By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Palestinians split their electorate into two camps: Fatah and Hamas. Fatah won elections in the West Bank and is in the process of becoming a peaceful region. At the same time, Hamas, acknowledged to be the more virulent of the two bodies politic, has decided to keep up its terrorist and military attacks against Israel. Daily firing dozens of rockets into Israeli cities and settlements, it is clear that Hamas wants a war to the death. I say let us just step aside let the Israelis turn the Strip into a tourist mecca paved with the blood of Hamas fighters.

Let us talk about a hypothetical world for a moment. In that world there is a guy who every time he gets a chance, he walks up and slaps you across the face. At first, you turn the other cheek, but he still walks up and slaps you. You try to stay out of his way, but he hunts you down, sneaks up, and smacks you good. Then you try slapping him down to the ground but he just gets back up and slaps you again across the face. Your friends come around and smack him down but he still comes back and smacks you again. You call the police and he is put in prison, but the moment he gets out, he again comes right up to you and slaps you in the face. During his incarceration, his friends come around and smack you in the face.

Does anybody in the end fault you when one day you pick up a shotgun and blow the guy’s face off? When is enough, enough?

This is the best analogy of what I see as being the conflict between Israel and the terrorist hoards that haunt her borders. Israel has honored every agreement, has pulled out of the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, and nearly all of the Golan. They have offered peace, traded prisoners, and bent over backwards despite the endless blood being spilled. I have not always supported Israel’s actions. Her policies of collective punishment offend me. Throughout most of her history, she has dealt with enemies, real and perceived, with severe and swift action. A lot of the bad blood and hate that permeates the world, Israel has brought onto herself by her own heavy handed actions.

But, I have to play the cards I am dealt and thus I am forced to demand that the world leave Israel alone and let them finish the job they started. To an Israeli, Hamas is a terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction. Syria and Iran, among others, provide funding, manpower, and armaments. As an American, I wholly sympathize with Israel because it is not difficult to substitute Al Qaeda for Hamas and Afghanistan for the Gaza Strip to see the moral justification of ridding the planet of this threat once and for all.

Since 1973, the question of the existence of the State of Israel has been resolved within the Arab world. Jordan has made her peace. Egypt has made her peace. Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states have stopped their intended military interventions.

Starting in 1976, the Palestinians became the patsies used by Arab nations tried to advance political aims that could not be gained on the battlefield. Over and over again, Israel was provoked and when she responded, the Palestinians and Arab world would point a finger at Israel and say “shame”.

Israel honored her agreements and pulled out of the Gaza strip. She took down her settlements and fought her own people to pull back and make peace with Palestinians. Despite a criminal terrorist organization being the winner, Israel still encouraged and supported free elections. No Arab state has ever done such a thing for these people.

However strongly I disagree with my President on the question of Iraq, the issue of Afghanistan was never in dispute. That nation gave safe harbor to those who had taken strong criminal action against us. Bombing them back into the stone age was a “moral cause”. So too would be an Israeli assault upon Hamas a just cause for all the same reasons.

Three decades ago, having seen first hand the Israeli model of response to terrorism, I cheered them. Blood for blood, eye for an eye, and overwhelming collective punishment was the typical response. Yet, for 30 years, the situation has worsened. Israelis gave up more freedom and peace of mind for security and defense to the point that though we tout them as a ‘democracy’, theirs is a police state like any other.

Today, the best thing we can do is sit still and let the Israelis do their job. If we or the world stops Israel and intervenes while there is still a single Hamas fighter alive, then it will all be for naught. ‘Hate’ and ‘Anger’ are infectious and a lot of people are making money and gaining power by spreading this disease called religious fundamentalism. The time has come to demand unconditional surrender … or death.

No more and never again.