We were fools to support the Palestinian cause
We were fools. We were naïve fools. We did it carefully. We did it because we felt that it was the morally correct thing to do. We supported the Palestinian cause, or what we thought was the Palestinian cause: the struggle for a state of their own.
But any naivety, any delusion, has dissipated after the events of the last couple of days.
It’s not only that Hamas (which has been supported and nurtured by Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists for decades) has engaged in a horrific mass murder of Israelis. It’s not only that this terrorist group is the most popular party among Palestinians and that most other parties are either just as bad or almost as bad. It’s also that the horrific actions of Hamas are by all accounts widely supported within the Palestinian community and the pro-Palestinian community abroad.
The supposedly moderate president of the Palestinian Authority,
Mahmood Abbas, refused to condemn the murders committed by Hamas.
The
Daily Mail reported that after the news of the massacres of Israelis “there were cheers and triumphant flag-waving on the streets of Britain. On London’s Edgware Road, nicknamed the capital’s ‘Arab Street’, cars were draped with the Palestinian flag and horns blaring as if there was a football match victory”.
In Canada, a large pro-Palestinian union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees,
tweeted, “Today, as Palestinians break down colonial barriers, they breathe life into the dream of an open, liberated geography”.
As Avi Benlolo wrote in Canada’s
National Post, “the campaign to justify Hamas’ mass murder of innocent civilians is well underway”.
As an Arab, I am ashamed. As someone who supported the Palestinian cause, I am ashamed. But now, as far as I am concerned, the Palestinian cause is dead. In fact, that cause has never existed because all evidence points to the Palestinians wanting nothing but the destruction of Israel and the Jews, at any cost.
The Palestinians have had 75 years to choose to have a state next to Israel, but they have repeatedly chosen terrorism.
Through the murder of hundreds of Israelis and the cheering for those murders, they made their final choice clear. Some people will say that it’s the fault of terrorists and not the fault of Palestinians. I won’t be one of those people. Terrorists cannot exist unless they’re supported by the people.
Before this, there seemed to still be a glimmer of hope for a Palestinian state, but I now admit that those of us who believed in that hope were naive. That hope is dead now. I see many peace activists, who previously held nuanced views on the conflict, now declaring on social media their unwavering support for Israel.
What choice do we have left? The so-called Palestinian cause will now forever be covered with the blood of Israelis that Hamas massacred and that Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists cheered.
The only hope left for Palestinians who don’t wish to be terrorists is to move out of Gaza and the West Bank. They will never have a state on that land.
In the meantime, each of us who pays any attention to this conflict must stand with Israel. It is the duty of every decent person in the world. It is the only reasonable choice left.
We were fools to support the Palestinian cause | Fred Maroun | The Blogs (timesofisrael.com)
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