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The Cynic at the Diner

 

Meloni

Q: May I sit with you?

 

A: It depends on whether you’re armed or not.

 

Q: I’m harmless.

 

A: We’ll see.

 

Q: I’d like your reaction to this story (He brandishes an Associated Press story in the World&Nation section of the Hartford Courant: “3 allies recognize Palestinian state”). According to the lede, “The U.K. Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday [9/22/2005]…” Further along in the story, we find this:  “The coordinated initiative from the three commonwealth nations and longtime allies reflects growing outrage at Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and the steps taken by the Israeli government to thwart efforts to create Palestinian state…”

 

A: May I?

 

Q: Please…

 

A: Either British Prime Minister Keir Starmer or the Associated Press (AP) – perhaps both – appear to be confused. The Prime Minister appears to have recognized a non-state as a state. There is a bend in the language here that George Orwell certainly would have recognized as a corruption of the English language. Orwell, both a socialist and a man who resisted British colonialism at a time when it was very dangerous to do so, thought such corruptions of the language must lead to political corruption. If there is no Palestinian state, and there is not – The Prime Minister and others want to create such a state -- what, precisely, is being officially recognized? That would be a good question for AP reporters to ponder.

 

Q: Don’t keep us on tenterhooks. What is being recognized?

 

A: The war-shattered residue of Hamas. As long as Hamas is in Gaza, there can be no peace and no Palestinian state.

 

Q: Why not?

 

A: Seriously? You aren’t an AP writer I hope.

 

Q: No.

 

A: AP certainly remembers that Israel withdrew all troops from Gaza and disestablished all Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005 to till the political ground in favor of a possible two-state solution to what later appeared to be a perpetual guerrilla action against Israel, recognized by President Harry Truman in 1948, against the advice of newspapers and members of his cabinet. Hamas overthrew the Palestinian Authority and stepped into the breech – with, it should be noted, Israel’s tacit approval.  We now know that the wolf, Hamas, financed by Iran, had been invited to a supper of the lamb. That is what the subsequent slaughter of Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023 means. And the attack by Iran supported terrorist proxies surrounding Israel was a slaughter that clearly indicated – there can be no peace in Gaza unless Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon are utterly defeated militarily in such a way that they and their accomplices know they are defeated.

 

Q: France also favors recognizing Gaza as a Palestinian state.

 

A: Following the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron, which placed no conditions on the recognition of Palestine as a state, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni brought forward two level-headed conditions. She said Italy will only recognize a Palestinian state if all Israeli hostages are released and the Hamas militant group is excluded in the future from any government role. Those who long both for peace and an Israel unbrutalized by neighboring Arab states will find Meloni’s view courageous and life-affirming. It is said that God does not play dice with his creation. Meloni will not play dice with the Middle East.

 

‘Recognizing Palestine,” she said, “in the absence of a state that meets the requirements of sovereignty does not solve the problem. It does not produce tangible, concrete results for the Palestinians.”  The political pressure, Meloni believes, is misdirected. “It should be directed towards Hamas, because it is Hamas that started this war, and it is Hamas that has continued the war by refusing to release the hostages.” That is realpolitik and anything short of it is a dangerous fantasy. Maybe Maloni is too polite to say it, but the false solution of the Western powers who affirmed Israel’s right to peace, liberty and independence solves only a political problem for cowardly politicians whose “solution” simply invites a repeat of the 2023 assault on Israel by Middle East bad actors. Fortunately, the will to survive remains strong in Israel.

 

There is only one question that must be decided: Shall Israel survive?

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