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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Dr.Daniel Pipes on "The Threat to Israel's Existence: Why it's back what it means"

Dr.Daniel Pipes on "The Threat to Israel's Existence: Why it's back what it means"

September 23, 2007

Dr. Daniel Pipes Discusses "The Threat to Israel's Existence"

By Beila Rabinowitz and William Mayer

September 23, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Dr. Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum, delivered the inaugural lecture to the "Jewish Learning Academy" at the Lubavitch Center of Bucks County PA on September 12th. The talk was entitled, "The Threat to Israel's Existence - Why it's back what it means."

Pipes began his talk by referring to the signing of the Oslo Accords 14 years ago, of the sense that Israel had been accepted by its Arab neighbors and as a result, the war was ending.

He continued, saying that now voices "from far and near are now coming out against the existence of Israel" and that the opposition takes "two forms, the crude and the polite." He defined the crude as "the more obvious" such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for the elimination of the Jewish state which he observed was " perhaps unprecedented…[that]…a head of state actually call for the destruction of another country."

According to Dr. Pipes it was the "polite ones," despite their rhetoric, which set in play a process which includes "declaring jihad to liberate Jerusalem as Arafat did…Maps that do not show Israel…demands of the Palestinian right of return…[and]…The one state solution i.e. no more Zionism."

Dr. Pipes also noted that "such calls were not limited to Arabs and Muslims" and cited London Mayor Ken Livingstone's comment that "the creation of Israel was a mistake" as but one example. He emphasized that partisan differences were irrelevant in this debate, declaring that those, "who believed in the continued existence of the state of Israel" were essentially on the same side.

He also reiterated his belief that deterrence was the most prudent policy for Israel to follow and that the decision to pursue other means of peacemaking – namely negotiation - had been a strategic mistake.

He gave a short history of how Israel had spent 45 years convincing the enemy that they had lost and that the country was "here to stay." He summed this up as "Don't you dare attack me because I will hit you ten times harder - stay away, give up, don't bother me."

Pipes said that as Israel "tired" of this policy, it had in 1993 embarked upon a campaign of appeasement, giving its enemies money and land while making concessions in the mistaken hope they would be satisfied and give up their desire to destroy the Jewish State.

Dr. Pipes criticized the Oslo Accords, the "Road Map" to peace and the Quartet approach [the U.S., UN, EU and Russia as brokers] as "follies," explaining that "it was a war and each side had war goals" and the only way for Israel to win and defeat the Palestinians was for "their will to be crushed."

Dr. Pipes concluded that if the Palestinian issue is definitively and militarily decided by Israel, the entire region will benefit; with the Palestinians then being forced to turn to constructive endeavors, others in the region would then give up their attempts to eliminate Israel as well. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=pipes92307%2Ehtm

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