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| 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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