While the Enemies Play for Keeps

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here
[[link removed]]
for more

[ACT For America]
[[link removed]]


[Share]
[FB]
[[link removed]]
[TW]
[[link removed]]
[IN]
[[link removed]]
[LI]
[[link removed]]
[YT]
[[link removed]]
[RU]
[[link removed]]
[CO]
[[link removed]]
[Browser]
[[link removed]]

IT’S TIME FOR ISRAEL TO STOP PLAYING BY THE RULES WHILE ITS ENEMIES
PLAY FOR KEEPS

_ISRAEL’S GOAL SHOULD BE NOT TO BE SEEN AS THE “GOOD GUYS.” IT
SHOULD BE SEEN AS TOO EXPENSIVE AND PAINFUL TO ATTACK._

Joshua Katzen | JNS | 8-5-25

As the war against Hamas in Gaza drags into its second year and
international hostility toward the Jewish state continues to
intensify, Israel must face an unavoidable truth: For decades, it has
voluntarily limited its existential war against Palestinian attempts
to wipe it out by self-imposed moral constraints. These
constraints—designed to win favor with the global community and
maintain a sense of ethical superiority—have not yielded strategic
dividends. Instead, they have led to painful losses, squandered
leverage and emboldened its enemies.

Israel must adopt a new strategic doctrine—one grounded in realism
and not performance, in deterrence and not self-congratulation.

For decades, Israel has operated under a self-imposed doctrine of
restraint. It has aimed to be “more moral” than its
enemies—avoiding civilian casualties at the cost of its soldiers,
releasing mass murderers in lopsided prisoner swaps, refraining from
annexing land even when militarily victorious and granting privileges
to terrorists in prison. The goal: to prove its ethical superiority to
a world that never asked it to.

This military doctrine is entirely self-generated because Israelis
want to prove that “we are not like them.” Being liked might have
a necessary strategy to Jewish survival when it depended on non-Jewish
largesse, but it is a bad strategy for an independent, self-respecting
and increasingly self-reliant state.

Being morally superior has not brought peace. It has not earned
goodwill. It has not prevented charges of war crimes. Instead, it has
made Israel look weak, hesitant and unsure of its own legitimacy.
Hatred of Israel has only increased.

Even worse, this moral posturing has not only been outward-facing. It
has become a psychological affliction within Israel itself. Among many
Israelis, there is a pervasive self-image of moral superiority—a
compulsive need to believe that Israel occupies the high ground. This
internal virtue-signaling, while comforting to the Israeli soul, is
dangerously corrosive to national security.

Would any Israeli parent willingly sacrifice their child in order to
spare a Palestinian civilian? The answer is self-evident. And yet,
doing so is part of Israel’s military doctrine when soldiers are
sent to clear buildings that could be better cleared by bombs or when
terrorists are not hit because of the possibility of collateral
“civilian” damage. War is not about moral symbolism; it is about
victory.

Israel’s goal should not be to be seen as “good guys.” It should
be seen as too expensive and painful to attack.

Killing terrorists is necessary, but it is not sufficient. The
strategic elimination of enemy combatants has rarely deterred the next
generation from taking up arms. In fact, martyrdom has often fueled
the ranks of jihadist movements.

What does work? Humiliation and permanent loss.

Terrorists must be made to understand that their actions will not only
fail but also result in personal disgrace and irreversible
consequences for their communities.

Public humiliation upon capture and denial of burial rights designed
to open the gates of heaven might do more to shatter recruitment than
a thousand targeted strikes.

There must also be consequences for the communities that support
terrorism. Attacks against Israeli civilians should result in the loss
of territory. Not temporary checkpoints. Not administrative
detentions. Permanent annexation. If a terrorist kills an Israeli, his
entire village should be evacuated and absorbed into Israel. The
residents must be expelled—not as a punishment but as a declaration
of the principle that those who harbor terror lose land.

This approach is long overdue in Gaza. For years, Israelis have heard
the threat, “One rocket from Gaza, and we’ll take it back.” But
that threat was never enforced. Instead, Gaza became an autonomous
Palestinian terror state, armed to the teeth with Iranian rockets,
tunneling under Israeli homes and indoctrinating genocidal incitement
in its youth. Israel has had the military capability to retake and
resettle Gaza for years. It has simply not wanted to be
“occupiers.”

That must change. Israel must reclaim Gaza—militarily,
administratively and demographically. The idea that Israel owes water,
electricity and food to an entity that seeks its destruction is both
absurd and suicidal. Israel must annex what was once Jewish land and
make clear that this territory will never again be used as a launchpad
for terror. When you attack Israel, you lose land. Simple.

The same logic applies in Judea and Samaria. Areas A and B must be
placed under strict construction oversight. Area C must be secured for
Jewish development. All foreign-funded Arab construction projects
designed to create facts on the ground should be halted. NGOs,
including Jewish ones, that function as hostile actors mapping Jewish
homes, lobbying international bodies and spreading libels must be shut
down. These are not civil society groups; they are battlefield agents
of the enemy.

_Bien pensant_ Israelis will gag on this. Thousands of Israelis
regularly demonstrate against the moral costs of “occupation”
without admitting that the alternative is the destruction of Israel.
These people are preening and performing for approval. They must grow
up.

International backlash is also inevitable. But the backlash is already
here. The International Criminal Court is already preparing arrest
warrants for Israeli leaders. European countries and Canada, along
with the United Nations, are already moving toward unilateral
recognition of a Palestinian state. Western universities are already
filled with chants of _intifada_. Israeli restraint has not worked.

ISRAEL MUST GET TOUGH, NOT OUT OF CRUELTY, BUT OUT OF CLARITY. NOT TO
MATCH THE BARBARISM OF ITS ENEMIES, BUT TO DEFEAT IT.

The wars against Palestinian exterminationism and for public opinion
will not be won with press conferences, interfaith dialogue
and _hasbara (explanation)_. They will be won when the enemies of
Israel believe that the cost of attacking the Jewish state is too high
to bear.

It is long past time for Israel to stop playing by the rules of the
Marquis of Queensbury when its enemies are playing by those of the
Marquis de Sade.

[Stand with Israel]
[[link removed]]


[I Stand with Israel Shirt]
[[link removed]]


 

_WE DEPEND ON YOUR SUPPORT TO DELIVER REAL RESULTS!
[[link removed]]_

_FOR THE PRICE OF A COUPLE OF CUPS OF COFFEE A MONTH, BECOME A MONTHLY
MEMBER AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF MY NY TIMES BESTSELLER, ‘BECAUSE
THEY HATE,’ WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.
[[link removed]]_

_SUPPORT THIS ISSUE WITH A ONE-TIME, TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO HELP
US CONCENTRATE ON THIS CRUCIAL ISSUE!
[[link removed]]_

_THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PARTICIPATION,_

_BRIGITTE GABRIEL_

[Contribute]
[[link removed]]


_ACT for America Education, a 501(c)(3) organization._
_All donations are tax-deductible._

1083 Independence Blvd, STE 806
Virginia Beach, VA 23455 USA

Contribute
[[link removed]]
| Charity Navigator
[[link removed]]
| Unsubscribe
[[link removed]]
 

[Share]
[FB]
[[link removed]]
[TW]
[[link removed]]
[IN]
[[link removed]]
[LI]
[[link removed]]
[YT]
[[link removed]]
[RU]
[[link removed]]
[CO]
[[link removed]]
[Browser]
[[link removed]]