Just before the start of the Sabbath in Israel last Friday afternoon, there were two notable speeches. One was by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the other by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They were complete contrasts, of course.Blinken spoke in English – in fact, he spoke in “Western.” While he seemed to understand the problems Israel is facing in its war on Hamas and Islamist jihadi ideology, he nonetheless could not bring himself to break away from the standard call for “a two-state solution.”Nasrallah, on the other hand, preached dramatically in literary Arabic. While distancing himself from the Hamas mega-atrocity in which 1,400 people were slaughtered in southern Israel, saying it was a “100% Palestinian” operation, the Hezbollah leader nonetheless came to praise it rather than bury it.
According to Al Jazeera, he praised the “martyrs,” thanked the “strong and brave Iraqi and Yemeni hands who are now involved in this holy war,” and he described it as “a big event to shake this oppressive… occupying, usurping Zionist regime and its supporters in Washington and London.” There is a message there that I hope Blinken didn’t miss because of the scheduling clash of their speeches. This is a battle that goes beyond words.And while Nasrallah said he would not be joining in the war at this stage, the Shi’ite extremist does not invite trust. More to the point, with constant rocket attacks on northern Israel from Lebanese territory under his control, it could be argued that he has already joined in. If Israel has learned anything from the collapse of its security “concept” culminating in the October 7 Hamas terror monstrosity, it is that the Jewish state cannot afford to allow sporadic rocket fire and attacks as if they were normal. Terrorist armies cannot be allowed to build their strength while Israel refrains from adequately responding. Just how many rockets would Western countries tolerate if their cities were the targets?European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is someone else who seems to have got the picture – but then distorts it. He told a conference of ambassadors in Brussels on Monday that he now realizes that: “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer an Israeli-Arab [one] but a religious and civilization fight.” His solution? Two states, what else?The Hamas massacre – which he at least described as a “barbarity” – underscored the importance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Borrell. Does he listen to himself, let alone to what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and their Iranian sponsor are saying?Resolving a conflict over territory is difficult, but not impossible. But a religious, ideological clash is something altogether different. Hamas is not involved in a border dispute with Israel: It wants to eliminate the Jewish state. It is literally written in its charter.The pro-Palestinian protesters marching in various cities around the world chanting “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” are not calling for the map to be tweaked. They’re calling for Israel to be wiped off it.There are at least 22 Arab states and an even greater number of Muslim countries, but having one Jewish state?Perish the thought. Or perish the Jews.The rise in antisemitic incidents since the start of Operation Swords of Iron is frightening. The death of Paul Kessler as he bravely countered a pro-Palestinian protest in Los Angeles is particularly tragic – and alarming. Where is Western democracy if only one side is able to hold protests – violent ones at that – while the Jews and supporters of Israel are meant to stay home? Ask the Jews in France, the UK, and elsewhere, taking the mezuzot off their doorposts, how safe they feel in their homes. Why are Orthodox Jews covering their kippot in public? Consider what it means that Jewish students are afraid to wear a star of David on university campuses, the bastion of enlightened values, with their safe spaces for those threatened by micro-aggressions.There is a constant delegitimization and dehumanization of Israel; it is the modern manifestation of antisemitism. While the plight of the Palestinians is discussed endlessly in international bodies like the United Nations and parliaments around the globe, the fact that this is a self-afflicted – and self-perpetuating – condition is beyond the world’s understanding.Gaza is not a “vast open-air prison,” as the Palestinians like to portray it, but a huge underground terrorist base. The prisoners being held in its warrens of terror tunnels are the 240 innocent people of all ages who were abducted from Israel on October 7. Were Hamas to stop launching rockets and free the captives, there could be a ceasefire. When people call for a humanitarian gesture, this is how it needs to be interpreted.Israel is rightly cautious of agreeing to a broad ceasefire unless it includes a provision for the return of the hostages. A break in Israel’s anti-terrorist operations in Gaza would be exploited by Hamas to strengthen its positions. Or worse. During the 2014 war – an Israeli operation to counter the thousands of Hamas rockets being launched from Gaza – the terrorists exploited a UN-sponsored ceasefire to kill and abduct the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. It’s well beyond time to bring back their remains for burial in Israel – and to return civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.Good people – people who really support humanity – are campaigning for the return of the captives – ranging from a 10-month-old baby who has spent one of those months in Hamas hell, to people in their late-eighties and nineties. But the forces of evil are evident everywhere. When Palestinian supporters tear down the posters displaying photos of the missing, they leave behind the proverbial writing on the wall.Most people who pass a poster of a missing dog either ignore it or – like me – note the details and hope it is speedily reunited with its family. You don’t rip the poster up, trying to erase evidence of the missing pet. Who is so driven by hatred that they can’t stand to see the picture of a missing Israeli child? And what are the implications for the society where they dwell?THIS WEEK, the focus moved to “The Day After,” what happens when the war in Gaza ends. The lack of understanding among those who pretend to know better is stunning.Mooted plans to place the Palestinian Authority in control of Gaza are misguided or disingenuous. PA head Mahmoud Abbas is not the good guy. He’s not even a nice guy. And he can’t control the areas currently under his authority, let alone Gaza where his Fatah regime was brutally overthrown in 2007. There’s a reason that he hasn’t held elections for years: He knows he would lose to Hamas.The terrorism emanating from the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) is supported by the PA’s “pay-for-slay” policy, cult of martyrdom, and anti-normalization fixation. The PA, whoever heads it, is not going to turn the Gaza Strip into Singapore or a Gulf-state success story.There is no “two-state” solution: The Palestinians of the West Bank and those of Gaza are united only in their desire to destroy Israel. Inevitably, creating an artificial link between the two entities would be followed by a call to build a physical link – a road that would cut across the Jewish state. As if being stuck between the devil and the deep blue Mediterranean Sea wasn’t enough.Promises that international forces would help keep the peace are somewhere between a dream and a delusion. UNRWA has helped perpetuate the refugee crisis and indoctrinated generation after generation to hate Israel – “The Jews.” And how well have the UNIFIL forces in Lebanon succeeded in preventing Hezbollah from building up and using its rocket arsenals? (Hezbollah, like Hamas, directs its funds to terrorism rather than the betterment of its own citizens.)We are living in the same world, but a different universe. The world needs to listen to the threats being made in Arabic by terrorists and understand not only the words but the mindset that goes with them. Global jihad has declared war on the “infidels.” It doesn’t pretend to say otherwise.Israel is, yet again, the canary in the coal mine – or in this case, fighting in the terror tunnels.liat@jpost.com