CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, July 24, 2006

Who’s insane now: Hezbollah or Israel?

One definition of insanity is: Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. Clearly, the Israelis have decided that giving away land to “buy” peace and caving into international pressures to turn the other cheek following countless Islamo-terrorist attacks are insane. Hence, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is retaliating against the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and against the Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

But if the Islamo-terrorists thought the world community, to include their co-religionists in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were going to pressure the IDF to back off, they miscalculated. Many of the Arab nations understand that Hezbollah is the creature of non-Arab Iran and they are worried that a nuclear-armed Iran will become the dominant power clear across the Crescent of Islam. Moreover, President Bush was able to get the members of the Big 8 Summit meeting in St. Petersburg to make statements in support of Israeli and condemning Hezbollah.

In fact, Fox News Channel showed Russian President Putin saying that the Israeli retaliations are justified; however, Putin hoped the Israelis would show moderation. CNN showed the exact same footage of Putin. But CNN omitted the first part showing Putin saying that Israel’s retaliations are justified. Sinistra Media bias against Israel? You decide.

Moreover, is this the beginning of World War III? This observer thinks WWIII began with the assassination of Robert Kennedy by the Arab Sirhan Sirhan back in 1968. Or, in 1983, when Hezbollah blew up 241 American troops (mostly Marines) asleep in a barracks near the Beirut Airport. Take your pick.

But it would be wrong to think the root cause of this war is the creation of Israel in 1948. No, what we have been seeing since the end of WWII, are efforts by the Islamists to recover from their defeat at the gates of Vienna in 1529, and to resume their quest to eliminate Judeo-Christian western civilization. Because no western democracy will vote the Islamists into power, bloody violence is their alternative to democratic processes.

The Islamo-terrorists find it convenient to assert that the Palestinians have a valid claim to what once was the Land of Canaan. Actually, only the Canaanites can make that claim, and they are no longer around. At best, the Palestinians can claim that strip of coastline called: Gaza. In ancient times, Philistine marauders came from Mediterranean islands to pillage the eastern Mediterranean coastline. Eventually, the Philistines settled in Gaza, and became the Palestinians.

Beginning in 1948, Israel’s Arab neighbors tried unsuccessfully in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 to drive them into the sea. But following the Arab attacks, Israel gained a bit more defensible real estate. The most notable land gain was in 1967 when the IDF, in a brilliant six-day campaign, captured the entire Sinai Desert, the West Bank of the Jordan and the all-important Golan Heights.

Unfortunately, Israel granted the vote to Jew and Arab alike. So, it wasn’t long before the Arab-Israelis figured out that their soaring birthrate would enable them to outnumber the Jewish-Israelis. Then, they could take over the Israeli Parliament.

But the collapse of the USSR freed hundreds of thousands of Jews to leave the USSR for Israel, upsetting the Islamists’ timetable for conquest by demographics. So, the late Yasir Arafat instituted the Intifada – suicide bombing of Israeli civilians on the installment plan.

Former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, decided to deal with the suicide bombers by constructing a defensive fence. He elected to deal with the demographic/political threat by selecting West Bank lands heavily populated with Arabs to be some of the real estate that would form the new Palestine. In short, gerrymandering to serve Israel’s long-term security.

Outwitted by Sharon, and now by his successor, Ehud Olmert, the Iran-directed, Islamo-terrorists have responded with almost a rocket-a-day out of Gaza, the abduction of an IDF soldier in Gaza, rocket attacks on northern Israel, and an incursion into Israel to abduct two IDF soldiers. Islamo-terrorist’ insanity? We are about to find out.

William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist, a featured commentator for USA Today and self-described “recovering lawyer and philosopher,” is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – two thrillers about terrorism directed against the United States.

©2006. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com