Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought”
“Israel Hayom” Newsletter, Aug. 22, 2011
The recent surge in Palestinian terrorism behooves Israel to revisit the fundamentals of counter-terrorism.
For example, the most effective defense against terrorism – operationally, financially and morally – is not retaliation and a limited, surgical offensive, but a comprehensive, decisive, sustained and disproportionate preemptive ground offensive, which aims to obliterate terror infrastructures and capabilities, and bring the enemy to submission. A decisive defeat of terrorism requires a victory over – and not coexistence or ceasefire agreements with – terrorism; uprooting – and not just stopping – terrorism.
Any response to terrorism which is short of devastating the ideological, political, financial, logistic and operational terrorist infrastructures, reassures terrorists that they are immune to annihilation. Moreover, it nurtures their hope-driven terrorism: the hope to whack Israel’s psyche of defiance, wreck Israel’s steadfastness, and sustain the 1993-2011 trend of sweeping Israeli ideological and territorial retreats.
Furthermore, a limited response to terrorism exacerbates wars of attrition – the dream of terrorists and nightmare of democratic societies. The limited-retaliation response to terrorism adds fuel to the fire of terrorism, feeds the self-defeating assumption that, supposedly, there is no military solution to terrorism, hence significantly eroding Israel’s posture of deterrence.
Contrary to that self-defeating assumption, Palestinian terrorism was curtailed by 90% – when, in 2002, Israel’s military took over the Palestinian breeding ground of terrorism in Beit Jallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and other major towns in Judea & Samaria. Israeli military re-engagement with these areas – rather than the Fence or the Wall – reasserted Israel’s initiative in the battle against Palestinian terrorism.
The more defensive and retaliation-driven the Israeli response to terrorism, the more emboldened are Palestinian terrorists, the less confident are Israelis in their government’s capability to safeguard personal and national security, the more taxing is mental fatigue, and the less convinced are Israelis in their cause.
The addiction to defense, and to limited response, has been embraced by Israel since signing the 1993 Oslo Accord, in order to resuscitate the “peace” process, which has triggered dramatically more hate-education, terrorism and non-compliance than the pre-Oslo reality. 250 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorism in the 15 years prior to Oslo, but over 2,000 have been murdered in the 18 years since Oslo.
Limited response has also been implemented, in order to soothe international public opinion – which is never satisfied with Israeli concessions – thus recklessly subordinating national security to public diplomacy considerations. Sometimes it yields false sense of security and enhances short-term tactical popularity. However, limited response always undermines long-term strategic interests and international respect towards Israel, generating more pressure on Israel, radicalizing Palestinian terrorism and distancing the area from peace.
Will Israel’s response to the current wave of Palestinian terrorism perpetuate the terrorist-preferred war of attrition? Or, will it be a milestone on the road to reclaiming the pre-Oslo Israeli posture as the role-model of deterrence, defiance of odds, determination and gumption in the battle against terrorism, which paved the road to the 1948 Declaration of Independence, the 1967 Six Day War, the 1970 deterrence of the Syrian invasion of Jordan, the 1976 Entebbe Jonathan Operation and the 1981 bombing of Saddam’s nuclear reactor?
Rather than retreating toward the pre-1967 ceasefire lines, Israel should take charge of the breeding ground of terrorism, which would enhance Israel’s power of deterrence, human-intelligence and interception capabilities. It would reduce the Palestinian capability to conduct hate-education, to incite, to recruit, to train, to manufacture and smuggle terrorist and military hardware, to plan, to maneuver and to perpetrate terrorist activities. It would reduce Palestinian terrorism by 90%!
This would make Israelis little different from the radical Muslims.
All Israel needs to do is re-take and annex Gaza and deport all the militants. Then look for an opportunity to annex the West Bank and deport all the militants there. Case closed. Hopefully, Iran will react which will create the opportunity to send them back to their pre-civilization era sooner rather than later so they can start all over again and be really civilized the second time around like Germany, Japan and Italy.
@ ArnoldHarris:
I agree wholeheartedly, Mr. ArnoldHarris. However, why leave out Bosnia and genocidal Arabs in the Sudan and elsewhere in Africa? Iran would be furious if they were omitted too. It’s true that 2 wrongs don’t make a right, but Judaism also recognizes the concept of “free will” as an instrument of survival.
As for international condemnation or admiration, may I remind all of you that Israel is condemned for their humane and moral hesitation to enter into a conflict where there will be many fatalities. The admiration was for the unexpected (and often unclaimed) acts of bravery in which Israel was successful and victorious. As Mr. Smyser said, “Now do it.” All the words and verbal passion mean nothing. Action is what’s needed.
There are no rights or wrongs in war. There is only victory or defeat. And in the case of Israel, defeat equals destruction of the Jewish state.
In order to save Israel from destruction, I would advocate the incineration of all Arab population centers from the Suez Canal to the Taurus Mountains and from the sea to the Syrian Desert, if that could insure victory.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Tony has put it very well – I agree with him.
Bill Levinson Said:
No, two wrongs never make a right. I’m a very right wing Jew. I left a comfortable life in London to serve 2 years in the IDF and in a front line unit. But two wrongs never, ever make a right. Doesn’t matter how big the wrong they did to you and how small the wrong you do back, two wrongs never make a right.
If we give in to evil, allow them to make us into brutal, inhumane murderers, then what are we, other than better armed terrorists?
We must find ways to strike at these murderers without murdering their children at the same time. We must fight as Jews, to preserve justice and freedom. It’s the hardest road to take, but it makes us who we are.
in the interests of clarity and good english(was not permitted to edit)the line should have read “every front line soldier will sleep better knowing that a dads/grandads army is around to protect their loved ones”
When our neighbours perceive us (Israel) as weak enough they will attack us.I do not exclude Jordan and Egypt.Syria may go the unconventional rout with chemical or biological weapons.Clearly Lebanon will unleash Hizbullshit to fire its estimated 60,000 missiles and Hammas in Gazza will emulate them.This takes no account of any fifth column within the country.After the initial opening rounds their ground troops will invade.They will be looking to kill, rape, soddomise,and torture any child, woman or man who falls into their hands.We firstly need to arm the civilian population so that they may defend themselves,every front line soldier will sleep better knowing that a ‘dads/grandads army is around to protect them.When ready we open up on our enemies with cheap katushkas type rockets in the tens of thousands to Hizbullshit/Lebanon/gaza/syria.Then the planes, then artillary,then ground troops.After which we all live happilly ever after for 100 years.The end.Unless we let them attack us first.
YES, attack and demolish before the terrorists can recover or regroup. attack in a different place several times a day. keep the terrorists on the defensive, so they can’t go on the offensive. Then throw the switch and shut the tap so they have to go to Egypt.
There is no question that the solution to the terrorism issue is in a strong response, i.e. preemption. Jewish values tell us that when
someone is coming to kill you, get up early and kill them first. The Arab world and the Palis make no bones about their ultimate goal.
The concept of a two state solution has been shown to be totally unworkable due to the nature of Israel’s “partner”. It is said you dont
make peace with your friends but rather with your enemies. This is a simplification. Actually you can ONLY make peace when your enemy has
been completely defeated and no longer sees the possibility of his victory. This end must be achieved through strength of actions and not
by a myriad of concessions that legitimize Arab claims. Following this logic leaves the conclusion that a hard line is the way to go.
The problem with Israeli leaders going back to Ben Gurion and up until the second term Netanyahu, is that they were and are first and
foremost politicians. They put pramatism ahead of principles. Jewish Leadership (Manhigut Yehudit) is what is needed to implement strong
reponses in these matters. Leadership based on Jewish values (Torah) that will exhibit the pride and conviction necessary.
The argument for preemption is sound, but to implement it, Israel would need to ignore both the international appeasers who try to buy quiet and markets at Israel’s expense and Israel’s internal appeasers, many in the judiciary, who would accuse the defenders of Israel’s civil society of state terrorism. Israeli politicians must lay the ground-work to open the eyes of the electorate to the fact that eliminating murderous, nihilistic ideologues benefits not only Israel, but its non-Jewish neighbours. Israel also needs to sideline judges and members of the intelligence and military who are defeatists and do away with the idiocy of “purity of arms”, so cruelly exploited by jihadis. It must also bring to heel its internal enemies who seek foreign support to impose their politics which the electorate rejected at the ballot box. In other words, preemption must become a national goal.
I agree with Joe Hamilton, in the main. My own preferred appellation for the Palestinian Arabs is Phallustinians. Be that as it may, I would just like to supplement Joe’s point by noting that (1) the Ottoman empire resettled mohammedans kicked out of regions it lost in the region that was to become the Palestinian mandate (2) the British who restricted Jewish entry to the land allocated to Jews for settlement allowed Arab immigration to a region made prosperous by Jews and (3) to become a refugee member of the “ancient”, “indigenous”, “Palestinian nation”, with deeper roots in Judea and Samaria than Jews have, a person has only to have lived in that area for only two (yes, TWO) years prior to 1948 according to UNWRA’s rules. So perhaps the first act of preemption would be for Israel to expel UNWRA. The second such act, I suggest would be to reoccupy the Philadelphi corridor.
The only moral way to fight at war … is not the way Israel, under Ehud Barak would have Israel fight it. Wars don’t end with diplomatic signatures, they end, as the Americans showed in WWII, when you scare the bejaysus out of the enemy and then formally terminate it by having the loser either turn over a sword or say a very loud “uncle”. Wars only end if they do so decisively. It was given to Joshua to enter the Holy Land and rid the land of all its current inhabitants. Naturally, being a Jew, he looked at it from the antagonist’s side, turned it over, mulled it in his Yiddishe kepele, and decided that would not be the sophisticated way to go. Thus, Amelek still lives and Amelek doesn’t have any trouble wiping out Jews.
There is no such a thing as a Palestinian. There are trespassing vile Jew-hating beasts who are accurately described as FAKEstinians. All of Jordan, Sumaria and Judea as well as Israel should be for Jews only. The Islamic supremacist beasts because they follow the blueprint for murder of non Muslims known as the Koran which encourages them to conquer to world and kill all who don’t convert to Islam, will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, make peace with the Jews. The only way the Jewish state can survive is to do what they did to Egypt. They inflicted so much punishment on the Egyptians,that, in a rare moment of sanity (for Arabs) they realized they could never defeat Israel and they made peace. The Egyptians still hate the Israelis but after losing 4 wars in 25 years, their fear of Israel is stronger than their hatred. The Fakestinian beasts believe Jew hating Europe and the mental midget affirmative action low IQ President Obama will help them destroy Israel. Israel has not had a PM with balls since they began having Sabras as PMs. As tough, as their image is, they can’t compare with David Ben Gurion, Begin, and Shamir.Begin told the actor Ronald Reagan in a polite way to go F— yourself. Israel today is governed by mental weaklings and the Fakestinians sense this.Someone like Ben Gurion or Begin knew the only friends Jews have are themselves. David Ben-Gurion realized after visiting the death camps in Europe, that the only allies a Jewish state needed were nuclear weapons. North Korea which is one of the most isolated ,friendless nations in the world, still gets tremendous respect because the have nukes. Would North Korea allow the vermin such as the Fakestinian beasts to murder their children? Among Israel’s enemies I would also include the leftist Jewish traitors such as Peres and Livni and the vile leftist Israeli media who are as destructive of Israel as the Arabs.
The Honorable Ambassador has nailed it – now, do it!
Yes. A nice little call to arms indeed. But when, oh when, does the action start? All I see so far is Arabs attacking and killing Jews with relative impunity. While the Jews respond by issuiong one screed after another.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
A nice little manifesto.
JCPA, take note.
Hope you can get it to the PM’s desk
pronto.
Burn those bastards out. No prisoners, no mercy.