Friends of Israel probably don’t pay much attention to the details of negotiations between the United States and Mexico regarding their policies on migrants. Well, here’s one detail worth noting.
Thousands of Mexicans who are hoping to illegally enter the United States have been lining up along railway tracks in order to hop aboard northbound freight trains that will bring them close to the border. Those who cannot fit inside the railroad cars choose to risk their lives by riding on the roofs.
The problem has become so severe that the Biden administration recently sent a representative of US Customs and Border Protection to meet with Mexican government officials in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. Afterwards, Mexican officials “pledged to set up checkpoints to ‘dissuade’ migrants from hopping freight trains to the US border,” according to the Associated Press.
Do as I say not as I do
Well, isn’t that fascinating? For years, the Biden administration (and before it, the Obama-Biden administration) has been badgering Israel about the security checkpoints that it set up in Judea and Samaria in order to keep suicide bombers out of Israeli cities.
You know how the game works. Palestinian Arabs complain that the Israeli checkpoints are inconvenient. Then Arab-American groups, J Street, and the Thomas Friedman types swing into action with a barrage of op-eds and press releases calling the checkpoints “oppressive.”
Before long, unnamed US officials start telling The New York Times that Israel should make “goodwill gestures” to the Palestinian Authority. (To reciprocate for all the bad will that the PA shows to Israel, apparently.) They talk about how Israel needs to “do more” to ensure the “dignity” of the Palestinian Arabs.
“Dignity” is one of those buzzwords that critics of Israel feed to pundits and policymakers, as a way to put pressure on Israel without sounding anti-Israel. But it’s pure propaganda. There’s nothing “undignified” about waiting in line at a checkpoint. It’s just annoying.
US officials can’t be honest about it. They know they will lose the argument if they honestly say, “Israel should be less secure.” They can’t say “Israel should be less careful in checking to see if Palestinian Arabs are bringing bombs into Jerusalem.” So they come up with little phrases like “dignity” that sound reasonable.
But there’s nothing reasonable about endangering the lives of Israelis.
An unfortunate recurrence
How many times has it happened that Israeli soldiers at checkpoints have discovered weapons or explosives in Palestinian Arab cars? Many times. More times than any of us can remember. Imagine how many catastrophic terrorist attacks those discoveries preempted.
Israel has just a few dozen checkpoints, mostly along the entrances to Judea and Samaria. That territory covers over 2,200 square miles (5,700 sq. km.). If anything, Israel should be increasing the number of checkpoints it uses. Because ultimately, more checkpoints means saving more lives.
Just like the security checkpoints that you find at every American airport, the purpose of the Israeli checkpoints is to deter and catch terrorists.
Travelers do not enjoy the inconvenience of having to remove their shoes or submit to a body search, but to call such security measures “undignified” is absurd. And the fact that the United States has pressured Mexico into setting up security checkpoints of its own proves it.
If the US can insist on checkpoints just to reduce the flow of migration across its border with Mexico, Israel can use them to save lives.
The writer is a commentator on Jewish affairs whose writings appear regularly in the American and Israeli press.