They're Killing Jewish Children

It happened just as they said it would.

For months prior to the pullout from Gaza, a range of commentators, analysts and Israeli military sources all predicted that the withdrawal would lead to increased Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria.

In other words, by running away from Gaza, Israel was laying the groundwork for the Palestinians to target their guns and their resources on “liberating” the next batch of “occupied” territory by killing Jews.

But the left, and the media, and the Prime Minister himself all refused to listen. After all, they know better. And now, as a result, three Jewish children were murdered the other day by Palestinian terrorists in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem.

All together, the three victims had lived a total of just 58 years. Matat Adler was 21, her cousin Kinneret Mandel was 23, and Oz Ben-Meir was 14.

If a person were to pass away, G-d forbid, at the age of 58, people would say that he or she had died young. What, then, can one possibly say now?

This attack, like so many others before it, could have and should have been prevented. It was carried out by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of Fatah, the primary faction of the PLO.

For the past 12 years, Israel has sought to appease Fatah through concessions, withdrawals and retreats. The result has been nothing but bloodshed. It is time for Israel to halt this farce, and to stop yielding to terror.

It is time for the Jewish state to take action and protect its citizens, and to eliminate the terrorists who prey on innocents.

It is time for Jewish children to stop being slaughtered, once and for all.

The Vote is in...

In local balloting held this past week in several cities in Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian electorate sent the world a loud and unequivocal message: they want anti-Israel terror to continue.

Initial results appear to indicate that candidates of the terrorist group Hamas succeeded in capturing three of the four Palestinian-controlled cities, defeating Fatah by a wide margin.

Indeed, a headline from Ha’aretz said it all: “Landslide victories for Hamas in key cities”.

This fact alone should give people on the left pause – after all, if Israel were to withdraw from most of the territories, it is clear that the Palestinian entity that would emerge would rapidly turn into a Hamas-controlled state bent on destroying its Jewish neighbors.

As the results of the Palestinians elections demonstrate, that is the will of the majority of Palestinian voters, who knew quite well for whom they were voting.

So don’t let the media and all those talking heads fool you into thinking otherwise – creating a Palestinian state is a grave danger to the future of this country.

Send Assad Packing

Well, imagine that.

Syria’s thuggish regime involved in killing people not to its liking? Yes – and now its official.

According to a report released today by the United Nations, Damascus was involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February. German prosecutor Detleve Mehlis, who authored the report, concluded that there was “converging evidence” linking top Syrian and Lebanese officials to the killing.

CNN managed to obtain a copy of the internal version of the report that was distributed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to the Security Council, which includes some interesting details not contained in the version released to the public.

Specifically, the confidential version lists the names of those who planned the bomb attack on Hariri which killed him along with 22 others. The list includes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brother and brother-in-law, the former head of Syrian intelligence as well as one of Assad’s close personal friends.

The report notes that Syrian officials cooperated with the investigation only “to a limited degree” and that a number of them “tried to mislead the investigation.”

So, there you have it. Proof positive (as if any more were needed) that the authoritarian regime in Damascus has once again trampled on its neighbor, Lebanon, and used violence as a tool to eliminate its political opponents.

The Syrian regime under the Assad dynasty has long been a destabilizing force in the Middle East, from hosting terrorist organizations on its soil to helping the anti-American insurgents in Iraq. Syria has not hesitated to develop chemical weapons, and has a close and fraternal relationship with the Ayatollahs in Iran.

For far too long, the country has escaped punishment for the bloodshed and havoc that it has wreaked in the region. But in light of the UN report, one can only hope that it will now become clear to policy-makers in Washington and elsewhere that Syria is in desperate need of some regime-change.

Not only for the sake of the millions of Syrians living under Assad’s oppressive rule – but for that of the entire Middle East as well.