THE GLOBAL INTIFADA AGAINST THE JEWISH STATE - The US Senate must pass bills against the ICC, antisemitism on campus, and put maximum pressure on Iran.
By: Joseph Puder
November 27, 2024
The gruesome massacre committed against Israeli civilians by the Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on October 7, 2023 followed by unprovoked rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, justified Israel’s retaliatory actions. Hezbollah, the Shiite-Lebanese terrorist group shelled Israeli communities in the Galilee on October 8 in support of Hamas’ barbarism. Both terror groups are proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, from whom they continue to receive massive funding.
In the ensuing fourteen months, Israel has essentially defeated these terror groups militarily, however a new front has opened up against the Jewish state in the form of a global intifada. Massive riots in support of Israel’s destruction have taken place in cities and on campuses in America, European cities, and throughout the world, along with one-sided United Nations resolutions, that demand an immediate ceasefire, while ignoring the fact that 101 of the 251 people kidnapped and brutally taken by Hamas into the Gaza dungeons/dark tunnels and remain unaccounted. Included among the original group of hostages were citizens of other countries, including the United States. Over 100 hostages were released in a prisoner exchange and, IDF rescue operations. However, many of the Israeli hostages have been murdered by Hamas and PIJ.
Anti-Israel resolutions at the UN are no longer surprising, especially when one considers that of the 193 member countries, 56 are Muslim, and nearly 60% of the UN Human Rights Council is made of non-democracies. The UN has proven itself to be a bastion of antisemitism. Last week’s UN Security Council vote was as mind boggling. The US stood alone in the defense of Israel. Fourteen of the 15 members, including Britain and France called for an immediate ceasefire, ready to abandon the Israeli hostages, including women, babies, and the elderly. Britain and France require a lesson on moral clarity.
Over at The Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC) just issued an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant for alleged “war-crimes.” Playing a cynical moral - equivalency game, they also issued a warrant against the dead Hamas terrorist mastermind, Mohammad Deif. Netanyahu and Gallant stand accused of starving Gazans, despite the fact that convoys have been delivering thousands of tons of food and other humanitarian aid since the war began. No other country in a war situation has fed the civilian population of its enemy during ongoing military operations. Yet Israel is still held liable for not providing "enough" aid, while ignoring Hamas' theft and looting of the supplies once they enter the Gaza Strip. These charges against Netanyahu and Gallant are bogus and were condemned by President Biden and the US Senate.
Still, the hypocrites at the ICC cling to any opportunity to malign Israel, including the charge that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians. Israel is virtually the only nation in the world that warns the civilian population of its enemies of an impending attack by making individual calls, dropping flyers, and moving civilians to safe zones, and, in so doing put its own soldiers at risk - because the enemy is put on alert. The ICC accusation is unconscionable.
The pro-Hamas lobby among the US Democrat “progressives” in the House and Senate have demanded embargoes on the sale of arms to Israel. Iran has activated and funded a seven-front war against Israel who must fight an existential war against Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran itself.
US Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution to block the sale of certain offensive weapons to Israel in protest of its ongoing military operations in Gaza which was overwhelmingly rejected last Wednesday. The defeated SJ Res 111 by a vote of 79 against and 18 in favor, proposed blocking the sale of 120-millimeter tank rounds. The fact that 18 Democrats and Independent US Senators voted to deny essential munitions to an ally fighting in self-defense against terror is rather worrisome.
Arabs, Muslims, and the radical left in America and Europe who are funding anti-Israel demonstrations worldwide are hoping to isolate Israel diplomatically, undermine Israel’s war against its terrorist enemies seeking its destruction and intimidate the Jewish people.
The Jewish Press of NYC reported on November 20, 2024, that “Two pro-terror anarchists were arrested Tuesday night after a scuffle while “marching” against Israel in Brooklyn’s Marine Park neighborhood. The protest was aimed at an Israeli real estate information event being held at the Kingsway Jewish Center synagogue on Kings Highway. The agitators marched around a mostly Orthodox Jewish residential block in the neighborhood, snarling traffic and intimidating the locals. One marcher yelled “F—k you!” at an NYPD officer who was walking alongside local residents to maintain security. Others chanted, “Our Streets! Free, Free Palestine!”
The gap between now and January 20, 2025, when the new administration of President Donald Trump will assume power in the US, is a dangerous period. The enemies of Israel and the US are clearly taking advantage of a lame duck in the White House. Antisemitism in America is reaching new heights, and aside from empty words coming from the White House, there has been no meaningful enforcement of anti-hate crime legislation. The antisemitic rioters hope to normalize antisemitism in America.
Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as Iran, fire rockets, drones, and missiles indiscriminately into Israel, yet Israel is the party to the conflict that international institutions and some U.S. senators want to disarm. Anti-Semites threaten, harass and assault Jews from America's campuses to the streets of Amsterdam, and former Israeli Justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, is denied entry to Australia, due to fears that her presence might incite violence. All because she rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and is a proud Jew and Zionist.
The prevailing inverted moral compass must be reversed. The Senate must pass the ICC sanctions bill—not in the next session, but right now. The Senate must pass laws to combat anti-Semitism on America's campuses now – not in the next session. The Senate must also reimpose maximum pressure on Iran immediately! Help is coming for Israel in 2025! But, in the meantime, each moment weighs heavy when the Jewish people are facing growing threats from vicious and empowered global mobs.