Jonathan Tobin, editor in chief of JNS.org, interviewed MEF President Daniel Pipes about his book-in-progress on Israel Victory. As the headline suggests, Mr. Pipes emphasized that persistent PA and Hamas murders of Israelis, however painful, pose less of a threat to the country than something else, namely their campaigns of delegitimization. These inspire a toxic hostility, especially on the Left and among Muslims, that threatens Israel’s long term welfare and security.
Excerpts from Daniel Pipes’s comments:
Israel is fortunate in that the Palestinians, its primary enemy, is so weak, being small in population and trivial in both military and economic force. In contrast, Israelis have an enormous number of tools at their disposal: military, economic, cultural, religious, legal, and so forth.
It’s my belief that if Israelis decide to break Palestinian rejectionism and rally their strengths to do so, they can. But they’re not trying to. Right now, there is no Israeli policy vis-à-vis the Palestinians. The closest thing is “mow the lawn” – beat Hamas so badly that it stays quiet for a couple years.
I hope the Israelis will adopt a policy to convince residents of Gaza, the West Bank, and eastern Jerusalem that Israel is there, permanent, rich, tough, and determined. They have no chance against it – that’s futile. You don’t want your children to go off and blow themselves up, because it serves no purpose. You just lost a child, but you haven’t furthered the Palestinian cause.