The Moral Dimension

Submitted by Ed (United States), Apr 5, 2006 at 11:23

One of the proposals made in the article needs elaboration.

Pipes claims "Israel should be urged to convince the Palestinian Arabs that they have lost, to influence their psychology."

The most important way to convince the Palestinians to accept defeat is to undermine the moral basis of their case. Every claim by a Palestinian, or anyone else, that an attack is justified because of "Israel's crimes" should be met by pointing out the moral depravity of the attackers and the right, indeed obligation of Israel to protect its citizens from harm. Because Israel is (and, I think, has always been) willing to accept a Palestinian state, Palestinian talk of "resisting the occupation" is nonsense. The occupation exists only because of the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel and their continued attacks. Security measures against Palestinian attacks are not only practically necessary but morally necessary.

There is an attitude here in America as well as in Israel that the world is fundamentally anti-semitic and that, therefore, there is no point in responding to Palestinian charges. I submit that this is an enormous mistake. As Pipes points out, world support sustains the Palestinians in their refusal to negotiate and exonerates their continues attacks. The widespread belief that it is Israel that is really immoral, as absurd as it is, also takes its toll on Israeli morale. Terrorists win when they instil fear and doubts.

Israel occupies the moral high ground. It needs to make its case. The ultimate defeat of the Palestinians depends on their coming to realize that their attempts and, indeed, their desire to extinguish Israel are immoral.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".