Why reward a terrorist leadership holding Israeli hostages  rotting on the verge of death?

By Jonathan Feldstein

French President Emanuel Macron must be feeling particularly good seeing nations of the world following one of his country’s most honored traditions:

SURRENDER

Macron announced that he intended to recognize “Palestine” at the U.N. General Assembly next month. Immediately following Macron were British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Several other countries have indicated their inclination to do so as well.

The Macron, Starmer, and Carney ideological surrender is akin to recognizing Nazi controlled Vichy France. Mon Dieu! It not only does not bring peace any closer but, it hardens the position of the terrorists and emboldens and rewards their aggression.  That has been clear as Hamas has continued to entrench its intransigence any time serious talks of a cease fire and hostage release get close.

MIXED MESSAGING

There is something else critical to “recognize” in the announcement of the intent to recognize Palestine. Among other things, Starmer made clear threats to Israel  that he would follow through to recognize Palestine if Israel:

 “…takes substantial steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire, and commit to a long-term sustainable peace, renewing the prospect of a two-state solution.”

Then there is Starmer’s message to Hamas that remains “unchanged and equivocal” in that Hamas “must immediately release all of the hostages, sign up to a cease fire, disarm, and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.”

While the British PM’s threats to Israel are crystal clear, his “messages” to Hamas – while not vague – are meaningless.  Hamas will not run to London, the U.N., or anywhere else to lay down their arms, nor will it ever release the hostages without maximum pressure. Does Starmer’s conditional recognition of “Palestine” also require Hamas to disarm and release the hostages?  Do they need to post on their social media “In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful we will not play a part of the government of Gaza?”

British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and released after 471 days in captivity Gaza, used her own social media to condemn Starmer’s announcement:

 “I am deeply saddened by Prime Minister Starmer’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood. This move does not advance peace — it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy.”

In another post, Damari wrote:

“Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France or Poland? This is not diplomacy — it is a moral failure. Shame on you, Prime Minister!!!!!!!”

In announcing his country’s intent to recognize “Palestine”, Canadian Prime Minister Carney also made this conditional.  He said it is:

“…predicated on the Palestinian Authority commitment to much needed reform including… to hold elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state.”

He added that:

 “Hamas must immediately release all hostages taken in their terrorist attack of October 7…. must disarm… and play no role in the future governance of Palestine.”

His language is troubling on many levels, but the premise is absurd. What if, in his Never-Never Land of diplomacy, the Palestinian Authority did hold elections, and what if a rebranded Hamas were to win?  What if the PLO were to win, and then be summarily ousted in a coup in 2027 with Hamas in control of “Palestine”?  Would “Palestine” be required to meet Carney’s standards or risk Canada withdrawing its recognition?

If any of these leaders were really sincere about recognizing “Palestine”, they would just do so and not need to announce their intentions to do so, or with all these unachievable conditions.

If I were a Palestinian Arab believing in the right to live in an independent “State of Palestine”, I would take offence to the provisional nature of recognizing what I would believe as the occupation of my country. Those who advocate the purported right of Palestinian Arabs to have an independent state should be up in arms (pun intended) that their “rights” are conditional.

What is interesting in the context of this war against Hamas now entering its 22nd month since the October 7, 2023 massacre, is the broad consensus across the Israeli political spectrum, against the Macron, Starmer, Carney bulldozing for Palestinian statehood amidst the unresolved hostages crisis. While there may be differences on the conduct of the war and priorities or imperative to get the remaining 50 hostages released, there is uniformity in their condemnation of this intended move.

Multiple voices throughout Israel, not just the government and not just on the right, have voiced their outrage, even harsh denunciation of such a declaration at this point in time.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum is not an echo chamber for the Israeli government, and has largely been more critical of the government and its policies related to the hostages. But on this, there is widespread agreement. “Recognition of a Palestinian state while Hamas holds 50 hostages isn’t just a step away from peace, it is a blatant violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political violation that bestows legitimacy to horrifying war crimes.”

“The international community — if it wants peace — must join the efforts of the US and demand, before all else, the release of the hostages and then the end of the fighting.” The Forum represents most of the hostages’ families, and advocates a deal with Hamas to return all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and the release of Palestinian Arab terrorists.

“Abducting men, women, children and babies, and holding them in tunnels against their will, amid starvation and physical and mental abuse, cannot — must not — be the grounds for establishing a state,” they added.

“The recognition of a Palestinian state before the return of the hostages will forever be remembered as a shameful, antisemitic step that renders terror acceptable as a legitimate means of achieving political goals.”

Unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, enables terrorism and deprives Israel of leverage amid efforts to secure the hostages’ release. It also goes against the terms of the Oslo Accords to which France, the UK, and Canada all subscribed, requiring actual negotiations and not unilateral actions by all parties. These and other countries recognition of “Palestine” will not only not bring peace closer; it will harden the position of the terrorists and prolong the war.

About the writer

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

The new world order that threatens Western culture and civilization.

By Neville Berman

In 1982, in response to attacks by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from Lebanon, Israel launched a military campaign against the PLO in Lebanon. Within days Yasser Arafat, the head of the PLO, announced that Israel had killed 20,000 people in Lebanon.  Newspapers throughout the world led with the headline ” Israel kills 20,000 in Lebanon.” The world was outraged. A few days later, a reporter from an international news agency arrived in Lebanon and asked to be taken to see the bodies or graves of the 20,000 people who had been killed. He discovered less than 300 people were actually killed. Not a single newspaper published an apology on their front page. The few apologies that were published were buried deep inside the publication. Fake news was seen to be very profitable. What everyone remembers is that Israel killed 20,000 people in Lebanon. I mention this as the phenomenon of reporting without any verification of the accuracy of the report has become widespread.

Every reporter in Gaza understands that he needs to report what Hamas wants him to report. Reports published by a reporter that are not approved by Hamas, are usually the last report of that reporter from Gaza. The fear of losing access to breaking news that millions of people want to see and read about in Gaza, results in zero verification of facts before publication. An excellent example was the report by the Gaza Health Ministry in October 2023, that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza and had killed 500 civilians. Every newspaper and TV channel in the world immediately headlined the report. No one thought of checking if the story was factual. What actually happened was that a rocket fired from Gaza at Israel, misfired and landed in the Al Ahli parking lot of the hospital and killed less than 50 people. Israel did not fire the rocket, the hospital was not bombed, and 500 people were not killed. The story that was carried by every news agency was completely false.  

Hamas has tried every conceivable way to convince the world that they are victims and need to be supported. They first maintained that Israel had placed a blockade on Gaza. This must have been the worst blockade in human history. The southern border of Gaza is with Egypt. Thousands of tons of concrete used for building hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, and thousands of missiles that were fired at Israel, all came directly from Egypt into Gaza. In addition, Israel supplied food, water, electricity and fuel to Gaza. Hundreds of people from Gaza came to work daily in Israel. Obviously, there was no blockade.  

They then claimed that Israel was an apartheid state. Every citizen in Israel over the age of 18 has the right to vote regardless of sex, race or religious beliefs. Arab citizens are elected into the Israeli parliament known as the Knesset. Arab citizens use the same hospitals, the same maternity wards, the same beaches, attend the same universities, and have senior positions within the bureaucracy of Israel. Clearly, Israel is not an apartheid state.

They then claimed that Israel was a colonial state. The truth is that Jews have lived in the Middle East for over 3,000 years and Israel is the ancestral home of the Jewish people. The First and Second Jewish Temples were built in Jerusalem. To claim that Jews are colonialists is a total fabrication. 

They then claimed that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. The Palestinian population in Israel has grown annually for decades. If Israel was committing genocide, then the Palestinian population would be decreasing and not increasing. It does not take a genius to understand that Israel is not committing genocide.     

Hamas is now claiming that Israel is causing starvation in Gaza. The truth is that hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza are stolen at gunpoint by Hamas. The aim of Hamas, not Israel, is to starve the children of Gaza in order to get the world to accuse Israel of starvation. To prove that starvation is taking place, pictures of malnourished and emaciated children in Gaza are distributed by reporters from Gaza and published worldwide. The New York Times, like most newspapers, recently featured a large picture of a starving child on its front page. The United Nations immediately reported that it was outraged at the monstrous starvation that Israel was causing in Gaza. The condemnations of Israel became a torrent of threats even by friends of Israel. A few days later The New York Times issued an apology. The medical records of the child had been found and proved that the child was suffering from a debilitating genetic problem from birth, and that his malnourished appearance had nothing to do with lack of food.  A check of the original picture shows both the mother and the brother of the starving child looking completely healthy. False news has become an industry that is spreading hatred around the world.

There is no doubt that news stating or implying that Israel is committing crimes against humanity and genocide is what the majority of the 2.4 billion Christians and 2 billion Muslims want to read about, hear about on social media, and see on their TV screens. It is a 24 /7 onslaught against Israel perpetrated by the vast majority of the news media of the world. It is a hate campaign based on 2,000 years of Christian blood libels against Jews, and an Islamist view of Muslim domination of the world. Whether the news is true or false is of absolutely no concern. Israel is guilty, no matter what Israel does.

European appeasement is back in vogue. Appeasement has proven to be a disaster in the past and it is worthwhile to carefully contemplate its implications for the future. Let’s look at what Khaled Mashal, one of the leaders of Hamas stated:

 “The (Palestinian) state will come about from resistance not negotiation. Liberation first, then statehood. Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concessions on any inch of land. We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation, and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel. We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone, Israel has no right to be in Jerusalem. ”

I suggest that the European leaders who are now calling for the recognition of a Palestinian State, carefully read the above statement and reconsider what they are contemplating. The genocidal policies that both Hamas and the PLO openly call for in their respective Charters is available for anyone to read in English. All you need to do is google Hamas Charter or PLO Charter to read exactly what the Palestinians want. They are not interested in a two-state solution at all. What they want is one Palestinian State from the river to the sea in place of Israel. That is why they have rejected every offer of a Palestinian State living side by side with Israel. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al -Husseini stated that even if Israel is the size of a postage stamp, the Arabs will reject it. Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, has stated that not a single Jew will be allowed to live in the State of Palestine. You cannot appease this kind of thinking. It is a fool’s errand.

Supporting a Palestinian State will inevitably have unintended consequences.  Voting in order to appease the growing Muslim population in the West, could end up being a one-way street leading to the obituary of Western culture and civilization in the very countries that are now announcing their support of a Palestinian State.

One should be very careful what you wish for.

About the writer:

Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award.  In 1978 he immigrated to the USA  to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel.  He is married with two children and one granddaughter.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).