End the Occupation of Jewish Lands by Arabs

Today I was browsing through the Haaretz when I came across an opinion poll entitles, “The new Hamas reality: Opportunity or calamity?” I decided to read some of the opinions and what I found was that people around the world still don’t have a factual basis for the events in Palestine and the State of Israel. One American citizen’s comments stood out among the rest. Part of the comment read:

Look what Hamas is doing in Gaza - destroying it and murdering innocent people: Fatah will do the same in the West Bank, and Hamas and Al Qaeda will take over there too if Israel lets them.

Al Qaeda? I wonder how they got into the West bank or the Gaza Strip. Not by conventional means I’m sure, what with Israel’s control of border crossings and screening processes. Maybe it’s one of those Al Qaeda inspired groups, the ones that the American News machine likes to talk about and then equate with the real group. It seems one of the goals here is to use any available opening to mention the words Al Qaeda, even if they don’t have a hand to play. And what happened to the other groups? Islamic Jihad is sure to be taking a blow when Al Qaeda is mentioned and they are not. They’ve spent years orchestrating attacks against the IOF and getting their message out, but it seems they are still not big enough to be engrained into the minds of the average American. This omission will only encourage them further.

But wait, the commentary gets better. Here’s my favourite, where the author offers his resolution to the problem.

Here's the only solution: end the occupation of Jewish lands by Arabs, capture or kill all Hamas leaders until they return Gilad Shalit and all Israeli prisoners, make a state for Palestinians in Jordan, and outlaw any organization that suggests harming Israel in any way.

Thank you. Finally someone lays it out for me. All this time I was sitting here like a fool, thinking that it was the Israeli military that was occupying parts of Palestine, when in fact the Palestinians were the ones implementing the segregation, the sanctions, the closing of Israeli schools, and the degradation of an economy.

There is no need for barriers, checkpoints, bulldozing houses, assassinations, or fighting anybody if Israel would only do what the world's most popular book of all time, the Bible says clearly: "Remove your enemy". Simply remove any Arab (or other dangerous person) that is an enemy of Israel and the Jews.

I agree with the opening of this part, but the solution method is a little bone chilling, if not misleading. Simply remove any Arab (or other dangerous person) that is an enemy of Israel and the Jews. This is the part I have an actual problem with, as the Israelis are being equated with all Jews. Without blatantly saying it (because problems would ensue if he did), the commentator has told you that hating the state of Israel or being critical of it, is the same as hating the Jews and being an anti-Semite. With that mentality, they have asked all Jews critical of the Israeli regime to shut up and hold their tongues. Being opposed to Israeli policy does not mean you are opposed to Judaism. There are many rabbis that do not support the state of Israel in its endeavors, but are very Jewish. There are also Israeli supporters of the state that are not even religious. So the equating of the two is not being done in the best interest here, but you can decide that for yourselves.