This is a MarketsMuse Editorial Comment in response to a group email sent yesterday by Paul Singer of Elliott Management to his DL. That email sought to raise awareness about both the recent “under-reported” events in France in which 2 synogogues were burned by so-called Pro-Palestinian youth..who are presumably Islmaic fundamentalists, and the broader topic profiling events taking place in Gaza and Israel, and the manner in which news media is “reporting” the topic and the manner in which the US and the universe of democratic countries are “responding” to the issues immediately at hand. Singer’s note was compelling (see below)…our editorial opinion follows accordingly..
“….The international community, which has a significant stake in protecting international air traffic from terrorist rocket attacks, must support Israel’s efforts to stop these attacks—permanently. If Hamas is allowed to shut down Israel’s major airport, every terrorist group in the world will begin to target airports throughout the world. The shooting down of the Malaysian airliner over the Ukraine will be but one of many such tragedies, if Hamas is allowed to succeed. An attack on the safety on Israel’s airport is an attack on the safety of all international aviation. Israel is the canary in the mine. What Hamas has done to Israeli aviation is a warning to the world. In its efforts to prevent Hamas from firing rockets at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel is fighting for the entire civilized world against those who would shoot down civilian airliners. The world should support Israel in this noble fight…”
“….The broader implications of the Gaza War are gradually coming into view. This article deals with an important aspect. While the range and accuracy of the Hamas and Hezbollah missiles have been known to be inexorably improving, the extension of that range to Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem (in effect, all of Israel) has apparently taken the population by surprise. Nobody could possibly have flown into Israel in the last few decades and not looked out the window at Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and not wondered what the risk was in landing or taking off in such a vulnerable place. And now we know for a fact, and viscerally, that the threat of Hamas and Hezbollah rockets is actually to all of Israel and to the country’s very existence.
And now it is also viscerally clear what the difference is between the West Bank and Gaza, in terms of Israeli military access and presence to prevent terrorist infrastructure from unfettered freedom to build rockets, tunnels, explosives shops.
The bottom line is just about what Dershowitz surmises. Israel is not withdrawing its troops and supervision over the West Bank, nor handing it to third parties. Nor throwing out the Jews. We only have a couple of more years of the Kerry/Obama nonsense, and hopefully the next Administration in the U.S. has a more realistic appraisal of the Palestinians, and the need to give Israel room to protect itself.
The “DPS” note in the middle of the article is a comment from David Steinmann.
PS
hMttp://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4467/hamas-israel-airport
Has Hamas ended the prospects for a two state solution?
by Alan M. Dershowitz
July 22, 2014 at 3:00 pm
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4467/hamas-israel-airport
Hamas’s decision to fire rockets in the direction of Ben Gurion Airport may well have ended any real prospect of a two-state solution. Whether the regulators and airlines that have stopped flights to and from Israel are right or wrong, this stoppage cannot possibly be tolerated by a democratic country that relies so heavily on tourism and international travel. It is of course a war crime to target an international civilian airport, as Hamas has clearly done. Israel has every right to keep that airport open, employing all reasonable military means at its disposal. Since Hamas fires its rockets from densely populated civilian areas, there will be more Palestinian civilian deaths.
Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
This of course is part of Hamas’ grand strategy: by targeting Israeli civilians and international air travel from its own civilian areas, Hamas leaves Israel no choice but to take military actions that risk the lives of innocent Palestinians. There will be even more innocent Palestinian deaths now, as Hamas has raised the stakes considerably for Israel. Every country in the world would do everything in its power to keep open the airports, which are the lifelines to its economic viability. Hamas knows this and welcomes Israeli military action that produces more dead Palestinian civilians and hence more international criticism of Israel.
Even more importantly, Hamas’ actions in essentially closing down international air traffic into Israel, considerably reduces the prospect of any two-state solution. Israel will now be more reluctant than ever to give up military control over the West Bank, which is even closer to Ben Gurion Airport than is Gaza.
Were Israel to end its military occupation of the West Bank—as distinguished from its civilian settlements deep in the West Bank—it would risk the possibility of a Hamas takeover. That is precisely what happened when Israel removed both its civilian settlements and its military presence in Gaza. Hamas took control, fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian targets and have now succeeded in stopping international air traffic into and out of Israel.
Israel could not accept the risk of a Hamas takeover of the West Bank and the resulting Hamas rocket attacks at the nearby Ben Gurion Airport. It may still be possible to create a two-state solution whereby Israel withdraws its civilian settlers from most of the West Bank and agrees to land swaps for areas that now contain large settlement blocks. But Israel will have to retain military control over its security borders, which extend to the Jordan River. It will also have to maintain a sufficient military presence to assure that what happened in Gaza does not happen in the West Bank. These military realities do not have to exist forever. Israel’s military presence could be reduced if the Palestinian Authority were to maintain effective control over the West Bank and prevent terrorists from using that area to send rockets and terrorists into Israel.
The new reality caused by Hamas’ shutting down of international air travel to and from Israel would plainly justify an Israeli demand that it maintain military control over the West Bank in any two-state deal. The Israeli public would never accept a deal that did not include a continued Israeli military presence in the West Bank. They have learned the tragic lesson of Gaza and they will not allow it to be repeated in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, however, is unlikely to accept such a condition, though it should. This will simply make it far more difficult for an agreement to be reached.
It was precisely one of the goals of the Hamas rocket and tunnel assaults to scuttle any two-state agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The Hamas Charter categorically rejects the two-state solution {DPS Note: The Hamas Charter – which is a religiously based document – doesn’t just call for the rejection of a two state solution. It definitively requires the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of not only Israeli Jews but Jews everywhere. I do not understand why Prof. Dershowitz treads so lightly so as to avoid making this clear}, as does the military wing of Hamas. In this tragic respect, Hamas has already succeeded. By aiming its rockets in the direction of Ben Gurion Airport, Hamas may well have scuttled any realistic prospects for a two-state solution. It cannot be allowed to succeed.
The international community, which has a significant stake in protecting international air traffic from terrorist rocket attacks, must support Israel’s efforts to stop these attacks—permanently. If Hamas is allowed to shut down Israel’s major airport, every terrorist group in the world will begin to target airports throughout the world. The shooting down of the Malaysian airliner over the Ukraine will be but one of many such tragedies, if Hamas is allowed to succeed. An attack on the safety on Israel’s airport is an attack on the safety of all international aviation. Israel is the canary in the mine. What Hamas has done to Israeli aviation is a warning to the world. In its efforts to prevent Hamas from firing rockets at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel is fighting for the entire civilized world against those who would shoot down civilian airliners. The world ..
MarketsMuse Editorial…courtesy of a reply from one of Singer’s indirect recipients:
Dear Paul-
We don’t know each other, but I was forwarded the email you sent yesterday to select recipients of your DL re this week’s events in Paris in which 2 synagogues have been burned by anti-Semites with Islamic backing (while French government turns their backs), and the fact that few if any media outlets are making more than a bare mention of this latest sign that the Jewish people are once again being targeted on a global basis.
Without my ‘name-dropping’ or referencing the number of folks who we both know directly or indirectly across the financial world, each of whom are like you, and each widely-recognized for their leadership within the financial industry as well as the Jewish community at large (evidenced by their out-sized philanthropy), I’m personally less puzzled by what seems to be a muted reaction by government and corporate leaders to the widely one-sided coverage of what is happening in Gaza and Israel (and France) , as I am by the muted reaction by Jewish leaders across the financial industry in response to the media’s framing of what is taking place.
Aside from less than lackluster reporting about the rise of anti-Semitism in France and other “western countries”, virtually all media outlets seem to be spotlighting the non-combatant Palestinian casualties resulting from Israel’s efforts to defend itself [by targeting missile launch sites in Gaza], and egregiously making little mention of the fact that the unprovoked attacks against Israel are being launched by terrorists who are physically situated in venues such as hospitals, schools and religious venues..and shielding themselves behind “innocent civilians”…These are actions that would typically be branded as terrorism by any modern civilization. Yet the media puts this cowardly tactic as a footnote in their coverage.
Within the context of the financial industry, all of the outspoken leading investment bankers, private equity and hedge fund managers always seem to embrace virtually any opportunity to appear and opine on platforms such as CNBC and Bloomberg…to advance their positions and perspectives on global markets (or to talk up their own “books”). Despite NBC’s portrayal of what is happening in Gaza and their media-typical exploitation of video footage and images of Palestinian victims, coupled with commentary that would lead viewers to infer that these casualties “..can be avoided were Israel to “behave more responsibly”, the media-friendly members of the investment community are surprisingly silent, other than emailing among each other.
The talking head hedge fund managers with billion-dollar personal checking account balances are happy to passionately debate the topic of Herbalife corporate governance and other nonsense topics as if these were battle stories of great importance, but those on your DL are noticeably silent (from a public standpoint) on the topic that impacts not only our respective legacy, but as you attempted to point out by pointing to events in France right now, the growing anti-Semitism throughout countries we consider to be allies, and what appears to be yet again, a rising threat to the future of the Jewish people.
Your group email was passionate to the extent that you are trying to raise awareness.. I’d only respectfully suggest that you and/or a consortium of other Jewish leaders from the industry will actually publicly speak to this issue and challenge the media for its shoddy reporting, if only by everyone agreeing to tell CNBC producers and other networks that you are not interested in performing like seals on air and otherwise providing free content for a network that is clearly lopsided and leverages your commentary by charging advertisers to promote themselves in between the rants and raves of “top HF managers.”
More important—you, as well as others who you consider to be peers, are often quick to pen op-eds to the NYT and WSJ to promote positions that impact regulatory, political campaigns or federal legislative initiatives. And, many of you are quicker still to write a check to a PAC in order to advance a political candidate via full page ads in major newspapers. I’d suggest that these types of public relations and cause marketing steps are critical right now….and instead of negative ads endorsing Mitt Romney or another GOP (or Democratic party) member, perhaps your financial resources should be in favor of preserving the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Even though you and a short list of contemporaries could finance that type of awareness campaign without any concern as to the costs of placing an ad program and without having to check your checking account balance first, I’d certainly welcome any email from you soliciting a contribution to such a campaign. If we don’t stand up and speak out now, when will we? And if we don’t, who will do it for us?
BTW- I don’t claim to know what the solution to the most recent conflict is. We all know that Hamas has no mandate or desire to “negotiate” anything other than the ultimate destruction of the Jewish people and any part of Western Civilization that does not subscribe to Hamas’ interpretation of the Koran. That said, the influence that you and the aggregation of your “network” has on governmental leaders here in the US and other leaders across the globe might include your proposing the UN take the lead with an international force sent into Gaza and let a union of world governments eradicate Hamas and allow those who want to live peaceably to do so.
The only other option, one being advocated by the right-wing of Israel supporters (of which I am not a member) is contradictory and counter-intuitive to what the Jewish people have long (as in more than hundreds of years) been envied for by the entire world: we have always been a people of reason, we have always been the first to defend the liberties and civil rights of others who are oppressed by bad actors, we have always helped underwrite and provide solutions to an array of technology and health care initiatives, and we have never allowed ourselves to be subjugated, persecuted or intimidated by anyone who has sought to take away the same freedoms by which the United States was founded on hundreds of years later.
I “repeat the bid”..if those within our tribe who have accumulated great wealth and positions of influence are not going to stand up to defend not only our legacy, but the freedoms that the United States stands for, are we to stand idly by and hope that the current political administration will do what’s right, right now? If your decision to defer to Washington is the option and hope for the best, (one that we now know is the wrong one), how do we explain to our children and our grandchildren that we had the ability to defend our heritage and the right to exist, but we were too busy shopping in East Hampton?
Mike Bloomberg…if you’re listening..this message is for you as well.