While it's impossible to tell if Assad started this war knowing that he would breed a whole new generation of terrorists, but he's certainly capitalizing on the development. Shortly after the war began, he instructed his army to focus its weapons on the Free Syrian Army. First, he knew that fighting two enemies was much more difficult than fighting one. Second, he realized early on that he could instead make the FSA fight two enemies. From this war, ISIS was born...or at least metastasized.
Now, Assad is positioning himself as a friend to the UN and a partner in the "War on Terror". I blogged one year ago (8/15/13) that Assad might have a point when stating he was fighting terrorists.
I guess I was wrong. He made a point of not fighting them and now we have to...again.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Friday, August 1, 2014
Hamas v. Israel: The World's War
Let's be fair and clear: this is not a war between the average Palestinian and the average Israeli. Both would do more for peace than their leaders. Hamas has hijacked the land Israel returned to them (Gaza) through a war with its own people--Fatah (which still controls the very peaceful Palestinian Authority). They now use civilians as human shields and schools and hospitals as weapons' caches.
Hamas has also turned Gaza into a launching pad where it hurdles missiles that cause more panic than harm into Israeli towns. Indeed, compared to the raping, pillaging, destroying, and proselytizing of Assad's Syrian Army and ISIS, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is almost innocuous (or would be if it were not for the deaths of innocent people on both sides).
But, where are the outcries against the Assad regime? Why are people in France and Italy and everywhere else so willing to villify Israel, and tolerate ISIS and Assad? The answer, of course, is antisemitism and clear sides. It's difficult to know where the Syrian Free Army stops and the Assad regime starts. The world is no fonder of Arabs (except Palestinians) than Jews, so it tolerates the brutality of al-Qaeda in the [insert region of Middle East here] and ISIS. Also, Israel and Hamas present the world with clearly-drawn lines on a map, and two peoples who (while more alike than different) are easily identifiable based on their geographic locale.
One thing to consider, of course is that if Hamas felt they could get something out of bombing an anti-Israel rally in Paris, or London, or Qatar, or Venice, they would not hesitate to do so.
As long as Israel uses weapons instead of words to try to protect its own people, and as long as Hamas would rather indoctinate youth into hating Israel and then using them to cover Hamas's precious missiles, rather than teach them tolerance and non-violent resistance, hatred of Israel and Jews will rise. As long as Hamas doesn't start sending suicide bombers into Israeli soft targets, they will win the P.R. war. Until both sides can even look at one another, however, will win the real one.
Hamas has also turned Gaza into a launching pad where it hurdles missiles that cause more panic than harm into Israeli towns. Indeed, compared to the raping, pillaging, destroying, and proselytizing of Assad's Syrian Army and ISIS, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is almost innocuous (or would be if it were not for the deaths of innocent people on both sides).
But, where are the outcries against the Assad regime? Why are people in France and Italy and everywhere else so willing to villify Israel, and tolerate ISIS and Assad? The answer, of course, is antisemitism and clear sides. It's difficult to know where the Syrian Free Army stops and the Assad regime starts. The world is no fonder of Arabs (except Palestinians) than Jews, so it tolerates the brutality of al-Qaeda in the [insert region of Middle East here] and ISIS. Also, Israel and Hamas present the world with clearly-drawn lines on a map, and two peoples who (while more alike than different) are easily identifiable based on their geographic locale.
One thing to consider, of course is that if Hamas felt they could get something out of bombing an anti-Israel rally in Paris, or London, or Qatar, or Venice, they would not hesitate to do so.
As long as Israel uses weapons instead of words to try to protect its own people, and as long as Hamas would rather indoctinate youth into hating Israel and then using them to cover Hamas's precious missiles, rather than teach them tolerance and non-violent resistance, hatred of Israel and Jews will rise. As long as Hamas doesn't start sending suicide bombers into Israeli soft targets, they will win the P.R. war. Until both sides can even look at one another, however, will win the real one.
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