If Israel’s enemies dropped their weapons, there would be no more war.
Conversely, if Israelis dropped their weapons, there would be no more Israel.
Paraphrasing former Prime Minister Golda Meir’s adage appropriately marks the second anniversary this week of Hamas’s murderous October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed over a thousand Israelis and took hundreds more hostage.
If Hamas halted hostilities and released all Israeli hostages – both alive and now deceased – the war in Gaza could end immediately. This is no “cycle of violence,” contrary to that tiresome platitude. Hamas initiated this war, and Hamas can end it.
Whenever the conflict ends, however, Americans should be grateful for Israel’s military operations in its remarkable defense. Employing everything from exploding pagers to air assaults against Iranian military infrastructure and generals, the Israelis have brilliantly crippled Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran – who collectively despise America and account for hundreds of American military and civilian deaths over the past four decades.
Over the decades, moreover, Israel has acted as a frontline partner to the United States by engaging many of that region’s dangerous nations and non-state actors whose ambitions threaten U.S. interests and regional stability. Israel has also offered a valuable source of intelligence, military innovation and defense technology – including advances in missile defense, unmanned aerial systems and electronic warfare technologies.
Instead of gratitude, however, we’re witnessing an alarming trend: Support for Israel among Americans has receded rather than advanced, primarily due to a bizarre rise in pro-Palestinian sentiment among the political left.
Specifically, fewer than half of Americans now support Israel against its murderous Palestinian opponent. Although support for Israel in the most recent Gallup survey still exceeds support for Palestinians by a 46% to 33% margin, that level of support has trended sharply downward. As noted above, the results primarily stem from a shift on the political left, as Democrats now support the Palestinian cause by a shocking 59% to 21% margin. For their part, Republicans continue to strongly favor Israel by a 75% to 10% margin, while independents support Israel by a 42% to 34% margin. Other survey organizations like Pew Research show the same lopsided ideological discrepancy and erosion from the left.
Public opinion overseas is even more frightful.
Populations across Europe and the globe now engage in mass protest and anti-Semitic violence, while foreign governments have decided to reward aggression by offering official state recognition.
That trend in America and abroad violates all concepts of logic and morality, even beyond the aforementioned military and strategic benefits that Israel has brought to the U.S. and its allies.
First, Israel remains the only democratic state in a sea of dangerous autocracies and Islamist militant states. Accordingly, undermining Israel not only abandons a beleaguered democratic ally but also signals to adversarial state and non-state actors that terror such as the October 7 attacks pay.
Additionally, there is no moral symmetry between Israel and Hamas – or Israel’s other enemies, for that matter. Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization explicitly dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Its methods, moreover – employing human shields, firing rockets indiscriminately into population centers, hiding in tunnels and parades celebrating murders of Israelis – don’t constitute “resistance,” they’re war crimes. Granting any moral equivalency between a democratic Israel and terrorist groups and nations opposing it and murdering citizens perverts all notions of morality.
Sadly, however, appeasement and rewarding terror is precisely what is happening. Political leaders on the left advocate cutting U.S. military aid to Israel unless it unilaterally halts military operation, universities host Hamas solidarity rallies without condemning its October 7 assault and the mainstream media amplifies images of suffering and destruction without context, recasting Israel as the aggressor and villain.
In the face of such erosion the U.S. and its allies must reaffirm Israel’s right to defend itself just as any other nation would have done in response to assaults like those of October 7, 2023. We must continue military cooperation and engagement, intelligence sharing and diplomatic backing. The U.S. must also refuse to recognize Palestinian statehood, and pressure other nations to do the same unless and until it disarms, polices its borders, renounces terrorism and protects human rights more effectively.
People of good conscience must also call out the political left’s indefensible pivot against Israel, because it’s not “progressive” to side with terrorists. To stand with Israel is not to ignore Palestinian suffering, but to recognize the actual cause of that suffering and to insist that terror not be glorified or rewarded.
Accordingly, as we mark the anniversary of October 7, shifting tides of public opinion on the political left do not change the moral principles at stake. We cannot waver now, lest we betray the ideals that we claim to protect.
Let history show that at this pivotal moment, the U.S. stood morally strong on the side of its democratic and loyal ally Israel.
Timothy H. Lee is Senior Vice President of legal and public affairs at the Center for Individual Freedom.
Reprinted with Permission from CFIF – By Timothy H. Lee
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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