Don't Feed Crocodiles

Fire of Liberty

Joshua Muravchik has a good piece over at National Review which makes a pretty good argument why the world in general has got to stop their continued call for ceasefires and a more "proportional response" and find a way to support Israel's fight against Hezbollah and fellow terrorists. As he rightly notes, these calls for peace will not stop these terrorists from firing their missiles on Israel but will only weaken the hand of Israel and further embolden these terrorists to proceed with their plans of destroying Israel and the further expansion of activities in places like Europe. I think Muravchik hit the nail on the head about the danger of Europe embracing such measures of appeasement when he noted the following:

The Islamists'’ optimism has been fueled by the exploits of Hezbollah and Hamas. Whereas once Israel had seemed to be an invincible regional superpower, Hezbollah fighters succeeded in forcing it into an ignominious flight from Lebanon, leaving behind equipment and abandoned allies. Then Hamas drove Israel from Gaza. The evacuation of Gaza was not a flight; the Israelis saw it as unilaterally defining their own borders. But as Hamas saw it, suicide bombings had made the continuing occupation too costly for Israel. Most Palestinians thought Hamas was right and rewarded it with their votes.

The Hamas and Hezbollah attacks that triggered the current crisis show how self-assured they have become. If Israel fails to deal them crippling blows--or is prevented from doing so--then the Middle East will grow much more tumultuous. The Arab moderates, who have advocated peace with Israel, will look cowardly and foolish. The jihadists will be strengthened in every country. None will dare make peace with Israel, and the states that already have made peace will wiggle away from it.

The tumult will not be confined to the Middle East. The jihadist movement is global, even more so than the Communist movement in its heyday, when triumphs of Russian Communists inspired triumphs by their "“comrades"” in places as distant as China and Cuba. The feats of Hamas and Hezbollah will make young, impressionable Muslims turn to the path of jihad in many corners of the world. Few places will be more vulnerable to the effects of this than Europe, with its rapidly growing Muslim population--many of whom are alienated from Western society.

To denounce Israel for using "“disproportionate"” force is tantamount to telling Israel to accept its role as the victim. In this way the EU hopes to propitiate the Islamists, just as Chamberlain and Daladier offered up Czechoslovakia to Hitler. As before, this craven gesture would lead to disaster for Europe. Israel, however, is not Czechoslovakia, and it will ignore the EU. For that, Europeans owe it thanks.

It's amazing that a group of people(Europe) who rattle on about being so in tough with the rest of the world have such a hard time remembering the lesson about how policies of appeasement leads one down a very dangerous path. Thanks for folks like Joshua Muravchik in reminding us of what appeasement brings about.