Peace in the Middle East??

     The title of my blog is “HigginsUnhinged,” but in most cases I’ve managed to remain “hinged.” But the chaos in the world is beginning to “unhinge” me. The savagery of ISIS in Iraq may be the most brutal in history. Perhaps too brutal to be described in my blog.

      The purge of Christians and Jews is ramping up and not just in Iraq. Nevertheless, I want to focus on Israel. Our closest ally in the region is under attack while we watch passively. The people of Israel have been persecuted for thousands of years, yet they survive and attained statehood in 1948. I doubt if much of this will be news to my readers, many of whom know more about these things than I do.

      I think what happens with Israel has consequences far beyond what we can envision. Unfortunately, the mainstream media only provides us with a minimum of information and what it feeds us is always colored by its bias.

      The Hamas propaganda machine is pumping out a barrage of photos of Palestinian children killed by Israel, despite the fact that the Israelis continue to go further than any nation in history to avoid killing civilians. They are more careful in this regard than even the U. S. has been throughout our history. Israelis drop pamphlets, they radio ahead of attacks, and contact citizens by every means possible to give them time to leave areas where munitions and weapons are stored and targeted.

      Unfortunately Hamas rounds up innocent Palestinians civilians, herding them to missile launch sites as human shields in anticipation of an Israeli counter attack. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, and crowded communities to place their weapons in order to maximize civilian casualties when Israel retaliates. This is all designed to depict Israel as the evil aggressor. And the world sucks it up. It provides fodder for a growing anti-Semitism.

     “Israel uses rockets to protect its people. Hamas uses people to protect its rockets.” I believe Benjamin Netanyahu made that statement and it summarizes the current situation accurately.

      Israelis live their lives under a constant barrage of thousands of missiles, protected, so far, by the Iron Dome. This is the missile shield the U. S. helped Israel develop for the protection of its citizens. Despite that defense, some missiles still get through and citizens in Israel have only 15 seconds to run to the safety of bomb shelters when the alarms sound. Bomb shelters are part of their communities, kind of like fire hydrants are in ours.

      Can you imagine living under a constant barrage of missiles day and night? When venturing out in public, Israelis must be aware of the closest bomb shelter, considering the few seconds they will have to get to it when the sirens blare. Highly sophisticated tunnels extend from Gaza into Israel for use in infiltrating Israel to kill or capture civilians.

      Ironically, Israel provided the cement and other material meant to help Palestinians build their infrastructure, including buildings and schools but the material was diverted by Hamas into the construction of these death tunnels. There are roughly 40 of these tunnels, some of which open up under schools where Israeli children are vulnerable.

      Our Secretary of State went to Qatar for help in negotiating a peace plan and came away with exactly what Hamas wanted. Qatar is the richest country per capita in the Arab world and provides aide to Israel’s enemies. Amazingly, Kerry even asked Israel to halt the destruction of the death tunnels used by terrorists to infiltrate Israeli communities. Naturally Israel rejected the plan.

      A coalition of countries fearful of Hamas should have been enlisted for support – not Qatar. As I write this, another “time out” has been called with Egypt’s help, but again, Hamas broke the cease fire. Peace talks sound good, but will always be futile. Hamas has as its goal the total destruction of Israel and the death of every Jew. This is stated clearly in their charter. That’s who they are and it won’t change. A rattle snake is what it is.  It can’t change.

      Israel, as the only democracy in that part of the world, wants to be left alone to live in peace. Yet our cowardly government won’t stand with our only ally in the region, Israel. There is one simple solution to the current fighting - demilitarize Gaza. If Hamas stopped the missile attacks on Israel, that would be the end of it. Israel does not want Palestinian territory. But how do you trust terrorists who break their own cease-fire agreement, once within 90 minutes of its acceptance by Israel?

      Peace treaties are an exercise in futility in view of the Hamas charter. Unfortunately, the innocent Palestinians in the Gaza strip are suffering the consequences of the Hamas terrorists and their use of civilians as shields. They also lack basic supplies needed for everyday life. It’s a tragic situation for the Palestinian people.

      Anti-Semitism is growing world-wide – even in America. It’s like the thirties all over again, especially in Europe. Look at our own government – this is the first American administration to fail to back Israel. The minions in the administration and the press admonish the Israelis for simply protecting their people and their country and seem to sympathize with the radical Islamists.

      Valerie Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to the President and his closest Presidential Assistant. Jarrett was born in Iran and a surprising number in governmental officials have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Obama’s approach to all things “Muslim” makes one wonder where his loyalties lie. Recently Nancy Pelosi stated what she had been fed by the Qataris stating that “Hamas is a humanitarian organization.” Hillary Clinton’s stated brilliantly that “Hamas uses human shields because Gaza is pretty small.” Dingbat city.

      As long as over half of Americans remain uninformed and ignorant of history and international events, the juggernaut of apathetic and naïve “sheep-like” voters will push America over the cliff, just as the Arab nations intend to push Israel into the sea.