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"Excuses" for Terrorists

(Gatestone Institute) Douglas Murray - The day after the Brussels terror attack, landmarks in the UK were lit up in the colors of the Belgian flag. But after 67 years of terror, the UK still has not found the blue and white lights it would need to project the flag of Israel onto any public place. When Israel is attacked, the steps of the Israeli embassies in London and other European capitals are not littered with flowers, teddy bears or candles, or scrawled notes of sympathy. Indeed, whenever Israelis are attacked and murdered, the response at Israel's embassies tends to consist more of crowds roaring in rage against Israel. When Israel is attacked by terrorists, it is seen by a great number of people in the West not to be an innocent victim. It is seen as a country which might have in some way brought the violence upon itself. Supposed excuses for this view may include Israeli "settlements" in the West Bank, while at the same time disregarding that to most Palestinians all of Israel is one big "settlement" - to be exterminated, as openly set forth in both the Hamas and PLO charters. If you look at any map of "Palestine," it is actually a map of Israel. This piece of land, however, has been home to the Jews for nearly 4,000 years. If you allow an "excuse" for one false narrative of Islamic extremists, you will have to allow it for the others. You will, for example, have to accept the word of ISIS that Belgium is a "crusader" nation, deserving to be attacked. You will have to accept that Islamic extremists have the right to attack the people of Belgium, France, Sierra Leone, Canada, the U.S. and Australia. You will have to accept that Europeans can be killed for publishing a cartoon, simply because a foreign terrorist group says so, and then accept that the cartoonists brought it on themselves. The enemies of Israel and the enemies of the rest of the civilized world have some minor differences, but there is far more that they have in common. It may take a while to realize it, but we are all in the same boat. The writer is associate director of the Henry Jackson Society in London.
2016-04-01 00:00:00
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