Rewarding terror: Granting recognition now is a gift with deadly consequences

In irony that would be hilarious if not so tragic, the classic imperialist nations of history seem to be under the delusion that they are still in charge of mandating the Middle East. In the most depraved betrayal, these nations have taken it upon themselves to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations, the antisemitic mothership itself.

Let me state the obvious: This is the definition of insanity.

You do not reward terror with statehood.

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You do not recognize decades of refusal to negotiate with political legitimacy.

And you do not honor over a millennium of hate and massacre with gifts and praise.

Western rulers are deciding for selfish, politically-driven purposes to award official existence to a government and people that not only refuse to recognize Israel’s own, but continually work toward ending it. Aside from being phenomenally tone deaf, this would be a surreally offensive move for any country, playing fast and loose with the lives of millions. This irresponsible push for self-interests ahead of Israel’s safety is not only a dangerous political game but also sets a dangerous existential precedent.

In a double standard reserved only for this region, it’s antisemitic antipathy versus Islamic infantilism as usual: No one truly believes that Israel has the agency to ensure a secure future for itself, and everyone ignores that such territories have the agency to breed and promote terror.

The international community negligently continues to ignore the ingrained resentment and glorification of Jewish annihilation, and likely always will until genuinely addressed.

It has been fascinating to watch the world go to the lengths it has in order to convince itself that these terrorist governments do not actually represent their citizens.

Despite all the destruction that Hamas has brought on its people, polling consistently shows that over half of Gaza’s population is satisfied with its government and believes that the decision to carry out the Oct. 7 massacre was correct. The majority blames Israel foremost for their suffering, while only a minority blames Hamas, and less than 10% believe that Hamas committed the atrocities that they themselves filmed on Oct. 7. Overwhelming majorities do not support the disarmament or exile of Hamas to end the war.

Even if Hamas is waning in political support, the population still supports what it believes in — because even if a people no longer supports a regime that abuses them, they still overwhelmingly support a regime that abuses Jews.

But sure, once Hamas is eliminated from power, a new regime will fix the situation, right?

One look at Judea and Samaria demonstrates that load of fantastical farce.

Fatah, the ruling government of the Palestinian Authority, is simply a castrated Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas is serving the 20th year of his four-year term. He’s not quite at the financial level of his Hamas counterparts — his net worth is only $100 million, but who’s counting? Like his counterparts, however, he siphons aid without concern for those who elected him.

But just because Abbas lacks the chutzpah to attack Israel himself doesn’t mean he isn’t willing to fund others to do it. Enter pay-for-slay, the PA program that motivates terrorism by paying its citizens to murder Israelis, proving that when one population is financially incentivized to kill another — to the tune of $300 million a year — dual states are an impossibility.

Yet once Abbas is eliminated from power, a new regime will surely fix the situation, right?

Because the world coddles these specific people of this specific region, it continuously fails to see that the corruption of leadership is not a stray bug or two, but a feature inherent to most. In fact, the corruption of those who were popularly elected to power is the only possible outcome of a culture that values destruction of others over prosperity for themselves.

The ultimate failure of the typical Western nation is viewing this disaster through a Western lens and believing that it can be solved through Western ideals. And though zero accountability is a language shared between the hemispheres, this is still the grave reality that seems to be lost in translation between the West and the Middle East.

Historically, “land for peace” has not worked, and it will not realistically work in the future. We have witnessed the grand finale of the nearly 20-year horrific experiment of exiting Gaza. Why would anyone think that relinquishing and recognizing more would be anything but suicidal? At best, it would guarantee more terror attempts. At worst, it would ensure the next Oct. 7.

Contrary to the ongoing popular narrative, this conflict only remains about “land” in the most superficial sense. Possibilities for peace would be much simpler if it were, but unfortunately, the problem runs deeper. The concept of “land” is simply a surface metaphor for more sinister and deeply ingrained beliefs.

Religious-based conflicts are more insidious than other types of conflicts, because with such a belief in afterlife reward, death becomes not only unfeared, but sought. When doctrine glorifies and prioritizes dying over living — when paradise and fulfillment can only be found in death — there always will be a fatally irreconcilable problem between two incompatible concepts of society.

Combining such dogmas of death with historically habitual hatred, modernized with irresponsible funding and governmental directives, leads in just one direction, which we have already seen and will continue to see.

Until Islamic extremism, both in the region and elsewhere, forgoes anti-Jew jihadism, the ideology will always find a place to thrive. And until the entire Western world can get over its PC anxiety of recognizing that propensity to breed such ideology, these clashes will be inevitable and unending.

While simply a campaigning chip or international feather in one’s cap for some, it is life and death for others. Plainly put, forcing a state is a guaranteed equation for mass murder of Jews, and something that should neither be outright gifted for previous attempts of such nor casually experimented with for political gain.

Israel was rebuilt for many reasons, but especially to ensure that the vast slaughters of the past could never happen again. Now it is sorely understood, even by the previously most ardent supporters of parallel nations, that the premature dispensing of land and recognition in this untenable state only ensures more of what was intended to be prevented. To disregard this reality from afar is the height of disrespect for the nation of Israel, which is not surprising. But to further feed it with rewards is not only grotesquely negligent, but complicit in future death … not only for the Jews of Israel, but of trusted allyship and moral reality as we know it. PJC

Sarah Kendis is a musician living in Pittsburgh.