AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File

When Hamas and others – including the Palestinian Authority – state specifically that their only default outcome is no state of Israel at all, there’s nothing that Israel can do to effect a peaceful outcome.

Limits to our own power

By Alan Joseph Bauer | Jul 07, 2024 – | Townhall.com  

(The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com)

What happens when the other side does not play ball?

There is a very common euphemism here in Israel: “the work accident”. This expression generally refers to an event in which a terrorist’s  explosive charge went off well before he reached his intended destination.

For example, one might hear of a car exploding in Jenin or in the old days in Gaza. The reporter would dutifully note that so-and-so was killed and that Israeli officials believe that it was a work accident caused by a premature detonation of a bomb.

When such events took place, I took it as God’s veto. There is no question that terrorists are always planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets. The number of attacks during the second intifada (2000-2006) is measured in the tens of thousands: shootings, rock throwing, bombings, stabbings, vehicular attacks, etc.

My wife told me of a friend’s husband who had a rock sail through his car window and hit him in the head.

The blurred vision, doctor’s visits, lost work, and expenses did not end with the setting of the sun. When there have been periods of relative quiet in Israel, it is not because the terrorists are busy playing poker. They are always planning, but thank God they are oftentimes foiled or prevented from realizing their goals.

Look up how many times over the past 9 months the IDF has acted in Jenin to prevent terror attacks in Israel. They killed seven terrorists yesterday after a soldier was killed by a planted IED.  The army, led by D9 tractors to rip up the streets, are there every few weeks and have even used fighter jets to take out terrorists hiding in houses in the city.

Our son took his family up north yesterday for a short vacation. Hezbollah was at that time showering Israel with 200 rockets and 20 suicide drones, causing one death, damage, and large forest fires. GPS reception was scrambled so as to make the projectiles’ efforts less accurate.

I got a panicked call from my son that Waze suddenly stopped working! It took around 15 minutes just to figure out where they were and in which direction they were traveling. Another half hour of my running simulations on Google Maps from home, and they found their hotel.

We take so many things like GPS navigation, ATM’s, public transportation and the like for granted—and when they go offline, we are often left at a loss on how to take care of business.

One thing that every person realizes is that nothing is fully in his hands. Even if one plans an elaborate wedding, he or she cannot control the weather for the outdoor ceremony and reception. Our wedding was moved indoors at the last moment due to rain.

Many people attribute the part outside of their control to God, acting through others and nature. Many simply attribute it to luck, chance, or the like. Either way, there is only so much in our hands.

Take for example Israel and its Arab enemies. When Hamas and others—including the Palestinian Authority, to note—state specifically that their only default outcome is no state of Israel at all, there is nothing that Israel can do to effect a peaceful outcome.

Yes, Israel can protect its citizens and it can work to weaken and destroy its enemies. But if the other side states categorically that it will not make peace, then Israel and the West should accept their stand at face value and act accordingly.

The problem is that the US, Europe and others somehow expect a “two-state solution” and thus severely limit Israeli action.

The other side says that there will be a one-state solution that starts with a “P” and not an “I”. I do not know how many thousands of Israelis and others have died because the West forces Israel to play on both sides of the tennis net.

The Palestinians do not want peace. Period. Full stop. Build up Israeli presence in Gaza and the West Bank accordingly. Let them come begging for peace before the land is all used up.

The same rings true in the US. Let’s imagine a Trump landslide with many other Republicans elected to state, local and national office. Even with such an outcome, major urban centers and well-known blue states will still be in the hands of elected Democratic officials.

Now one can certainly say to the citizens of LA, San Francisco, and New York: you voted for a Soros D.A. Suffer the consequences! And that approach is fair. But, there are always around 40% who did not vote for the no-bail, let-them-out-of-jail DA, and the actions or lack thereof have implications far beyond their locales.

When Democrats are soft on crime and allow rampant shoplifting, people far away also feel the repercussions. Stores go out of business. Prices of goods go up in order to compensate for the huge losses.

The criminals who are not put away by a blue D. A. can murder a family from Alabama visiting New York for their first time.

While President Trump might eject millions of illegal aliens and use federal power to keep order, at the end of the day—like the intransigent Palestinians—the Democratic officials can simply destroy the fabric of the United States through their policies.

If a liberal state allows for supposed “trans” athletes to compete with real women, then that rule affects thousands of girls and women and their prospects of success in their chosen sports.

Self-described sanctuary states and cities could well thwart federal attempts to remove illegal aliens. Who wants to witness on TV a standoff between local cops and federal marshals over the removal of illegal restaurant workers in LA?

While we are given enormous power over the events in our lives, not everything is in our hands. Whether one attributes contributing factors to God or luck, there are things over which we have no control. In the world of politics, both local and international, there are other players who have a say in our best-laid plans.

If the Palestinians wanted peace, it could be consummated in a month. But they do not want peace, and however much Israelis once yearned for it, their desire counts for nothing with the actions and planning of Palestinian terror groups and their supporters.

Likewise, lefty state and local officials can promote policies that have far-reaching negative effects on the United States as a whole, however much a majority of Americans want law and order.

President Trump and his associates should start thinking about how to deal with areas that work against him and his program (like Portland and other cities that willingly tolerated anti-Trump riots during the summer of 2020).

We truly need to be one nation, under God, but how do we achieve it when a significant portion of our fellow citizenry is working in the exact opposite direction? ##