Why Should We Help the Palestinians?

This was originally posted on Eagle Rising.


This past week, Secretary of State John Kerry was in Cairo at a meeting of donor nations to the Palestinians. After the recent fighting in Gaza, the Palestinians are asking the world community for $4 billion dollars for reconstruction. Kerry said that the Palestinians "need our help desperately, and they need it now". Qatar, a duplicitous country that already funds Hamas and other terror organizations, has pledged $ 1 billion. Kerry has committed $212 million in US tax-payer funds to the effort. The question I have is, what do we gain from doing this?

First of all, let's remember that we are talking about Gaza here, not the West Bank (which is bad enough). Gaza is ruled by Hamas, which our own State Department in a rare moment of  lucidity, has designated as a terrorist organization. In reality, Hamas can take that money and do whatever they want with it. Previous reconstruction funding only led to the construction of sophisticated tunnels from which terrorist attacks could launched against Israel.

As for the destruction of Gaza, courtesy of the Israeli Defense Forces, that could have all been avoided had Hamas not continued to lob rockets into Israel. I say let them rebuild their own infrastructure and buildings. Why should the international community bail them out of the consequences of their own actions?

"But," you say, "we will garner good will from the Palestinian people". Sure. We have been giving millions to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank (which recently included Hamas in their own government as some sort of reconciliation move), and what has it gotten us? On 9-11, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza danced in the streets and passed out sweets in the time-honored Arab tradition of celebration. They similarly dance in the streets whenever a successful suicide attack or other strike is carried out against Israel.

"But," you say. "this is all part of encouraging the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."

What peace process? Again, let's isolate Gaza and Hamas here. The Hamas charter rejects any idea of a negotiated settlement with Israel. It calls for the complete destruction of the Jewish state and removal of Jews from the region. It even includes that famous Islamic hadith (traditions and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad) which says that, "On the Day of Judgement, the Jew will hide behind the tree, and the tree will call out to the Muslim,'O Muslim. There is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him.'"

And we are going pour $212 million into Gaza-to a terrorist organization and a population that despises us? When are we going to free ourselves from this notion that our money, blood, and treasure is going to bring peace, civilization, tolerance, and a love for America to this region?

Frankly, I am up to here with the Palestinians and their cause. I was turned off from it 40 years ago when they started hijacking airplanes and murdering innocents. Today, I am sick of the constant pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel drumbeat on our college campuses. It is amazing that with all the horrors going on on the other side of Israel's borders, the well-financed pro-Palestinian machine has turned this into the number one hot topic issue within academia.

I say let the Palestinians either stand on their own feet or let them stew in their hate-filled cauldron. They do not deserve our support-especially that Hamas-ruled terror state called Gaza.