“Leaving Gaza is Proof
That Violence Works”
NEW YORK- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging the Israeli left and American Jewish left to “engage in some serious soul-searching,” following statements by Palestinian Arab terrorists that the activities of the Jewish left encourage Arab terror.
The Arab terrorists’ statements are revealed in a new book, The Seventh War, by Israeli journalists Amos Harel, of the daily newspaper Ha’aretz, and Avi Yisacharov of Israel Radio.
Yisacharov told Israel Television on September 9, 2004 that Hamas terrorist leaders whom he interviewed in Gaza, and in Israeli prisons, said: “It was the Israeli left and your peace camp that ultimately encouraged us to continue with our suicide attacks.”
Yisacharov said he was told by the terrorists: “We tried, through our attacks, to create fragmentation and dissension within Israeli society, and the left-wing’s reaction was proof that this was indeed the right approach. When we heard about the ‘Pilots’ Letter’ [a letter last year by 27 Israeli pilots refusing to bomb terrorist leaders in Arab towns], and the elite soldiers who refused to serve [in Judea, Samaria and Gaza], it strengthened those in our camp who promoted the idea of suicide bombers…The disengagement from Gaza is proof of our victory. The fact is that Sharon is willing to withdraw unconditionally, and is essentially raising a white flag and retreating. Only by force can we teach the other side what to do.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “Criticizing Israel from the left — by pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions to the Arabs — weakens Israel and strengthens its enemies.
“Every responsible person in the Israeli left and the American Jewish left must be horrified to learn that their camp’s activities may well have encouraged Arab terrorism. The time has come for some serious soul-searching on the left, for hard questions to be asked about the real-life impact of their statements, demonstrations, and other activities. How can a person sleep at night, if he knows that he helped encourage those who massacre Israeli men, women and children?”