FRANCE
& ISRAEL: OBAMA'S DOUBLE STANDARD
(Stephen
M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was
murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.)
Israel's
prime minister has called the latest terrorist attacks "an act of
war." He called the attackers "barbarians," vowed to wage a war
of "no mercy" against them, and ordered bombing strikes on
"terrorist training camps," even though they were located adjacent to
medical clinics, a museum, and a soccer stadium.
Remarkably,
neither the Obama administration nor the United Nations condemned Israel's
strong response to the terrorists. Has the world finally come to its senses?
Does it finally understand that Islamic terrorism, whether against Israelis or
anybody else, is an attack on us all?
Actually,
no. Because I misspoke.
It
was French prime minister Francois Hollande, not Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the latest terrorism (in Paris) an "act of
war." It was Hollande who called the attackers
"barbarians," and vowed to wage a war of "no mercy" against
them. It was the French air force that bombed medical clinics, a museum, and a
soccer stadium located near terror camps in the ISIS-controlled Syrian city of
Raqqa.
When
Netanyahu says that Palestinian Islamic terrorists have carried out "acts
of war," he is accused of exaggerating the threat. When he calls the
killers "barbarians," he is denounced as a racist. If Israel strikes
terrorist sites that are situated near civilian areas, Israel is accused of "war
crimes" and "disproportionate" responses.
Remember
when Secretary of State John Kerry sarcastically grumbled, "Hell of a
'pinpoint' attack" after one Israeli strike in Gaza? We don't hear Kerry
calling the French bombing of those Raqqa medical clinics a "hell of a
'pinpoint' attack." We don't hear National Security Adviser Susan Rice
demanding that Hollande apologize for describing Islamic killers as
"barbarians." We don't hear President Obama calling for "both
sides" to "exercise restraint" as he always does when Israel responds
to Arab terrorists.
On
the contrary: Obama administration officials are boasting that the U.S.
provided "military intelligence" that assisted the French in their
bombing of Raqqa. This, a cynic might say, makes the Obama administration
complicit in the bombing of a medical clinic, a museum, and a soccer stadium.
Israel
has always understood the nature of this conflict. Now, it seems, France does,
too.
Yes,
every terrorist attack is an act of war. No, the terrorists are not "the
JV team," as President Obama once put it.
Yes,
the terrorists are barbarians. No, we should not "show respect even for
one's enemies" and "try to understand…and empathize with their
perspective and point of view," as Hillary Clinton said in her December 3,
2014 speech at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.
Yes,
terror targets must be struck, regardless of whether or not they are situated
near civilian sites.
And
yes, the terrorists must be fought with "no mercy" and completely
destroyed--not merely "contained" or "degraded," as
President Obama often says.
France's
leaders have belatedly awakened to the fact that the civilized world is at war
with the forces of Islamic terrorism. Israel is one front in that war. France
is another. And if the Obama administration does not wake up and fight, then
America will soon become the next front.
The online version may be found here.
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