Upping The Ante

Things look to have taken a turn for the worse in the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade decided to fill in the world that it now has biological and chemical weapons. If these reports can be verified, then time to do a cup check, because the tension level in that little corner of the world jumped up several notches.

In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, said the weapons were the result of a three-year effort.

I'm not an intel operator, but there's a sporting good chance these munitions were developed from the Iraqi stockpiles said to have made their way to Lebanon's fortified Bekaa Valley. It wouldn't be like the time frame didn't fit. Three years ago would have been about the time trucks and "humanitarian" flights left Baathist-controlled Iraq for Baathist-controlled Syria and it was a bit of an open secret that Syria used Bekaa as a sort of rear staging area and rally point for various terror groups like Hezbollah that operated out of Lebanon. That some of them would use specialists-for-hire and modify some of the old weapons-grade chemical and biological devices into more compact systems doesn't take that great of a leap in supposition.

Regardless, it drastically alters the balance of power in the region. The Israelis themselves had hidden from prying eyes a nuclear program that has likely produced several devices. If one side uses WMD's, you can bet the other will, and if history holds constant, it will be the Palestinians who take the suicide leap at the Israelis. Better to die in a blaze of glory, I imagine.

It would be folly, as well as unjust to demand that Israel show restraint if it is attacked with WMD's by any Palestinian terror organization. To force it to be led helplessly to the slaughter would make those who advocated such complicit in whatever deaths result. This also does not take a grand leap of logic. So, the insane among the Palestinians have pushed things a little closer to the brink. Are they insane enough to go all the way? The answer is more than likely they are. It would take a Herculean effort to prevent them from using such weapons, or God willing, they're bluffing. We can be sure of neither.

For those who consistently and pathologically support the Palestinians in such issues, I would remind them of something I heard repeated by Mark Shere in the In Touch section of Sunday's Indianapolis Star.

There is a saying that if the Palestinians ever put down their weapons, there will be no more fighting. If the Jews put down their weapons, there will be no more Jews.

Therein lies the key to understanding the whole conflict. Israelis have made it abundantly clear that they are willing to coexist side by side with a Palestinian state, and just as clearly the Palestinians have made it clear that they will see every Christian and Jew (oh, and homosexuals and atheists as well) subjugated or driven into the sea, preferably leaking from several bullet wounds. Until sanity catches on in Gaza and the West Bank, and there's not even a hint that it will, Israel will never be safe. They are, as they have always been, a small representation of what we will and are facing in this War and we'd do well to heed such events and their inevitable conclusions.

hat tip to RightWingNews for the story lead.