Be firm in Washington

Netanyahu and Obama at a previous meeting at the White House.

The threats arising from the chilling empowerment of radical Islamic movements in the wake of the “Arab Spring” and the reunification of the openly genocidal Hamas with Fatah shatter any remaining dreams about the short-term prospects of reaching a settlement with the Palestinians.

Under the circumstances, rather than prostrating himself before President Barack Obama and making further unilateral concessions, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Knesset on Monday suggested he has decided to take the offensive against those misguidedly seeking to offer us as a sacrifice to appease the Islamist world.

In his Washington dialogue with the American people, he should reiterate our desire not to rule over Arabs, and willingness to abide by UN Resolution 242, but insist that so long as the Palestinians who rejected Olmert’s extraordinary offers and refuse to even negotiate, no further concessions will be forthcoming.

Indeed, it would now be timely to deplore efforts to make us act like supplicants with the Palestinians.

There is no example in history of a state begging for peace from neighbors vanquished after repeatedly unleashing wars aimed at its destruction.

Particularly with some of their leaders boasting of their intention to try again.

Netanyahu should deplore the morally repugnant double standards applied to us.

He should contrast the recent commendations from every government concerning the targeted assassination of Osama Bin Laden with the hysterical condemnations directed against us in 2004 when we carried out a similar action against Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin. The UN, the EU and most governments then railed that “extra-judicial killings are contrary to international law,” and that our action was “unlawful, unjustified and counterproductive.”

The liberal US president who endorsed the targeted assassination of a mass murderer will not be called before a UN investigative committee, summoned to the International Court, or subjected to hypocritical condemnations.

Netanyahu should also deplore the fact that despite the IDF’s unique code of ethics and extreme actions to minimize civilian casualties, it continues to be accused of war crimes by the odious Human Rights Council, dominated by Islamic and rogue states such as Iran and until recently Syria and Libya.

Even setting aside the duplicitous behavior of Abbas and the PA, the union with Hamas enables Netanyahu to conclusively expose the fallacy of the assertion that the Palestinians are “moderate peace partners.”

He must denounce any reluctance to condemn the PA after Mahmoud Abbas proclaimed its merger with Hamas – the terrorist organization whose charter explicitly calls for the murder of every living Jew. Particularly so when Hamas immediately reaffirmed that it would never recognize Israel or renounce terror.

Netanyahu should especially condemn those European countries which refused to denounce the Hamas-Fatah union. He should note that such behavior is like the attitudes countries displayed when the Nazis embarked on their genocidal campaign.

In fact, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (who attended the signing ceremony), UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the Russians even praised the Fatah-Hamas union. And French President Sarkozy hinted that in September, France would recognize a PA/Hamas state.

Netanyahu should also point out that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, with his organization’s parent body, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the US slaying of Osama Bin Laden, the “Arab holy warrior,” as an extension “of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.”

More significantly, despite Abbas applauding the demise of Bin Laden, his own military wing, the Al Aqsa Brigade, described the killing as a “catastrophe,” and referred to “the martyr’s death of the Sheikh, Jihad fighter Osama Bin Laden, in a treacherous manner, by the gangs of the heretics…”

After being criticized, Fatah withdrew a statement that it would remain “neutral.”

As it appears that President Obama will now address AIPAC, it would seem that he will not be following the advice of his advisers, who had urged him to confront Netanyahu with an imposed solution based on the indefensible 1949 armistice lines.

Nonetheless, Netanyahu must stand firm. Other than reiterating the danger of a xenophobic, nuclear Iran, he should concentrate on demonstrating the folly of endorsing a Palestinian state whose leaders would include many with a worldview matching Osama bin Laden’s. He must explain the devastating consequences not only for Israel, but also on the global battle against Islamic terror.

He should urge that a fully-fledged Palestinian state be sanctioned only if and when we have a genuine partner for peace, which it recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, meets our legitimate longterm security requirements, and forgoes the Arab “right of return.”

Until then, he should caution our friends not to be deluded by our adversaries, and urge that they be denied any support which could be exploited to harm our citizens.

Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman has already noted that “President Abbas now appears to be writing off his partnership with the US.”

Some congressional leaders have demanded that US taxpayers cease funding the PA, a large proportion of whose leaders still shamelessly proclaim their genocidal objectives.

Netanyahu should also announce that if the Palestinians unilaterally proclaim a state based on the 1949 armistice lines, Israel would consider this an abrogation of the Oslo Accords, and would solicit US support for immediately annexing the major settlement blocs in accordance with understandings reached with the Bush administration.

In the current climate, Netanyahu is likely to find most Americans supportive if he reiterates that Israel will never capitulate like Czechoslovakia did in order to create “peace in our time.”

He should remind them that pro rata, Palestinian terrorists have murdered a far greater percentage of Israeli citizens than Americans, and that we will not go along with the fantasies of those who believe the West will end its conflict with Islamic extremists by appeasing them at our expense.

Netanyahu must emphasize that his government shares the opinion of President Obama, who when announcing the execution of Bin Laden stated: “As a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand by idly when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens.”

ileibler@netvision.net.il

This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post