On Thursday April 7, an Islamic extremist walked into a crowded bar in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel shot two innocent Israelis to death, and wounded ten others. Regrettably, this attack was not atypical. Since late March, 14 Jews have been murdered in Israel, in four separate terrorist attacks. Numerous others have been seriously injured.
After the attack in Tel Aviv, Israeli law enforcement officers located the culprit and shot him dead. If the attacks continue, Israel will surely continue to respond and take stronger countermeasures, including using lethal force.
Despite the atrocities taking place in Israel ahead of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, many people are unaware of their happenings.
Unbalanced Reporting
A government taking action to protect its citizens in response to terrorist attacks is normal. What is abnormal is that time, and again, when Islamic radicals target Israelis, the mainstream press all but ignores it. However, when Israel inevitably responds (and regrettably lives are lost), Israeli “aggression” is often the lead headline across news outlets, thereby making Israel look like the culpable antagonist.
Per the norm, the mainstream press has been loath to report the recent terrorist attacks. The Twittersphere has been eerily quiet. When questioned why, many news outlets responded that they did in-fact report what was happening in Israel, and technically, they would be correct. An astute reader might locate a short article in the middle of a newspaper sandwiched between an advert and another unremarkable story, or on a webpage after a few clicks.
When Israel responds, the story will most likely be front-page news or at the top of an internet landing page. Then, “human rights activists” will lambast Israel for responding “out of proportion” or in an “unbalanced” way. At TQC, we find such accusations odd. As any other sovereign nation would do if its citizens were under attack, Israel defends them. Like few other sovereign nations do, Israel always exercises tremendous restraint when doing so.
Often, before launching a counteroffensive, police, or the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) warns over loudspeakers, via SMS text messages, leaflets, phone calls and other methods that they would be targeting specific locations known to house militants. In short, Israeli law enforcement says to private citizens, “evacuate, a counter-attack is imminent.” Then, Israel hits back. What other countries take such precautions, and are then vilified for it?
Progressive Hypocrisy
On August 15, we published GOP Hypocrisy. In that piece, we argued that Republican support for law enforcement officers appears to vanish when the culprits are radical Trump supporters. We used the events of January 6 as a poignant example of how the GOP did what it criticizes Democrats of doing all the time: failed to support the men and women in uniform who keep us safe.
As our loyal readers at TQC know, we will call out lawmakers and other public figures on both sides of the political divide when we deem it appropriate. It is fair to point out that when violence is perpetrated by Islamist extremists, especially against Jews, there is a lack of condemnation from the progressive left.
Unfortunately, through the lens of the anti-Semitic eyes of many of these self-purported “progressive activists,” Jews are never allowed to defend themselves. Indeed, when Jews commit any kind of violence – even when responding to violence in self-defense, not purporting violence – many progressives label it “oppression.” When Islamic terrorists shoot Jews in bars or blow them up on buses, those same pundits label it “resistance.”
Holy Sites
Earlier this week, ~100 Palestinian rioters vandalized the Jewish holy site, Joseph’s Tomb. The perpetrators destroyed and then burned it. Unsurprisingly, it was barely mentioned in the mainstream press. It was hardly condemned.
At TQC, we are not much into hypotheticals. But, that said, we would be remiss not to argue that if an unhinged mob of Jewish radicals desecrated a Muslim holy site, the media would report it, progressive lawmakers would condemn it (as they should), the Twittersphere would lite-up with celebrities taking 14 seconds to post a generic hashtag pretending to care, and protests might very well take place around the world. These two scenarios, albeit hypothetical, do not appear “proportionate,” or “balanced,” to us.
Human Suffering
Progressives often retort that they stay mum when innocent Israelis are murdered because Palestinians are suffering due to Israeli “oppression” (as if that is a valid reason not to condemn a terrorist attack).
At TQC, we agree with progressives that Palestinians are suffering. However, where we differ is the reason why they are suffering. Racism, self-serving lies, and sheer laziness in learning about the Israeli / Palestinian conflict have created a gaping asymmetry between grasp of facts and strength of opinion on this topic.
Palestinians' anguish is primarily caused by their leaders. Gaza, where ~2 million Palestinians reside, is governed by Hamas, a globally designated terrorist organization whose own governing charter (you can find it online) calls for Israel’s destruction. Fatah, which governs the West Bank territories, has a more polished veneer but its leadership, too, have capitalized on oppressing their Palestinian constituents, then blaming the “oppression” on Israel.
In both Gaza and West Bank, Radio broadcasts feed Palestinian residents a steady stream of anti-Semitic propaganda from morning until night. And in both Gaza and West Bank, whenever a Palestinian terrorist perpetrates an atrocity against Israelis, the perpetrator is celebrated as a “hero.”
Hamas’ depraved, corrupt leaders sacrifice the lives and dignity of their own people for power and money. They depend on Palestinians’ hopelessness and sense of despair to remain in office. Peace and productivity will not keep them there. (There have not been elections in Gaza in ~20 years).
The leaders of Hamas steal money that has been bequeathed to their people and enrich themselves. (Some senior Hamas officials reside in sheltered luxury in Qatar). Funds from both Israel and the international community intended to build housing, roads, bridges, power plants and other critical infrastructure in Gaza are diverted and used to purchase military gear.
If those funds were allocated as intended, towards basic services and improving the education of Palestinian children, there is no reason that Gaza could not be a launching ground for rocket scientists, as opposed to being a launching ground for rockets.
For this, we do not place the blame on the shoulders of ordinary Palestinians. The responsibility is their self-serving, corrupt political leaders, “human rights activists”, “independent,” journalists and “progressive” politicians that are conveniently sleeping on the facts.