A victim being transported into an ambulance outside the West Bank supermarket where Palestinian teens went on a stabbing spree. Photo: Twitter.

The first, most basic responsibility of a nation is to protect and secure its citizens. The time has come for the Israeli government to get much tougher on Palestinian Arab terrorists, and for American taxpayers to demand accountability about the hundreds of millions of dollars we send to the Palestinian Authority.

Over the past six months, since the start of the Palestinian “stabbing intifada,” there seem to be few accomplishments on the defensive front by Israel to stop and deter these persistent attacks. These attacks have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians, including two Americans — Ezra Schwartz and Taylor Force. Jewish lives are sacred and they matter, especially in the face of an Arab culture of hatred and death. If this is too politically correct for the international community to comprehend, well, tough.

Though I am in the Diaspora, here is what I believe is immediately required of Israel:

• full unencumbered use of its police powers by declaring “war” and treating Palestinian Arab terrorists like enemy combatants;
• for those terrorists who live in Israel: their homes and/or their family’s homes should be destroyed, they and their family should be expelled to Gaza, and they should have their residence or citizenship status revoked;
• all those guilty of incitement against Israel should be expelled to Gaza and have their citizenship revoked;
• all Palestinian media, including print, radio and online sites that are involved with incitement should be shuttered;
• the rules of engagement should be relaxed and the default mindset position must be suspicion of terroristic intent;
• Israeli citizens should be encouraged to carry firearms on their persons for protection outside their homes;
• all illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem and the territories should be razed and prevented; and
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should be severely restricted in his movements, much as Israel curtailed Arafat’s travel in his last years; at least until he unequivocably renounces and ends the incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis.

In addition, American taxpayers must demand that the US government immediately do the following:

• state that terror is reprehensible in all circumstances, and force the Palestinian Authority to end the incitement in their media, mosques, schools, and textbooks;
• cut off all funding for the PA;
• shut down the PLO office in Washington;
• prosecute Palestinian Arab terrorists who maim and murder Americans, as mandated by the Koby Mandell Act of 2005 (to date, not one Palestinian terrorist has been indicted for the killing of dozens of Americans, though their locations are known); and
• pass anti-boycott legislation.

For  more than 100 years, it has been abundantly clear that the only language many Palestinian Arabs understand is greater force. Until the Palestinian Arabs begin acting like respectable human beings with appreciation for the sacredness of human life, including non-Arabs and non-Muslims, there is no chance for peaceful co-existence. Until then, they must be treated accordingly.