Ethically, if you believe in Christian values, the time for Israel to help its neighbors is now. Not the terrorists, but the women and children, the elders, the innocents, the political parties who might help them fight Hamas -- if only on a moral basis and wanting to save the lives of their children.
This conflict will not end until both sides are exhausted of watching their innocents die. Benjamin Netanyahu has pursued a strategy -- now becoming clear to Israelis -- that not only are Palestinian women and children disposable pawns in his strategic military planning, but also the lives of his own people: the red-headed children taken hostage on Oct. 7, their mother, and likely scores of other innocent Israelis.
It hasn't worked. His IDF forces, with the help of American taxpayer-supplied weapons, have effectively leveled universities, hospitals, homes and churches inside of Gaza, and yet Hamas clings to power. Netanyahu's goal of destroying the terrorist group Hamas has not reached fruition, nor has he effectively gained any allies from the Palestinian people left on the ground.
Today, Israel announced that millions in tax dollars collected from the Palestinian workers that the occupying country routinely collected and redistributed to the Palestinian Authority -- a more legit governing body that was ousted in elections with the support of Netanyahu years ago -- would be withheld from the humanitarian need in Palestine today, and instead awarded to Israeli victims of terrorism...
As if that would compensate or having their family members seized, slaughtered, and meeting currently unknown fates after the IDF failed to protect the country's borders from the terrorist attackers on Oct. 6, 2023.
What a stupid move.
As if denying people their own funds to take care of their own peoples will help anyone, much less protect the Israeli people. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Netanyahu still clings to power in Israel -- these are not a people known for effectively rebelling against authoritarian leadership or seizing the powers of the people for themselves (if only they could emulate America in that way) and no civil war in Israel yet appears to be on the horizon while Netanyahu and the right-wingers in power dominate the militaristic narrative despite the poor strategic results -- the handful of hostages rescued last Saturday not withstanding.
It has become safer, and more intellectually lucrative to refrain from crtiticizing Israel -- to affirm the narrative that the little country is the victim in this latest "hot phase" of the decades-long war over the territory that must one day be shared. But just as Americans voters can see it is absurd to continue spending billions to arm Israel so that they might destroy their neighbor, then billions more to provide aid for the people whose lives have ended and been upended because for the weaponry we supply -- it is absurd to cheer on Israel in this latest move to deny Palestinian civilians the tax monies collected on their behalf that is rightly theirs in their time of greatest need.
Nothing good will come of such stupid strategic moves, designed to feed the hardening hearts of the Israeli voters over practical incentives that would help pursue the path of peace by providing humanitarian necessities of life. Put me on record saying that? For as a Christian, I am not afraid.
Treating your neighbor as an equal, as people deserving of their own powers while working together to fight terrorism is surely a wiser way of proceeding after the little country has failed for decades despite being armed by what once was the world's sole superpower, whose leader is no longer respected on an international front as Benjamin Netanyahu has his way with our tax dollars while a look down the road by American voters tells us there will be shortages in our own social safety net in the decades to come...
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, said on Thursday that he had ordered about $35 million in tax revenue that Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to be diverted to the families of Israeli victims of terrorism. Mr. Smotrich called the decision to divert the funds “justice,” in a post on social media, and said that the amount was based on court judgments awarding compensation to relatives of terror victims. “The Palestinian Authority encourages and supports terrorism by paying the families of terrorists, prisoners, and released prisoners,” he wrote. Earlier this month, two laws went into effect that allow victims of terrorism and hostilities to claim Palestinian funds, enabling the action Mr. Smotrich took on Thursday. The move further imperils the already struggling West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which is in dire economic straits, and it could inflame tensions in a territory that has seen a sharp increase in conflict and a decline in quality of life for Palestinians since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel set off a war in the Gaza Strip. Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesman, called Mr. Smotrich’s decision “extraordinarily wrongheaded” and said the Biden administration had made clear to the Israeli government that “these funds belong to the Palestinian people.” Mr. Smotrich’s order “risks destabilizing the West Bank and further harming Israel’s own security,” Mr. Miller said at a news conference in Washington. Under decades-old agreements, Israel collects customs and import taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Those revenues constitute most of the Palestinian budget, particularly as international aid has declined. Mr. Smotrich — who has labeled the Palestinian Authority “an enemy” — has withheld funds from the authority, using his power over its purse to worsen the economic situation in an already financially depressed region. Before Oct. 7, about 150,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank worked each day in Israel, but after the war began, Israel imposed a general ban on employing them, leading to a steep rise in unemployment in the West Bank. Some Israeli businesses have qualified for an exemption, but the ban has led to a labor shortage in Israel and aggravated economic struggle for Palestinians. Experts have warned that without funds to pay its security forces and other government workers, the Palestinian Authority’s economic troubles could lead to more instability in the West Bank and in Israel. In May, Mr. Smotrich said that he would withhold tax revenue from the authority after Ireland, Norway and Spain decided to recognize a Palestinian state and after the International Court of Justice said it would seek arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over the war against Hamas in Gaza. Mr. Smotrich accused Palestinians of using “political terrorism” against Israel in the international community. The finance minister has also threatened that by the end of June he will withdraw the indemnity granted to Israeli banks that transfer money to financial institutions in the West Bank, a protection that ensures the Israeli banks will not be sanctioned for ties to terrorism. This is expected to chill deposits of funds to Palestinian accounts, including from Israeli companies that work with the Palestinian Authority, and could further destabilize the authority and the West Bank. Mohammad Mustafa, the recently inaugurated Palestinian Authority prime minister, warned last month that the dire fiscal situation was contributing to a “very serious moment” in the West Bank. Mr. Mustafa was meeting with European Union officials on Thursday for the sixth E.U.-Palestine Investment Platform. He said that the withholding of tax revenues by Israel was a major challenge and asked European allies for help with the matter, according to Palestinian news outlets. Michael Levenson contributed reporting. — Ephrat Livni
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