Nelson Ascher forwarded this Jerusalem Post editorial (link requires registration):
The world will not help us; we must help ourselves. We must kill as many of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly possible, while minimizing collateral damage, but not letting that damage stop us. And we must kill Yasser Arafat, because the world leaves us no alternative.
No one seriously argues with the fact that Arafat was preventing Mahmoud Abbas, the prime minister he appointed, from combating terrorism, to the extent that was willing to do so. Almost no one seriously disputes that Abbas on whom Israel, the US, and Europe had placed all their bets failed primarily because Arafat retained control of much of the security apparatus, and that Arafat wanted him to fail.
There's a lot more, and it's all worth reading. What makes this notable, however, is the notion that Israel can't rely on even the US in its fight against Arab terror, not even now that we're deep in the fight ourselves.
Pretty damning stuff.
I'm all for that except for the "minimizing collateral damage" part. When you're bombing folks who raise their kids to be "martyrs," there can be no collateral damage.
Well, there is that $3 billion or so in annual aid we send them. Not to mention the unold billion in outstanding loans. And the fact that we provide them with access to a lot of cool military hardware that many other countries would kill to procure. This isn't to say that I agree with the Bush Administration's willingness to save Arafat from a much-deserved fate, I just think it's pretty absurd to say that we've turned our backs on the Israelis.
