A war of attrition

Letters

Editor: The face of reality requires us to accept certain truths, no matter how unpalatable or from whatever the source. Recently, two well-known American commentators made statements which, though difficult for some Canadians to digest, contain essential truths: Jerry Falwell called Islam a terrorist-based religion and Pat Buchanan criticized Canada as a nation of whiners and military spongers.

Similarly, one must accept the hard truth behind the struggle in which the state of Israel has been engaged since its inception; a struggle that has now evolved into the cruelest and most demanding form of warfare – a war of total attrition.

While it would be presumptuous for anyone not living in Israel to advise them on how to conduct their battles, history plainly shows that the only victory in such a war goes to its survivors. Israel remains surrounded by hostile populations many times greater than its own. If the nation is to survive as an entity, must it not therefore be prepared to inflict proportionately higher casualties upon its enemies than they upon Israelis?

To do this, it becomes necessary to be put aside any easy, "civilized" concepts of compassion and tolerance toward a people as fanatical as the Palestinians, and to recognize that all of them, regardless of age, sex or political orientation are relentless enemies whose goal is always the ultimate destruction of Israel and subsequently, of all Jews.

Max A. Jacobson
Burnaby

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