Israel Pressured to Accept the Unacceptable

by Christopher G. Adamo

Among those who understand the true nature of terrorism, and the grim reality that force is the only workable manner of confronting it, Spain 's total electoral capitulation in the wake of last week's bombings could only be construed as an abysmal reward to the terrorists. Widespread criticism of Spain 's reaction was swift and severe, rightly asserting that the most significant result of the elections will be an increase in the intensity of terrorist activity, with terrorist hopes of altering internal politics of entire nations through fear and intimidation having been validated.

Unfortunately, this latest ploy appears to be gaining momentum elsewhere in the world. Australian Opposition Party leader Mark Lathan, as part of his bid to oust conservative Prime Minister John Howard, has announced that if elected he will pull Australia 's troops from Iraq . Clearly Lathan perceives this to have been a winning strategy for Spain 's left wing. Perhaps Lathan will “benefit” from an attack on his own country similar to the cataclysmic bombings in Madrid . Can anyone doubt that his rhetoric, coming as it does on the eve of Australia 's elections, only enhances the chance of such an event?

Such a response to terrorist acts has long been considered beyond the realm of reality among official circles in the United States , as well as other strongholds of western civilization. On the contrary, it is regarded as among the surest of ways to guarantee further efforts by the terrorists to interfere with the direction of sovereign nations, thus compromising their autonomy and ultimately making them pliable to the wishes of the terrorists.

Oddly enough, when it is Israel that undertakes decisive retaliatory action to secure the safety of its own homeland, it is widely condemned throughout the world. Such was the case this past week when its forces targeted and killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. Worst of all, some criticism, albeit in muted tones, has even been voiced by American officials.

In response, Hamas has vowed “open war” against Israel , as if this constitutes some new and more belligerent stance on their part. One has to wonder to what degree such a declaration differs with the purpose and activities of Hamas and its accomplices last week, or for that matter, during any week throughout the last five decades. Somehow, threats of new and violent attacks against the Jewish state come as no great surprise, at least not among those who live there.

Yet among U.S. government officials, things are apparently different. White House press secretary Scott McClellan claimed the U.S. to be “deeply troubled by the incident in Gaza ,” and warned both parties to employ “restraint,” presumably to keep from further inflaming tensions in the region. Such a statement begs the question of just how serene and stable McClellan, or the administration officials on whose behalf he spoke, perceived things to be at the time of last week's terrorist bombing that killed ten Israeli citizens, or during any of the more than a hundred similar incidents in the past four years alone.

Predictably, the response among Palestinians has been a massive display of anger and outrage. In public demonstrations oddly reminiscent of those spontaneous and jubilant celebrations of 9-11, they poured into the streets of Gaza by the thousands. Elsewhere on the world scene, the event is being almost universally portrayed as an unprovoked and virulent act on the part of Israel against an apparently undeserving target, which can only result in heightened animosities throughout the region.

Prominent Palestinian spokesmen have made no attempt to hide their conviction that the United States should ultimately be held responsible. On the forefront of the Islamist movement within the United States , the “Council on American Islamic Relations” (CAIR) has publicly condemned Israel , characterizing its action as “wanton violence” against Yassin, to whom it refers as a “wheelchair-bound Palestinian Muslim religious leader.” But despite transparent efforts of Yassin's worldwide supporters to portray him as merely an elderly cleric, the fact remains that, like Osama bin Laden, he was at the forefront of innumerable past violent actions costing hundreds of lives.

Europeans may, for the present, still bask in the illusion that sufficient attempts at appeasement might spare them from being further targeted, but Israelis understand this as the route to total annihilation. Unlike the pacifists of Europe , Israel 's population has witnessed enough innocent blood being spilled in their streets to know that no such option exists.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.