October 7 Taught a Brutal Lesson to the Israeli Left

Hamas's October 7 mass casualty terrorist attack demonstrated the barbarism at the heart of radical Islam, and as more details about the attack are confirmed--including the enthusiastic participation of Gazan civilians in the brutality--the Israeli Left is being forced to learn a painful lesson: a large number, if not a majority, of Israel's Arab neighbors not only don't want peace with Israel but they want to kill as many Jews as possible. This lesson means that all of the hopes of the Israeli Left are doomed to failure: the concept of "land for peace" leading to a "two state solution" is the Israeli Left's dream that has turned into a nightmare of rocket attacks and "pay for slay" terrorist attacks sponsored and encouraged by the Palestinian Authority culminating in the October 7 atrocity that wreaked destruction on the Jewish people not seen in a single day since the Holocaust. 

Less than two weeks before October 7, I prophetically wrote about Israel's Ongoing Oslo Accords Folly:

The core unresolved issue is not "land for peace" nor is it autonomy; it is the unrelenting quest to destroy Israel that is fomented by various Arab/Islamic states and the terrorist groups (including the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and others) that they sponsor. There is zero chance that Israel giving up land will resolve that issue, and the Oslo Accords are just one example of the folly of assuming otherwise.

Many leftists falsely accuse Israel of war crimes and of intentionally harming Arab civilians, but the real war crime--or, to be precise, the real treason--committed by Israel's government in the past three decades is signing the Oslo Accords, which directly led to the slaughter of more than 1300 Israeli civilians. As long as that treason goes unrecognized and unpunished, there will be no justice and no peace in the Land of Israel, because justice and peace cannot be built on a foundation of falsehood and terror. The PLO has publicly stated "Our war is with the Jews," and Arab/Muslim terrorists often chant, "We love death more than you love life." Such a war conducted by people who fervently embrace a death-loving culture will not be resolved by Israel giving up land; indeed, if Israel disappeared, the war against the Jews--and against Western, democratic civilization--would not only continue: it would intensify, fueled by the "triumph" of destroying the "Little Satan" (Israel) and giddy about the possibility of destroying the "Great Satan" (America).

Many Israeli Leftists would have fervently disagreed with that article when I wrote it, but the October 7 attack and the ongoing aftermath--including a hostage crisis that much of the world cares very little about--is forcing Israeli Leftists to see their Arab neighbors as they are, not as they want them to be: Irit Lahav, an Israeli peace activist who participated in peace demonstrations and drove Gazan children to Israeli hospitals, described her disillusionment at the participation of Gazan civilians in the atrocity, declaring, "Basically it was sort of an invasion of a community. That's why for me, I cannot say this was a Hamas action. No, for me, this was a Palestinian action. A whole community had come to our kibbutz, took our things, stole stuff, killed people, and kidnapped others...Am I thinking about myself being foolish until now? Maybe. But more is that I'm disappointed in them, that they're so cruel, have no values, really lost their human values." Her interview can be seen by clicking the above link, and it provides a great tutorial for how Israeli Leftists--and self-proclaimed "progressives" around the world--must abandon disproven dreams in the face of harsh realities. She noted with disgust that the billions of dollars sent to Gaza have not been used to improve people's lives but to purchase weapons. It is no secret that Hamas' leaders are billionaires who are profiting off of not just Jewish suffering but Arab suffering.

When Israel's Arab neighbors and their self-proclaimed "progressive" supporters chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" those words must be understood for their literal meaning and intention: every Jew from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is to be killed, Israel is to be destroyed, and yet another authoritarian Arab/Muslim state is to be established. The Arabs don't want "land for peace"; they want to kill Jews and take control of all of the land from the "river to the sea." They mean exactly what they say. This is a sad and scary reality, but denying that reality will not change it. Israel's policies--and America's policies--must be grounded in reality and must be directed toward making sure that "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is a slogan consigned to history's dustbin.