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Since before its modern independence, Israel has tried to seize every opportunity to make peace with its neighbors. Conversely, Israel’s enemies have tried to seize every opportunity to destroy the Jewish state, no matter its concessions. Yet through it all, the Israelis have maintained their moral clarity.
By: John Hagee/The Algemeiner
Hallel Yaffa Ariel was preparing for bed in her home on a pleasant June evening in Kiryat Arba. It’s likely that the 13-year-old girl was still beaming as her parents tucked her into bed, having performed in a dance recital earlier that night. A few hours after she fell asleep, Muhammad Nasser Tarayrah sneaked into her bedroom and stabbed her repeatedly. Hallel died shortly thereafter.
Tarayrah was a 17-year-old Palestinian terrorist. After his death, his mother declared, “My son died as a martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” And the little girl? She was an eighth grader like any other, just beginning to find her way in the world when her life was so horrifically ended; one minute her family was applauding her dance performance, and less than 24 hours later, they were at her burial.
Hallel Ariel’s murder is many things — shocking, atrocious, heart-wrenching and needless — but, sadly, it is not an isolated incident.
While I was in Israel this month, there were at least eight security incidents in four days, and among the wounded were two Israel Police officers in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City — one of whom is still fighting for her life. And at a time when Jewish families prepare to observe their sacred High Holy days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to issue a warning to his fellow citizens to ready themselves for a surge of attacks in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
In the past 12 months, there have been more than 200 Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis. These include stabbings, similar to those the US just experienced in Minnesota; car-rammings, similar to that perpetrated in Nice; shootings, similar to what we witnessed in Orlando and San Bernardino; and bombings, similar to those in Brussels.
Like any other democracy, Israel must protect its citizens by combating terror, but the Jewish state refuses to be defined by its daily battle with radical Islamic attacks. Israel is resolutely committed to living up to the highest ideals of Western civilization. And those principles were on full display when Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations General Assembly last month.
During his remarks, Netanyahu struck an optimistic tone. He spoke of a future in which the evil forces of ISIS, Hezbollah and Hamas no longer rain down terror upon the innocent. He highlighted the Jewish state’s contributions to the world, including hi-tech advancements and counter-terror strategies. And he stretched out his hands not just to the peace-loving nations of Africa and Israel’s allies in the West, but also to the leader of the Palestinian Authority — the same entity that allows and perpetuates the very mindset that incited Tarayrah to murder a child while she innocently slept in her home.
This optimism, this yearning for peace, exemplifies the essence of the Israeli worldview.
While often vilified, Israel’s interactions with the Palestinian people and their leadership are a reflection of the best in the human spirit — a spirit that I have witnessed firsthand.
When thousands of rockets were indiscriminately fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the Israeli military did not indiscriminately return fire. Rather, they “did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zones than any other army in the history of warfare.” While rockets from Gaza hit the campus of a hospital near Tel Aviv, Israeli surgeons were operating on the heart of Palestinian child just a few feet away. Where is the moral outcry against this discrimination?
In addition, not even during war does Israel stop aid from reaching the citizens of Gaza. In fact, I witnessed nearly 800 truckloads of food and medical supplies, building materials, fuel and electronics go from Israel into Gaza.
Though there is a clear and direct link between the PA’s spreading of lies about Israel’s actions on the Temple Mount and the current wave of Palestinian terror, Israel has continued to allow the Islamic Waqf to control this holy spot — sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Since before its modern independence, Israel has tried to seize every opportunity to make peace with its neighbors. Conversely, Israel’s enemies have tried to seize every opportunity to destroy the Jewish state, no matter its concessions. Yet through it all, the Israelis have maintained their moral clarity.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Palestinian leadership. After all, what was their reaction to Hallel Ariel’s murder? Was it disgust or dismay? No. Like Tarayah’s mother, they hailed the news of her death and lauded her butcherer as a martyr.
In many wars, combatants can be divided simply into those fighting for good and those for evil. This is the case in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants. And when a democracy fights terrorists — when a young girl is slaughtered in her bed — we who believe in good and evil have a responsibility to speak up for the good, because in the end, good will prevail.
Pastor John Hagee is the founder and National Chairman of Christians United for Israel. This article was originally published by The Washington Times.
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