What would European Governments do if a recognised group decided to kill its citizens by sending a succession of suicide bombers, or homicide bombers as I prefer to call them, into their midst?
Would they sit on their hands? Discuss ways to iron out differences at a flower bedecked conference table? I don?t think so.
We have already seen what the US government did after the World Trade Center attack. They would surely level a concerted attack at such a group to prevent it from doing further damage. The citizens would expect their governments to take steps to defend them.
So why is Israel always told to cool it, go slow, pull back, negotiate, etc., etc., when she is constantly the target of terrorist attacks? Why is it OK for one country to defend itself and not for another? Could it be that double standards are employed? I believe it is; and the reason is oil. Not a single nation is willing to call the Palestinians ?aggressors? for fear that their supply of Middle East oil may be jeopardised. Integrity, honesty and right are sacrificed, when fear of reprisal in the form of reduced oil supplies become the only measure by which the situation is judged. It seems that the oil-buying nations fail to take into account that, in order to survive (in the medium term), the oil producers must sell somewhere, or put their own economies at risk in the process.
The situation in Israel is worsening. We, outside of Israel, hearing of daily atrocities there, can no longer stand idly by and do nothing. We must be vocal. Whilst we should email the US President and thank him for his continued support, we must also write to every European leader and urge them to do everything in their power, including withholding funding for the Palestinian Authority, to halt the constant terror attacks on Israel. We must also remind them that the current conflict is not even, is not tit for tat. Israel neither started the several wars, nor the terrorist campaigns.
It is not a question of a Palestinian state, either. The Palestinians and their allies don?t want Israel in the Middle East and try to do everything in their power to achieve their aim. Israel?s government has the legal and moral duty to protect and defend its citizens, just like European governments would, in such circumstances. It must therefore act in the most effective way possible to achieve this.
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Walter Bingham is a member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Journalists and a regular broadcaster. He is now planning his aliyah.
Would they sit on their hands? Discuss ways to iron out differences at a flower bedecked conference table? I don?t think so.
We have already seen what the US government did after the World Trade Center attack. They would surely level a concerted attack at such a group to prevent it from doing further damage. The citizens would expect their governments to take steps to defend them.
So why is Israel always told to cool it, go slow, pull back, negotiate, etc., etc., when she is constantly the target of terrorist attacks? Why is it OK for one country to defend itself and not for another? Could it be that double standards are employed? I believe it is; and the reason is oil. Not a single nation is willing to call the Palestinians ?aggressors? for fear that their supply of Middle East oil may be jeopardised. Integrity, honesty and right are sacrificed, when fear of reprisal in the form of reduced oil supplies become the only measure by which the situation is judged. It seems that the oil-buying nations fail to take into account that, in order to survive (in the medium term), the oil producers must sell somewhere, or put their own economies at risk in the process.
The situation in Israel is worsening. We, outside of Israel, hearing of daily atrocities there, can no longer stand idly by and do nothing. We must be vocal. Whilst we should email the US President and thank him for his continued support, we must also write to every European leader and urge them to do everything in their power, including withholding funding for the Palestinian Authority, to halt the constant terror attacks on Israel. We must also remind them that the current conflict is not even, is not tit for tat. Israel neither started the several wars, nor the terrorist campaigns.
It is not a question of a Palestinian state, either. The Palestinians and their allies don?t want Israel in the Middle East and try to do everything in their power to achieve their aim. Israel?s government has the legal and moral duty to protect and defend its citizens, just like European governments would, in such circumstances. It must therefore act in the most effective way possible to achieve this.
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Walter Bingham is a member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Journalists and a regular broadcaster. He is now planning his aliyah.