When will they ever learn? Will they ever learn?
Throughout recorded history, we've seen that giving in to aggressors, bullies, has onlyWe've seen that giving in to aggressors, bullies, has only brought on more trouble.
brought on more trouble, violence and death.
Did converting to Catholicism during the Inquisition save Spanish Jewry and allow them to live in peace? Certainly not! To this day, the Spanish Church has kept records of those "new Catholics," considering them second-class, secret Jews, at best. A neighbor of mine from Majorca, younger than myself, could never understand why, as a young child, he was attacked and cursed. His parents never spoke of his father's background, but hundreds of years after the Inquisition, the list of "formerly Jewish families" was still common knowledge in the local church.
Did it help the Jews of Germany when the German Jewish leaders cooperated with the Nazis? It certainly didn't. Discriminatory laws against Jews got harsher, and then the systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of others is fully documented.
Has life become more peaceful in Israel since Menachem Begin's Camp David agreement and subsequent Sinai withdrawal?
Has life become more peaceful in Israel since Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres's Oslo Accords, which gave the Arabs rifles and other arms? Against whom were they used?
Has life become more peaceful in Israel since the Ariel Sharon-Ehud Olmert Disengagement from Gush Katif and northern Shomron?
That's a very short list of the numerous Israeli attempts to "bribe" or "sweet talk" the local Arab terrorists into agreeing to "peace." They all have something in common. They caused the level of violence against Jews to rise.
Thirty years ago, when Begin was elected Prime Minister, the first time that a party other than Labor won Israel's elections, Israelis were complaining that the "front" was too far away. I remember a Jerusalem neighbor who said that it was inconvenient for her husband to do reserve duty in the Sinai. That's why so many Israelis wanted to believe that, although Egypt had made war against Israel twice in barely ten years, they could trust the Egyptians.
Now the war is more convenient. Terrorism can happen hat home - no need to travel to the front.
There wouldn't be Kassam rockets for the Arabs to launch at Sderot if the Egyptians Every time a truck bringing food and medicine enters Gaza, it strengthens the terrorists' hold.
weren't cooperating - and I don't mean cooperating with us. Is that peace?
Ordinary Arabs do not want peace, certainly not the peace we Israelis envision. We've all seen pictures of proud mothers, fathers, family members and friends celebrating the murder of Jews by Arab suicide bombers. Those Arabs who don't like the violence are lining up for visas in order to live in foreign countries. They're not going to risk their lives fighting terrorists. They'd rather disappear in Europe or some country in North or South America.
So, every time a truck bringing food and medicine enters Gaza, it strengthens the terrorists' hold on the people. Terrorism pays and pays well.
Even though Israel has been under attack in the north and south, it's planning more "gestures."
When will they ever learn?
Will they ever learn?