OPINION:
Vice President JD Vance, following a meeting in Israel to nurse along the peace deal, said a vote taken by Jewish lawmakers in favor of annexing Judea and Samaria, known as the West Bank in most government circles, was a “very stupid political stunt.” That was after he spoke at a press conference in Israel and commented on the difficulty of achieving peace between two sides that “really don’t like each other.” That was also around the time President Donald Trump made clear — first in his 20-point peace plan and later, by public comment — that “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank” and that peace, peace, peace is the order of the Middle East day.
It’s not that the peace deal between Israel and Hamas is fracturing. It’s more that a peace deal between the mostly peaceful Israelis and the antisemitic, hateful, violent anti-Jew Hamas terrorists was never really a viable possibility for the very common sense realization that it’s impossible to live in peace with people whose sole reason for existing is to destroy you. Israel lives side by side with the Palestinian people, and welcomes Palestinians into Israel — allowing them to travel at will, allowing them to work in kibbutzes along the border with Gaza, allowing them to drive and tour and walk and freely associate in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, in pretty much all spots of the state. Palestinians in Gaza would kill Israelis who crossed into Gaza; and moreover, who cross into ‘Jew-free’ zones in spots of Israel. Palestinians can go almost anywhere in Israel; Israelis are limited in where they can go even in their own country. Why?
Because Palestinians, ruled as they were by Hamas — a terror group they elected to be their political leadership — want to kill Israelis and destroy the Israeli nation. Israelis, on the other hand, want to make peace and live in peace with their Palestinian neighbors.
This is what makes Vice President JD Vance’s remarks about the two sides disliking each other so skewed.
It’s a narrative Hamas itself wants put into the public consciousness — a narrative that says Israel is the aggressor, and even when Israel isn’t actively aggressing, that the poor, innocent Palestinian people of Gaza only want what the Israeli people want; that Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent. This is not true. It denies the hatred of the Palestinians in Gaza and of Hamas toward the Jewish people and makes it seems as Israelis carry equal “dislike” for Palestinians.
In Gaza, the challenge identifying the civilians from the terrorists is real. And it’s real because there is little difference between the civilians and the terrorists. Even the civilians who didn’t vote for Hamas nonetheless cheered Hamas on October 7, 2023. Even the civilians who didn’t vote for Hamas nonetheless voted for other political groups with stated missions of destroying Israel.
How to live in peace with those whose goal is to destroy you?
And this is why the 20-point peace plan is not aimed so much at benefitting the Israeli people as creating a mirage for those who could benefit economically, politically or on a public relations level. It’s a shame, really. But this is the truth.
“The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence,” Point 20 of the plan states.
“While Gaza redevelopment advances,” Point 19 states, in part, “the conditions may finally be in place a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
Point 18: “An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasizing the benefits that can be derived from peace.”
Co-existence — that is to say, a two-state solution? Palestinian statehood? The need to change mindsets of Israelis to seek peace?
These are talking points of the antisemites at the United Nations, the antisemites of countries that have openly called for the creation of a Palestinian state, the antisemites in countries, like Canada, that have announced intent to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. These are the talking points of Hamas and Hamas enablers and Hamas funders; of Hamas terrorists who have already announced their objection to giving up their weapons and ceding their government in Gaza to Israel, to the West, to the newly created commission in charge of Gazan redevelopment — to refusing to abiding certain terms of the 20-point peace plan.
Maybe that’s a good thing for the Jewish people.
“Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty,” Point 6 states.
Amnesty for October 23 atrocities — that’s quite an allowance, even when it stems from a deal that saw the Israeli people welcome home the handful of hostages who were still alive. Still, Israel had to release back to Gaza hundreds of imprisoned terrorists and murderers as part of its deal to get back innocent hostages. Good deal for Israel?
Thing is, Israel is a sovereign nation and as a sovereign nation, does not need America’s permission to determine its own fate, to determine when or if to lay down arms against a determined and savage enemy, to determine the future of lands within its borders — or lands won as a result of wars with aggressing enemies. But America is a key ally to Israel, and if America were to turn its rebukes into action, or more probably but just as devastating, into inaction, then Israel could find itself in a tight spot with its haters.
Then again, Israel is the apple of God’s eye and it’s God, not America, not any government, in fact, that gave Israel its land.
That’s a biblical truth that bears keeping in mind.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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