That’s from Jennifer Rubin at Commentary, who calls the Florida Republican Senate candidate’s speech yesterday “frankly the best speech on Israel since George W. Bush went to the Knesset.” The text of the speech is online and includes some important points:
We are in the midst of an all out, concerted global effort to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist. . . .
If Israel’s right to self-defense is undermined by efforts to lift its legal and necessary blockade of Gaza, which serves to stop Hamas from arming itself with deadly weapons, there will be lasting consequences not only for Israel, but also for the U.S. and the entire world. . . .
We should always remember that the obstacle to peace isn’t Israel; it is Palestinian extremists and Islamic terrorists who will not accept the Jewish State.
Which is exactly right. I am not anti-Arab and not even really anti-Islam, except insofar as Islam is intolerant toward Christianity and/or used as a rationale for violence. Nor am I one of those who, as Russell Kirk said of certain neoconservatives, mistake Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States. Yet the political, military and diplomatic reality is exactly as Marco Rubio describes it:
Israel’s enemies are or will soon be America’s enemies as well. They are emboldened every time they sense any sort of daylight between the United States and Israel.
It must be noted, in this context, that Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are supporters of the “Free Gaza” movement. This exemplifies the radical roots of anti-Israel activism in the West. One of the forgotten details of the history of the Weather Underground is that, in their manifestos, Ayers and his terrorist buddies consistently expressed solidarity with the PLO:
SELF-DETERMINATION FOR THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE! U.S. OUT OF THE MIDEAST! END AID TO ISRAEL!
The Democratic Party is now dominated by the ideological soulmates of Sirhan Sirhan. Radicals like Ayers supported the PLO for the same reason they supported the Vietcong: Any enemy of America is a friend to those who hate America.
Bill Ayers doesn’t support Hamas because of any concern for the well-being of Palestinians, any more than Ayers supported the Black Panthers out of empathy for black people. Ayers hates America, and the violent extremists he supports are mere proxies for that fundamental hatred which is the essence of Ayers’ radicalism.
What is the purpose and effect of such radicalism? To undermine and weaken the United States. Marco Rubio nailed it:
In every incident, every pronouncement and every action related to Israel, enemies like Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah look for signs of weakness in America’s support as an invitation to undermine Israel and move one step closer to her destruction. The stronger the U.S.-Israel alliance, the stronger the moderate, pro-U.S. elements in the Arab world will be. If the U.S. shows itself to be an unreliable ally to Israel, moderate Arab states will take note that they cannot trust the U.S. to be a reliable friend for them either.
This goes back to my childhood memories of the Vietnam War. Back then, peaceniks were always whining about corruption in the Saigon government and saying that the U.S. was propping up an undemocratic regime. Yet the insuperable argument for defending South Vietnam was that they were our ally, and for America to abandon an ally in time of crisis would be an open invitation for America’s enemies to attack our allies everywhere.
If America is not a reliable ally, soon America will have no allies.
Marco Rubio gets it. Read the rest of his speech.
UPDATE: Linked by Ed Driscoll — thanks!
