Challenging Violent Speech—Unless It’s About Israel
Writing in Al Jazeera, Stanley Cohen called on Israel to “accept that as an occupied people, Palestinians have a right to resist—in every way possible.” He begins by telling his readers: “long ago, it was settled that resistance and even armed struggle against a colonial occupation force is not just recognized under international law but specifically endorsed.” His entire article is predicated on a false premise in that it demands the characterization of Israel as a “colonial occupation force”— a characterization that is categorically incoherent.Amb. Danon stuns UN Security Council
Cohen cites a 1982 UN Resolution which “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” He does not mention which countries voted for and against this resolution.
Among the countries that voted for it: Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Qatar, Niger, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq.
Among the countries who voted against it: Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.
On college campuses, the call for armed struggle has become the Cri de Coeur of leftist students who are otherwise hypersensitive to the impact that intangible words can have on corporeal beings. On Columbia’s campus, students who form the backbone of the BDS movement have successfully blurred the line between incitement and impassioned—albeit severely misguided—opinion. In 2016, the Columbia/ Barnard Socialists concluded one social media post by declaring: “long live the intifada.” As recently as Sunday—after the Halamish attack— the Students for Justice in Palestine shared the Al Jazeera article calling for armed resistance. Where are the outraged professors, administrators, and students concerned for the safety of the student body? Where are the charges of bigotry and racism, the calls to silence this speech, to stop this violence?
Nowhere does the idea that speech can constitute violence find more support than on elite liberal arts colleges. But regardless of whether they have intellectual or moral merit on their own, calls for safe spaces, trigger warnings, and micro-aggression-free environments that come from groups or individuals who not only condone, but use their words to quite literally call for violence, must be ignored, and the hypocrisy highlighted.
From the safe confines of an ivory-covered campus–or from the relative safety of this country, for that matter–it’s easy to preach justice and retribution, to portray armed struggle as the necessary means that will find justification through a righteous end. But especially those who are sensitive to the power of language should understand: euphemistic terminology does nothing to mitigate the violent nature inherent in this rhetoric. There must be no confusion. The left’s glorification of armed struggle is nothing short of approval for those Palestinians who target and kill innocent men, women, and children. Those who proclaim to speak for social justice have been damningly silent.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN strongly criticized the Palestinian Authority's to the recent terrorist attacks in Israel ahead of a Security Council meeting on the recent violence over the Temple Mount.
Ambassador Danon presented a photograph from the scene of Friday’s terror attack in which the Salomon family was murdered.
“The Salomon family had gathered for the most joyous occasion, the birth of a new grandson. Instead, the night ended in a massacre. They sat down to eat the Sabbath meal when the terrorist entered their home. He stabbed his victims to death, murdering Yosef, the seventy-year-old grandfather, his daughter Haya, and his son Elad, all while the children were hidden in a room,” said Ambassador Danon.
“Instead of condemning this act of terror and calming the situation, the Palestinians are trying to spread the lie that this unspeakable act of violence is Israel’s fault. Do not believe these lies. The terrorist who murdered this family did so knowing that the PA will pay him thousands of dollars a month,” the Ambassador continued.
IsraellyCool: The Narrative of Palestine
In our little game of scoring, that makes the score 3-0. But this isn’t a game, is it? People are dying because the Palestinians refuse to look forward or backwards. Backwards tells them that we are the legitimate heirs to our homeland and though we have made it clear that we are prepared to live with them, despite very clear historical evidence that if you dig in the ground, it is our history you will find, not theirs (except for old Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottles circa 2010 left to rot).
The Palestinian narrative dating back anything more than 100 years is, without question fabricated. Even in the last 100 years, much of it is established by using other people’s images. That they live here now is something we all have to accept. When the Jews first moved into the land of Canaan, there were others who lived here. Those that were prepared to live with us nearly 4,000 years ago, remained. Those who were not, were defeated. It was the way of the world then and not something we have to answer for now. We were exiled 2,000 years ago and we have come home. The land offers its testimony on a regular basis that this land is our home.
Stealing images of the Holocaust just makes you look pathetic. Borrowing images from war-torn Syria, as they often do, just makes them look desperate. In days filled with violence, it is clear that the Palestinians have yet to learn that the way to a peaceful solution will not be found through violence or forgery.
We grow tired of your violence and your childish attempts to maintain the status quo when it suits you and demand it change when it doesn’t.
No, you will never rule this land – but then again, history shows that you never did. You rule in something like 40 other lands in this world. It won’t happen here. Accept it…or leave. Deal with it…or lose.