The Israeli journalist Seth Mandel poses a hypothetical: if you were an Arab state, would it be better to be at peace, or at war, with Israel? More on his answer to his own question can be found here: “The Wages of Peace with Israel,”
If you had the opportunity to start a new Middle East state from scratch, would you rather it be at peace with Israel or at war with Israel?
I genuinely wish regional leaders would ask themselves this question once in a while. And the fall of the house of Assad is a great time to do so.
Israel’s offer of peace has been on the table to all comers from the start. If you want peace with the Jewish state, you can have it. Should you take the offer?
If the citizens of your state are of any concern to you, it’s pretty obvious you should take the deal.
Israel borders Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. In recent weeks and months, we have watched Lebanon continue its long history of abridged sovereignty and political decay. The Iranian/Hezbollah statelet in South Lebanon persists, though in a weakened state. That occupation exists to regularly plunge the country into war with Israel. Before the area was Hezbollah’s playground, it was the mini-state of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which instigated two types of armed conflict: war with Israel and civil war within Lebanon. After Israel ousted the PLO from southern Lebanon in 1982, Syria intervened to ensure there would be no peace with Israel by killing Lebanese politicians who wanted an end to the bloodshed.
Hezbollah has for decades been a state within a state in Lebanon. It has until its recent crippling war with the IDF enforced its will by killing political leaders who are deemed to be anti-Syrian, and thus anti-Hezbollah as well, for Hezbollah and Assad’s Syria were both close collaborators and allies of Iran. Syria served for decades as the conduit through which Hezbollah received weapons from Iran. Among the politicians it has killed are Rafik Hariri, Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Gebrn Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, and Walid Edo.
Its military was always much stronger than the Lebanese National Army, and it prevented the LNA and UNIFIL from enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006, and required Hezbollah to remove its forces from southern Lebanon and to pull them north of the Litani River. Hezbollah never did, and only now, because it has been so battered by the IDF, has Hezbollah eagerly accepted a ceasefire with Israel, by which it now agrees that this time it will indeed pull back its weapons and fighters north of the Litani. So far, that ceasefire has been holding, with the IDF engaging occasionally in striking Hezbollah combatants found to be moving men and weapons around between the Litani and Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Syria, meanwhile, has been in the news because a decade-long revolt finally succeeded in ousting Bashar al-Assad, who has only been able to stay in power with the help of Hezbollah terrorists, Iranian generals, and chemical weapons that Assad’s forces used on civilians. Three-quarters of a century into Israel’s existence, such is the reality of life in the neighboring countries that insist on permanent hostility to Israel’s existence.
It is no coincidence that this is not the state of affairs in Jordan or Egypt. Peace with Israel isn’t the only reason for their relative stability. But not being at war with a first-rate military and ally of the Western democracies is a pretty big factor….
Mandel might also have mentioned the benefits to the Arab states that have made peace with Israel by signing onto the Abraham Accords — Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain — all of which have made business deals with Israeli companies and the Israeli government, especially in the areas of high tech, renewable energy, water desalination, agriculture, and tourism.
No Arab state has benefited from making war against Israel, from 1948 to the present. The costs to Arab states, in men, money, and materiel, when they tried to wipe out Israel in 1948, 1967, and 1973, amounted to tens of billions of dollars. But those Arab states that have chosen to make peace with Israel, either through a peace treaty, as Egypt and Jordan have done, or through becoming members of the Abraham Accords and agreeing to normalize ties with the Jewish state, have only benefited.
War or peace? Israel is ready for both. Will the new rulers of Syria choose rightly?
mgoldberg says
That is the last consideration of arab states. The eternal hatred of Mohammed, which may not be discussed debated or denied prevents any other motivations except those accepting the eternal truths as immutable and true. It is hard to understand for those of the Judea Christian civilization. The reason is that the JC civilization is imbued with the notions of right and wrong, ala the ten commandments. Seriously. We take all that for granted yet the dualistic understanding of muslims is just this: If Mo’ said it’s good, its good, and if he said its bad, it’s bad. There are no ten commandments though muslims will lie to themselves and others about that That’s why there is no sense of the history except that of the ‘revolutionary one- that all efforts must be made to overthrow any and all other religions and governments. And that is something we in the West can’t quite understand, so we ignore it.
Rabbi Menashe Bovit says
You are right on target. Most Americans naively like to believe that really all people want the same things, if only we can over our superficial differences. Islamic culture brings forth an entirely different way of thinking. Truth to a Muslim is what benefits Muslims. Right and wrong are determined similarly. You mentioned Muslims perception of Muhammad. While Muslims angrily proclaim that only they are true monotheists, they venerate Muhammad in a fetishistic manner. Believing Mohammed to be absolutely perfect means that they revere Muhammad as godlike. Much of Mohammed’s behavior (marrying a six year old girl and consummating it at nine years old, breaking promises of amnesty to Jews and then massacring them ext.) is to us aberrant and reprehensible. To the pious Muslim these are behaviors to admire and emulate. No peace agreement will ever solid with Arab-Muslims.
FYI says
Fully support Israel and the Israeli people and am always happy to do business with Israelis.
Israel has many who support it:despite the best efforts of the biased media,the toxic lefties and the utterly corrupt politicians of some countries who are happy to play the false victimhood card of the “palestinians”
Rabbi Menashe Bovit says
The nation state is something alien and foreign to Arab-Muslims. It was bequeathed to them by the departing colonialist powers. Arab-Muslims are culturally and religiously ill suited for a stable nation state. There will always will religious and tribal strife and warfare in the Arab-Muslim world. Besides Islam informing them to only keep any truce or agreement (hudna) with the infidel until it ready for further warfare, the instability of Muslim regimes makes any long term peace doubtful regardless of the benefits of peace.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
No Arab state can answer this question w/o factoring in islam. Emirates, Bahrein and to an extent Saudi Arabia have tried it, but time alone will tell whether they manage to exorcise those islamic demons forever
James Lincoln says
Excellent and fact-based exchange between mgoldberg / Rabbi Menashe Bovit.
All should read.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
💯
James Lincoln says
Excellent and fact-based exchange between mgoldberg / Rabbi Menashe Bovit.
All should read.