SUPPORT ISRAEL OVER TYRANNY & TERROR

Israel is the outpost of democracies in face of Islamic terrorist offensive. De-legitimizing and weakening Israel – the role model of counter terrorism – would be a tailwind for Islamic terrorists – the role model of international terrorism - facilitating their assault on the Free World.

Israel embodies democracy, rule of law, anti-racism, religious freedom, rights for women, gays and Arab and Muslim minorities - Israel is one of the most gender integrated regimes in the world, and has had a female prime minister, a female chief justice, a female foreign minister and leading female military officers.

Democratic Israel seeks peaceful coexistence while Arabs and Iranians seek to eliminate Israel, as evidenced by their violent actions including terrorism, voting patterns, replies to polls, political rhetoric, media messages, school textbooks, mosque sermons, wall graffiti, and much else. Israel is the only country in the world which is regularly slated for extermination.

Islamic Republic of Iran stampswith guns pointing at Israel, blooddripping from Israel's map

Israel survived against all odds and made democracy and the desert bloom in a region hostile to liberty and greenery - Freedom and terrorism cannot coexist - 99.5% of U.S. Congress commends Israeli democracy

The debate regarding the solution to the conflict with the Arab Palestinians is an exercise in futility as long they do not end their civil war, choose democracy over tyranny and terror and stop seeking Israel's destruction and Islamic global supremacy. Israel is not the root cause of many problems in the Middle East but is a front line in the Islamo-fascist war against all non-Muslims.

The war directed against Israel is really the global war of fundamentalist tyranny against freedom and democracy. The Arab-Israeli conflict has never been about Palestinian statehood but really about the destruction of the Jews and the only Jewish State on earth.

If the Islamists, Arab states and Iran put down their weapons, there would be no more violence. If Israel puts down her weapons, there would be no more Israel and no more democracy in the Middle East.

In Arab and Iranian dictators' propaganda there is almost no problem that is not caused by the existence of Israel, the Middle East’s sole democracy. Most Arab and Muslim states do not recognize Israel's right to exist. Misperceptions of Israel shape Islamist and Arab strategy.

Israel Builds for Nobel Prizes, Arabs Destroy with Suicide Bombers (Farid Ghadry, Reform Party of Syria, Oct 21, 2004)

Israel has suffered the largest number of terrorist attacks worldwide since 9/11 - Half of the world's major terror groups have anti-Israeli agenda - Fundamentally, Israel is the target of terrorist organizations and despotic regimes precisely because of its virtues:
Oasis of freedom in a desert of Arab and Iranian tyranny
Oasis of independent judiciary in a desert of Arab and Iranian arbitrariness
Oasis of religious rights in a desert of Arab and Iranian religious persecution: at the same time as Christians are fleeing the Palestinian Autonomy Israel's Christian population is increasing
Oasis of women rights in a desert of Arab and Iranian discrimination against women: the most sexist regimes in the world are Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority

Entrance of the the Israeli Parliament's official Arabicwebsite (Feb 3, 2004)

Palestinian Authority TV Sermon, May 13, 2005: Muslims Will Rule America, Britain ... and the Entire World; Israel is a Cancer; Jews are a Virus Resembling AIDS; Muslims Will Finish Them Of

Arabs volunteer for combat units of the Israel Defense Forces.

The government of Israel is the only one in the Middle East that is elected by free citizens -- including Arabs and Muslims: Israel is a free, Western country, which recognizes the individual rights of its citizens (such as their right to liberty and freedom of speech). It uses military force only in self-defense. The enemies of Israel, by contrast, are state sponsored terrorist organizations and dictatorships. They do not recognize the individual rights of their own subjects, much less those of the citizens of Israel. They initiate force indiscriminately in order to retain and expand their power.

Israel's achievements are vast and have no parallel in any other country of comparable size or age. They have been reached against an unremitting threat of violence, war, terror and delegitimation that might have defeated any lesser people. In almost every sphere – economic development, technology, integration of immigrants and the maintenance of democracy – Israel should today be internationally heralded as a model for others to emulate.

Above all, Israel has pursued peace. In a mere 10 years it made a cognitive leap for which it would be hard to find a precedent. The "peace process" whose main watchword is "territories for peace", involves a paradox whereby a minuscule democracy is being forced to provide its totalitarian enemies - scores of times its size - the only thing it lacks: territory. In exchange, the surrounding tyrannies are being asked to provide the one and only thing that they lack: peace. In 1990 Arafat's PLO was a proscribed terrorist organization.

By 2000 the Israeli prime minister had offered a Palestinian state in the whole of Gaza and 97 per cent of the West Bank, with east Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian terrorist regime turned this down and started the present terror war targeting Israeli civilians. The Palestinian terrorist regime does not want a Palestinian state by the side of Israel but one replacing Israel and the destruction of her free society.

The case for Israel should be apparent even to thoroughgoing supporters of the Palestinians. Who else has offered them a genuine future? Egypt? Jordan? Syria? Lebanon? The Gulf States? It takes only a cursory glance at the history of the Middle East to realize that for the most part, neighboring states have ruthlessly exploited the Palestinians for their own ends with callous indifference to the consequences. Israel, alone in the Middle East, has attempted to construct, with and for the Palestinians, a viable and peaceful future - and a Palestinian state.

Israel's strategy of winning Palestinian hearts and minds failed because Israeli carrots could never overcome the intimidation applied by Palestinian terrorist regime's sticks.

Criticism of Israeli policies in a reasonable and informed manner is legitimate and something that Israelis themselves do on a regular basis, as is the norm in a healthy democracy. Israel is certainly not infallible and makes mistakes - just as all other states have the capacity to do when confronted with the dilemmas that Israel faces in trying to protect its population from terrorist attacks. Israel must be treated by the same standards as any other country in the world and not singled out for special treatment at the hands of those who prefer to ignore genocide and human rights abuses in places such as Darfur, Chechnya, southern Sudan, Tibet and any number of Arab states and Iran.

Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) official website, Sep 6, 2003: "... is an inter-governmental organization grouping fifty-six States. These States decided to pool their resources together, combine their efforts ... in absolute priority, with liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa from Zionist occupation."

Compare Freedom Score of Israel (Free)
versus 22 Arab regimes & Iran (18 Not Free, 5 Partly Free) | Source: Freedom House (PDF, 187 KB)

Compare Freedom Score of Palestinian Authority (Not Free) versus Israel (Free)
Source: Freedom House

Compare Human Development Index of Israel (0.905), 22 Arab regimes (0.662) & Iran (0.719) (PDF, 670 KB) | Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2003

Compare Human Development Index of Israel (0.905) & Palestinian Authority (0.731)
(PDF, 670 KB) | Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2003

Compare Corruption Indexes of Israel (7.3), Germany (7.3) and USA (7.7)
versus 22 Arab regimes & Iran (1.7 - 5.5) | Source: Transparency International (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Compare Corruption Indexes of Palestinian Authority (4.3),
Israel (7.3), Germany (7.3) and USA (7.7) |Source: Transparency International (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Global Competitiveness Index 2006 - Israel ranked 15 | Source: World Economic Forum

Israel Comparison Maps (IRIS): Compare the map of Israel with maps of other areas drawn to the same scale, to put Israel's size into perspective. In these maps, Israel is portrayed including all land currently under its authority. Still, Israel is small compared with most countries around the world, most states in the U.S. and most other countries in its region.

99.5% of U.S. Congress Commends Israeli Democracy (Feb 11, 2003) ( PDF, 31 KB) The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to “commend the people of Israel for reaffirming their dedication to democratic ideals”. The resolution, which passed 411-2, also reaffirms the “close bonds of friendship” that have “bound the people of the United States and the people of Israel together through turbulent times for more than half a century,” and urges the Palestinian leadership to act on President Bush’s June 24, 2002, call to elect new leaders, dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, end incitement and embrace democracy.99.5% of U.S. Congress Commends Israeli Democracy (Feb 11, 2003)

'Israel's fight is our fight' Tom DeLay, Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, Aug 3, 2003): "Freedom and terrorism cannot coexist. This is the irreducible truth of the 21st century. The battle between terrorism and freedom has been waging for years, but has only been joined in earnest since September 11, 2001.

The war will be relentless until it is ultimately decided. In the end terrorism will either destroy free nations, or free nations will destroy it.

Nations around the world have a choice, best articulated by President George W. Bush: "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists."

There is no doubt where Israel stands in our post-9/11 world. The solidarity between the US and Israel is deeper than the various interests we share. It goes to the very nature of man, to the endowment of our God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is the universal solidarity of freedom.

It transcends geography, culture, and generations. It is the solidarity of all people - in all times - who dream of and sacrifice for liberty. It is the solidarity of Moses and Lincoln. Of Tiananmen Square and the Prague Spring. Of Andre Sakharov and Anne Frank. And in its name I come to you - in the midst of a great global conflict against evil - with a simple message: Be Not Afraid."

Terrorism will not go away by itself. It's up to people and nations of good will to stand up to it wherever it attacks. Evil cannot be negotiated away, appeased, or pacified. It must fought on every front with every resource at our disposal.

Today, terrorist organizations around the world are being hunted and destroyed. State regimes who support those organizations are being ended. The civilized world has made a conscious decision to tolerate the metastasizing cancer of violent hatred to threaten it no longer. World leaders who fail to join this struggle endanger their people and threaten the peace of the world.

When free nations meet aggression with capitulation, history is clear about the results we should expect. Some things never change.

At its heart, the terrorist ideology is indistinguishable from its murderous forebears, responsible for tens of millions of deaths in the last hundred years. Like Nazism, fascism, and communism, terrorism is borne of the idea that human cruelty can subdue human freedom.

And like Nazism, fascism, and communism, terrorism is a lie.

But because of state-sponsored animosity, controlled-media propaganda, and the economic abuses inherent in all terrorist organizations and regimes, it is a lie - like its 20th century forebears - with millions of adherents.

Only the miracle of liberal democracy will ultimately rid the world of terrorism. Democracies neither enable terror nor instigate war. They do not starve their citizens or torture dissidents or threaten neighbors.

Instead, democracies build stable civic institutions, celebrate religious, political, and ethnic diversity, create unlimited economic and educational opportunities, and protect the inalienable human right to self-determination. The liberty democracies tend to protect is the overwhelming force that can destroy terrorism once and for all.

THAT'S WHY the US is so adamant about the need for real democratic reforms among the Palestinian people. An immediate and total end to Palestinian violence is not a "concession" in the peace process. It is a perquisite to any peace process in the first place.

Peace-loving Israelis and Palestinians shouldn't tolerate any more fool's games in which the "Middle East peace process" becomes more about the "process" than it is about the "peace." Peace is impossible without a viable Palestinian democracy committed to serving the needs of the Palestinian people.

The terrorist leaders who have used the Palestinian people like pawns for decades have no credibility any more. President Bush is right to ignore communication from Yasser Arafat, and instead focus on making peace with those men - not compromised by terror - who are capable of peace in the first place.

This is why Arafat must be isolated and ignored by the international community. His continued influence in the Palestinian Authority jeopardizes the hopes for peace. Nations who consort with him validate him, and perpetuate the violence.

New leaders must emerge. It's not enough for these leaders to condemn terror. They must stop it. They must also recognize Israel's right to exist, secure in its borders, and urge their neighbors in the Arab world to do the same.

Once new leaders emerge - and we can hope Abu Mazen is such a leader - who can finally deliver on the promises of the past, great things will be possible for Israeli and Palestinian alike.

Israel will be able to forge ahead, one of the great democracies of the earth, safe to be free, and free to be prosperous.

And the Palestinian people, committed to a lasting peace, will have a new ally in the US. Just as we helped Western Europe and Japan after World War II and Eastern Europe after the Cold War, the US will help the Palestinian people build the infrastructure and institutions necessary to accommodate and foster democratic politics, market economics, and civil liberties.

The US has fought evil before, in many forms, and, with the help of allies like Israel, we are committed to defeating global terrorism now. Once this battle is won we will put all our resources toward winning the peace, too. But while this battle still rages, it is the position of the people of the US, as expressed by their representatives in Congress, that Israel's fight is our fight.

And so shall it be until the last terrorist on earth is in a cell or a cemetery. It is for this purpose that Providence has put the current challenges before the free nations of the word."

Why I Admire Israel (Farid Ghadry, Leader of USA-based Reform Party of Syria, May 5, 2007): "Israel’s democracy and its economic prosperity are all needed in our midst in the hope that we can learn self-empowerment. It is not hard to imagine our young people learning about empowerment when they watch Israeli democracy on their television sets, but it is hard to imagine they will be able to apply it living under an authoritarian system of government. That is the reason why Arabs send their own young people as suicide bombers instead of nurturing them to grow and become citizens of the world so that one day they can use their connections to help their people ..."

If you're a headstrong Arab or Iranian, bent on protest, Israel is in every respect a paradise compared with any other state in the Middle East:
In Lebanon, don’t try speaking out against the Syrian occupation. You won’t live long.
In Saudi Arabia, don’t try converting from Islam. You won't live long.
In Somalia, don’t try refusing sexual mutilation of your sister. She and you won't live long.
In Tunisia, don’t try saying the government is corrupt. You won't live long.
In Egypt, don’t try being a homosexual. You won't live long.
In Sudan, don’t try being a separatist. You won’t live long.
In Iran, don’t try having an affair. You won’t live long.
In Iraq, don’t try to be a party activist. You won’t live long.
In Algeria, don’t try to be suspected of Islamism. You won't live long.
In Libya, don’t try asking about her role in international terrorism. You won’t live long.
In Mauritania, don’t try helping a slave run away. He and you won’t live long.
In Syria, don’t try throwing stones at police. You won't live long.
In Oman, don’t try demonstrating for women rights. You won’t live long.
In Morocco, don’t try saying Arab Saharawis have been displaced. You won’t live long.
In Yemen, don’t try apostasy. You won’t live long.
In the Palestinian Authority, don’t try supporting democratic Israel. You won’t live long.

Saudi religious and morality police launch website (MEMRI, May 13, 2003) : "... the arrest of an Asian man belonging to the Sufi sect of Islam who "engaged in witchcraft," a study on the role of the Authority in the struggle against "ideological invasion, ... On the photo, under the heading "The Jewish Doll," is a story titled "The Strange Request." The story reads: "One girl said to her mother: 'Mother, I want jeans and a shirt open at the top, like Barbie's!!' The dolls of the Jewish Barbie in her naked garb [sic], their disgraceful appearance, and their various accessories are a symbol of the dissolution of values in the West. We must fully comprehend the danger in them."

What if it's not Israel they loathe? (Paris-based Iranian Amir Taheri, JP, Dec 2, 2004): "There are no free elections or reliable opinion polls in the Arab world. So no one knows what the silent majority really thinks. The best one can do is rely on anecdotal evidence. On that basis, I came to believe that the Palestine-Israel issue was low down on the list of priorities for the man in the street but something approaching an obsession for the political, business, and intellectual elites. ... The reason why the elites fake passion about this issue is that it is the only one on which they agree. In many cases, it is also the only political issue that people can discuss without running into trouble with the secret services."

Why Arabs love Israel (Joseph Farah, WND, Apr 9, 2003): "Arabs in Israel vote. They elect leaders to the Knesset [Israeli parliament]. They have their own political parties. They have their own newspapers. They have full rights to citizenship. They are free to speak their minds. As an Arab-American journalist who has spent a good deal of time covering the region, I can tell you there is more freedom for Arabs in Israel than in any Arab state."

Israel: religious freedom for all - including Moslems:

Moslems at Al-Aksa Mosquein Israeli capital Jerusalem

Christian churches in Jerusalem/Israel (Israeli Yellow Pages)

Freedom for all religions in Israelvs. religious apartheid in Saudi Arabiaand Palestinian Autonomy:


Palestinian National Authority Official Website, Jul 2, 2003: "President Arafat Condemns Israeli Decision to Allow Non-Muslims into Al-Aqsa ... Officials from the Waqf—the Islamic trust running the site—banned Jews and other non-Muslims from visiting the site ..."

Palestinian Pretense & Israeli Reality. What the world knows, but can’t say, to be true (Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, Mar 18, 2003): "Much of the problem, then, quite simply is also psychological and arises because a Jewish state is right smack in the middle of the Arab world — and by every measure of economic, political, social, and cultural success thriving amid misery. Without oil, without a large population, without friendly countries on its borders, without vast real estate, and without the Suez Canal, it somehow provides its citizenry with a way of life far more humane than what is found in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, or Egypt. Yet the world listens to the Palestinians' often-duplicitous leadership — despite the corrupt nature and murderous past history of Mr. Arafat's regime — because its sponsors sell a good part of the globe's oil. And to risk their wrath, one would have to support a few million Jews, not hundreds of millions of, say, British, Swedes, or Italians. And so we give not a damn over millions of innocents elsewhere butchered over millions of acres each year worldwide, but instead focus on what the Palestinians lost while attempting to destroy their neighbors."

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of democracy. Israel is the sole democracy of the Middle East.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of peace. The Israeli people, in its vast majority, yearns for peace. This has been proven by multiple efforts and concessions, which remain unanswered to this day.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of human rights. We equally desire peace, welfare and democracy for all of Israel's neighbors.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of civilians. We denounce the use of civilians in any armed conflict.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of the values of justice and equity. These humanistic values are threatened by any form of fundamentalism.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of non-violence. Nothing can ever justify resorting to terrorism and hatred.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of the free world. We call upon the free world to favor the emergence of Arab leaders who sincerely seek peace and democracy and choose negotiation rather than confrontation.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of Jerusalem. As long as religious freedom, and any freedom, shall be respected by the State of Israel, we shall recognize Jerusalem as its capital.

A "Friend of Israel" is a friend of the oppressed. Israel is the land of refuge for millions of oppressed Jews and their non-Jewish family.

A voice from Bangladesh (Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of Weekly Blitz in Dhaka, Bangladesh, published in JP, Aug 3, 2003): "Israel is the only country in the Mideast that has been able to create an educated, cultured and civilized society. We know quite precisely how little respect an economically weaker Muslim national gets from Arab sheikhs. Mostly they term us miskins - beggars. Is there any valid reason why a rich Arab sheikh - or any other Arab, for that matter - should term a poorer Muslim a miskin? Definitely not. But if someone had the chance to visit Israel, he or she would see the clear difference between Israeli Arabs and Arabs elsewhere."
Nightmare in Dhaka (Bangladesh-based Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, Sep 7, 2004): "We expect people to be punished for crimes, and that immorality will have its consequences. We do not expect people to be arrested, tortured and imprisoned for favoring global peace, interfaith dialogue and ending religious hatred. But that is precisely what happened to me. What was my "crime"? Being a living contradiction: a Zionist and a devout Muslim living in Bangladesh, the world's second-largest Muslim country. As a journalist, I counteracted the biased "news" that promoted hatred of Israel and Jews; condemned terrorism, promoted the free exchange of ideas and urged Bangladesh to recognize Israel. My colleague, Dr. Richard Benkin, and I worked together and saw the start of real debate. We were ecstatic and hopeful. But on November 29, 2003, police grabbed me as I was about to board a plane for Tel Aviv ..."
A letter from a friend of Israel (Bangladesh-based Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, June 13, 2005): "After getting released of 17-month's imprisonment, I though to write you to let your people know the feelings that I am proud to hold. I am honored to stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim living in a Muslim country. Like you I believe in the justice of the Zionist dream. I also acknowledge this historical reality: that the world has endeavored to crush that dream and, yes, even destroy the viability of the Jewish people. At the same time I live in an environment where people believe just as passionately in an opposing view that sees Israel as illegitimate and the Jewish people as evil incarnate. Witness the statement of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed that 'Jews rule the world'."

A light unto the immigrants (Yair Sheleg, Haaretz, Jul 28, 2003): "They came from the Philippines and Croatia, Mexico and Poland, Nicaragua and Sri Lanka - immigration officials seeking to learn from Israel's extensive experience in integrating newcomers from around the world into the local society."

Inside the Forbidden Country (Nonie Darwish, FrontPageMagazine, Jan 5, 2005): "I am an American raised in Gaza and Egypt ... Israel has passed a test of amazing endurance, surviving and thriving in a sea of hatred, violence and terror. Its people remain optimistic, but they desperately need relief from the fear and violence that dominates daily life. I wish the Arab world could see Israel as I see it -- as a diverse society of people living in peace. After my visit, I am even more committed to supporting Israel."

Israel is not an abnormal democracy (Haviv Rettiv, JP, Oct 23, 2008): In 2001, ..., a commission of European legal scholars was convened to advise the Council of Europe on constitutional issues "that conform to the standards of Europe's constitutional heritage." It concluded, in the authors' words, that "it is a recognized European norm that a nation-state can maintain official ties with its [ethno-cultural] 'kin' outside its borders and treat them preferentially in certain areas, including immigration and naturalization." ... In fact, legislation offering both favorable naturalization and some benefits without naturalization to non-citizen "kin minorities" can be found in Ireland, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia and Armenia. International agreements protecting kin minorities exist between Austria and Italy (establishing specific rights for German-speakers in Tyrol), Denmark and Germany, Italy and Slovenia and among several "new democracies" in Eastern Europe.

Why Support Israel? It would certainly be easier not to. (Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, Feb 4, 2002): "The answer is found in values ..."

A World Without Israel (Josef Joffe, Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2005): "Imagine that Israel never existed. Would the economic malaise and political repression that drive angry young men to become suicide bombers vanish? Would the Palestinians have an independent state? Would the United States, freed of its burdensome ally, suddenly find itself beloved throughout the Muslim world? Wishful thinking. Far from creating tensions, Israel actually contains more antagonisms than it causes."