bit of territory ceded to the Palestinians has become a base for lethal terror, necessitating military operations that inevitably produce more Palestinian casualties than policing Israeli-controlled territory ever does. And nothing hurts Israel's image overseas more than pictures of dead Palestinians. In America, the ADL recorded three times as many anti-Semitic incidents in the twelve-month period starting on Oct. 7, 2023, as in the previous twelve months. In France, the number of incidents rose 384% in 2023 compared to 2022, with the vast majority occurring after Oct. 7. In the UK, 2023 saw an increase of 247%, again mostly in the final three months of the year. The ADL's latest global survey, released in January, found that 46% of adults worldwide "harbor deeply entrenched anti-Semitic attitudes, more than double compared to ADL's first worldwide survey a decade ago." The same thing occurred during the 2014 war with Hamas. During the first month of that 50-day conflict, anti-Semitic incidents rose by 130% in America, 436% in Europe, 600% in South Africa, and 1,200% in South America compared to the same month of 2013. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was beloved by the peace processors. In Sep. 2008 he put forth the most generous peace proposal any Israeli leader has ever offered. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas never responded. Olmert was forced to go to war in Gaza on Dec. 27, 2008, due to incessant rocket fire on Israel from Gaza, which Israel had evacuated in 2005. The war prompted a fierce anti-Israel backlash. The UN set up a special inquiry commission, which resulted in the infamous Goldstone Report accusing Israel of committing war crimes. For the radical activists in the West, any hint of an Israeli "defeat" is empowering. That's precisely why anti-Israel mobs erupted in gleeful celebrations on Oct. 7 before Israel had even begun fighting in Gaza. These activists also find generous peace proposals and territorial withdrawals empowering, since they invariably see them not as evidence of Israel's desire for peace, but as capitulations forced by either diplomatic or military pressure.
2025-02-18 00:00:00
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