 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Nov. 3, 2003
/ 8 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764
Paying our enemies to kill us
By
Joel Mowbray
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
In the wake of three U.S. diplomats losing their lives in a terrorist attack on their convoy in the Gaza Strip, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered powerful remarks, in which he condemned the "heinous acts" and pledged to bring "the murderers to justice."
Too bad the actions of his department fail to live up to his lofty rhetoric.
FBI agents on the ground trying to solve the "heinous acts" are running into resistance — not just from overt terrorist operations but from the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority, which several administration officials diplomatically describe as being "less than cooperative."
Not even that obstruction, though, seems to have shaken State's misplaced faith in the PA.
For years now, the State Department has given PA Chairman Yasser Arafat last chance after last chance — but really, there has never been anything "last" about the chances Arafat keeps receiving. Because State continually strives for "stability" — a value-neutral goal — it never wants to risk sudden change, which has resulted in a seemingly endless string of empty threats. Arafat has carefully cultivated a culture of death, and now it has mushroomed into an uncontrollable — and unquenchable — beast.
By all accounts, Arafat is not directly responsible for every terrorist attack that occurs. But though he may not have always ordered attacks, his deliberate decision to allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad — not to mention his own al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade — to continue operations unhindered leaves blood on his hands just the same as if he had. To paraphrase President Bush, there is no distinction between terrorists and the governments that harbor them.
Arafat's "reward" for creating the terrorist network otherwise known as the Palestinian Authority? Some $175 million in direct and indirect aid, according to the State Department, which includes $20 million in cash given to the PA this summer. While some of those funds support legitimate humanitarian efforts, a huge chunk either promotes incitement and indoctrination or is used to maintain Arafat's iron-fisted control over Palestinian society.
In fairness to State, Israel itself resurrected Arafat from Tunisia, where he otherwise would have remained a marginalized former leader. But Israel's stupidity should not excuse our own. And though Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seems incapable of determining a coherent approach to Arafat, the U.S. should provide necessary leadership to scuttle Arafat instead of clinging to him like a 5-year-old clutching a security blanket.
And State should be leading the charge to dismantle the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure.
If the convoy bombing were the first attempt to target U.S. officials, State's caution might make sense. But it's not.
On April 29, two young Arab men intent on killing innocent civilians headed to Mike's Place, a bar located on the Mediterranean waterfront in Tel Aviv - and more significantly, right next to the U.S. Embassy. It is also the known hangout for U.S. employees, including many who work for the State Department. So when one of the two young men successfully detonated himself — barely 20 yards from the embassy guard — it was an attack against the United States.
The attack on Mike's Place, which claimed the lives of three innocents, was not the first attempt to strike a target within a stone's throw of the embassy. Several months earlier, a would-be suicide bomber was thwarted as he tried to commit mass murder at a cafe next to the embassy — just on the other side from Mike's Place.
In all, more than 50 Americans have been killed in the region since the start of the intifada. Yet U.S. taxpayer money keeps flowing into the West Bank and Gaza — literally going into blood-covered hands.
Of course the president deserves criticism for continuing to deal with Arafat, but the real mystery is why has State not seen the light? It's not that State's diplomats don't care about the murder of three colleagues — they do — but their obsession with stability prevents them from facing the painfully obvious reality. And not even multiple attempts to kill U.S. officials will deter State from seeking "stability."
But as anyone who has lived under the thumb of a tyrant can attest, "stability" simply means more of the same. And with Palestinian terrorists repeatedly targeting Americans, "stability" is simply not acceptable.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Joel Mowbray is the author of "Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Endangers America's Security". (Click HERE to purchae. Sales help fund JWR) Comment by clicking here.
Joel Mowbray Archives
© 2003, Joel Mowbray
|
