How I learned to stop worrying and oppose a Palestinian state

The world does not need yet another genocidal terrorist entity.

“I used to care,” Bob Dylan once sang, “but things have changed.”

I’m afraid that I’m feeling much the same these days regarding the prospect of Palestinian statehood. Up until Oct. 6, I felt that while a Palestinian state would be problematic in many ways, we still had an obligation to adhere to the same right we demand for ourselves—self-determination. I also believed that demographic issues and the corrosive effect of continuous occupation left Israel no option but the two-state solution.

As a result, I supported the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza because I felt those arguments still held despite multiple Palestinian refusals of peace and their continuing embrace and promotion of terrorism.

I must admit that I was wrong. Things have changed. A generational trauma will do that sort of thing. At the moment, “the day after” this war is a matter of complete indifference to me. I do not know what the political future of the Palestinians will be. I also don’t care. I care solely about preventing another Oct. 7 or worse. If that means a Palestinian state must never be established, then so be it.

I believe this for two reasons. The first is a matter of principle, the second is wholly practical in nature.

First, though I still believe that all peoples have a right to self-determination, I do not believe that the Palestinians have the right to determine themselves upon the destruction of Israel. Oct. 7 made it clear that this is precisely what they have done and intend to keep doing. Statehood would only further this ambition, and this cannot be morally justified under any circumstances. In fact, to do anything that would further such an ambition would be, by definition, not only immoral but anti-moral.

In practical terms, it is now very clear what the nature of a Palestinian state would be. The Gaza withdrawal was often described at the time as an experiment. On Oct. 7, we received the results. They have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that a Palestinian state would be a genocidal terrorist entity, likely of a theocratic nature, with the ultimate intention of aiding in the establishment of a global Islamic tyranny. The world already has several states of this kind—most notably Hamas’ ally Iran—and certainly does not need another one.

What this means in terms of the status of Gaza and the West Bank is, in my view, irrelevant. Until the Palestinians adjust their ambitions and purge their society of its abominable elements, Palestinian statehood would be a bad thing not just for Israel but for humanity. I regret that they have forced us to reach this conclusion, but denying it will only lead to further atrocities.

It is impossible to take pleasure in such a conclusion, but misguided hope does no one any good. It is not impossible that things will change again, but for all our sakes, we should not succumb to any illusions in the meantime.

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The late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad, father and predecessor of the country’s current butcher Bashar al-Assad, once told Henry Kissinger, “Eventually, you got tired of Vietnam. Sooner or later, you’ll get tired of Israel.”

Whether this will prove to be true or not is impossible to know. Certainly, Israel and its supporters should do everything possible to ensure that it doesn’t. Nonetheless, Assad’s prediction points to something very relevant today, which is the Axis of Antisemitism’s attempt to rouse a mass movement similar to the Vietnam-era anti-war movement. This, they hope, will break the Americans’ will to continue supporting Israel and enable the genocide they desperately hope to commit.

Indeed, they are using many of the same tactics as the ‘60s anti-war movement: Mob events, academic corruption, mass intimidation and violence, terrorism, demonization of the ally, relentless propaganda, and ensuring the collaboration of a sympathetic media.

To a great extent, the Vietnam-era anti-war movement succeeded in its aims. The results, however, were not edifying. Jonathan Tobin, my boss over at JNS, put it succinctly:

The result of the North Vietnamese victory was the imposition of a brutal totalitarian regime in the South with millions put in “re-education” camps and many more forced to flee as “boat people.” That proved that the pro-war cause was nobler than its critics, who damned it as imperialist oppression of Third World people, understood at the time.

To be fair, however, the ‘60s anti-war movement included a great many people who had no intention of enabling such atrocities. They were motivated by either innocent naivete or genuine revulsion at the horrors of war. They were foolish, perhaps, but not evil.

This is not the case regarding the Axis of Antisemitism. Everyone involved in the mob knows exactly what they’re doing, because Oct. 7 proved once and for all what the results of their success would be.

Thus, anyone who now supports the Axis and its anti-Israel movement has no moral excuse. They have seen with their own eyes what will happen if they win, and they continue their fetid struggle anyway. There is no foolishness involved. They are simply evil.

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More insidious news regarding the theo-Nazi tyranny in Iran: First, the genocidal tyrants have claimed responsibility for Oct. 7, saying it was revenge for the US’s 2020 execution of the head of the IRGC and terrorist war criminal Qassem Soleimani.

Hamas rushed to deny this, however, no doubt fearing harm to what they regard as their prestige.

It is certainly amusing to see two parties scrambling to take credit for a genocidal rampage of atrocities, but it says a great deal about both of them. More importantly, it underlines the most essential aspect of this war: The Iranian regime and its proxies must be destroyed. As the old Roman said, delenda est. The only possible peace with any of these entities is Carthaginian.

There were indications today that Israel and perhaps the US understand this. According to Arab media sources, 11 top Iranian terrorist commanders were killed in a Damascus air strike last night. Iran is denying it at the moment, but if it is true, and if Israel was responsible, it is a good sign that at least Israel understands that it is time to take the fight to Iran.

The mullahs have enjoyed more or less total impunity for decades. As a result, their regime has destabilized the entire Middle East, committed war crimes and atrocities around the world, and now threatens humanity itself with a possible nuclear breakout. If the world wants this hideous behavior to stop, the mullahs’ bones need to be smashed to dust and their regime reduced to ash.

It is possible, at least, that the smashing has begun.