Tzipi Livni for Jpost: Not only shared pain with France – a shared battlefield

Israel is a natural partner in this fight; our country has always been on the side of the free world in the war against terrorism.

By TZIPI LIVNI
Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2015 10:32
Explosions heard at Paris soccer stadium
The shock, grief and pain now unite the free world.
Just as in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the world has again been naturally divided into two: those who are victims of terrorism and identify with those in pain, against those who partner, whether practically or empathetically, with those who have declared war on the free world.
For anyone who still uncertain of the reasons for last night’s attacks in Paris, ISIS’s announcement has provided no room for doubt. This brutal terrorism is the expression of the war that radical Islam has declared on the Western world – on its culture, on its values, on its religious and cultural beliefs.
But this connection – this shared pain – now felt by the free world cannot be the end.
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We must join together in an uncompromising joint war effort. Christians, Jews and moderate Muslims must fight together. Individuals must choose whether they are on the side of terrorism, its organizations and activities – or on the side of those who will fight against it. There is no middle ground.
I have always said that the message built into the war on terror is that there is no justification for terrorism. All the more so here, where we understand the motives for such attacks, we must understand that this will not be last in this series of attacks. Those who seek to impose radical Islamist religion by force will not be satisfied until they are victorious; we must stop them. Therefore, those who believe that these issues begin and end with the situation in Syria must understand that the struggle is not only about the future of Syria – it is about the future of the entire world.
Therefore, limited solutions will not help, certainly not in the long term. Now is the time to move from defense to massive offense with one clear goal: to uproot the perpetrators of terrorism at their source and eliminate them. This is the directive that international powers must adopt. This is a war that the world never wanted to wage, but it must wage it now.
Israel is a natural partner in this fight; our country has always been on the side of the free world in the war against terrorism. Israel today must support the international fight against terrorism and place its capabilities – intelligence and otherwise, skills gained from years of experience – at the service of this battle. Not only because we are the victims of terrorism, but because our values are the values of the free world, and it is those values that we must defend.
The writer is the co-leader of the Zionist Union party and a former foreign minister.


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