A speech Netanyahu could deliver that would instantly change the public's perception of Israel's efforts to defend herself against Hamas
What's needed right now is an ultra-clear, hyper-efficient way to help reasonable observers from around the world to quickly differentiate the "good guys" from the "bad guys."
Background
I am an idealist, and often see opportunity where others see insurmountable obstacles. Here is one example of how my optimism helped gestate something that, through creativity and wry humor, effectively neutered a wildly unjust 2005 US Supreme Court decision.
In July 2014, as I witnessed the war into which Hamas dragged Israel unfold, I also became repulsed by how many Hollywood celebrities and other influential figures were siding with Islamist terrorists. I speculated that there must be a way to frame the conflict in a very different way, to enable any reasonable person to instantly see who the “good guys” and the “bad guys” are, more clearly than ever before.
The result of my work was this speech, which I wrote on a speculative basis, for Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver. At the time I had no connections in the Israeli government, but did what I could to introduce myself and this speech. Ultimately, I failed.
Given what we’ve witnessed over the past 24 hours, I think this speech is even more applicable today than in 2014. I was prompted to remember it, in part, because of this terrifically prescient article by Bari Weiss, anticipating that the moral calculus is about to shift against Israel, due to the lies that will be spoon-fed to the general public in the coming hours and days, by influential people and organizations.
My hope is that by posting this speech for the first time in a public venue, it will find its way to Netanyahu, for consideration.
While I wrote this speech specifically in response to Hamas firing volleys of rockets into Israel, I believe it could be easily adapted to address the face-to-face, ISIS-like savagery that Hamas is inflicting on Jewish civilians - women, men and children.
I ask that anyone who is in a position of influence, and who likes this speech, helps get it to Netanyahu.
J
Hamas: Let your people go — so you can fight us like men, instead of cowards
(To be delivered by Benjamin Netanyahu to a live press conference)
“I've called this press conference to announce a major new Israeli initiative to restore peace to the region, and ensure that our current conflict with Hamas is brought to a decisive conclusion, as quickly as possible.
There is no people on the face of the Earth that is more saddened by civilian suffering, injury and death, than Israelis. That is why we have taken every conceivable step to prevent and minimize civilian casualties whenever we must engage in counter-terror operations, whether in the West Bank or now, in Gaza.
When we identify where rocket fire is coming from, we drop leaflets into the area and place thousands of text messages, pleading with the civilian population to evacuate the area, so we can target only those who are targeting Israeli civilians.
We have invested a fortune to develop precision-guided weapons, that allow us to target only terrorists. These weapons are so precise that we can, for instance, target single vehicles that Hamas operatives are using to move about the area, without harming any surrounding structures (show examples of this; here is a resource that might be helpful; see sections 2, 3 and 4).
But in combat situations, these weapons are only effective against terrorists who fire their rockets in the open, instead of from behind women and children.
Unfortunately, Hamas terrorists are among the world’s most shameful cowards. They are unwilling to wear uniforms, or to fight our soldiers face-to-face. Instead, they wear street clothes, and operate amid an enlaved a civilian population, which they use as human shields, as a matter of policy.
Using this cowardly tactic, they have launched thousands and thousands of rockets against Israeli population centers from civilian homes, schools and hospitals, deliberately placing Gaza's women, children and the elderly in harm's way. Because while the precision weaponry we’ve developed can target a specific rocket launcher, for instance, we cannot prevent the women and children whom Hamas often orders to stand within feet of that launcher from also being hit.
The Israeli government, in conjunction with the IDF and our intelligence agencies, do everything in our power to prevent even one Gaza non-combatant civilian from being harmed. In contrast, Hamas has made harming and killing Gaza civilians a central part of its war doctrine.
Unfortunately, only one side of this story has generally gotten out: everyday people around the world typically see only the daily drip-drip-drip of graphic scenes of suffering Gazans, but they are told nothing about the fact that it is Hamas's actions – and Hamas's actions alone – that deliberately put these civilians in harm’s way.
Further, the general public is not being told that after Israel relaxed the quarantine on Gaza, and began allowing more concrete and building materials into the enclave — on the promise that they would only be used to improve the lot of the civilian infrastructure — Hamas instead used these materials to construct a veritable underground city of bunkers, tunnels, and weapons-storage facilities.
In any normal, self-respecting nation, during wartime the government would encourage civilians to use these underground resources to keep them safe. A reasonable person might ask Hamas, “Why are you not letting – or ordering – the civilian population of Gaza into these underground facilities, or any of your other secure locations, to protect them from the fighting?”
Unfortunately, no one in the “news” media, or any of the so-called “human rights” groups, has been willing to ask Hamas that question.
That’s probably because they know what the answer is: that Hamas constructed all those underground facilities for its own purposes, to protect their militants, and store its thousands of rockets, while forcing civilians to live directly atop them, as human shields.
These are just some of the ways in which the everyday population of the world has been given a shamefully biased, lopsided perception of what is really happening on the ground in Gaza, and why. And instead of assigning blame where it belongs – to the Hamas cowards who refuse to fight like men, and instead fire while hiding behind women and children — these supposed moral authorities condemn Israel, and blame us for all of the civilian casualties that Hamas is causing.
Well, we've now come up with a solution to this problem that, as I said earlier, is designed to restore peace to the region, and ensure that our current conflict with Hamas is brought to a decisive conclusion, as quickly as possible, while protecting non-combatant civilians. The key to accomplishing these goals is this:
We ask Hamas to establish a safe-harbor point for Gaza civilians to exit the area at this location (specify), and to provide transportation for them to get there. The Israeli government, in turn, will organize a convoy of tour buses and school buses, which will transport the first of these civilians to facilities where we can care for them, until our war against Hamas ends: sporting arenas, unused schools, and the like. They will be provided with food, medical care and shelter, and assuming no Hamas rockets him them, they will be safe.
While these first Gazans are transported to central Israel, we will be constructing a tent city, on our side of the border, where they will receive shelter, water, food and medical care.
Once this exodus is completed, it is assumed that aside from a few special cases, the only people that will be left in Gaza will be terrorists who have the courage to fight our soldiers. That way, Gaza's civilian population will be completely taken out of the equation, and Hamas will no longer be able to use women and children as human shields.
We are calling this “Operation Hamas Let Your People Go.”
To facilitate it, we have established a website, hamasletyourpeoplego.com, and placed a team on the ground in Egypt to handle the necessary logistical coordination with Hamas.
For people around the world who are truly concerned about Gaza's civilian population, I ask you to please contact your governmental representatives and the human rights groups in your area, and ask them to support Operation Hamas Let Your People Go.
To the humanitarian aid organizations, I ask that you commit to supporting this venture, and to donating the food, medicine, bedding and other necessary materials to help Gaza civilians to make this transition.
Will Hamas take us up on this offer?
According to a July 17, 2014 article in the Washington Post, some of Hamas's leaders are now using the Al Shifa hospital as their command-and-control headquarters, knowing that we do not want to strike them there.
So at least you in the media know with certainty, where to find Hamas.
Now, the question is:
Will you ask these wretched terrorists if, for once, they will act like men, and let their non-combatant civilians be transported to safety, so that we can slug it out, soldier-to-soldier?
Lastly, to the bloggers around the world who know the truth, and are supporting Israel in this time of crisis, I ask you to use the hashtag #hamasletyourpeoplego on all your posts and social media efforts. You can also create simple, printed signs using this hashtag, for display at protests and rallies, and urge others to do the same.
Together, I pray we can work to bring an decisive end to this war that’s been declared on Israel.
May God bless you all, and may He help Hamas to see the urgency and morality of letting its people enjoy peace and safe harbor.
Thank you. I will now take some questions.”
Addendum
If this speech is masterfully delivered by Netanyahu, with absolute moral certainty, and if it is supported with evidence to support these allegations by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Press Office, here are some of the outcomes I envision happening as a result:
The pro-Israel blogosphere explodes with every article, every video, every Tweet and Facebook posting, featuring the hashtag, #hamasletyourpeoplego
Pro-Israel activists and celebrities around the world doing "selfie" photographs and video clips, holding up pieces of paper with the hashtag #hamasletyourpeoplego
Demonstrations outside of the headquarters of news and human rights
organizations in New York, London, etc., with placards asking when they will
begin pressuring Hamas to let its people go
Every time a Palestinian terror propagandist or apologist is interviewed on TV, radio or in print, the host feels compelled to ask, "Will you help convince Hamas to let its people go - and if not, why not?" They've not been put in a position to have to defend the indefensible, especially by their known allies in the news media. But if enough grassroots support can be built up, these "news" organizations will begin to feel compelled to at least ask this question.
I think the chances are 1,000 to 1 that Hamas will actually let its people go. But that, in the end, is the point. To drive home, who is really trying to save civilian lives and who is deliberately causing them to get killed, as part of a war strategy? And who is enabling and protecting Hamas's ability to do this? Who is giving Hamas exactly what it wants, by showing the day-to-day, drip drip drip of dead bodies on our TVs - while not holding them directly to account? And perhaps, some of these "news" people may start to realize how they are being used as tools for Hamas, after all, why would Hamas allow them to operate there, if they weren't doing exactly what Hamas wants, in order to advance its war doctrine?
In the oft chance that Hamas does allow its people to start leaking out, I am confident that after what we witnessed re Israeli medical aid in Haiti, etc., that between its initiative, and the supposed good intentions of “human rights” groups, that one by one, tent cities can be established just over the border, to keep these civilians safe. After all, that is their mission, right? That's what has them so upset, right? Fine - then let them start to help Israel to solve the problem, and save untold Gaza civilians’ lives. Now, it's all up to Hamas.
Neither Hamas, nor MSM news organizations, nor “human rights” groups will see this speech coming, and will not know how to respond. This will all be to Israel's advantage, and there is zero downside that I can see.
If you’d like to connect, reach out here.
J