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Golda Meir, who served as Israel's Prime Minister from 1969-1974,
once made a rather controversial statement, "Peace will come when the
Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." The average
Palestinian or Arab parent loves their children the same as we do. But
in today's Action Update, you'll see how a variation of that quote
makes sense: Peace will come when the Palestinian leaders love their
people more than they love themselves.
Attempted Murder
This past weekend more than 40 rockets were fired from the Hamas
controlled Gaza Strip into Israel. And in Jerusalem, there were violent
clashes between Palestinian extremists and Israeli police. These events
exemplify the big lie of the Middle East, that Israel controls the fate
of war and peace in the region. Lest anyone forget, Israel unilaterally
left Gaza in 2005, in what then Israeli Ambassador to the United States
Daniel Ayalon called "a test case for peace."
The Palestinians failed that test. And the Israelis got rockets, not
peace, in return. This reminds us of a rather famous quote from current
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "If the Arabs put down
their weapons today, there would be no more âviolence. If the Jews put
âdown their weapons âtoday, there would be no âmore Israel."
Aborted Elections
We'll be honest. At the beginning of the year when Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "decreed" that the Palestinians
would hold elections in May, we here at the Action Fund were a bit
skeptical. The general consensus around the office was that Abbas, who
has held onto power for 16 years despite having only been elected to a
4-year term, would eventually find an excuse to delay/postpone/cancel
the elections. And that has now come to pass.
His pretext for once again denying the vote to the people he purports to
love and represent doesn't actually matter. If it wasn't a
fabricated dispute over who in East Jerusalem gets to vote in the
elections, it would've been some other concocted crisis. Abbas wants
to live out his days in his multi-million-dollar mansion serving (if we
can so abuse the word) as President of the PA. For Abbas, the civil
rights of the Palestinian people are an afterthought at best.
This series of events reminds us of a statement made some years ago by
former Israeli diplomat Amb. Reda Mansour, "The freest Arabs in the
Middle East reside in the Jewish state of Israel."
Failed Approach
Despite all of the above, and the PA continuing its pay-to-slay program,
the Biden administration has reinstated US aid to Ramallah. And, as we
discussed last week, despite the United Nations Relief Works Agency
(UNRWA) continuing to teach hatred in its schools to Palestinian
children and perpetuating the conflict by conferring refugee status on
every generation of Palestinians, the Biden administration has similarly
decided to reinstate aid to that organization.
This approach brings to mind Albert Einstein's famous line, "The
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results."
The time has come for Congress to step up and deal with the Biden
administration's regression to old, failed policies. The US must
demand the Palestinians institute true democratic reforms and end their
pay-to-slay program before receiving any American aid. Congress can make
that happen by maintaining their hold on any US dollars headed to the
PA. Likewise, Congress should seek to advance legislation that requires
the administration certify that international entities receiving US
taxpayer dollars do not teach children bigotry or support for terrorism.
Certainly, these bars are not too high. But if they are, then perhaps
the Biden administration should consider how far they've fallen from
the liberal principles they purport to defend.
Sincerely,
CUFI Action Fund Team
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