On January 16, 2005, there will be a "Rally Against Global Terrorism" in Berkeley, California. The highlight of the rally will be the presence of Bus No. 19, the bus that was exploded by a suicide terrorist in Jerusalem in January 2004, killing eleven people and injuring many more.
When I first heard that Bus No. 19 was coming to Berkeley, I questioned whether it was a good idea. I was concerned that it might send a negative message, by making Jews look like helpless victims. I also thought it might look as if Jews were begging the world for sympathy, or asking the world to solve problems for us that we should be able to solve for ourselves.
But then I realized that the bus did need to be here, because Americans need to see with their own eyes the nature of the adversary that Israel is facing, because this adversary, of which Palestinian terrorism is only one branch, poses a threat not only to Israel, but to all civilized nations.
We're facing an enemy that has no concern for human life, not even its own. By their own admission, they love death more than they love life. We've all seen the pictures of Palestinian Arabs dancing for joy in the streets and passing out candy to each other whenever innocent Jews, such as the passengers of Bus No. 19, were murdered by suicide terrorists. We've seen them reveling in sheer death and destruction. What conclusions should we draw from this?
The apologists for terrorism tell us that while these attacks may be "regrettable", they're ultimately designed to bring about a worthwhile goal. What exactly is the worthwhile goal that suicide terrorism is meant to achieve, that justifies the massacre of innocent men, women and children? What is the Palestinian "cause" really all about?
Our political leaders tell us that the goal of the Palestinian Arabs is to get an independent state of their own. But if that were true, they could have had one by now. Ehud Barak offered statehood to Yasser Arafat at Camp David, giving him almost everything he demanded, but Arafat turned him down, without even making a counterproposal.
Many people say that the goal of the Palestinian Arabs is to end what they call the Israeli occupation of their land. This is another falsehood. In the year 2000, when the Palestinian Authority broke all of its peace pledges and resumed open warfare against Israel, about 95 percent of the Arabs living in the disputed territories were already living under Arab rule. So, even though what they call the "occupation" had already ended for almost all of the Palestinians, they initiated a war of terror anyway.
Some people claim that the true Palestinian goal is just to improve the quality of life for the Palestinian Arabs. The truth of the matter is that the Arab leaders are the ones who have resisted every attempt to improve life for the Palestinians. Israel has tried hard to get the Palestinian Arabs out of the refugee camps and into more normal living conditions, in the hope that this would make them less hostile. It is the Arab leaders who keep hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs sitting in refugee camps throughout the Middle East, refusing to grant them citizenship, refusing to allow them to work, just so they'll have an excuse to continue the conflict with Israel.
When we look at Bus No. 19, and consider the innocent men, women and children who were killed and injured on it - just ordinary people like you and me, going to work, going to school, going to the grocery store - and think about the outpouring of joy among the Arabs at this murderous deed, the true meaning of the Palestinian cause becomes clear.
The Palestinian cause is not about creating a separate state, or ending an occupation, or bringing a better life to the Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinian cause is about destroying the Jewish nation by killing and injuring as many Jews as they possibly can. And that's all it's about. And that's all it's ever been about. And if they succeed with the Jews, they won't stop there.
We're told that Israel must negotiate with the Palestinians, but what's the point of negotiating with people whose only goal is to see you dead? We're told that Israel must make concessions to the Palestinians, but what's the point of making concessions to people for whom no concession can ever be big enough? We're told that Israel must divide its own territory in order to give the Palestinians a state of their own. But why should Israel do that, when Arab leaders have already said that the purpose of such a state would be to continue the war against Israel from a stronger position than beforehand?
The time has come for Jews everywhere to stop deceiving themselves about the nature of this conflict and face the reality, unpleasant though it may be. The Jewish nation is facing an enemy that is determined to eliminate it from the face of the earth and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal. The time for diplomacy and negotiations is long over. Israel is at war, and it only has two choices: winning or losing.
We're living in historic times. God has returned the Jewish nation to the land where it began, the land that He promised to our forefathers almost 4,000 years ago. May the Almighty now pour out His spirit upon us, and grant us knowledge, and understanding and strength, so that we can destroy the source of evil in our midst, and thereby bring a blessing to the entire world.
When I first heard that Bus No. 19 was coming to Berkeley, I questioned whether it was a good idea. I was concerned that it might send a negative message, by making Jews look like helpless victims. I also thought it might look as if Jews were begging the world for sympathy, or asking the world to solve problems for us that we should be able to solve for ourselves.
But then I realized that the bus did need to be here, because Americans need to see with their own eyes the nature of the adversary that Israel is facing, because this adversary, of which Palestinian terrorism is only one branch, poses a threat not only to Israel, but to all civilized nations.
We're facing an enemy that has no concern for human life, not even its own. By their own admission, they love death more than they love life. We've all seen the pictures of Palestinian Arabs dancing for joy in the streets and passing out candy to each other whenever innocent Jews, such as the passengers of Bus No. 19, were murdered by suicide terrorists. We've seen them reveling in sheer death and destruction. What conclusions should we draw from this?
The apologists for terrorism tell us that while these attacks may be "regrettable", they're ultimately designed to bring about a worthwhile goal. What exactly is the worthwhile goal that suicide terrorism is meant to achieve, that justifies the massacre of innocent men, women and children? What is the Palestinian "cause" really all about?
Our political leaders tell us that the goal of the Palestinian Arabs is to get an independent state of their own. But if that were true, they could have had one by now. Ehud Barak offered statehood to Yasser Arafat at Camp David, giving him almost everything he demanded, but Arafat turned him down, without even making a counterproposal.
Many people say that the goal of the Palestinian Arabs is to end what they call the Israeli occupation of their land. This is another falsehood. In the year 2000, when the Palestinian Authority broke all of its peace pledges and resumed open warfare against Israel, about 95 percent of the Arabs living in the disputed territories were already living under Arab rule. So, even though what they call the "occupation" had already ended for almost all of the Palestinians, they initiated a war of terror anyway.
Some people claim that the true Palestinian goal is just to improve the quality of life for the Palestinian Arabs. The truth of the matter is that the Arab leaders are the ones who have resisted every attempt to improve life for the Palestinians. Israel has tried hard to get the Palestinian Arabs out of the refugee camps and into more normal living conditions, in the hope that this would make them less hostile. It is the Arab leaders who keep hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs sitting in refugee camps throughout the Middle East, refusing to grant them citizenship, refusing to allow them to work, just so they'll have an excuse to continue the conflict with Israel.
When we look at Bus No. 19, and consider the innocent men, women and children who were killed and injured on it - just ordinary people like you and me, going to work, going to school, going to the grocery store - and think about the outpouring of joy among the Arabs at this murderous deed, the true meaning of the Palestinian cause becomes clear.
The Palestinian cause is not about creating a separate state, or ending an occupation, or bringing a better life to the Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinian cause is about destroying the Jewish nation by killing and injuring as many Jews as they possibly can. And that's all it's about. And that's all it's ever been about. And if they succeed with the Jews, they won't stop there.
We're told that Israel must negotiate with the Palestinians, but what's the point of negotiating with people whose only goal is to see you dead? We're told that Israel must make concessions to the Palestinians, but what's the point of making concessions to people for whom no concession can ever be big enough? We're told that Israel must divide its own territory in order to give the Palestinians a state of their own. But why should Israel do that, when Arab leaders have already said that the purpose of such a state would be to continue the war against Israel from a stronger position than beforehand?
The time has come for Jews everywhere to stop deceiving themselves about the nature of this conflict and face the reality, unpleasant though it may be. The Jewish nation is facing an enemy that is determined to eliminate it from the face of the earth and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal. The time for diplomacy and negotiations is long over. Israel is at war, and it only has two choices: winning or losing.
We're living in historic times. God has returned the Jewish nation to the land where it began, the land that He promised to our forefathers almost 4,000 years ago. May the Almighty now pour out His spirit upon us, and grant us knowledge, and understanding and strength, so that we can destroy the source of evil in our midst, and thereby bring a blessing to the entire world.