OPINION:
In March 1916, Pancho Villa’s raiders crossed from Mexico into Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans and burning the town. Washington’s reply was immediate. President Wilson ordered Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing to lead 10,000 troops into Mexico to punish Villa.
Among Pershing’s officers was a young George S. Patton, who took part in one of the first motorized assaults in American history. The expedition lasted nearly a year, penetrated hundreds of miles into foreign territory and faced diplomatic outrage, but the United States never doubted its right to defend its citizens.
Today, that moral clarity has vanished. After the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel in which more than 1,200 Israelis were murdered and civilians were dragged into captivity, Israel launched a campaign to dismantle the terrorist organization behind the attack. Yet from the first week, it has faced relentless pressure for “ceasefires” and “pauses,” as if the right of self-defense now comes with an expiration date.
Pershing’s America pursued its attackers without apology. Modern Israel is told to fight but not to win, to destroy evil but only partway. No nation in history has been compelled to feed, fuel and resupply the population that shelters its murderers, yet Israel is forced to do exactly that. Humanitarian concern, noble in intent, has become strategic absurdity.
History’s lesson is simple: A peace imposed before the aggressor has renounced its cause is only an interval between wars. In 1916, America understood that deterrence required action, not hesitation. A century later, the United States urges its ally to show the restraint it never demanded of itself. The result is paralysis disguised as virtue.
The moral law has not changed. A nation attacked has the right to pursue justice until the threat is ended. When we forget that, we invite the next atrocity.
AARON SHUSTER
Beverly Hills, California
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