The Undemocratic Nature of Fire and Water in the Middle East

Israeli President Shimon Peres

Former President of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres is well liked by the left-wing and even admired by the right-wing in Israel and around the world. His long history of working on behalf of Israel was highlighted by many wonderful quotable phrases. His farewell address in the United States was no different.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, June 2014
(Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO)

On June 26, 2014, Shimon Peres addressed the US Congress for the final time, receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. His remarks addressed the strong bonds between the United States and Israel, as well as the threats of terrorism. While cautious, Peres remained an optimist about the chance for peace:

“President Abbas is clearly a partner for peace. He spoke bravely in Saudi Arabia, in Arabic, against the kidnappings, against terror, and for peace. But you cannot put fire and water in the same glass. Hamas is clearly not a partner for peace. Hamas fires rockets at our civilians. They oppose peace and support terror. Finding a way forward is hard. But we must not lose hope. There is no better solution than two states for two peoples.”

Peres’s comments about acting-President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas had mixed reactions in Israeli society: the left believes that Abbas is a partner for peace; while the right-wing believes he is simply a more polite face of terrorism. However, both the right and the left agree that the rabidly anti-Semitic, jihadist, militant, terrorist group Hamas is an enemy of peace. Peres spoke clearly that any Palestinian government that included Hamas was not one that sought peace with Israel.

Peres used an analogy from nature: that fire and water cannot co-exist in the same small space. Similarly in politics, the Palestinian Arabs cannot advance a plan of destroying Israel, while claiming it seeks peace with the Jewish State.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations had a very different view of nature in the Middle East.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon

Promoting Reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah: Ban Ki-Moon has pushed aggressively for Hamas to be included in the Palestinian government and in peace talks. Some examples from after the Peres speech to the US Congress:

October 21, 2014: “Palestinians are taking critical steps to forge a united path to the future. This includes an intra-Palestinian reconciliation agreement followed by a historic meeting in Gaza of the Cabinet of the Government of National Consensus.”
April 21, 2015: “I welcome ongoing efforts to promote Palestinian reconciliation. The Government of National Consensus must assume its leadership of Gaza, including control of border crossings.”
January 26, 2016: “Reconciliation is critical in order to reunite the West Bank and Gaza under a single legitimate Palestinian authority.”

This view is diametrically opposed to Peres’s and almost all Israelis.

Hamas has never recanted its founding charter which calls for killing Jews and destroying Israel. It explicitly states that peace talks are not to be pursued. That the only pathway to freeing Palestine is through militant jihad.

Terrorism is Natural: Even while Ban Ki-Moon condemned terrorism, he made excuses for it. During the same January 2016 comments calling for a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation government, he stated:

“as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”

The Secretary General of the UN stated that the victims of terrorism are to be blamed for their own injured status. According to him, it is “human nature” to walk into a family’s home at night and stab and murder all of the inhabitants, including a three month old baby (as Palestinian Arabs did to the Fogel family), because of “occupation”.

Israel’s left-wing champion, Shimon Peres, stated that nature itself dictates that peace and terrorism cannot coexist. As such, Hamas can never be accepted into a legitimate Palestinian government if there will be peace between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.

Ban Ki-Moon argued that human nature demands freedom from a ruling authority it does not want. Therefore, his proposal is to remove Israeli controls and restrictions from the “West Bank” and Gaza.

But Ban went beyond that.

He demanded that no Jews be allowed to live in either of those lands, even if they legally purchase houses. He demanded that no Jew be allowed to run a business in those areas, even when they hire many Arabs and help the local economy.

Ban does not just argue about the “occupation” of an Israeli military, but against the simple presence of Jews. He stated that any Jew prevents the “the viability of a Palestinian state and the ability of Palestinian people to live in dignity.”

Israelis see no room for an anti-Semitic death group to be part of a future of peaceful coexistence.

The United Nations sees no room for Jews to coexist with anti-Semites.

Peres has urged Israelis to make peace with those that seek peace.

Ban has demanded that Jews abandon their homes to accommodate Jew-haters.

For Israelis, the natural world can be one of peace, where there is respect for Jewish history, culture and people.

For the United Nations, the natural world is rife with anti-Semitism.

A Democratic and Undemocratic Nature

Jews are happy to co-exist with non-Jews. The Israeli government granted all non-Jews citizenship in May 1948. Non-Jews account for 25% of Israeli citizens today.

In a democratic natural world, Jews and non-Jews are not “fire and water.” The only opposites are peace and war. Israel’s mission is to have peace extinguish the fire of hatred, terrorism and war.

The United Nations represents the undemocratic world. As the agency says of itself “When the founders of the United Nations drafted the Charter 70 years ago, they did not include the word democracy. This was hardly surprising. In 1945, still more than today, many of the UN’s Member States did not espouse democracy as a system. Others laid claim to it but did not practise it.”

The undemocratic natural world is one of anti-Semitism, where Jews are the fire to be extinguished. So stated the UN’s Secretary General.

Related First.One.Through articles:

The United Nation’s Ban Ki Moon is Unqualified to Discuss the Question of Palestine

The Palestinians aren’t “Resorting to Violence”; They are Murdering and Waging War

The UN Can’t Support Israel’s Fight on Terrorism since it Considers Israel the Terrorists

The Hollowness of the United Nations’ “All”

The United Nations’ Remorse for “Creating” Israel

A “Viable” Palestinian State

The Israeli Peace Process versus the Palestinian Divorce Proceedings

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