Terror rewarded

A reincarnation of the racial bigotry that resulted in the Holocaust of Nazi monster Adolf Hitler is gaining acceptance worldwide taking the guise of a misplaced solidarity.

Instead of global alarm, the prejudice against the historically persecuted people has gained hideous appeal that even won the support of four nations — Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia.

The four nations have taken steps, in the name of Middle East peace, toward recognizing the statehood declared by the Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Playing into the hands of the terror group Hamas, recognition of a Palestinian state is an undeniable reward for terrorism.

Gaza, before Israel launched self-defense operations after the 7 October massacre, had long been under the rule of the Islamist terror group Hamas, which rejects peace with Israel and seeks the extermination of the country.

Israel launched an unrelenting military campaign that has two objectives: to make members of Hamas accountable for the genocide and to obtain the release of the hostages taken during the assault.

Israel Ambassador Ilan Fluss said 120 hostages, 39 of whom are believed dead, are still in the hands of Hamas. He said the Gaza campaign will not stop until all of the captives and the bodies of those killed are released.

Despite the clear intention to fight back against terror, the United Nations has abetted the anti-Israel sentiment by promoting a total ceasefire.

The significance of the UN’s missteps is extensive as the world wrestles with the threats of terrorism and conflicts that stem from the objective of subjugating a nation.

“Recognition of a Palestinian state following the 7 October massacre sends a message to Hamas and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations that murderous terror attacks on Israelis will be reciprocated with political gestures to the Palestinians,” wrote Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat on X.

“Any engagement in the recognition of a Palestinian state only distances reaching a resolution and increases regional instability.”

An Israeli commentator recalled that decades ago President George W. Bush spoke of the concept of the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” derived from expecting less from a group of people who commit atrocities.

The commentator said in reaction to the heroic rescue of four Israeli hostages in the middle of Gaza that there were startlingly zero expectations for moral, ethical behavior from Hamas and those supporting them.

The rescued hostages had not been caged in subterranean tunnels but were placed in residential neighborhoods adjacent to a Western-style shopping mall and held captive in the homes of prominent members of society who were in league with Hamas.

Israel’s objective of staging rescue operations costs lives that are hard to classify as being civilian or terrorist, that in some biased views are blamed entirely on Israel.

A UN official said the hostages were “released,” and then criticized Israel for using the “hostages to legitimize killing, injuring, maiming, starving and traumatizing Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Israeli commentator said the UN official’s reaction was “as if Hamas did not exist and the 7th of October never happened.”

“Some bemoaned the death of a ‘journalist’ who once contributed an article to Al Jazeera. But they never asked why a journalist would keep three kidnapped civilians in his home,” he said.

He posed another point to ponder: “They never asked why a physician who lived in that house seemed to take his oath to Hamas more seriously than the Hippocratic oath.”

Instead, anti-Israel protests that are being funded by anti-Israel groups based in some exotic Arabian financial centers are gaining adherents.

Protesters claim that their motivation is peace or an end to the war and bloodshed but their words and actions tell a different story.

Outside the White House, protesters chanted, “kill Zionists,” a word finally understood to be little more than a crude euphemism for Jews. Others called for the death of Israeli soldiers.

Nations should stick to their commitment never to negotiate with terrorists.