Yes, I have picked out aspects of the post-1948 period. Historical
events and eras anterior to the formation of the state of Israel are a
subject too voluminous for a discussion in this forum.
The immediate and recent facts remain:
1. What happened on 7 October 2023 was a terrorist attack. The death
toll from that attack is now at least 1,300 which is an enormous number.
The number of injured is much higher. This was an organised and
deliberate terrorist attack.
2. The modes of killing and savage humiliation by Hamas terrorists
against Israeli citizens (and other citizens) have gone far beyond what
the world has come to associate with terrorism in recent decades. These
cannot and must never be sanitised.
3. In a number of cities in Europe, North America and Australia, later
on 7 October and during the days following, 'celebrations' for the
attack were on public display by supporters in those cities of Hamas,
the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian "resistance". This points
to the globalisation of the support for terrorism of this nature. That
this has happened is a concern serious enough for those in the West, but
that it has yet to be recognised academically signals a blind spot that
is already deadly.
4. Media and commentary about the Israeli armed response to the 7
October terror attack has been generally one-sided. The Israeli Defence
Force has been criticised. However the IDF's methods have not changed.
As before, it warns civilians before an attack. What has escaped even
passing comment by the Western media is the wretched development track
record of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas (in Gaza), which collect
huge sums every year (a) by taxing Egyptian business in and with Gaza,
(b) taxing Gazans who commute to work daily to and from Israel, (c) from
Qatar which has for the last several years paid upwards of USD 200
million a year. To what uses has this money been put?
5. The Palestinian Authority and its supporters demand the right to the
existence of a Palestinian state. However Mahmoud Abbas has not only
repeatedly vowed never to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, but in
March 2014 lobbied the Arab League to issue a statement expressing its
"absolute and decisive rejection to recognising Israel as a Jewish
state." This symbolises the growing Islamism within Palestinian society,
and its apparent acceptance by particularly Western supporters of the
PA, which is as serious a matter as point 3 above.
Rahul Goswami
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