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American Jewry Should Support Israel's Counter-Terrorism

by Gad Nahshon

Israel's Minister of Public Security (Police), Dr. Uzi Landau, discussed Israel's counter-terrorism policies in a meeting at the Conference of Presidents. Dr. Landau warned against the establishment of a Palestinian terror state and also said that Israel might go into the Gaza Strip in order to, once and for all, smash the Hamas infrastructure of terrorism.

Dr. Landau asked: "Can you imagine a situation in which Israel will not be able to monitor a Palestinian free port? Think about the arms and weapons." Landau discussed the danger of terrorism and pointed out that Israel is a 'laboratory' of counter-terrorism. He introduced the Police Commissioner for Counter-Terrorism, David Tsur, who detailed and explained some of the challenges saying: "They have lists of volunteers to suicide bombings. Today they have a new problem: to find the explosive materials. As a democracy we must protect human rights. After 9-11 in America no one asks me here about security and human rights. No one asks about our method of intelligence. We also must educate our people about the effects of terrorism. We also face a new issue: Palestinians secretly are joining the Israeli-Arab communities. This is a new security challenge."

Dr. Landau said that there is a minority of Israeli-Arabs which support terrorism. In a recent article in Likud's monthly, Hayarden (Editor: Moshe Ben-Shachar), Landau condemned the Arab members of the Knesset who tend to support the P.L.O. or the Hizbullah: "I believe that the majority wants to live in peace with Israel. But their Knesset's members do act as representatives of the Palestinian authority, using the Knesset platform from within to carry on the struggle against Israel."

Dr. Landau pointed out that some members even participated in inciting Arabs against Israel. Dr. Landau said that this Arab behavior in the Knesset is without precedent in the world: "They compete among themselves as to who is the most aggressive one, and whose knife penetrates deeper in Israel's democratic back," wrote Landau in Hayarden.

Answering a question about the logic of a fence to protect Israel's society, Dr. Landau said: "We need a fence but only as an element of a concept of total security. In Gaza, the fence is a very effective protection. Why? Because the Israeli army patrols inside the Gaza strip as well. True we manage to counter potential suicide bombers. The fact is that terrorist attacks come from the area that the Israeli army did not protect. I do not believe in building just a fence. We must stop or minimize the terrorist activities. As to Gaza, maybe we will have to go in the near future in order to destroy their infrastructure of terrorism."

Among the celebrities which attended this illuminating event: Mort Zuckerman, Malcolm Hoenlein, Alon Pinkas, Abe Foxman, Kenny Bialkin, and Dr. Julio Messer.