If we are to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it won’t happen if we are unable to shift the biased mindset towards Israel.
It was somewhat heartening that when Hamas followed up its so-called Great March of Return protests in May with rocket attacks on civilian targets in Israel, some of the broader international censure was appropriately directed at the Hamas leadership. If the international community had taken a similarly principled stance during the earlier border violence, Hamas would have been less inclined to execute them.
Contrary to reports attributing the violence to the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, large-scale gatherings of Palestinians and attempts to breach Israel’s border with Gaza predated that.
The organisers made it plain that Gazans were being mobilised for what their terrorist leaders told them was a return to their rightful homeland. The transparent objective of Hamas, as always, is the destruction of Israel.
On Monday, May 14, the day the US embassy opened, Hamas issued explicit instructions for Gazans to breach the security fence.
They were to bring weapons — knives, grenades, and fire kites — to enter nearby villages, kill and capture Israelis, and “liberate” Jerusalem. About 40,000 people responded to the call, shielding Hamas operatives, who were instructed to remove their uniforms and hide among the civilians.
Read the article by Mark Leibler in The Australian.