Israel's Restraint

Much is being made of yesterday's editorial in the Jerusalem Post calling for the killing of Arafat and as many of Hamas as possible. The editorial is excellent and should be read in its entirety. There are a number of points in it that I will blog about over the weekend (I know you will quiver in anticipation).

But, right now I would just like you to imagine that Bin Laden and his gang were sitting across the border in Canada (actually it may not be so impossible) and that we knew exactly where he was. His crowd is routinely sending explosive laden maniacs into Detroit, Buffalo and other cities along the border and knocking off our citizens left and right -- let us just say 800 in the last two years (a similar number to those in Israel). Could any U.S. government allow this? We sent our Army to the other side of the world to poke through caves to find the guy who had attacked us once and we knew would do it again. If he was sitting in the middle of Toronto does anybody believe for a second we wouldn't be across that border putting a bullet in his head after a few attacks (maybe a few more if a Dem were in office).

So, what is the difference. Some might say my comparison is inapt because actually killing Arafat would be the equivalent of killing the Prime Minister of Canada in my hypothetical above. But at the very least Arafat is complicit, and probably actively supporting these attacks. Wasn't Mullah Omar on our hit list in Afghanistan? At the very least, Israel's systematic hunting down and execution of Hamas operatives is no different than our war on terror. In terms of imminent threat it is very possible it is more justified. Arafat, though perhaps more controversial is part of the same argument. If Arafat is simply impotent to control Hamas than Israel should reoccupy all of the Palestinian territories and do the job for him. If, as many suspect, he is an active participant than he should also be on the list for capture or elimination.

Israel is at war no less than we are and I believe they have been showing extraordinary restraint in not more forcefully addressing this reality on the ground.
- posted by Anonymous @ 9:55 AM