Sans Force, Sans Truth, Sans Any Meaning

Well, the cat is now out of the bag, if it was ever in the bag. Mahmoud Abbas has now admitted that the well publicized order to his security forces to stop terrorist attacks is to be achieved without the use of force. How, pray tell, does that work?

Certainly you do not get vicious killers to stop killing by offering them candy. Not even tickets to the local football matches would do the trick. Perhaps he intends to offer them an all-expense-paid trip to Rafah to help in tunnel digging. They could sort of make a family outing of it, and on the trip they could instruct their younger siblings on how to strap on a dynamite vest.

Whatever fanciful methodology he ultimately gives us, the fact is there will be no force. Without force they cannot control the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa murderers. And if they do not stop them then we are worse off than we were when terrorist numero uno was still alive. In the case of Arafat we knew that truth would never emanate from his lips for fear of knocking out his remaining teeth. With Abbas, unfortunately, there are many who believe what he says.

There is the old joke about the two people who opened a restaurant. A customer paid the check with a $100 bill. He did not notice that there were actually two bills stuck together. The partner at the cash register now had a moral dilemma. Should he or should he not tell his partner?

Is that the sort of partner with whom Israel is expected to deal?

If there is no truth; if there are no sensible, rational attempts to truly deal with the lawlessness and wanton killing that the terrorists practice daily, then it is all a waste of time. Essentially the exercise is without meaning.

Study the Abbas record. Look carefully at what he has said, and continues to say, to his own people in Arabic. Read what he has written. It will very quickly become patent that he is like the partner with the moral dilemma. Except that I am not convinced that considerations of morality would ever even enter his mind.