Paralysis of will. What happened to the West

 It is not ready to fully support Ukraine in the war with Russia, and Israel in the war with Hamas terrorists. This has already happened in the history of the West - on the eve of World War II

DATE                           AUTHOR

25 DEC. 2023              YURI FEDOROV 

Yuri Fedorov

Google translate from https://istories.media/opinions/2023/12/25/paralich-voli/ 

The Armed forces of Ukraine offensive ended in failure - also because the USA and Ukraine's European allies did not deploy weapons in time. The United States has delayed the adoption of decisions on the supply of Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, combat aircraft to Ukraine, and the quantity of these weapons, transferred or planned to be transferred to Ukraine, is minimal. There are persistent rumors that the leaders of a number of Western countries are suggesting to Kiev the need for a compromise with Moscow, an exchange of territories for peace, although there is no reason to believe that Russia will agree to any compromise solution to the conflict. A possible victory of Donald Trump in the presidential elections in the USA may turn out to be the end of American aid to Ukraine, as well as the weakening of NATO. Only one country — member of the EU, Hungary, blocks the allocation of vitally necessary funds to Ukraine, and the European giants cannot or do not want to put Budapest in its place.

The matter is not limited to Ukraine. The Global South, which is sometimes called the "world majority" and "non-Western civilizations", demands from Israel to cease fire in Gaza, which will lead to the salvation of Hamas terrorists, and the Western ruling circles persistently make Israel understand that these demands should be listened to. Demonstrations in support of Palestinian terrorists are taking place in European capitals, gathering hundreds of thousands of people. Some leading Western media principally avoid calling terrorists terrorists, inventing various euphemisms. It seems that the West is not ready to use its huge economic, technological and military resources to protect its values. It has suffered the paralysis of the will.

Clash of civilizations or the end of history?

The origins of this paralysis of will go back to the early 1990s. Immediately after the collapse of Soviet communism and the Soviet empire, the Western intellectual and political community was faced with the question: what would the new world system be like? There were essentially two answers.

One was given by the prominent American political scientist Samuel Huntington, who wrote several works under the same title, “The Clash of Civilizations.” The post-Cold War world, Huntington argued, would be a field of confrontation among civilizations—transstate communities united by a common history, culture, traditions, and religion. Huntington called radical Islam the main threat to the Judeo-Christian civilization of the West. Without going into the details of this theory, it is important to emphasize Huntington’s main conclusion: the coming era will be a period of acute conflicts and wars, but not ideological ones, as was the case during the Cold War, but civilizational ones, and the West must be ready for this both politically and in military terms.

However, in the early 1990s, a different system of views, which was originally formulated by Huntington's student, Francis Fukuyama, under the name “end of history,” came to dominate Western political discourse and strategic thinking. After the victory of the West in the Cold War and the discrediting of communism as an ideology and political system, supporters of this concept argued, liberal democracy and the market economy had finally won, the West no longer had existential enemies, and therefore it was possible and necessary to focus on the global spread and establishment of the Western model.

From this flowed a strategic doctrine, which assumed, among other things, that Russia was entering the community of developed democratic states, and the main threat not only to the West, but also to the globalizing international community were the rudiments of the outgoing system. Russia needs to be involved in common efforts with the West, attracted to the fight against terrorism, accelerating its inclusion in the Judeo-Christian civilization. The assumption, even a purely hypothetical one, about the possibility of a major war in Europe was considered at best a relic of the Cold War. Accordingly, European states minimized their armed forces and defense spending, and the military development of the United States was focused on local, mainly anti-terrorist wars in the global South and on confrontation with China. The latter, which was quickly turning into an economic giant with obvious expansionist aspirations, did not fit into the idea of ​​the triumph of Western civilization.

However, de-ideologization and a market economy, supporters of the “end of history” believed, would inevitably lead to the democratization of China’s political regime and its inclusion in a single world economic and political system. Until this happens, it is necessary to have a military capability capable of containing Chinese geopolitical ambitions.

In the 1990s, it seemed that the “end of history” was indeed approaching. But already in the first decade of the 21st century it became clear that nothing similar was happening. The shocking failure of a strategy based on this concept was the failed attempt to force democratic order in Iraq and Afghanistan. China has challenged the collective West, increasingly assertively strengthening its position in the global South. The semi-market, semi-state economy does not lead to democratization of the Chinese political regime, and impressive economic growth increases foreign policy ambitions, fraught with a military clash with the United States over Taiwan.

The inconsistency of the idea of ​​the “end of history”, the steadily approaching triumph of liberal democracy, is obvious, but the West does not yet have another strategic concept. There is no obvious appeal to the logic of a “clash of civilizations.” This is hampered, firstly, by the inertia of thinking, the inability of the majority of the Western intellectual community to admit the bankruptcy of their views. And secondly, the unpreparedness of the ruling elites for profound changes in economic and military policy, for the mobilization of forces and means necessary to protect civilization. This, in fact, is the essence of paralysis of the will.

What to do with Russia?

The most dangerous manifestation of paralysis of will is the lack of an effective strategy for countering Russian military-political expansion by the United States and a group of leading European states. For a long time, from the early 1990s until February 24, 2022, their policy was based on the belief that after the collapse of communism, Russia had ceased to be an enemy of the West and was gradually moving closer to it; that it is possible and necessary to negotiate with Moscow; that the bursts of aggression that erupted from time to time, such as the attack on Georgia and the annexation of Crimea, were nothing more than unprincipled deviations from the main trend of Russian political evolution, which, moreover, can, at least partially, be explained by the mistakes of the West, which did not take into account Russia’s security interests , as well as the overload of Russian political thinking with stereotypes inherited from the past.

 

The unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and the ultimatum put forward on the eve of it for the United States and NATO to withdraw not only from the former USSR, but also from Central and Eastern Europe forced Western elites to more realistically assess both Russia and their own policies towards it. The formula about Russia as the main threat to European and international security appeared in NATO policy documents and in statements by leading Western leaders. There is a growing understanding in political and military circles in the United States and many European countries that if Ukraine is defeated, NATO will have to fight Russia.

However, while saying A, the West is not saying B—at least not yet. It seems that in many capitals of the states of the collective West the dominant idea is that neither Ukraine nor Russia can be allowed to fail. In other words, Russia needs to be preserved as a full-fledged subject of the world and especially the European system in the hope that over time, most likely after Putin’s departure, circles and individuals capable of moderating the aggressiveness of foreign policy will come to power. As a result, the political will of the West in this direction is, if not paralyzed, then significantly weakened. 

The lack of political will and determination among the leading Western states to use all their resources to defeat Russia, among other things, is explained by a lack of understanding of the underlying motives of Russian policy. Of course, we cannot exclude the possibility that Putin’s heirs will pursue a more cautious policy on the world stage for some time. However, history shows that each time after the thaw Moscow fell into a state of aggression. For centuries, the alpha and omega of the foreign policy of the Moscow Principality and the Moscow Kingdom, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union was expansion, and the means of its implementation was military force. Historical experience was fixed in the consciousness of the Russian nation: the annexation of new lands and the expansion of the empire became its goal and raison d'être.

From the Nile to the Neva, from the Elbe to China,

From the Volga to the Euphrates, from the Ganges to the Danube...

This is the Russian kingdom... And it will never pass away,

Somehow the Spirit foresaw and Daniel predicted.

This is how Fyodor Tyutchev, an extraordinary poet and mediocre diplomat, formulated the foreign policy ambitions of the Russian state and society. The dream of borders along the Elbe, Danube, Euphrates and Ganges still haunts the minds of the Russian ruling class. By invading Ukraine and blackmailing the West with nuclear war, Putin only once again tried to realize the “previsions of the Spirit.” Therefore, if Russia is not defeated, a repetition of aggression is inevitable.

The Collective West and the Global South

The Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent events once again demonstrated that attempts to find some kind of agreement with radical terrorist forces, to involve them in mutually beneficial relations, and with the help of concessions to push them to renounce aggression, are untenable. At the same time, the Hamas invasion and its atrocities against the Israeli population made the destruction of this and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and the radical weakening of their main sponsor and inspirer, Iran, justified not only politically, but also legally and morally. However, the leading countries of the collective West have once again taken a half-hearted position: supporting Israel and recognizing its right to defense, they are simultaneously persuading it to reduce the intensity of hostilities, succumbing to pressure from the global South and anti-Israeli, and in fact, anti-Semitic radical left forces in the Western world.

Leaving aside the question of where the line between terrorists and peaceful Palestinian Arabs lies, let us dwell on the logic of the Western position. It is simple: by preventing Israel from completely defeating Hamas, a significant part of the ruling circles of the West is trying to avoid complications with the global South. The state of affairs is truly discouraging: the collective West is giving in to a loose conglomerate of countries that, with the exception of China, are dependent on it and are unable to compete with it either in terms of the level and quality of life, or in technological and military potential.

Is everything hopeless?

In the twentieth century, the West several times faced challenges that could question its existence, but each time it was able to mobilize forces and neutralize them. In the late 1930s, Britain and France resisted the temptation to accept Nazi expansion, abandoned the Munich policy, and entered the war with Hitler's Germany. In December 1941, overcoming mass isolationist sentiments, the United States entered the war. In the second half of the 1940s and early 1950s, the West built a system of defense against Soviet expansion and prevented the threat from communist parties that undermined its position from within. The list goes on. Another thing is important: each time it had to overcome the paralysis of will.

There are signs that this paralysis will be overcome and today the ruling elites of the Western world are beginning to at least understand the scale of the Russian threat. Influential American and European media and think tanks are publishing very alarming materials about the dangerous consequences of Ukraine’s defeat for Europe. Practical discussions have begun on ways to confiscate Russian assets - about $300 billion - to transfer them to Ukraine, which could compensate for the withdrawal of Western aid as a result of domestic political squabbles in the United States and Europe. And perhaps the most encouraging thing is that Israel is not yielding to pressure, is not stopping the destruction of Hamas and, possibly, is preparing to eliminate Hezbollah. And yet, as one of Stephen King’s heroes said, “you should hope for the best, but you should prepare for the worst.”

Bari Weiss: You are the last line of defense

Transcribed by Rami Pinku using OpenAI 

Thank you so much. When Jean gave me the list of people who had previously given the Barbara Olson lecture, I was absolutely sure that you guys had made a mistake in inviting me. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a legal scholar. I'm not a former attorney general. In my time at the Wall Street Journal, I edited dozens of op-eds about Chevron deference, but I'm still not sure what the hell that means. 

I'm also not a member of the Federalist Society. My parents, who are here in the front row, who probably couldn't afford the local country club, raised us on the Groucho Marx line that I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member. And then there's the question of my politics. I hear you guys are conservative, so forgive me then.  I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we're standing on the ancestral indigenous land of Leonard Leo. I read in ProPublica that this is his turf.

But then I googled Barbara Olson. I had the privilege of editing some op-eds by Ted back in the day, and I knew that his wife had been murdered by Al-Qaeda in 9-11. But over the past few weeks in my non-spare time, I spent a bunch of it reading about Barbara herself. I read about a Texas girl, the daughter of German immigrants, who was ferociously independent. I read about how she, a Catholic, wound up at Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University. And I read about how she, as an intern at the Department of Justice, was apparently the only person with sufficient chutzpah to personally serve the papers at the PLO mission to the UN. And I learned that she was on American Airlines Flight 77 because she was headed to LA to be on Bill Maher's show, and because she had changed her flight so she could have a birthday dinner with Ted. And I learned that she had the composure and the clarity and the courage to call him not just once but twice in those horrifying moments before the plane slammed into the Pentagon.

There is a phrase that Jews say when a person dies, and that phrase is, may their memory be for a blessing. And it's an expression of hope. But it is so clear in the case of Barbara Olsen, and the way that the force of her life and her character extends and echoes on, that it is very much a blessing fulfilled. To say that I am honored to give a lecture in the name of such an exceptional woman would be an understatement. So thank you.

It is also, since the massacre of October 7th, a date that will be seared into the memory of civilized people alongside September 11th, profoundly fitting.   I don't think it's a coincidence that Israel is the only country outside of America which is home to a 9-11 memorial bearing every single one of the victims names.

And of course, that is what we must talk about tonight, the civilizational war we are in, the war that took the life of Barbara Olson and 3,000 other innocent Americans on that morning of September 2001, and the war that came hideously across the border from Gaza into Israel on that Shabbat morning a month ago, the war that too many foolishly thought had ended.

The physical war currently raging in the Middle East with questions about the right way to defeat Hamas and other members of the jihadi death cult, the kind of operation Israel should be pursuing in Gaza, how America should abandon its fatal appeasement of Iran, and a hundred other strategic questions. Those are subjects for another speech and one for which there are many more qualified people to deliver. 

Tonight, I'd like to talk about the war of ideas, of conviction, and of will that faces us as Americans. I want to talk about the stakes of that war and how we must wage it fearlessly and relentlessly if we seek to build a world fit for our children and if we want to save America itself. 

By the time Americans woke up on October 7, 2023, it was clear that what had unfolded while we slept was not like previous wars or battles that Israel had fought in its 75-year history. This was a genocidal pogrom. It was a scene out of the places that Jews had fled, a scene out of the history of the Nazi Holocaust or the European pogroms before that, or of the Farhud, the 1941 massacre of Jews in Baghdad, a city that, it's hard to believe now, was 40% Jewish at the beginning of the 20th century. All of these scenes reminding us of Israel's necessity.

The Hamas terrorists came across the border into southern Israel on foot and on motorbike. They came by truck and by car and paraglider and they came with a plan. They came to Israel to maim and to murder and to mutilate anyone that they could find and that is what they did. 

These were Cossacks with smartphones. They called their families to brag that they had murdered Jews, dad, dad, I killed 10 Jews, said one. Others filmed the slaughter from their GoPros. Some used cell phones of the victims themselves to upload the footage of their torture and their murder so their families would have to encounter it first on their Facebook pages.

In all of this, the terrorists are laughing, they are euphoric, there is no one who has watched that horrifying, unedited footage who fails to note the hideous glee of the butchers. Some Israelis were literally disappeared on October 7th and I'm not talking about the hostages. I'm talking about people that were burned at such high heat that volunteers are still sifting through the bones and the remnant teeth to identify them. But  more than 200 people are currently being held hostage by Hamas and more than 1,400 were murdered in those terrible hours. Among the dead are some 30 American citizens and there are at least 10 Americans among the hostages. All of which is why the immediate analogy the world reached for was to 9-11. As with 9-11, the terrorists caught their victims by surprise on a clear blue morning. As with 9-11, the spectacle and the savagery were the point. As with 9-11, the terrorists notched points on their sadistic scoreboard, taking from us not just precious lives but our sense of safety and security. They changed something within us.

But the difference between 9-11 and 10-7, two massacres of innocent people, symbols to their killers of Western civilization, was the reaction to the horror. The difference between 9-11 and 10-7 was that the catastrophe of 10-7 was followed on October 8th by a different kind of catastrophe, a moral and spiritual catastrophe that was on full display throughout the West before the bodies of those men and women and children had even been identified. 

People poured into the streets of our capital cities to celebrate the slaughter. In Sydney, crowds gathered at the Opera House cheering, gas the Jews. People rejoiced on the streets of Berlin and London and Toronto and New York and Paris. Then came BLM Chicago using the paraglider, a symbol of mass death, as a symbol of freedom. Then came posters across our campuses calling for Israel to burn. Then came our own offices at the Free Press in New York City vandalized with F Jews and F Israel.

Then came Harvard's task force to create safe spaces for pro-Hamas students. And then, as thunder follows lightning, more dead Jews. An anti-Israel protester outside of Los Angeles killed a 69-year-old Jewish man this week for the apparent sin of waving an Israeli flag, though NBC's initial headline made it hard to follow. Man dies after hitting head during Israel and Palestinian rallies in California, officials say.  

In lockstep, the social justice crowd, the crowd who has tried so hard to convince us that words are violence, insisted that actual violence was a necessity, that rape was resistance, that torture was liberation. University presidents who leapt to issue morally lucid condemnations of George Floyd's killing or Putin's war against Ukraine offered silence or mealy-mouthed pablum about how the situation is complex and how we need to think of both sides as if there's some kind of equivalence between innocent civilians and jihadists. But the most alarming of all were the young people who threw their support not behind the innocent victims of Hamas terror, but behind Hamas and genocide. 

 At George Washington University just down the road, students projected the words, glory to our martyrs, and free Palestine from the river to the sea in giant letters on a campus building. At Cooper Union in Manhattan, Jewish students had to hide in the library because a mob was pounding on the door. At Columbia, my old professor, Joseph Massad, called the slaughter awesome. At Cornell, Professor Russell Rickford said it was energizing and exhilarating. At Harvard, more than 30 student groups signed a petition that found a way to blame Jewish victims for their own deaths, saying that they, quote, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for the unfolding violence. At Princeton, hundreds of students chanted, globalize the intifada, which can only mean one thing, open season on Jews worldwide. At NYU, students held posters that read, keep the world clean with drawings of Jewish stars in garbage cans. 

Hip young people with pronouns in their bios are not just chanting the slogans of a genocidal death cult. They are going around and tearing down the photographs of women and children who are currently being held hostage in tunnels that run under the Gaza Strip, and they do so gleefully. They laugh. They mock the nine-month-old baby who was stolen from his parents. And in doing so, they are tearing down, or at least they are trying to tear down, the essence of our common humanity, or perhaps even the reality that the hostages were taken at all, or maybe it's that they're trying to extinguish their memory, or the people actually had it coming to them. Or maybe, and I say this as the mother of a young child in whose face I see the face of every single child being held captive, they are trying to tear down the divine image that is at the very root of our civilization's conception of the dignity and the equality of every human life.

What could possibly explain this? The easy answer is that the human beings who were slaughtered on October 7th were Jews, and that anti-Semitism is the world's oldest hatred, and that in every generation, someone rises up to destroy us. They tried to wipe us out. They failed. Let's eat. That's the oldest Jewish joke in the world.

But that's not the whole answer, and that's because the proliferation of anti-Semitism, as always, is a symptom. When anti-Semitism moves from the shameful fringe into the public square, it is not about Jews. It is never about Jews. It is about everyone else. It is about the society or the culture or the country where it is being allowed to proliferate. Antisemitism is a warning system. It is a sign that the society itself is breaking down, that it is dying. It is a symptom of a much deeper crisis, one that explains how in the span of a little over 20 years since September 11th, educated people now respond to an act of savagery not with a defense of civilization but with a defense of barbarism.

It was 20 years ago when I was a college student that I began to encounter an ideology that drives the people who tear down the posters. It was 20 years ago that I started writing about this ideology that seemed to contradict everything I had been taught since I was a child. 

At first, the things I encountered like post-modernism and post-colonialism and post-nationalism seemed like wordplay or intellectual games, little puzzles to see how you could deconstruct just about anything. But what I came to see over time was that it wasn't going to remain an academic sideshow and that it sought nothing less than the deconstruction of our society from within. This ideology seeks to upend the very ideas of right and wrong. It replaces the basic ideas of good and evil with a new rubric, the powerless, good, and the powerful, bad. It replaces lots of things like that, color blindness with race obsession, ideas with identity, debate with denunciation and deplatforming, persuasion with public shaming, the rule of law with the fury of the mob. 

People were to be given authority in this new order, I learned, not in recognition of their gifts, their hard work, their talents, their accomplishments, or their contributions to society, but in inverse proportion to the disadvantage their group had suffered as defined by radical ideologues.And so as an undergraduate, I watched in horror sounding alarms as loudly as I could back then. I was told by most adults, including Jewish communal leaders, that yeah, it wasn't great, but don't be so hysterical. Campus were always hotbeds of political radicalism, they said, and this ideology they promised me would surely dissipate as young people made their way into the world.

They were wrong. It did not do that. Over the past two decades, I saw this inverted, morally perverse worldview swallow all of the sense-making institutions of American life. It started in the universities. Then it moved beyond the quad to cultural institutions, including some that my wife and I know well, like the New York Times, as well as to every major museum, philanthropy, and media company. It has taken root in the HR departments of every major corporation. It is inside our high schools and even our elementary schools. And of course, as everyone in this room knows, it has come to the law itself. 

When you see a federal judge shouted down at Stanford, you are seeing this ideology at work. When you see people screaming outside of the homes of certain Supreme Court justices, causing them to need round-the-clock security, you are seeing its logic. The takeover of core American institutions by this ideology is so comprehensive that it's hard sometimes for people to even notice it, because it's everywhere. 

Now, for Jews, there are obvious and glaring dangers in a worldview that measures fairness by equality of outcome rather than by equality of opportunity. If underrepresentation is the inevitable outcome of systemic bias, then overrepresentation, and Jews are 2% of the American population, suggests not talent or hard work, but unearned privilege. This conspiratorial conclusion is not actually that far removed from the hateful portrait of a small group of Jews divvying up the ill-gotten spoils of an exploited world. And it's not only Jews who suffer from the suggestion that merit and excellence are dirty words. It is every single American. It is strivers of every race, ethnicity, and class. That is why Asian immigrant success, for example, is seen as so suspicious. The percentages are off. The scores are too high. The starting point, as  poor immigrants, is too low. From whom did they steal all of that success? 

The week since October 7th has been a mark-to-market moment. In other words, everyone can now see how very deep these ideas run, and we see clearly that they are not just metaphors. Decolonization isn't just a clever turn of phrase or a new way to read novels. It is a sincerely held political view that serves as a predicate to violence. If you want to understand how it could be that the editor of the Harvard Law Review was caught on camera a few weeks ago physically intimidating a Jewish student, or how a public defender in Manhattan recently spent her evening tearing down posters of kidnapped Israeli children, it is because they believe this and they believe it is just. And their moral calculus is as crude as you can imagine. Israelis and Jews, powerful, successful, colonizers, so they're bad. Hamas is weak. They're considered people of color, so they're good. And no, it doesn't matter that the majority of Israelis are also people of color. That baby, he's a colonizer first and a baby second. That woman, gang-raped by terrorists, shame it had to come to that, but she's a white oppressor.

This is the ideology of vandalism in the true sense of the word, the vandal-sacked Rome. It is the ideology of nihilism. It knows nothing about how to build. It only knows how to tear down and destroy. And it has already torn down so very much. The civilization that feels as natural to us as oxygen, that takes thousands of years, thousands of nudges of progress, thousands of forgotten sacrifices and risks to build up to. But vandals can make very quick work of that. Reagan used to say that freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. And the same can be said of our civilization. 

If anything good can come out of the nightmare that began on October 7th, it is this. We have been shaken awake. We know the gravity of the stakes, and the stakes are not theoretical. They are real. 

So what can we do? 

First, we need to look. We must recover our ability to look and discern accordingly. We must look past the sloganeering and the propaganda and take a hard look at what is in front of our eyes. Look first, of course, at what just happened, at the barbarism that Hamas carried out. Then look at the reaction to it. Take stock of how profoundly the lies and the rot have traveled, how badly the forces of civilization and of good are faring in this battle, how it is that the most educated, the most pedigreed have become the most morally confused. 

The suspect in the killing of Paul Kessler is a college professor. To see the world as it is, we have to prize the distinctions that so many have forgotten, the distinctions between good and bad, better and worse, pain and not pain, safety and danger, just and unjust, friends and enemies. I do not need context to know that tying children to their parents and burning them alive is evil, just as I don't need a history lesson in the Arab-Israeli conflict to know that the Arab-Israelis who saved scores of Jewish Israelis that day are righteous.  

Look carefully, look at your enemies and your allies, and I say that to myself more than to you. Many of you have no doubt understood this for far longer than I have, but for many people, especially many people in my cohort, friends and enemies are not who they thought they were before October 7th. Accepting this might be hard for some of you, as it has been for me. It might mean giving up on nice things, giving up on Harvard, giving up on the club, or your New York Times subscription. Sorry, wrong crowd.  LAUGHTER 

But you get my point. The point is that things, prestige, they are not the point of our lives. Harvard and Yale don't give us value. We give us value. Something beyond ourselves gives us value. The something that is visible in the faces of so many people before me right now. And in recognizing allies, I'll be an example right now. I'm a gay woman who is moderately pro-choice. I know that there are some people in this room who don't believe that my marriage should have been legal. And that's okay, because we're all Americans who want lower taxes. LAUGHTER 

But I am here because I know that in the fight for the West, who my allies really are. And they are not the people who are looking at facile external markers of my identity that I might imagine them to be. 

My allies, true allies, are people who believe that America is good. My allies are people who believe that the West is good. And that human beings are created equal. And that saying so is essential to knowing what we are fighting for. America and our values, those are things worth fighting for. And that, and not any number of nonsensical or at least tertiary culture war issues, that is the priority of the day. 

The other thing to look for right now is for the good. To look for the good in these moments of darkness and to not lose sight of it. There's a New York coffee shop owner named Aaron DeHaan. He had all of his baristas quit the other day because he put an Israeli flag in the window and began fundraising for Magen David Adom, which is the Israeli Red Cross. So they all quit. But his cafe didn't close. It was quite the opposite. Suppliers sent him free shipments of beans and cups. Community members picked up shifts for him for free. There were lines around the block on the Upper East Side just to buy a cup of coffee. His cafe made $25,000 in a single day. Just this week, American cowboys, I hope you guys have seen these guys on social media, American cowboys from the Great Plains and the Rockies traveled to Israel to tend the fields and animals of Israeli farmers who have been killed in the past month

 This is the opposite of the cheap solidarity of standing with Hamas that we see across our campuses and in our city centers. This is the essence of the West. This is the essence of the idea that free people and free societies must stick together. 

It's not just, as James Woolsey once put it, that we're all Jews now. The reverse is also true. Israel is a mirror for the West and for the United States, whose founders saw a version of themselves in the biblical nation that also inspired the modern Zionists, whose descendants are now looking toward America with gratitude, but also with alarm, sensing a shared struggle ahead. So the first thing we must do is look. 

The second thing that we, really you, must do is enforce the law. The wave of the so-called progressive prosecutors that have been elected across many of our cities has proven to be an immensely bad thing for law and order in cities across America. It turns out that choosing not to enforce the law doesn't actually reduce crime, it promotes it. And it is no coincidence that many of the same activists who have pushed to defund the police are now the people physically harassing Jews in our streets. Everyone in America deserves equal protection, not only of the law, but from the forces of chaos and violence.

In Brooklyn, there have been an unconscionable number of violent attacks against Orthodox Jews over the past decade, and they've been correctly identified as hate crimes. But they're also simply crimes that if the law were upheld would be far less likely to happen, whatever their motivation. 

Masking at protests is illegal in many states, so that it doesn't become an attempt at mass intimidation a la the KKK. Now maybe that's a good idea, maybe it's a bad one, but in nearby Virginia, it happens to be the law. And yet, as David Bernstein recently pointed out in Eugene Volokh's blog, at George Mason University's Fairfax campus, nearly all of the protesters at a recent Student for Justice in Palestine rally were masked, completely covered. Were they punished for breaking the law? I suspect if they had, we would have read about it. The rallies that we're seeing right now would likely be less susceptible to erupting in violence if the attendants weren't covering their faces. So don't allow selective enforcement of this law or any others. If neo-Nazis and white supremacists can't do it, then neither can Hamas sympathizers. 

APPLAUSE

The third thing, no more double standards on speech. Public universities are constitutionally forbidden from imposing content-based restrictions on free speech, and yet that's precisely what they have been doing. Ask any conservative, and I know a few now, who's tried to speak at a public university and had a security fee imposed on them or had their speech quietly moved to an off-campus venue. Private universities can legally restrict speech, but their restrictions can't be enforced discriminatorily, and yet they are. I'm just going to give you one quite amazing example from Yale Law School. In 2021, in an example I'm sure all of you will know, law student Trent Colbert invited classmates to his trap house in his announcement of a Constitution Day bash hosted by FedSoc and the Native American Law Students Association. It took 12 hours for administrators to process discrimination complaints, haul Colbert in for a meeting, and suggest his career was on the line if he didn't sign an apology that they wrote on his behalf.

The law school dean also authorized a message condemning his language. Why all of this hullabaloo? Because trap house was a term that some claimed had racist associations with crack houses. But when Jewish students wrote that dean two weeks after the Hamas attacks, detailing the anti-Semitic vitriol they had received, they got a formulaic reply from the deputy directing them to student support services. For certain students, kid gloves. For others, the maw of whatever hate their classmates and professors can dream up. The universities are playing favorites based on the speech they prefer and the racial group hierarchies that they have established. It is a nasty game and they need to be called out for it.

APPLAUSE

Fourth, and this is my last, accept that you are the last line of defense and fight, fight, fight. If you study history and if you look at where Jews stand for better and generally for worse, you will understand with almost 100% certainty where a culture, where a country, or where a civilization stands. Whether it's on the way up or on the way down. Whether it's expanding in its freedoms or whether it's contracting them. Where liberty thrives, Jews thrive. Where difference is celebrated, genuine difference, Jews are celebrated. And where freedom of thought and of faith and of speech are protected, Jews tend to be too. And when such virtues are regarded as threats or thrown to the side, Jews will be too. As goes Ohio, so goes the nation is the famous political phrase. The Jews, please don't quote me on this, we're Ohio.

And nothing is guaranteed, nothing. The right ideas don't win on their own. They need a voice, they need prosecutors. It's time to defend our values, the values that have made this country the freest, most tolerant society in the history of the world. and to do that without hesitation or apology. The leftist intellectual Sidney Hook, who broke with the communists and called his memoir out of step for that reason, used to implore those around him to always answer an accusation or a charge, to never let a falsehood stand unchallenged. We as a culture are leaders. We have let too much go unchallenged. Too many lies have spread in the face of inaction, inaction that's come as the result of fear or wanting to be polite. 

No more. 

You are the last line of defense. Every person is the last line of defense, and we have to think about it that way. Don't bite your tongue. Don't tremble. Don't go along with the little lies. Be the skunk at the garden party. Speak up, break the wall of lies, and let nothing go unchallenged. Our enemy's failure is not assured, and there is no cavalry coming. We are the cavalry, and our civilization depends on us

Now I'm gonna close with maybe something unusual for a Federalist Society lecture, but it's a very, very rare thing for me to not be sitting at a Shabbat dinner table on a Friday night as the sun sets. So I hope you'll let me close with a little bit of Torah

Tomorrow, in every synagogue around the world, we'll read the portion of the Torah where Abraham, Avraham's wife, Sarah, dies at the ripe old age of 127. We read in the Bible that she died in Kiryat Arba, now Hebron, or Hevron, in the land of Canaan. And we read that when she does, as the Bible says, Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. And the very next verse goes like this. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead and spoke to the Hittites, saying, I am a resident alien among you. Sell me a burial site among you so that I may remove my dead for burial. So that's the first thing he does. He buys a plot of land to bury Sarah. And the second thing he does is that he goes to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The late, great, holy man, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who I was blessed to know, tells us this about the sequence of events. Abraham heard the future calling to him. Sarah had died. Isaac was unmarried. Abraham had neither land nor grandchildren. He did not cry out in anger or anguish to God. Instead, he heard the still, small voice saying, the next step depends on you. You must create a future that I will fill with my spirit. That is how Abraham survived the shock and the grief, writes Rabbi Sacks. This is how generations of Jews before me have survived. This is how every civilization survives. 

I am so honored, as I said before, to be here speaking in this place in honor of someone who stood up courageously for all the things that mattered most and who was murdered by the enemies that we are fighting still today. Her memory is a blessing for me. There is another phrase, though, that traditional Jews invoke when speaking of someone who has been murdered, and that is, Hashem yikom dama. May God avenge her death. Amen. We, human beings, leave vengeance in the hands of God, but fighting, fighting is for all of us, especially when there is something so precious worth fighting for. 

Ted once said of Barbara that Barbara was Barbara because America, unlike any place in the world,gave her the space, freedom, oxygen, encouragement, and inspiration to be whatever she wanted to be. There is no place like this country. There is no second America for us to run to if this one fails. So get up, get up and fight for our future. This is the fight of and for our lives.  

Douglas Murray at the Israel-Gaza border

Bravo, Douglas! One can feel that we are witnessing a crucial moment in the history of western civilization.  Either we confront  the Islamists or we perish. And Israel is leading the way!

Douglas Murray proves that the Churchillian spirit of 1940 is still alive among the Brits.

Hypocrisie à l'ONU - Gilad Erdan dénonce le vote de la résolution "S'unir pour la Paix"

 Discours de Gilad Erdan, ambassadeur d'Israël à l'ONU, le 26 octobre 2023 devant Assemblée générale des Nations Unies

Remerciements à Rami Pinku pour avoir généré la transcription en envoyant l'extrait audio avec son code Python à OpenAI.

Merci, Monsieur le Président.

Chers collègues,

 

Nous sommes réunis aujourd'hui dans cette salle à la suite d'une résolution appelée "S'unir pour la Paix". Malheureusement, cette séance d'urgence n'a rien à voir avec la paix. Chaque État membre présent aujourd'hui qui est convaincu que nous sommes sur le point de discuter d'un nouveau round de conflit au Moyen-Orient, d'un autre différend entre Israël et les Palestiniens, se trompe.

 Le massacre du 7 octobre et ce qui s'en est suivi n'ont rien à voir avec les Palestiniens, rien. Il n'a rien à voir avec le conflit arabo-israélien ou la question palestinienne. Ce n'est pas une guerre avec les Palestiniens. Israël est en guerre avec l'organisation terroriste djihadiste génocidaire du Hamas. Seulement. C'est la démocratie respectueuse des lois d'Israël contre les Nazis modernes. Nazis.

 Tels sont les faits.

 Le Hamas ne se soucie pas du peuple palestinien. Il ne se soucie pas de la paix ou du dialogue. Le Hamas n'a qu'un seul objectif : anéantir Israël et assassiner chaque juif sur la surface de la terre. Leur charte originale l'exprime très clairement. Je vais vous en lire quelques lignes :

"Israël existera et continuera d'exister jusqu'à ce que l'Islam l'anéantisse."

Une autre citation.

"Il n'y a pas de solution pour le problème palestinien sauf par le jihad."

Une autre citation.

"Le jour du Jugement ne viendra pas tant que les Musulmans n'auront pas combattu les Juifs et les auront tués.".

Chers amis, le 7 octobre, il est devenu clair pour le monde entier que la charte du Hamas n'était pas une compilation de paroles vides. C'était un plan d'action. Un plan d'action.

 Imaginez une belle journée ensoleillée, un ciel dégagé, de la musique dans l'air, des jeunes qui dansent, une rave, un concert pour la paix. Oui, pour la paix. C'est vraiment la situation tôt ce matin-là du saint sabbat. Le soleil vient juste de se lever pour marquer un nouveau jour. Ce jour est aussi une grande fête juive, Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah signifie la joie de la Torah ; nous célébrons ce jour-là le Livre des livres, notre sainte Bible. Et puis en une fraction de seconde, cet Eden idyllique est devenu un enfer sur terre. L'air paisible du matin est  percé par le hurlement des sirènes de roquettes. Des milliers, je vous le dis, des milliers de mortiers et de roquettes du Hamas sont tombés sans discernement sur de nombreuses villes et villages israéliens. Mais les roquettes ne sont qu'un prétexte pour le pogrom, le pogrom qui a suivi. Les barbares terroristes du Hamas envahissent Israël par la mer, la terre et l'air. Ils ne viennent qu'avec un seul but, un seul but :  tuer sauvagement tous ceux qu'ils rencontrent. Les meurtriers nazis du Hamas vont de maison en maison avec des listes de cibles, une attaque minutieusement planifiée, volontaire et préméditée. Ils assassinent atrocement des civils dans leur lit. Ils conduisent des camionnettes équipées de mitrailleuses. Oui, nous nous en souvenons tous, comme Daesh, et ils tirent à l'aveuglette sur les centaines de jeunes réunis pour ce concert. 300, 300 d'entre eux  ont été brûlés vifs ou massacrés. La plupart de ce qui en est resté,  n'était qu'amas de chair et de membres ensanglantés. Les parents ont dû apporter les brosses à dents de leurs enfants afin qu'on puisse en tirer leur ADN et ainsi identifier à qui appartenait tel ou tel membre.

 Ces monstres du Hamas ont violé des femmes et des enfants, ont exhibé des filles nues qu'ils avaient violées et des cadavres qu'ils avaient profanés dans les rues de Gaza où des milliers, et je vous le dis, des milliers, vous pouvez voir les images, s'amusaient et les ont  acclamés. Ces sauvages ont torturé de petits bébés. Tout comme les nazis, les terroristes du Hamas ont arraché des nourrissons de leurs berceaux. Oui, nous avons des vidéos qui en témoignent. Ils les ont frappé violemment au sol jusqu'à ce que leurs crânes deviennent de la bouillie. Les enfants ont étaient tués devant leurs parents et les parents devant leurs enfants. J'ai vu une vidéo d'un terroriste qui, en se filmant lui-même, a lancé une grenade dans un abri anti-bombes où se trouvaient un père et ses deux jeunes garçons. Le père a été tué sur le coup et les deux garçons sont sortis de l'abri en hurlant que leur père est mort et qu'ils voulaient être morts aussi. Tout cela se déroule, croyez-le ou non, pendant que le monstre qui a tué leur père, se sert calmement dans le réfrigérateur de la famille.

Oui, aucun film d'horreur ne peut être comparé à la pure brutalité perpétrée par le Hamas. Non, aucun.

 Amit Mann était une jeune femme de 22 ans originaire du kibboutz Be'eri et secouriste pour Magen David Adom, la Croix-Rouge israélienne. Elle a consacré sa vie, littéralement, et vous allez comprendre pourquoi, à sauver les autres. Lorsque les monstres du Hamas ont envahi le kibboutz, Amit s'est précipitée à la clinique pour soigner autant de blessés qu'elle le pouvait. Pendant des heures, des heures, Amit a travaillé sans relâche pour essayer de sauver des vies. Elle savait que les terroristes sadiques étaient dehors, à proximité de sa clinique, car elle entendait les coups de feu, mais elle est restée là. Elle était déterminée à sauver des vies, pas à fuir. Finalement, les terroristes ont fait irruption dans sa clinique et lui ont logé une balle, une balle, dans le cerveau. Amit était une secouriste de Magen David Adom, la Croix-Rouge israélienne, en uniforme, mais cela n'a pas arrêté ces sauvages. C'est ainsi que les équipes de secours ont trouvé Amit (et l'ambassadeur Erdan.montre une photo de Amit telle qu'elle a été trouvée).

 Des ambulances ont été incendiées, pas une, plusieurs. Des dizaines d'équipes médicales de Magen David Adom ont été délibérément ciblées en se rendant auprès des blessés, et de nombreux autres secouristes ont été assassinés. L'hôpital Barzilai, dans ma ville natale d'Ashkelon, en Israël, a subi des tirs directs de roquettes du Hamas, et ce n'était pas la première fois.

 Le Hamas tire délibérément des roquettes dessus depuis des années, depuis des années, intentionnellement, et pourtant aucune condamnation de cette barbarie n'a été mentionnée ici. Pas ici, pas par le Conseil de sécurité, pas par le Secrétaire général, et pas dans cette résolution absurde. Il semble que les hôpitaux et les équipes médicales doivent être protégés uniquement tant qu'ils ne sont pas israéliens !

L'hypocrisie est inimaginable, inimaginable.

 Les monstres brutaux semblables à l'État islamique ont enlevé plus de 220 otages venant d'Israël et de dizaines d'autres pays, y compris des bébés, des bébés, des enfants, des personnes handicapées, des personnes âgées et des survivants de l'Holocauste. Kfir Bibas, Kfir Bibas a neuf mois, neuf mois, et il est retenu en otage en ce moment à Gaza, neuf mois. Quels terroristes barbares peuvent faire une telle chose ? Et avec lui, 30 autres enfants, 30 autres enfants. Nous avons vu la brutalité du Hamas en Israël. Je n'ose même pas imaginer les horreurs que les otages endurent en ce moment même pendant que nous parlons ici.

 Vingt jours se sont écoulés et Israël continue de compter ses morts. Il a fallu des semaines pour récupérer tous les corps. Certains corps sont brûlés comme des morceaux de charbon. Il est presque impossible de les identifier.

De nombreux corps brûlés ont été retrouvés avec des cendres dans leur gorge, ce qui signifie qu'ils étaient encore en vie, encore en vie lorsqu'ils les terroristes du Hamas y ont mis le  feu, intentionnellement, par. Une masse de restes humains brûlés au-delà de toute reconnaissance a été retrouvée. Au début, le personnel médical ne pouvait même pas comprendre ce qu'ils voyaient. Pourtant, après un scanner, il est devenu clair qu'il s'agissait de deux colonnes vertébrales, pas d'une, de deux colonnes vertébrales liées ensemble par du fil barbelé, l'une appartenant à un adulte et l'autre, la petite colonne vertébrale d'un enfant. Alors, essayez simplement d'imaginer ce qu'ont ressenti les parents alors qu'eux et leur enfant brûlaient vifs, brûlaient vifs. Les hurlements douloureux de l'amour de leur vie furent la dernière chose qu'ils entendirent, la dernière chose.

 Ne trouvez-vous pas incroyable que cette résolution d'aujourd'hui et cette séance ne se concentrent pas uniquement sur les atrocités du Hamas ? En lisant cette résolution, le Hamas semble être inexistant. Les auteurs de la résolution prétendent être préoccupés par la paix. Pourtant, les meurtriers dépravés qui ont déclenché cette guerre ne sont même pas mentionnés dans la résolution, même pas mentionnés. Ils vous considèrent tous comme des marionnettes. Ils rédigent une résolution totalement dépourvue de tout contenu lié à la situation. Ils supposent que vous avez déjà oublié qui est responsable de la violence inhumaine et s'attendent à ce que vous la souteniez automatiquement. Cette résolution est une honte pour votre intelligence, une honte. Il est inimaginable qu'une résolution qui ne mentionne même pas le Hamas, puisse être votée ici. Réfléchissez-y, s'il vous plaît.

 Distingués représentants, le Hamas a perpétré des atrocités telles que nous n'en avons pas vues depuis l'Holocauste. Pourtant, contrairement à l'Holocauste, où les preuves que nous avons, sont principalement des photographies en noir et blanc et des images muettes. Ici, la preuve est en haute définition. Car une partie provient, oui, de caméras de sécurité israéliennes mais une grande partie provient aussi des téléphones portables et des caméras GoPro appartenant aux nazis du Hamas eux-mêmes. Beaucoup se demandent peut-être : pourquoi ils ont filmé cela ? Pourquoi ont-ils filmé leur violence sadique ? Eh bien, je vais vous dire pourquoi. Très simplement. Ils l'ont filmée pour terroriser le public israélien, pour diffuser ces vidéos et semer la peur dans le cœur des citoyens d'Israël. D'ailleurs, c'est ce que font les terroristes. Ils terrorisent.

 J'ai vu de nombreuses images au cours des dernières semaines qui resteront gravées à jamais dans ma mémoire, mais il y a une scène que je continue de voir lorsque j'essaie de dormir. Dans la vidéo, on peut voir un civil terriblement blessé, ensanglanté mais encore en vie, gisant par terre, tandis qu'un sauvage du Hamas, hurlant "Allahu Akbar" à répétition, frappe le cou de l'homme avec une binette de jardin dans le but de le décapiter. L'homme par terre est un travailleur agricole originaire de Thaïlande. Il n'est pas Israélien. Il n'est pas juif. Il était simplement en vie, essayant de subvenir aux besoins de sa famille. Mais il a été décapité avec un outil de jardinage émoussé.

Horrible. Israël n'est pas en guerre contre des êtres humains. Nous sommes en guerre contre des monstres. Voici la vidéo. Ma mission consiste à distribuer et à continuer de distribuer des codes QR avec un lien direct vers des fichiers où vous pouvez voir cette horreur et de nombreuses autres atrocités du Hamas. Ce que vous voyez ici ne sont pas des images d'Auschwitz mais des Israéliens violés, égorgés et brûlés vifs. Ce n'est pas Auschwitz. C'est le Hamas 

Il n'y a pas de mots dans la langue anglaise, dans aucune langue, pour décrire le mal que nous venons tous de voir. Et la raison pour laquelle il est indescriptible est parce qu'il n'a pas sa place parmi l'humanité. Plus de 1 400 personnes ont été massacrées, 1 000 pnt été blessées et plus de 220 otages sont actuellement détenus par des terroristes du Hamas ISIS. Dire que c'est le 11 septembre d'Israël serait un euphémisme. Proportionnellement, le bilan de morts de cette atrocité est 15 fois plus important que celui du 11 septembre.

 Au fait, nos ennemis ne sont pas à 7 000 miles de distance. Ils sont à 7 000 pieds, dans notre propre cour arrière. C'est pourquoi la mission d'Israël est d'éradiquer ce mal de la terre. Éradiquer. ISIS était l'État islamique d'Irak et de Syrie, et le Hamas est l'État islamique de Gaza. Donc, comme cela a été fait avec ISIS, le Hamas doit disparaître. Notre objectif est d'éliminer complètement les capacités du Hamas et nous utiliserons tous les moyens à notre disposition pour y parvenir. Pas par vengeance. Non. Pas par représailles. Non. Mais pour garantir que de telles dépravations, de telles atrocités ne se reproduisent jamais.

Israël est en première ligne dans la lutte contre le terrorisme djihadiste radical et, si Israël n'arrive pas à anéantir, à anéantir les capacités terroristes du Hamas, le monde entier en paiera le prix. L'idéologie génocidaire du Hamas, tout comme celle de l'ISIS, d'Al-Qaïda ou du régime des ayatollahs à Téhéran, en Iran, ne vise pas seulement à détruire Israël. Vous le savez tous. Il s'agit en fin de compte de la domination mondiale. La domination du monde. Il s'agit de mener la guerre sainte sur le sol de chacun de vos pays. Ils ne s'arrêteront pas tant qu'ils n'auront pas assassiné tous les infidèles comme ils nous appellent.

 Collègues, ces 16 dernières années, la communauté internationale et l'ONU ont été complaisantes face à l'expansion  terroriste du Hamas à Gaza. Complaisantes. Le monde a gardé la tête dans le sable alors que le Hamas cachait ses missiles et ses roquettes au sein de la population civile de Gaza. Il a accepté une réalité absurde selon laquelle une démocratie respectueuse des lois pourrait cohabiter avec des terroristes génocidaires qui tirent des dizaines de milliers de missiles de manière indiscriminée sur nos civils. Sans raison.

Nous avons constaté que rien ne peut changer l'idéologie génocidaire du Hamas. Ni, malheureusement, la réhabilitation de Gaza. Ni les incitations économiques. Ni aucune promesse d'un avenir meilleur. L'ONU a essayé. Beaucoup d'entre vous ont essayé. Mais tout le monde a échoué. Tout le monde a échoué. Et savez-vous pourquoi ? Parce que rien ne peut changer une idéologie génocidaire. Rien.

Il n'y a qu'une seule solution pour guérir d'un cancer. Et c'est l'éviscération de chaque cellule cancéreuse. La communauté internationale a versé des milliards de dollars dans la bande de Gaza. Et tout est allé à la machine de guerre du Hamas. Cela s'est dirigé vers leur ville souterraine de terreur. Cela s'est dirigé vers leurs installations de fabrication de missiles. Et vous vous souvenez, il y a 18 ans, Israël s'est retiré unilatéralement de toute la bande de Gaza. Nous nous sommes retirés de toute la bande de Gaza. Le Hamas aurait pu investir les fonds internationaux qu'il a reçus dans la construction de centrales électriques, de stations de dessalement de l'eau et de toute autre infrastructure civile. Mais non. Au lieu de cela, le Hamas a exploité chaque pouce de la bande de Gaza pour ses objectifs violents. Parce que, pour le Hamas, les civils gazaouis ne sont rien de plus que de la simples chair à canon. Des boucliers humains qui, dans la mort, deviennent des pions pour la campagne diffamatoire du Hamas envers Israël. Le Hamas compte sur vous. Ils sont certains qu'en dépit de la terreur et des massacres, l'ONU viendra encore à leur rescousse et empêchera Israël de se défendre.

Amis, Israël est en mission de sauvetage. Une mission pour sauver nos otages, pour sauver notre avenir, et pour sauver le peuple de Gaza de leurs tyrans sauvages. Une mission de sauvetage. Et mes collègues, la mission de sauvetage peut se terminer rapidement. Maintenant. Elle peut se terminer maintenant. Pas besoin de résolutions compliquées et vides. Elle peut se terminer maintenant. Si le Hamas pose les armes, nous rend nos otages et se livre, cette guerre prendra fin sans un seul coup de feu supplémentaire. Pas un seul. Pourquoi ne vous unissez-vous pas et ne demandez-vous pas cela au Hamas ? Si les auteurs de cette résolution veulent vraiment la paix, s'ils veulent vraiment une solution immédiate, pourquoi ne le demandent-ils pas au Hamas ?

Au contraire, cette résolution fait exactement le contraire de trouver une solution. Exactement le contraire. Plutôt que de promouvoir la paix, elle ne fait que garantir plus de violence. Elle devrait s'appeler "Unir pour le terrorisme" et non pas "Unir pour la paix". Israël a été attaqué et continue d'être attaqué. C'est un fait en ce moment, dans le sud par le Hamas et dans le nord par le Hezbollah. Pendant ce temps, la résolution appelle à un cessez-le-feu immédiat. Un cessez-le-feu signifie donner du temps au Hamas pour se réarmer afin qu'ils puissent nous massacrer à nouveau. Ce n'est pas de la spéculation. Ils le feront. Vous le savez tous. Tout appel à un cessez-le-feu n'est pas une tentative de paix. C'est une tentative de lier les mains d'Israël, nous empêchant d'éliminer une énorme menace pour nos citoyens.

 Mais les distorsions de la résolution vont encore plus loin que cela. Le Hamas, le groupe terroriste qui a déclenché cette guerre, je répète, n'est même pas mentionné. Pas une seule fois. En fait, la seule référence cachée à ces terroristes barbares peut être trouvée dans les appels aux deux parties. Les deux parties ? C'est une comparaison fausse et immorale entre la démocratie respectueuse de la loi d'Israël et un djihadisme génocidaire. Et les rédacteurs comptent sur le fait que chaque représentant distingué ici suivra aveuglément leur manœuvre. Cette résolution est une insulte à votre intelligence. Et le seul endroit où cette résolution devrait se trouver, c'est dans la poubelle de l'histoire. La poubelle de l'histoire.

 Mais chers collègues, cette résolution n'est pas la seule chose ici aujourd'hui qui est détachée de la réalité. Dans un court laps de temps, un représentant du régime maléfique qui a formé, financé et armé le Hamas pour le massacre du 7 octobre prendra la parole devant vous. Le régime des ayatollahs en Iran a du sang de milliers d'Israéliens sur les mains. Il a du sang de centaines de milliers d'Iraniens opprimés, d'Ukrainiens, d'Américains, d'Émiratis et de tant d'autres sur les mains. L'Iran est connu comme le principal sponsor d'État du terrorisme dans le monde. Et pour de bonnes raisons. Il est tout à fait naturel que le ministre des Affaires étrangères de ce régime brutal soit le prochain orateur après le rédacteur de la résolution. Le pays avec une idéologie nazie visant à annihiler Israël déclare publiquement qu'il se tient aux côtés de son mandataire, le Hamas, qui partage la même idéologie nazie et vise notre destruction. Cela est tout à fait compréhensible. En effet, il y a quelques jours à peine, il a parlé aux dirigeants du Hamas et de son groupe terroriste jumeau, le Jihad islamique palestinien, les louant pour le massacre. Et aujourd'hui, il est ici pour empoisonner vos oreilles. En effet, il unit pour la paix, s'unissant pour massacrer chaque Israélien en morceaux. Cet homme, le tueur de masse ou tout autre représentant du régime terroriste en Iran, n'a pas sa place à l'ONU, encore moins dans la famille des Nations. C'est une tache morale sur l'ONU et les valeurs sur lesquelles elle a été fondée.

 Chers collègues distingués, cette semaine, l'ONU a célébré son 78e anniversaire. Pourtant, en regardant cette résolution et les invités d'honneur accueillis aujourd'hui dans ces halls, cette organisation a montré qu'elle est si défaillante, si moralement corrompue, que je n'ai pas beaucoup d'espoir qu'elle atteigne 90 ans, encore moins 100. Je suis simplement réaliste. Aujourd'hui prouve clairement que cet organe est en train de perdre sa pertinence, sa légitimité et sa justification. Ce que nous voyons aujourd'hui est une profanation, une profanation de ce que l'ONU était censée être. Après les horreurs de l'Holocauste, cette institution a été créée pour empêcher que les atrocités ne se répètent. Pourtant, dans ces mêmes halls, nous avons des auteurs des violations les plus grotesques des droits de l'homme et des crimes contre l'humanité qui exploitent également leur pouvoir et les soi-disant membres de la famille des Nations uniquement pour cibler les démocraties respectueuses de la loi comme Israël.

 Si cette organisation veut maintenir ne serait-ce qu'une once de légitimité, il est impératif, je vous en prie, chers représentants distingués, de ne plus jouer le jeu de cette farce de double standard anti-Israël.

 Votez contre cette résolution biaisée. Tenez-vous du bon côté de l'histoire. Ne vous rangez pas du côté des djihadistes génocidaires qui sont déterminés à vous détruire. Élevez-vous au-dessus des considérations politiques internes et faites ce qui est moral et juste.

Monsieur le Président, Israël ne cessera pas de se battre pour la vérité, même si nous restons la seule voix de la raison dans ces enceintes. Israël continuera de combattre les terroristes génocidaires déterminés à notre destruction. Nous ne nous reposerons pas tant que le Hamas ne sera pas anéanti et que nos otages ne seront pas rentrés chez eux. Et nous les ramènerons chez eux.

 J'achèverai par un moment de silence en hommage à toutes les victimes de l'atrocité du Hamas. Si les partisans de cette résolution choisissent d'ignorer les victimes dans leur texte, moi je rendrai hommage à leur mémoire.

 Merci, Monsieur le Président.