Why Don’t We Actually Let The Israelis Deal With Palestinian Terrorists?

by John Hawkins | August 25, 2003 7:17 pm

I wasn’t particularly pleased when I originally heard that Dick Lugar[1] was going to become the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I say that because I knew the day would come when he’d make a boneheaded proposal like this one…

“As violence escalates in the Middle East, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says military involvement by the United States and its NATO allies might be required to bring stability to Israel and the Palestinians.

If we’re serious about having a situation of stability, a very direct action, I think, is going to be required,” Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said Sunday on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

…”At some point the United States and its NATO allies and somebody is going to have to work with the Israelis and the Palestinians who want a state to get rid of the terrorists. I think it’s just that simple,” Lugar said.”

Lugar should have been alerted that he was suggesting a bad idea when Dianne Feinstein agreed with him…

“You have to have some military entity that is going to be able to control the terror. Otherwise, the situation is going to dissolve into nothingness,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “

You want “direct action”? Why don’t we let the Israelis do it? Do we want a “military entity” to “control the terror”? How about the Israelis? Why don’t we just make it clear that until Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade & company that we’re not going to waste anymore time in futile negotiations?

That means no more money for the Palestinians, no more pushing for a Palestinian state, no more complaints about the security fence, no more ceasefires, no more acting as if the Palestinians & Israelis are morally equivalent, & most of all — no more saying that, “We support the Israelis right to defend themselves, but….”.

It’s fine for us to apply pressure behind the scenes, but we don’t need to put our troops into a situation where they’ll be attacked by Palestinian terrorists while getting in the way of the Israeli military. Let’s just let the Israelis know that we back them to the hilt and then tell them to do what they have to do. Once we make it clear that we’re giving Israel a free hand, either the terrorist supporting individuals and nations will back off or the Israelis will kill them. Either way, we’re better off.