How often have you heard the cliche, “One is a freedom fighter, one is a terrorist. Can you tell the difference?” Is discernment so difficult?

Hamas terrorists recently murdered a Palestinian police commander and two civilians. “Palestinian police officers have broken into the parliament in Gaza to demand a crackdown on the militant group Hamas,” according to the BBC. [1]

How does Hamas celebrate? It fills a truck with homemade explosives, and then drives that truck through dense crowds of Palestinian civilians. When the truck accidentally explodes, killing 15 children, women, and men, what does Hamas do? It blames Israel and fires rockets at Israeli civilians.

An investigation by the Palestinian Authority found that Hamas was indeed responsible for this “celebration” of murder. [2]

Hezbollah blew up a Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994, killing 85 innocents. The group incinerated 241 American soldiers in 1983. [3] Earlier this year, Hezbollah fiercely opposed the liberation of Lebanon from 30 years of brutal Syrian occupation. But Lebanon’s peaceful “Cedar Revolution” proponents demanded and received freedom, no thanks to Hezbollah.

These are the words of President Pervez Musharraf, leader of the world’s most powerful Muslim country, Pakistan: “According to the Holy Quran and our Holy Prophet, Jews and Christians are the ‘People of the Book,’ belonging to the same spiritual tradition. … Our experiences and histories intertwine in many regions of the old world and most significantly in the Holy Land.” [4]

Musharraf was speaking before the American Jewish Congress on September 17, two weeks after the foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan met for the first time in Turkey, another Muslim ally of Israel. Pakistan initiated contact as thanks for Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. Turkey helped broker the unprecedented meeting. [5]

These are the words of a senior official of the Indian Ministry of Defense: “The fact that India and Israel are going to cooperate in a big way in such sensitive areas shows the depth of the strategic ties which have developed between the two countries over the past few years.” [7] Israel and India are cooperating on a $1 billion military alliance. [8]

In 1947, Arabs rejected a UN mandate for a Palestinian homeland, not Jews. [10] From 1948 through 1967, the West Bank and Gaza were under Arab control, and Palestinians were never granted a homeland. Palestinian “leaders” have built nothing but terrorist chaos, stealing foreign aid from the mouths of their own babies. [11] Meanwhile, Israel has built a vibrant democracy and economy — its GDP is $129 billion. [12]

Some attribute Israel’s wealth and success to aid from the U.S., but less than 3% of Israel’s GDP is foreign money. This is an important point, one of a society’s emphasis on its priorities. Israel has embraced freedom while Palestinians have largely embraced terror.

It smacks of bias when news headlines are dominated by what Israel does or does not do, while atrocities are continually committed by real terrorists and dictators. Iran publicly hanged two boys for being gay in July. [13] Al-Qaeda keeps incinerating civilians in Afghanistan (but could not derail free elections). [14] North Korea? Syria? The list goes on, but these stories are most often buried in the back pages of the New York Times or Washington Post, if printed at all.

If India, Pakistan, and Turkey — certainly not white colonialist powers — can tell the difference between terrorists and “freedom fighters,” I would hope that rational Americans and Europeans can too.

References
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4304942.stm
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4276458.stm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizbullah
[4] http://www.ajcongress.org/musharraf_address.htm
[5] http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2365
[7] http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030923/nation.htm#8
[8] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3536901.stm
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Israel
[10] http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_un_arabrejection.php
[11] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/
2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/issues/1627755.stm
[12] http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/is.html
[13] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4725959.stm
[14] http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5333643,00.html

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Related: India, Israel, Pakistan, Palestinians

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