The Global March to Jerusalem

by David Solway, FPM

Once again, Israel is confronted by a major threat to its existence, namely, the so-called Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) scheduled for March 30th. It is organized by the usual suspects—the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the swelling tribe of Ayatollah lovers, the devil’s spawn of radical Leftists—whose intention is to mobilize a million people to breach Israel’s borders and converge on Jerusalem. They are convinced that Israel will either find itself helpless before a “peaceful” onslaught of this magnitude or be forced to take action that would lead to a PR disaster. From their perspective, it’s a win-win situation. One way or another, Israel would be gravely weakened and, according to an unlettered exchange between some of the event’s organizers, “Thius will undermine the Israeli state…& the Zionist edifice which is unraveeling as we speak, will soon fall.”

A million unarmed zealots determined to challenge the Jewish state are by no means unarmed. They are enemy combatants armed with the sympathy of the international community and the propaganda weapon furnished by a world-wide anti-Zionist media. They know that Israel is bound to lose the propaganda war regardless of how it decides to respond. Islamic states do not suffer from a similar dilemma. After all, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has slaughtered over 9000 of his own people in attempting to repress a popular uprising. But the GMJ organizers—including such well-known bigots as George Galloway, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who sit on the advisory board—have little or nothing to say about this ongoing atrocity. Clearly, they are not eager to Occupy Damascus since they might actually get hurt. But Jerusalem is another matter. They will have the Israeli Left cheering them on and can bank on the reluctance of the IDF to apply lethal force.

The GMJ is also armed with a formidable body of outright lies and gross distortions that the radical Left, in concert with Islamofascist dogma, has adopted as doctrinal truth. The so-called Anti-Imperialist Camp, which supports the march, and the official GMF website have listed the standard batch of falsifications as ideological ammunition for its adherents. Among the myths and libels enumerated in these venues, we learn:

that Palestinians are being expelled from Jerusalem, a claim refuted even by the Leftwing The Nation which recorded a 3% growth of Arab Jerusalemites compared to a mere 1% growth of the Holy City’s Jewish residents. According to the globalpost, the Arab population of Jerusalem has grown 209% since the Jordanian defeat in the 1967 war.

that 85% of Palestinian territory has been despoiled by “foreign settlers.” Of course, the organizers are referring to Israel proper, oblivious to the fact that it was Israel that was robbed of 78% of its legally mandated territory, which became the artificially constructed Emirate of Transjordan.

that only Jewish citizens benefit from Israeli democracy, a lie so brazen that only the terminally brainwashed could believe it.

that Israel is in violation of international law—when it is Israel, and only Israel, that is in compliance with the League of Nations Mandate, the dispositions of the San Remo Conference, Article 80 of the UN Charter and UN Resolution 242, as well as the laws of war validating the results of the 1967 and 1973 hostilities.

that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, a contention that scurrilously negates several historically attested facts, for example, that there is no such country called Palestine, that a significant proportion of the Arab inhabitants of the contested area are not indigenous “Palestinians” but relative latecomers originating in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa, and that Jerusalem throughout history was the political and spiritual capital of the Jewish people. Indeed, Jews formed the majority of the city’s population for much of the census-taking period, as is evident from such meticulously documented volumes as Mitchell Bard’s Myths and Facts and Joan Peters’ From Time Immemorial.

Buttressed by such fabrications, the GMJ has effectively declared war on Israel and has embarked on what is nothing less than a massive invasion of its sovereign territory. The email previously cited envisions a “human tide” of one million people now, but aims for five million “next time…& it will only grow from there.” Obviously, this is war by another name, and Israel is being attacked with a view not only to inflict a humiliating defeat upon it but to eliminate it entirely from the roll-call of the world’s nations. In essence, this is only a more “humane” version of the Iranian project to wipe Israel off the map.

Judaism is a life-affirming religion; unfortunately, in the world of practical affairs, it is all too often the life of its enemies that is affirmed. The IDF distributes leaflets advising its antagonists of impending operations, so as not to harm civilians. Jewish organizations engage in “dialogue” and “outreach” with those who are sworn to their extirpation. The Jewish Left promotes the boycotting of Israeli goods, agitates on behalf of the Palestinians and condemns the Jewish inhabitants of Judea and Samaria—Israel’s ancient heartland—as colonialist “settlers.” The Israeli ruling elite is prone to surrendering legitimately acquired land in exchange for illusory promises, exposing its citizens to ambushes, incursions and even short-range missile attacks in ever-contracting territory.

And now we have the proposed million-man march on Jerusalem. Of course, it is unlikely that the number is even remotely achievable, but let us assume for the sake of argument that it were. The question then poses itself. How should Israel react to the inundation of its capital by a million people swarming in from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt? With water cannons? With the sonic boom of low-flying F-16s? With conciliatory rhetoric? With civilized debating points? With the keys to the city? Such expedients do not seem especially convincing.

Plainly, a workable means of deterrence to what is theoretically a significant menace to the continued existence of the Jewish state will have to be arrived at. In the face of the GMJ, no less than the genocidal policy of Iran, Israel will need to find some way of affirming itself for a change and ensuring the survival of its Jewish citizens.