By Steve Levy
1. Israel Does NOT Occupy Gaza
Gaza is NOT occupied by Israel. Jews have not been in Gaza since 2005 when they voluntarily completed a full pullout. https://www.britannica.com/event/Israels-disengagement-from-Gaza
Gaza has been run for all this time by Hamas, which the Palestinians elected into office over the less militant Fatah Party.
It is ridiculous, and outright false, to claim that an area is occupied by a people who have had no presence there for almost two decades.
2. It’s a Historically Shared Area
Jews and Palestinians have been living in this area side-by-side and intermingling for hundreds of years. The Jewish homeland was called Judaea, as in Judaism. https://www.britannica.com/event/Israels-disengagement-from-Gaza
Jews lived in the area for thousands of years. Palestinian Arabs didn’t arrive in the area until the seventh century. https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/israel-and-palestine-where-should-history-begin-and-should-it-matter/#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20the%20Islamic,centuries%2C%20its%20population%20overwhelmingly%20Arab.
It is false to claim Palestinians had their own state that Jews vanquished. In fact, neither the Jews nor the Palestinians had control over their own destiny for thousands of years. They were both ruled by outsiders, be it the Romans, the Ottomans or the British.
How could Jews have colonized Palestinians when Jews themselves were living under colonial rule for thousands of years?
3. The British Offered Two States
After six million Jews were murdered by Nazis in World War II and the concentration camps were liberated, the displaced Jews needed a place to go.
The British, who controlled the Middle East area where both Palestinians and Jews lived, suggested that the areas that they commingled could be divided into two states: one for Jews, and one for Palestinians.
The Jewish people accepted the deal; the Palestinians did not.
The British were finally going to give up their colony, and allow the people who resided in this area for thousands of years to control their own destinies. It could’ve resulted in a single state for each, or one combined state with people continuing to live intermingled.
It was certainly reasonable and logical for the world to get behind the concept of these two peoples with their two distinct cultures being able to coexist side-by-side in their separate states, controlling their own futures.
Palestinians have a legitimate claim that many of their people were displaced, and had to move to the Palestinian section if they wanted to be under Palestinian rule. But, by the same token, Jews, who were living in areas with Palestinians outside the new Jewish state, would have to also move if they wanted to live under Jewish rule. People from both sides were displaced. It wasn’t a perfect situation, but it could be said it was the best of all the options available.
4. The Arabs Fought against Israel’s Existence, Starting Seven Wars
The United Nations recognized the state of Israel in the late 1940s. The Arab world refused, and commenced seven wars to try to vanquish Israel ever since.
They include:
- 1948 — Palestinian War
- 1956 — Suez War
- 1967 — The Six-Day War
- 1973 — Yom Kippur War (which Arabs started on the holy Jewish day of Yom Kippur)
- 1982 — Lebanon War
- 2006 — Lebanon War
- 2023 Hamas attack https://www.britannica.com/summary/Arab-Israeli-wars
Since the creation of Israel in 1948, the Jewish state has never started a war with its Arab neighbors. Even the 1968 War was a pre-emptive Israeli strike responding to Arab forces gathering to attack.
5. Intifada
These Arab-initiated wars do not even include the numerous acts of terror under the label “intifada.” (This is the same term many uneducated college students are presently chanting on campuses throughout our nation.) These acts included the bombing of buses, pizza parlors, nightclubs and many other areas where civilians were congregating. These civilian deaths were not collateral damage as sometimes occurs when Israelis seek to destroy Hamas underground tunnels (which Hamas deliberately buried under schools and hospitals). These were terror attacks aimed directly at civilians with the intent to maximize civilian casualties.
6. It’s Hamas Who Targets Civilians
Israel’s incursion into Gaza is designed to target Hamas leadership. Hamas’ incursion into Israel in October 2023 was designed to kill as many Jewish civilians as they could who were gathering at a fall music festival.
The savagery of the October massacre included raping Jewish women and beheading children —- brutality not seen since ISIS was at its peak.
It also included the taking and continued holding of over 100 hostages, including many Americans.
The civilian murders on October 7 were deliberate and cheered in Gaza. Polls showed three-quarters of Palestinians supporting the terrorist raid. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14/
One Hamas militant was caught on tape gloating to his parents in real time that he just murdered 10 Jewish civilians. His mother told him how proud she was of him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhl9JFiw6sU
7. Palestinians Teach Their Children to Hate Jews
Palestinian authorities reward the families of terrorists who kill Jewish civilians with great sums of money. https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/02/12/a-palestinian-authority-that-rewards-terrorism-has-no-place-in-gaza/
Palestinian children are taught from the time they are toddlers to hate Jews. They are told Jews are the Devil, or at the very least, pigs. Videos have emerged showing adult Palestinians encouraging pre-teens to recite nursery rhymes as to how they will grow up to kill Jews. https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/comprehensive-report-reveals-endemic-hate-education-in-palestinian-schools-632057
No such government-sponsored vile to hate Palestinians is taught to Israeli children.
8. Israel Has Consistently Said Yes to Peace. The Palestinians Said No to Two States.
In the Camp David accords, Israel and Egypt agreed to a peaceful coexistence, which has held ever since. In 1994, Israel entered into peace with Jordan. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-179122/ It has been held ever since.
The Abraham accords enacted in the Trump administration led to peaceful coexistence between Israel and numerous Arab neighbors. The peace between them has held ever since.
Just before October 7, Israel was negotiating with Saudi Arabia to create a peaceful coexistence between the two nations.
The only entities that continue to foster hate with Israel are Iran, its proxies and the Palestinians.
The bottom line is that Israel has said YES to peace at every opportunity and upheld its side of the bargain with every country with which it settled.
Israel agreed to a two-state solution with Palestine on numerous occasions. Palestinians rejected the compromise each and every time, first in 1948 and then in the late nineties when President Bill Clinton brought Israeli leaders together with Palestinian terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. Both sides agreed to a peace plan with a two-state solution. Clinton was elated and was about to make the announcement when Arafat backed out at the last minute, claiming that if he were to agree to this peace plan, he would be assassinated by his people. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/03/israel2
Again in 2006, Israel agreed to a two-state solution. The Palestinians said no. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSMAC139493/
Recent polls continue to show it is the Palestinians who oppose the two-state solution. https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/palestinian-majority-rejects-two-state-solution-backs-tactical-compromises
And yet the media, the Biden administration and many in the Democratic Party continue to pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution. Israel had been willing to do so many times in the past, but why would they do so now after Hamas slaughtered their people on October 7? Why would they send a message that Palestinians can get their way if they simply desecrate Jewish babies? And why does the media ignore that Israel agreed to the recent cease-fire accord negotiated by the Biden administration in exchange for the hostages, while it was Hamas who rejected it?
All one needs to know about the Palestinian-Israel conflict is to look back on the profound statement of former Israeli Premiere Golda Meir who in essence proclaimed:
“If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.”
9. There Is No Moral Equivalency
Unfortunately, America’s youth, which relies on getting its news from non-traditional media outlets such as TikTok, Facebook and Google do not get a basic education in high school regarding the history of this region.
They are being fed propaganda by Marxist enemies of the west who control TikTok and academia.
It’s not even a case of these young people being taught a moral equivalency between Israel and its neighboring nations. To the contrary, they’re being taught that Israel is the nefarious nation while the Palestinians and the Arab world are the innocent victims and the good guys.
This is the predictable aftereffect of Critical Race Theory, which is now being taught in many U.S. schools. This Marxist nonsense starts from the premise that all things bad in the world emanate from white western European-type people and nations that exploit people of color.
Nothing else matters other than Jews are perceived as powerful whites exploiting the brown Palestinians, who are the victims of white supremacy.
These college students either don’t know, or don’t care, that Israel is a thriving liberal western democracy, with a free press, freedom of expression, and a true democracy. Women are encouraged to excel and gays are welcome. (The biggest irony is that those preaching in the Queers for Gaza group would likely be imprisoned or even killed in Palestine if they held their gay partner’s hand in public,)
Moreover, Arab-Israelis make up one-fifth of Israel’s population, are voting citizens, and are treated better than Arabs in any part of the Arab world. They can flee Israel at any time to live in Arab nations, but choose not to do so.
An article in the Washington Examiner by Tiana Doescher underscored the true reason why Israel flourishes while surrounding Arab nations do not. Israel is a meritocracy that stresses higher education, mathematics and engineering, women in the workforce, free markets, innovation and capital investment. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2570743/a-tale-of-two-economies-israels-market-based-growth-vs-palestinian-kleptocracy/
The Palestinian government, on the other hand, is repressive and corrupt. It spends its money on digging tunnels to hide its militants and building rockets to launch into Israel, rather than helping its people. It keeps its people in a welfare state, dependent on small handouts from the Hamas authority, so they are perceived as their benefactors.
They discourage women in the workforce. They repress free speech and an open press. And they haven’t had an election since 2006.
After September 11, Israel rallied to our support. Palestinians cheered with glee, many chanting, “Death to America.”
If you prefer Western civilization with free expression, free trade and free press over repressive, corrupt regimes run by intolerant religious zealots,there should be no doubt whose side we should be on: Israel. There’s no doubt who the good guys and bad guys are in this conflict.
10. The Solution
- i) Palestinians agree to recognize Israel.
- ii) Palestinians commit to ending the funding of terrorists and rewarding families of terrorists with payments. They must also stop the sponsorship of teaching children to hate Jews.
iii) The UN negotiates a sum to compensate Palestinians for any legitimate claims to land from which they were displaced so Palestinians can claim a victory and have a sense of closure.
Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” He is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.” www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, steve@commonsensestrategies.com