When I was young, and still continuing, I remember how there were frequently news reports out of Israel about some kind of Palestinian terrorist act. Endless scenes of people being blown up or shot, each one usually more clever than the last one.
This hardened the Israeli people. When a group of people is trying to kill you steadily over the course of half a century, it becomes easy to overlook the bleatings of Western Civilization sheep who have never experienced it. (Especially when most of them hate you anyway, but that is another issue.)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said:
When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.When we lose someone close to us, it is an act beyond our control. We are saddened by it, but if we have any strength of character, we can still go on, no matter how horrific it may be.
But when we are forced to kill for our own survival, that kills us a little inside. Those who put us in this situation know this: Acts of terror leave us the choice of surrendering to what they want, or to attack them.
Surrender sounds like cowardice, but is it? It depends on what the terrorist wants. If the terrorist just wants us to pull our troops out of their country, is that such a bad thing? Especially when you consider how many innocent people get killed by out troops and our drones. Remember, every innocent death creates family and friends who are now angry at you. When you cause enough innocent deaths, all you create is mass hatred.
I have heard the horror stories about ISIS, and maybe they are every bit as evil as the stories. But ask yourself: Were the German people evil in World War II? Certainly, the Nazis were, but not all Germans were Nazis, and even some of the Nazis weren't necessarily evil. Consider Oskar Schindler.
If ISIS is some form of modern-day Naziism, then why aren't we attacking them with everything we have? I would even add nuclear weapons to our options, if they are the evil some people claim.
However, if there is a chance that they, or even a large number of them, are just people upset about losing loved ones or friends or neighbors to military action from us, shouldn't we give consideration to that? Shouldn't we say, we need to change direction in the Middle East?
If we don't, we become Israel, living with terrorists in our midst for half a century, as we both kill off our children and grandchildren.
Another quote from Golda Meir:
We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon — no alternative. The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.We are blessed with a choice. We can choose peace. But if we are destined to choose war, then let us turn the Middle East into a parking lot. Take a lesson from history: After three wars with Carthage, the Ancient Romans burned Carthage to the ground, leaving nothing. There was never a fourth war.
In summary, you can make peace with the Muslim world, or you can kill a billion people. There is no middle ground.
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