The kidnapping: where Humanitarians war against Israel

Today, June 17, 2014 is day five for three kidnapped Jewish Yeshiva students. The students are civilians, ages 16 -19.

We unite to pray for their return. We unite to pray for their safety.

Fifteen days ago, Mahmoud Abbas—Israel’s so-called ‘peace partner’-- created a marriage from Hell. He swore in a new government. He and Hamas united.

The new government was presented to the world as a ‘reconcilement’ (“Hamas-Fatah unity deal announced”, Arab News, April 24, 2014). But when Hamas reconciled with Fatah, it pulled Fatah into a snake-pit. Hamas rejects Israel. With Hamas, there will be no peace with the Jew (“Don't Be Fooled by the Hamas-Fatah Union”, USNews, June 3, 2014). Hamas is a viper, not an olive branch.

Hamas is at war with Israel. Its purpose is to destroy Israel. It does not want peace. It wants holy war (Jihad).

If you question this assertion, then you haven’t read the Hamas Charter. Do a google-search for ‘Hamas Charter’. It’s all there.

Hamas is listed by the US and the EU as a terror organization. Now, it joins Fatah. The two embrace. Terrorist Hamas intertwines with Fatah. What does that tell you?

For months, Hamas officials have been calling for more kidnappings of Jews. Now, united with Abbas, Hamas has its kidnapping.  No one has declared whose plan the kidnapping was. But we do know this:  the kidnappers did not come from Gaza. They came from Abbas’ PA.

It looks like the unity government is working.

Israel’s Defence Force (IDF) has begun a massive sweep through Judea-Samaria (they had been kidnapped in Judea). As a result of this sweep, the IDF has arrested more than 200 Arabs, including a relatively large number of Fatah and Hamas officials.

PA officials have begun to accuse Israel of violating International Humanitarian Law. They say the IDF inflicts ‘collective punishment’ against them. ‘Collective punishment’ is a Humanitarian violation.

Do you know about Humanitarians? They protect us, right? They stop barbarity, right?

Well, maybe not. In the last 27 months, Syrian Arabs have killed more than 160,000 Syrian Arabs. Syrian Arabs have caused as many as nine million-plus Syrian Arabs to flee their homes—to become refugees bottled up in putrid, dangerous ‘Refugee Camps’. Syrian Arabs are destroying Syria. They are pounding Syria into the Stone Age.

For all this horror, Humanitarians have barely raised their voices. The problem for the Syrians, as one correspondent has already said, is that none of them had been killed by Jews.

So they suffer. No one will speak for them.

Jews are different. Jews energize Humanitarians. So far as Humanitarians are concerned, Syria can go to Hell. We know that’s true because we can see what’s happening in Syria: it’s been turned into a living Hell.

Going after Jewish Israel is more profitable. Right now, for example, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has, after condemning the kidnapping, warned Israel about committing Humanitarian offenses. The kidnappers have committed a horrible Humanitarian offense. Israel hasn’t. But HRW criticizes both in the same sentence.

That’s repulsive.

HRW warns Israel: respect the rules of war. But they offer no evidence that Israel hasn’t. It accuses Israel of possibly carrying out mass, arbitrary arrests (“HRW Condemns Kidnapping, but Also Israel's Arrests”, Arutz Sheva, June 17, 2014). It warns that Israel might be guilty of arbitrary detention (ibid). It warns that Israel’s blockades and choke-points in the area surrounding Hevron might violate ‘international law’.

Exactly how has Israel violated Humanitarian code or international law? Is there evidence that the IDF arrests were ‘arbitrary’? By what definition can the arrests be characterized as ‘mass arrests’?  By what definitions do IDF travel restrictions create a Humanitarian offense?

HRW doesn’t say.  

Hamas is at war with Israel. Hamas is now joined to Abbas. The rules of war allow arrest. The rules of war allow for the suspension of Habeas Corpus (‘charge now or release’). The rules of war allow for restricting movements of a population in disputed areas. The rules of war allow a sovereign state to defend itself with force.

Humanitarians are determined to deny Jewish Israel the right to use that force. Notice that HRW doesn’t make accusations here. But by warning Israel, they suggest that Arabs must remain absolutely free. They must remain unfettered and uninhibited--to plot, scheme and incite murder (and kidnappings) against Jews. To inhibit that freedom is wrong. It’s wrong because it requires force—and force is a Humanitarian violation, except under the most limiting of circumstances.

Humanitarians jam Israel—and Israel alone--into an impossible box.  Apparently, they want to see Israel damned if it doesn’t protect itself--and damned if it does protect itself.

Forget the horrors of Syria. Forget Hamas’ Jew-hate. Forget the kidnapping. Humanitarians want to fight the Jews.

Soon, we will see how Humanitarians and Arabs use this kidnapping to war against Israel.