Israel has a Sovereign Right to Self-Protection

The State of Israel has a sovereign right to exercise all diplomatic and military options to protect her borders. Period. This includes, but is not limited to, the security fence and unilateral action against the Iranian nuclear regime, which has openly called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Fresh off of his first overseas trip as a second-term president, Barack Obama's latest attempt to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table has reinvigorated debate regarding the feasibility of a two-state solution.

Throughout her brief sixty-five year history filled with frequent existential threats from international leaders and terrorist organizations, Israel has always been willing to offer "land for peace" in order to appease her Arab neighbors. In 1967, when Egypt, Syria and Jordan failed to destroy the Jewish state, Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and the Sinai Peninsula in a decisive land war. It was only through acts of aggression on the part of her foes that the Israelis came to control these controversial territories that have been predicated as the land for a future Palestinian state. The Arab world came together on June 1, 1967 and issued the three famous “no’s” in the Khartoum Resolution: No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiation with Israel.

In the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel immediately withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula - a territory larger than the entire Jewish state - in exchange for peace with Egypt. More recently, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew all Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005. With an opportunity to elect a free and democratic government, the Palestinians chose Hamas, a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department to control the territory whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. One wonders how the world expects Israel to find a partner for peace in a government that does not recognize its right to exist.

In response to a heavy influx of terrorist attacks and suicide missions from 2000-2005 known as the Second Palestinian Intifada, Israel erected a fence along its borders. This move has been heavily criticized by the international community, but it was carried out in response to a barrage of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in coffee shops, pizzerias, malls and even public transportation. Israelis lived in fear even as they boarded the nearest city bus not knowing whether they would make it off alive. Despite all its international criticism, the fence successfully minimized the number of attacks carried out against Israeli civilians. Moreover, the only portion of the fence which separated Palestinians from their land was effectively re-routed in compliance with an order from the Israeli Supreme Court. The fence was not erected out of ill-will; it was erected out of necessity to protect innocent Israeli civilians from belligerent adversaries.

Actions taken by the Israeli government to protect her people is not a privilege; It is a right. No other nation on earth is held to the same standard of scrutiny for merely trying to protect her peoples and it is time for the international community and the Arab-dominated United Nations in particular to accept the existence of a peaceful, democratic Jewish state that if given the opportunity to guarantee the protection of its civilians will be the first to accept a two-state solution with the Palestinian people as it has demonstrated on so many occasions in the past. Until that time comes, the Israeli government has a sovereign, inalienable right to exercise whatever means it deems necessary to secure her borders and protect her people against any domestic and international threat.