Placing blame

Andrew Silow-Carroll
NJJN Editor-in-Chief

At press time, it was impossible to know the fate of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the 19-year-old Israeli soldier kidnapped in a raid by gunmen calling themselves members of the military wing of Hamas. Two other soldiers were killed and four injured in Sunday’s ambush in Israel just beyond the Gaza border.

By Tuesday evening, Israel had chosen diplomacy over military action in its efforts to retrieve Shalit, but the clock was ticking. “Let it be clear,” said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “We will reach everyone, no matter where they are, and they know it.”

The attack has allowed all sides to come to their usual conclusions. Hamas claims Israeli solders are legitimate targets, and the attacks were justified retaliation for a series of incursions by Israeli forces (forces, we should add, who are trying to halt a rain of rockets on Israeli border towns). Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack but, as usual, appeared to lack the moral authority or tactical wherewithal to send Shalit home. Outside observers, meanwhile, are prepared to bemoan the “vicious circle” of broken cease-fires and rocket attacks and Israeli retaliation. One Israeli faction, the horrendous “Jewish Leadership Movement,” blames Israel for the kidnapping, due to the “total failure of Israel’s government to lead the country.”

But there should be no mistake: Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have the power to stop the violence and still the “vicious circle.” As long as Hamas remains an organization committed to bloodshed and its own fantasies and allows its radicals to choose a course of violence and rejectionism, it alone bears the blame for the current impasse. Israel has made clear that it is ready to embrace a future of two states, living side by side in peace. It is willing to act unilaterally, if that is what it takes to achieve that goal. But it will not stand idly by while its citizens and soldiers remain targets. Nor should the United States stand in Israel’s way of doing what it must do to defend its borders. Diplomacy is the first best option, but Israel will not, and should not, apologize for doing what it needs to do to ensure its people’s safety.