Many years have passed since I first urged an Israeli Prime Minister to pursue a policy of zero-tolerance toward Arab terrorism. The failure to pursue such a policy is largely responsible for explosions of anti-Semitism in Europe and America. Why is this so?

Self-restraint encourages terrorism

To begin with, the Government has resorted to targeted killings, which often results in the death of Arab civilians. These justifiable acts of self-defense on Israel’s part are invariably portrayed by the media as the equivalent of war crimes. This is grist for the mill of anti-Semites; and this Jew-hatred is broadcast by Muslims throughout the democratic world.

Benjamin Netanyahu after the 2013 Israeli elections. Photo: Cherie Cullen, USDoD.

Acts of Arab terrorism of course preceded prime ministers such as Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. But their policy of self-restraint, of sacrificing Jews on the altar of PR, has not only infected the military echelon. It has also fueled the flames of Jew-hatred. Instead of eliminating the PLO-run Palestinian Authority and its terrorist gangs in one swift and overwhelming strike, which might have been accomplished immediately after 9/11, Israeli Prime Ministers have given Israel’s enemies, Arabs and leftists alike, years and years of opportunity to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state, especially in America colleges, so many of whose professors are leftists stultified by multicultural moral relativism, which is also prominent among the academic or anemic elite in Israel.

Sadly, the Government’s feckless policy of self-restraint is implicit in Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s denunciation of a Jewish soldier who killed a subdued Arab terrorist in Hebron. Halakhic authorities say you should kill the terrorist in order that others will see and be intimidated. The terrorist is a “Rodef,” a deadly pursuer of Jewish life. This Rodef teaches other Rodefim through his actions. If we have mercy on one who kills Jews and then gives up when the police approach, we encourage others to act like him, thus endangering other Jews.

By the same token, when Prime Minister Netanyahu frees a terrorist, even with the goal of helping Jews, he endangers more Jews. The terrorist is not a one-time “Rodef,” but a perpetual “Rodef.” Allow me to note in passing that Donald Trump, who wants to halt Muslim migrants from entering the United States, is (unwittingly) following Jewish law – solid common sense!*

Toll on Jewish youth

The seemingly humanistic policy of self-restraint toward Arab terrorists results in cruelty toward Jews, especially Jewish youth. The moralistic effusions of Ya’alon and Netanyahu result in cruelty toward Jews. These two guardians of Israel callously and mindlessly overlook reports that 40% of Jewish youth suffer or have suffered post traumatic stress syndrome as a result of Arab terrorism!

What else can one expect when youth have to ride busses and have witnessed or have learned of Arab suicide bombers that reduce the passengers of those busses to body parts? Is it any wonder that Israeli youth, compared to the youth of 40 other countries, rank near the bottom in various academic subjects, including reading and mathematics? Let us probe deeper.

Is it any wonder that many Jewish youth, not out of hedonism, but by living in a country whose Government exhibits neither Jewish pride nor purpose nor the stamina to protect Jews and uphold justice by exacting massive vengeance against Arab terrorists committed to Israel’s annihilation?

Is it any wonder, I ask, that more and more youth resort to drugs? Is it any wonder that many Israeli youth are ambivalent about serving in the army when they see how soldiers, who risk life and limb to capture terrorists, are betrayed by the Government’s release of those terrorists?

Can one expect in Israeli youth rich and abundant national pride of when they see that PM Netanyahu has endorsed the creation of a Muslim-Arab state in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s heartland and the cradle of Jewish civilization?

What kind of future leaders is to be expected in a country when so many of its youth are anxiety-ridden and imbued with the stultifying academic doctrine of multicultural moral relativism?

What kind of future is to be expected in a country whose people have been conditioned to endure Prime Ministers who tacitly indicate that it would be wrong to pursue a policy of zero-tolerance toward Arab terrorists, and who thereby tacitly deny the infinite worth of a single Jewish life? ◙

* The permissive liberal position has no rational foundation, however much it may win the support of Christian humanists like Marco Rubio, who favors amnesty for illegal Hispanic immigrants.