Saturday, October 28, 2006

Trust us, Israel

Why the Israelis do not trust the Europeans.

This is EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana speaking in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

"I cannot imagine that the religious imperative, the real religious imperative, can make anybody destroy another country... Therefore that is an abuse of religion...

"I don't think the essence of Hamas is the destruction of Israel. The essence of Hamas is the liberation of the Palestinians," he added. "The liberation of their people, not the destruction of Israel."

History had shown that people and nations "adapt to reality," he said. "I don't want to lose hope."
Hamas is not in a position to act on its Charter; it cannot, at the moment, pose a serious military threat to Israel. Does that mean, given the chance, it wouldn't? Has Iran "adapted to reality"? Or al-Queda? As they see it, they're going to make reality, not adapt to it.

The preamble to the Declaration of Independence is where the big rhetorical guns are fired ("unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"). The preamble to the Hamas Charter includes this sentiment:
Surat Al-Imran (III), verses 109-111 Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.
They don't leave it there. They return to the charge in a article after article , including Article 7
The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!
And Article 11
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it.
And Article 32, which names the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as proof of the justice of their cause.

When is Europe going to consider the possibility that these people mean what they say?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's quite ironic that Israel actually gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years to destabalize the PLO.

NoolaBeulah said...

But it's unsurprising. Your enemy's enemy is your ... potential little helper. I come from Queensland. In the cane fields there many years ago, snakes were the big problem. So they brought in some rather nasty toads to deal with the snakes. They did so. Guess what the problem is now?

With 20/20 hindsight, people say, "Well, they should have looked ahead, shouldn't they?" Easy to say. But usually the choices are not between what's right and what's wrong, but rather between the rock and the hard place. The important thing is not avoiding all mistakes (because you can't), but being able to deal with the consequences and being able to recognise them in time.