September 11: What's At Stake

It is hard to believe, let alone understand, but five years after September 11, there are still too many people who just don't get it.

Israel and the West are under assault. Our values, our beliefs, our entire way of life are at stake. Everything we hold dear – faith, family, country – must be defended.

These aren't just some melodramatic words or a bit of empty posturing – they are cold, hard facts. And as difficult as they may be for many of us to accept, accept them we must, because the alternative is extinction.

Today, and for many days to come, I'm afraid, you'll see plenty of opinion pieces and newspaper articles pointing the finger of blame not at the bad guys who perpetrate the violence, but at those who seek to defend themselves and the rest of us from harm.

For example, a professor at New York University has the audacity to write in today's Jerusalem Post that "Bush's policies have brought greater damage to America than the attacks themselves." What sheer and utter gibberish.

But let's not allow the weak-kneed among us to divert our attention from what we all know must be achieved: victory. And nothing less.

May the memory of those who were murdered on September 11, 2001 be for a blessing.

This is not just Israel's war

Americans and their allies today received a jolting and unpleasant reminder that the war on terror is far from over.

The arrest in Britain of two dozen Islamist terrorists who were plotting to blow up as many as 10 planes sent shudders of fear across the Atlantic, demonstrating once again that the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its sympathizers remains frighteningly real.

But even as the West breathes a collective sigh of relief that the scheme was thwarted in time, Israeli troops continue to battle Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, risking their lives on the front lines in defense of freedom and civilization.

And make no mistake – regardless of the theological differences that may exist between the fanatics of Al-Qaeda and Hizbullah, the two terror groups are united in their aim of destroying not only Israel, but America too.

Had the nefarious plot to blow up the planes succeeded, you can be sure that Hizbullah would have cheered the results, just as the followers of Osama Bin-Laden undoubtedly applaud each and every Hizbullah rocket fired against the Jewish state.

The fighting in Lebanon, then, is not just Israel's war, but America and Britain's war, too. It is part and parcel of the global war against Islamic fundamentalist terror – so instead of pressuring Israel to call off its counter-terror campaign, anyone who values liberty should be speaking out in defense of the Jewish state and encouraging it to carry on until victory – and nothing short of victory – is achieved.

Discriminating Against Jews

Gaza-based terrorists are firing rockets at Israeli cities, Hizbullah is plotting against the Jewish state, and Iran is moving ahead with plans to build nuclear weapons – but how is the Israeli army keeping busy these days?

Why, by tearing down Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, of course.

Soldiers today descended in force on the Jewish community of Sde Boaz, located in Gush Etzion just outside Jerusalem, to tear down a house and stable and uproot the foundations of another home, asserting that the structures had been built without the necessary permits.

Whether or not that is the case is beside the point. What matters here is the unequal application of the law by Israel’s Government vis-a-vis Jews and Arabs.

As anyone who has driven through various parts of Israel knows, there is in fact a wave of illegal building taking place, unhindered and unimpeded by the authorities. Beduin in the Negev, Israeli Arabs in the Galilee and Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem are engaged in a frenzy of illegal construction, yet virtually nothing is being done to stop this “land grab” from taking place out of fear as to how the affected populations might react.

But when a Jew goes ahead and tries to build on Jewish-owned land – whether in Gush Etzion or in Hebron – the security forces are only too happy to pounce, waving the banner of the rule of law even as they trample it under foot.

The fact is that you cannot have it both ways. You can’t deny Jews the right to build, and then punish them when they go ahead and do so anyway, while ignoring large-scale violations by Arabs, Beduin and Palestinians alike.

In Western democracies, they have a word for such policies. It is called discrimination. And it is time for Israel to stop practicing it vis-a-vis its own Jewish citizens.

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