Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger is author of “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative.”
He can be found att bit.ly/4cP3HRn
He can be found att bit.ly/4cP3HRn
Western conventional wisdom is systematically baffled by the volcanic, violent, intolerant, unpredictable, despotic and frustrating Middle East reality, as evidenced by Western misperceptions of the Israel-Hamas war, which undermines the national and homeland security of the US.
For example:
*The State Department’s pressure on Israel to switch from the military option toward Hamas to the diplomatic/negotiation option, ignores the failure of the US diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs, and the on-again, off-again Israeli diplomatic option toward Hamas since 2007 (the latest was in May 2023), which dramatically upgraded Hamas’ terror capabilities, paving the road to the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorism. Moreover, Hamas is a branch of the Moslem Brotherhood and a proxy of Iran’s Ayatollahs, which are dedicated to the toppling of the regimes of all pro-US Arab countries and bring the Western “infidel,” and particularly “The Great American Satan” to submission.
*Thus, snatching Hamas from the jaws of obliteration would reflect a State Department and Israeli determination to repeat - rather than avoid - past critical mistakes. In the Middle East, it would be perceived as a major Islamic terrorism victory, undermining the US’ and Israel’s posture of deterrence, promoting more anti-US terrorism in the Middle Est and on US soil. This would intensify terrorism against the pro-US Arab regimes (which feel the Moslem Brotherhood machete at their throats) and against Israel, and cause a major setback to the Arab-Israeli peace process (which has been induced, mostly, by Israeli’s posture of deterrence, which was devastated on October 7).
*Israel is not fighting a Hamas terror organization, but the most fortified aboveground and underground Hamas terrorist state with an elaborate network of 60-80-feet-deep tunnels, equipped with the most advanced electronics, accommodating heavy vehicles and longer than the NYC Subway system!
*The toll of Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023 - 1,200 mutilated Israelis – does not fully convey the magnitude of Hamas terrorism. In proportion to the size of the US population (340 million), it was identical to 41,000 American fatalities, or 13 “nine-elevens” committed by terrorists, dispatched by a neighboring country. How would the US react to such a neighbor?!
*The number of Arab casualties in Gaza are issued by Hamas and Gaza-based branches of international organizations, who are controlled by Hamas, which is known for its lies, horrific violation of human rights, hate education, despotism, ruthlessness and corruption. However, in the pursuit of the immoral “moral equivalence,” Western policy makers and public opinion molders reverberate Hamas’ numbers….
*Are most Gazans innocent civilians? Hitler’s Mein Kampf has been a best seller in the Palestinian Authority since its establishment in 1993, including in Gaza. The Gaza population has considered “September 11” as a role model of Islamic heroism. Since 1994, Gaza parents have sent their children to hate-education-school – which have been the most effective production line of terrorists - while worshipping in hate-sermon-mosques, cheering and heralding daily acts of terrorism, and enticing their children to join the ranks of Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations.
*As expected, Western and Israeli humanitarian aid to Gaza is controlled by Hamas terrorists, bolstering their terror capabilities; thus, dehumanizing the aid. Genuine humanitarian aid would be extended by the obliteration of Hamas’ terror capabilities, which could set Gaza on a humanitarian path.
*While Hamas considers its October 7 terror offensive as a divine mission to annihilate the “infidel” Jewish State, the State Department takes lightly the centrality of fanatic Islamic visions in the conduct of Middle East rogue entities. Foggy Bottom believes that terrorism is despair-driven and assumes that financial (“money talks”) and diplomatic bonanzas could induce moderation.
*The State Department’s pressure on Israel to switch from the military option toward Hamas to the diplomatic/negotiation option, ignores the failure of the US diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs, and the on-again, off-again Israeli diplomatic option toward Hamas since 2007 (the latest was in May 2023), which dramatically upgraded Hamas’ terror capabilities, paving the road to the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorism. Moreover, Hamas is a branch of the Moslem Brotherhood and a proxy of Iran’s Ayatollahs, which are dedicated to the toppling of the regimes of all pro-US Arab countries and bring the Western “infidel,” and particularly “The Great American Satan” to submission.
*Thus, snatching Hamas from the jaws of obliteration would reflect a State Department and Israeli determination to repeat - rather than avoid - past critical mistakes. In the Middle East, it would be perceived as a major Islamic terrorism victory, undermining the US’ and Israel’s posture of deterrence, promoting more anti-US terrorism in the Middle Est and on US soil. This would intensify terrorism against the pro-US Arab regimes (which feel the Moslem Brotherhood machete at their throats) and against Israel, and cause a major setback to the Arab-Israeli peace process (which has been induced, mostly, by Israeli’s posture of deterrence, which was devastated on October 7).
*Israel is not fighting a Hamas terror organization, but the most fortified aboveground and underground Hamas terrorist state with an elaborate network of 60-80-feet-deep tunnels, equipped with the most advanced electronics, accommodating heavy vehicles and longer than the NYC Subway system!
*The toll of Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023 - 1,200 mutilated Israelis – does not fully convey the magnitude of Hamas terrorism. In proportion to the size of the US population (340 million), it was identical to 41,000 American fatalities, or 13 “nine-elevens” committed by terrorists, dispatched by a neighboring country. How would the US react to such a neighbor?!
*The number of Arab casualties in Gaza are issued by Hamas and Gaza-based branches of international organizations, who are controlled by Hamas, which is known for its lies, horrific violation of human rights, hate education, despotism, ruthlessness and corruption. However, in the pursuit of the immoral “moral equivalence,” Western policy makers and public opinion molders reverberate Hamas’ numbers….
*Are most Gazans innocent civilians? Hitler’s Mein Kampf has been a best seller in the Palestinian Authority since its establishment in 1993, including in Gaza. The Gaza population has considered “September 11” as a role model of Islamic heroism. Since 1994, Gaza parents have sent their children to hate-education-school – which have been the most effective production line of terrorists - while worshipping in hate-sermon-mosques, cheering and heralding daily acts of terrorism, and enticing their children to join the ranks of Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations.
*As expected, Western and Israeli humanitarian aid to Gaza is controlled by Hamas terrorists, bolstering their terror capabilities; thus, dehumanizing the aid. Genuine humanitarian aid would be extended by the obliteration of Hamas’ terror capabilities, which could set Gaza on a humanitarian path.
*While Hamas considers its October 7 terror offensive as a divine mission to annihilate the “infidel” Jewish State, the State Department takes lightly the centrality of fanatic Islamic visions in the conduct of Middle East rogue entities. Foggy Bottom believes that terrorism is despair-driven and assumes that financial (“money talks”) and diplomatic bonanzas could induce moderation.
However, Iran’s Ayatollahs, Hezbollah and Hamas interpret Western and Israeli gestures as weakness, which whets their terroristic appetite. They have demonstrated that fanatic Islamic ideology transcends financial considerations, and eclipses accords concluded with the “infidel.” They have diverted mega billions of dollars in Western gestures toward anti-Western terrorism, not moderated policy.
*Western policy makers have showered rogue Middle East entities with diplomatic and financial gestures, ignoring the precedents, which demonstrate that terrorists bite the hand that feeds them, as experienced by the US, which facilitated the rise to power of the Ayatollahs in Iran 1978/79 and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan (1980s). These terror entities emerged as chief anti-US terrorists, partaking in “September 11” and the bombings of the US Embassies in Lebanon (1983), Kenya and Tanzania (1998), as well as the Marines barracks in Lebanon (1983).
*Western policy makers have showered rogue Middle East entities with diplomatic and financial gestures, ignoring the precedents, which demonstrate that terrorists bite the hand that feeds them, as experienced by the US, which facilitated the rise to power of the Ayatollahs in Iran 1978/79 and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan (1980s). These terror entities emerged as chief anti-US terrorists, partaking in “September 11” and the bombings of the US Embassies in Lebanon (1983), Kenya and Tanzania (1998), as well as the Marines barracks in Lebanon (1983).
Similarly, in 1993 and 2005, Israel overwhelmed the Middle East with dramatic gestures (never contemplated by Arabs) extended to the PLO, which yielded unprecedented waves of terrorism, as was demonstrated by the 2007-2023 series of Israeli financial and humanitarian gestures to Hamas, which resulted in thousands of missiles hitting Israeli civilian targets, and leading to the October 7, 2023 massacre.
*Israel’s wars on Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists are not only Israel’s wars. These wars are largely designed, directed, supervised and financed by Iran’s Ayatollahs. The Ayatollahs’ strategic footprint stretches from the Persian Gulf through the Middle East at-large and Africa to Latin America – viewed as the US’ soft underbelly - and on US soil, as recently testified by FBI Director, Chris Wray. The Ayatollahs view Israel as the most effective US outpost/beachhead in the Middle East, and the first line of defense of the Western democracies against Shiite (Iran’s Ayatollahs) and Sunni (the Moslem Brotherhood and ISIS) Islamic terrorism.
*A nuclear Iran is not the only real and clear threat to global stability. In fact, the most pressing threat to global stability and vital US interests is Iran’s conventional military potency, which has its machete at the throats of every pro-US Arab regime, while constituting the global epicenter of anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and proliferation of weapon systems, They are training terrorists in the tri-border areas of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil and Chile-Bolivia-Peru, and supplying underground tunnel construction equipment and predator unmanned aerial vehicles to Venezuela and to Mexican drug cartels.
*The 45-year-old US diplomatic option – and its bonus of hundreds of billions of dollars - failed to entice the Ayatollahs toward peaceful-coexistence, good faith negotiation and abandoning a fanatical ideology. In fact, the diplomatic option transformed the Ayatollahs from a secondary power in 1979 to a leading regional and global power in 2024, and to extend a most critical support to Hezbollah, Houthi, Hamas and Latin American terrorists – a chief threat to global sanity and US national and homeland security.
*Israel’s wars on Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists are not only Israel’s wars. These wars are largely designed, directed, supervised and financed by Iran’s Ayatollahs. The Ayatollahs’ strategic footprint stretches from the Persian Gulf through the Middle East at-large and Africa to Latin America – viewed as the US’ soft underbelly - and on US soil, as recently testified by FBI Director, Chris Wray. The Ayatollahs view Israel as the most effective US outpost/beachhead in the Middle East, and the first line of defense of the Western democracies against Shiite (Iran’s Ayatollahs) and Sunni (the Moslem Brotherhood and ISIS) Islamic terrorism.
*A nuclear Iran is not the only real and clear threat to global stability. In fact, the most pressing threat to global stability and vital US interests is Iran’s conventional military potency, which has its machete at the throats of every pro-US Arab regime, while constituting the global epicenter of anti-US terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and proliferation of weapon systems, They are training terrorists in the tri-border areas of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil and Chile-Bolivia-Peru, and supplying underground tunnel construction equipment and predator unmanned aerial vehicles to Venezuela and to Mexican drug cartels.
*The 45-year-old US diplomatic option – and its bonus of hundreds of billions of dollars - failed to entice the Ayatollahs toward peaceful-coexistence, good faith negotiation and abandoning a fanatical ideology. In fact, the diplomatic option transformed the Ayatollahs from a secondary power in 1979 to a leading regional and global power in 2024, and to extend a most critical support to Hezbollah, Houthi, Hamas and Latin American terrorists – a chief threat to global sanity and US national and homeland security.
Contrary to the prevailing misperception, for the sake of global sanity, Iran’s Ayatollahs are not a partner for negotiations, but a target for regime-change.