Israel is under attack; its people deserve our unwavering support

The Oxford University Conservative Association, conservatives more generally, and the
good and decent people all over the world should condemn wholeheartedly the terrorist
atrocities committed by Hamas over this past weekend. In democratic discourse there is
cherished place for opposition and criticism, including of the imperfect state and
government in Israel, but nothing is further from protecting human rights than mass
murder, torture, rape, kidnapping and hostage-taking.
To the Jewish community here in Oxford and across our country, we want you all to know
that you are in our prayers at this time, and we will continue to think of you and your
plight for as long as the very real threat of annihilation hangs over you.
Like all those who want to see peace being achieved, we recognise that a situation without
bloodshed or fighting is the ideal state of affairs for the whole Middle-East, and world.
However, it is unhelpfully hypocritical for people to use language of equivocation between
the people of Israel and the terrorists who seek their extermination. It is unfair for anyone
in this country to expect Israel to react in tepid terms to this attack, in a way that we
would never expect our own country to do if we faced such a bombardment. To put it into
context, 500 people dying in Israel in a single day, in per-capita terms, is akin to 20,000 in
the city of New York. That means that last weekend, the people of Israel woke up to the
spectre of six 9/11-grade attacks on their homeland. The state of Israel is well within its
right to take swift action to combat and seek-out the terrorists who have committed these
atrocities and who are no-doubt planning more. In this, no good-natured people should
be expected to condemn that. However, we all recognise that in this, innocent people will
be in danger. We sincerely hope and pray that civilian casualties from any action are at a
minimum.
Moreover, it must be noted that this has not occurred in isolation. Hamas and other
groups receive plentiful backing from the world’s most egregious state-sponsor of
terrorism; the Iranian government. We in the West must face up to the fact that we have
been partly responsible for financing some of Iran’s capabilities, including the JCPOA and
the recent transfer of approximately $6 billion to Tehran. It is naive and foolish to think
that those funds are used for the benefit of the good and decent people of Iran, but rather
to finance and anti-semitic campaign of mass murder.
In particular, we are the party of Arthur Balfour, one of the authors of the Balfour
Declaration. That momentous document paved the way for the birth of a most extra-
ordinary country, and made a Jewish homeland a reality. A Jewish homeland, let none of
us forget, was an imperative when we consider the brutally-unmatched level at which
Jewish people suffered pogroms, discrimination, persecution and eventually genocide
elsewhere in the world. Of course, in 1917, such an idea was well before its time, and
Balfour had the courage to realise this difficult decision was necessary for the security
and safety of the Jewish people. A place where the Jewish people could call their own is
something that was necessary to achieve. Those who oppose this type of ethnic
assignment to a country, take great issue with the appearance of the Star of David on the
flag and the repeated overt references to Judaism in discussion of Israel. They, however,
fall conspicuously silent on the repeated Islamic symbolism which appears in over twenty
national flags.
The hatred for Israel is, in-part, so visceral because of the great success which the nation
has been. Israel rose from the ashes like a phoenix. I say that because its mere creation
was mired in trauma. The arrival of Jewish people to the UN-mandated territory provoked
the ire of the Arab world. Thankfully, the Israeli ‘Plan Dalet’ was successful in defending
the state. On three more occasions since, in 1967, 1973 and 2005, the Israeli people have successfully defend themselves against a Goliath-type enemy against all odds. Not only,
however, is its ability to defend itself impressive, but more than that, Israel is the region’s
only democracy. It has values of openness, tolerance and freedom of expression. By
contrast, the rest of the region is almost without a free democracy, and the West Bank,
when Israel withdrew in 2005, held elections which were won by a terrorist and haven’t
held one since. In the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, protests are tolerated rather than
brutally suppressed as they are elsewhere in the Middle-East. Potentially the most
impressive thing about Israel, however, is their economic miracle. Israel is one of the
world’s fastest growing economies, now the ninth largest exporter in the world. Israel now
is amongst world-leaders in new and growing industries such as technology, clean-tech,
and the life sciences, as well as the vibrant pharmaceutical industry. This success attracts
the ire of their neighbours precisely because everyday Israel proves the virtues of
democracy, open society and constitutional freedoms.
Now, as Israel faces an hour of need like few nations have to, it is imperative that the
international community holds off on its usual Israel-hatred and give this sovereign nation
the space it needs to act in its own defence. In doing this, His Majesty’s government
should be unwavering in its support; both in rhetorical terms, but crucially, also in terms of
military support should it be required.
Similarly, we should stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters here in the UK and around
the world by condemning with equal vigour, those who have thought it appropriate to
carry out demonstrations in protest at Israel this week, and those who, on these marches,
have been heard chanting Hamas slogans such as “from the river to the sea...” We must
be unafraid at calling these exactly what they are; senseless, ill-informed, disgusting
displays of anti-Semitic racist hate.

Conor Boyle (NEO for the CPF) is a third year undergraduate reading PPE at Queen’s College.

Image Credit: Momo on Flickr. Creative Common License