How the Left Helped Hamas Win

There's no doubt that the Left, especially the Israeli Left, are gloating now over their 'victory over' their most-hated of all their most-hated Israeli bearbugs, i.e. Netanyahu and the Israeli Victims of Arab Terror, the so-called 'settlers' and the Right per se.



I bet now they will go all-out to ensure that the butchers of the Fogel family (who stabbed to death 3 children aged 11, 3 and 4-month old baby - whose throat they cut almost severing her head - and their parents!!!) will make sure that Israel's Far Leftwing judiciary will not allow these beasts to be executed for their vile murder (perhaps out of phony 'humane' considerations, but also to make sure that they could also eventually be freed in exchange for another abducted soldier in the near future...!)



I just wonder what the reaction of these immoral, extremely mentally deranged Leftists will be if (or when) THEY THEMSELVES (or their 'loved ones'

if they have any as they do not seem to be able to love anyone other than themselves!!!) FALL VICTIM to the very same terrorist-crimes which were committed by the Hamas/Fatah terrorists they worked so hard to be released from Israel 's 5-star prisons...!



As for me, and other Likudniks that I have spoken to, this freeing of 1,027 mass murderers, coupled with the midnight destruction of Jewish homes

in Migron, in front of the terrified eyes of helpless women and their children, has raised doubts whether we will cast our votes for the Likud ever

again. Certainly, the fact that it is Ehud Barak and the Far-Left who are calling the shots during a Likud administration, is nauseating and very, very disturbing and could very well bring about the disappearance of the Likud party altogether, let alone Netanyahu himself, from Israel's political scene. Perhaps such a scenario has no significance any longer as, to many, it seems the Likud has joined Israel's Far-Left in its anti-Israel policies..treating Israeli civilians who happen to live in Judea and Samaria with violence as THE ENEMY, and treating Israel's genocidal terrorists with kid gloves...as

our so-called 'peace partners!'



Bad times are a-coming for the people of Israel...with no little help from its "leaders" !



Trudy Gefen

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From: H , Wednesday, October 19, 2011



How the Left Helped Hamas Win

Daniel Greenfield





Five years after the attack that captured Gilad Shalit​, Hamas, the Islamic terrorist organization responsible, has finally won.



The release of over a 1,000 terrorists in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier will turn experienced terrorists loose to participate in the next round of attack and train the next generation of terrorists. However, the real victory belongs not

to Hamas, but to its radical Leftist partners.



When Israel tried to isolate Hamaswith a blockade, it was the international Leftthat did everything it could to

break the blockade while spreading Hamas propaganda about starving children. When Israel tried to take military action against Hamas, the Leftthrew together anti-war protests and compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.Code Pinkmet with Hamasleaders, and Viva Palestinabrought money directly to Hamas. Leftwing clergyjoined in a fast for Gaza and Leftwing writerslike Alice Walker and Henning Mankell​boarded the Gaza flotilla.



While the Lefttried to avoid using the word “Hamas” in their Gaza campaigns, just as they had avoided using “Saddam” in their Iraq campaigns, they were still working on behalf of a ruthless terrorist organization.Hamaspretended to be a social services agency and its Leftist alliespretended they were concerned with humanitarian aid, but their true common goal was the destruction of Israel



The Leftkept Hamasfrom being isolated, gave it money and acted as its diplomatic corps,

eroding Israel ’s leverage and increasing Hamas’ standing. When the Leftand its Egyptian mothershiporganization, the Muslim Brotherhood, joined forcesto overthrow Mubarak, with Obama’sbacking, that opened the door to Gaza . And it eliminated the remainder of Israel ’s leverage.



In his book, “Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists,” Netanyahu wrote, “Among the most important policies which must be adopted in the face of terrorism is the refusal to release convicted terrorists from prisons. This is a mistake that Israel , once the leader in anti-terror techniques, has made over and over again.” PM Netanyahu is beingrightly criticizedfor surrendering to Hamas, but he is well aware of the points that his critics are making. He has made them numerous times. Release of convicted terrorists before they have served their full sentences seems like an easy and tempting way of defusing blackmail situations in which innocent people

may lose their lives. But its utility is momentary at best.Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists by giving them the feeling that even if they arecaught theirpunishment will be brief. Worse, by leading terrorists to think such demands are likely to be met, they encourage precisely thekind of terrorist blackmail which they are supposed to diffuse….only the most unrelenting refusal to ever give in to such blackmail can prevent most such situations from arising. And Hamashas already stated that GiladShalit“will not be the last soldier kidnapped.”



Why then did Netanyahu make the deal? Because the Left had drastically limited his options.Even while the international Left and portions of the Israeli Left were campaigning against any isolation of Gaza , his domestic Leftwing opposition was running

an aggressive Free GiladShalitcampaign that accused Netanyahu, rather than Hamas, of keeping Shalitlocked up.



GiladShalit became the unwitting symbol of a movement that had demanded a withdrawal from Gaza to save the lives of soldiers, and was now campaigning to release terrorists to save the life of a soldier who was only in captivity because of their withdrawal. After five years, another installment of their policies is being paid for in blood.



Some Americans wonder why Israel didn’t just go into Gaza and bring him back. Again, the answer lies on the Left. When Israel withdrew from Gaza , it lost most of its intelligence assets on the ground. Short-term operations and hit and run

strikes have failed as a result. Nothing short of a full-scale reclamation of Gaza would have sufficed to find and free Gilad Shalit​. Prime Minister Netanyahu does not have the same powers as the President of the United States​. The Israeli Minister

of Defense is Ehud Barak, a former Leftwing rival, who is part of a coalition of parties that forms the Netanyahu government. Imagine if Bush had been forced to run military operations through Secretary of Defense John Kerry, who

could at any time bring down the administration and force new elections if something displeased him, and you get some

idea of the awkwardness of the arrangement.



While Barakisn’t the major player he used to be, in combination with a number of other prominent ex-military and ex-intelligence players on the Left, and a hostile administration in Washington , that was enough to checkmate any long term operation. Previous attacks on Hamashad failed because they were only temporary strikes that did not make any serious effort to drive it out of Gaza and restore the rule of law to the area. Like the Taliban or Hezbollah, its leaders knew that all they had to do was hang on and wait till the Left’s propaganda and war crimes allegations took enough of a toll that the operation would end.



The only practical option for dealing with Hamasand its rocket attacks was to retake Gaza , but Israeli conservative politicians, like their American counterparts, rarely do much to reverse the destructive policies of the Left. Instead they try to make the status quo manageable. Netanyahu did not believe that the odds of a temporary military operation finding Shalithad gotten any better and he was unwilling to commit to reclaiming Gaza & expelling Hamas, which would amount to months of conflict and outrageous claims of war crimes by the Left.



The Israel of Entebbe and Osirakwould have gone for it, but that era has given way to nuanced politicians concerned with the country’s public image. And so five years later, the deal was finally made. The Lefthas pointed out that the deal could have been years ago, and they are correct. But they are the only reason that the deal had to be made at all.



The Left had strengthened Hamasand undermined Israel .



The terrorist release is Hamas’ reward, but the Left’s victory.



Daniel Greenfield, a ShillmanJournalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century