On Monday morning, a horrific terror attack happened in Jerusalem. At this writing six innocent people were murdered by machine-gun wielding fanatics at a bus stop. Another six were wounded, with two of those victims fighting for their lives as this is written. Two "ultra-Orthodox" Israelis, from a community which is often on the receiving end of criticisms within and outside of Israel for its privileged position within the State, killed the terrorists.
On July 24, French President Emmanuel Macron, announced that he would instruct his country’s representatives to vote to recognize a Palestinian state when the United Nations General Assembly gathers in New York later this month. If Macron has an ounce of courage, he will cast the vote in person. He deserves the infamy it will earn and he ought not to make anyone else bear it.
The Macron declaration in July is believed by many to have torpedoed the last chance for a deal for the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Some of those critics point to Macron’s abysmal approval ratings inside France and the imminent collapse of another government led by a Macron appointee and conclude Macron’s idiocy was motivated by domestic political considerations. There are very few supporters of Israel left in France — most of the country’s Jews were murdered by the Nazis with the cooperation of the Vichy government — and France has become a leading focus for anti-Israel, anti-Semitic extremism in the West.
MULTIPLE PEOPLE KILLED IN SHOOTING ATTACK ON JERUSALEM BUS
Whatever Macron's motive, whatever the impact of his grandstanding, the rampage Monday gives the lie to his posturing. There is no prospect of a "state" for Palestinians in the foreseeable future.
Monday’s attack punctuates the memories of the awful massacre of 10/7: radical fanatics steeped in the worst of Islamist extremism cannot have a "safe base" from which to operate. It will require a generation or two of stability and peaceful co-existence alongside Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza for Israelis scarred by the two intifadas, the invasion of Israel by Hamas and the ongoing murderous ambitions of Tehran’s mullahs to trust in any adjacent Palestinian state’s ability or actual intent to stamp out anti-Semitic fanaticism among the Palestinian people.
It is possible that could occur some day. There are many Palestinians who have long condemned the extremism of Hamas and the corruption of the Palestinian Authority. But, they have no power and the Palestinians with any sort of power have not stepped forward to condemn Monday’s murders.
Amit Segal, one of Israel’s finest journalists, posted the names and ages of the victims of Monday’s massacre:
Segal did readers a great service in reminding them that Monday’s victims are not just numbers, not data points or talking points, but men and women, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, gunned down because they were Jews living in the Jewish State, reborn in 1948 by action of the United Nations and as legitimate as any nation in the world. (Segal’s daily newsletter is free and can be subscribed to at AmitSegal.net.)
More legitimate, actually, as the nation of Israel has the equal of any historical claim to sovereignty of any nation on the globe. Its ancient roots are indisputable.
So too are the facts of Israel’s repeated attempts to arrive at peace with its neighbors, including the Palestinians.
But no matter what Macron and his fellow travelers at the U.N. "declare," there will be no Palestinian state until all or nearly all Palestinians convincingly abandon their ambitions to destroy Israel.
Those ambitions have been manifested in the murderous rampages that have marked the entire modern history of Israel since the Hebron pogrom on August 24, 1929, while Great Britain still administered the lands which would become Israel pursuant to the Mandate the Brits received from the League of Nations following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
Macron is a failed president presiding over a nation divided against itself. His weakness will be rejected by Israelis and should be rejected by every nation in the world that wants a genuine peace, free of terror of the sort we saw yesterday. Gestures like his are evil when they block progress at bargaining tables or incentivize murder as Macron’s did.
When even the memory of Macron’s foolishness fades away, Israel will still be there, strong and confident, a superpower that brushes away attacks from the likes of Macron even as it shoulders another load of grief. There are no people stronger than the Israelis. Americans should be grateful to count her as the equal of any of our allies.
Hugh Hewitt is host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.