Analyze This: United Nothing irresponsible on Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week addressed the General Assembly of the U.N., known to many as the United Nations, but known to me as the United Nothing. Sharon justifiably called on the Palestinians to dismantle their corrupt terrorist infrastructure and prove to the world that they can live in peace (good luck, Mr. Abbas). Yet even after conceding rightfully conquered territory in an attempt to jump-start the peace process, the gathering of world leaders gave Sharon a simply courteous applause.

This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the same corrupted U.N. now blushes in its Oil for Food scandal and the same corrupted U.N. refused to denounce terror and linked Zionism to racism, spurring the United States to boycott an international peace conference.

Clearly, any Israeli policy becomes prone to international pressure and criticism. As a Jew and as a Zionist, I take offense to such ridicule. As an American, though, I feel increasingly bitter because I know what it means to experience terror. We all do. We all remember the fireball that exploded as that airplane hit the South Tower. All terrorism — in America, in Israel, in Spain or in England — is murder. And each country that suffers but one casualty has a right to defend itself. Period. So I wonder, why pick on the Jews?

A few months before Sharon announced his Disengagement Plan, Israel drew major international criticism for building a security barrier across the West Bank to prevent the infiltration of suicide bombers. In one of its most outstanding failures, the World Court ruled the construction illegal, citing suspicion that Israel had ulterior motives, one of which was to confiscate more Palestinian land. Question: A 19-year-old Palestinian male sets off a bomb at a Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem (yes, the same Sbarro you see in American malls and airports) and kills 15 people, mostly mothers and children out to lunch. Do you really think the government is concerned about taking more land when children’s body parts are spread across the street?

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a little history: I remember when the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat shared a memorable handshake with the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. In that landmark Oslo Peace Accord, the Palestinians committed themselves to dismantle illegal terrorist groups as well as confiscate all unauthorized firearms.

After more than 10 years, however, more than 200 terrorist attacks against Israel cost the highest toll of civilian casualties in its history. Even under the new leadership of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the ineptitude for stopping terror led Israel to take matters into its own hands. After much discussion and unsuccessful calls for a cease-fire, Israel decided to act on its own to try to stop the terrorist infiltration from the territories. In August, Israel pulled 8,000 settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip. In one of the most drastic moves in its history, the Disengagement ended Israel’s control of the Gaza Strip, captured 36 years ago in the 1967 Six Day War.

With no separation, Palestinian terrorists carried out an appalling 103 terrorist attacks that murdered more than 869 people and wounded at least 6,000 in the past four years alone, according to the Israeli Military. In a country as small as Israel, the number of people murdered in terrorist attacks is proportional to 84,609 Americans killed (Now is your cue for your mouth to drop, say “can’t be” and imagine how you and President Bush would respond if that much American blood spills all over the country).

The proposed fence creates a barrier between Israel and the West Bank, stopping terrorist infiltration and illegal entry into Israel. Without it, potential suicide bombers need only to walk across the empty fields and desolate dirt roads to cross into Israel without arrest. As former Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer stated, “It obliges us to establish a barrier wall which is the only thing that can minimize the infiltration of these male and female suicide bombers.”

Just as Massachusetts state officials can build a wall to block traffic noise from homes next to the Turnpike, and just as homeowners build a fence to prevent deer from eating their flowers, I think the international community can allow a country to build a wall that saves its citizens from terrorism.

Then again, who am I kidding? I’m tired, it’s late. Maybe it’s time to lie down and watch a movie. Hotel Rwanda? Hungry, too? I have oil …