Another Israeli lost to Palestinian terrorism. Enough is enough!

Today, Israel lost another one of its sons to terrorism. Raziel Shevah, a 35 year old father of six, was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a drive-by shooting. The terrorist has yet to be caught. We've heard this kind of story over and over again. Israelis being shot, stabbed, run over by cars, or killed in any other way that Palestinian terrorist minds can think of.

So how do we put an end to this crap, because clearly what we're doing right now isn't working. We put terrorists in jail, we destroy their houses and still the attacks continue. I think it's time we tried something new. One idea that's been bandied about lately is giving death sentences to terrorists. I honestly don't think that's going to work. In fact, it might even encourage more attacks as many would-be terrorists seek martyrdom. So why give them what they want?

I think the ultimate solution to preventing more terrorist attacks and more Israeli deaths lies in curtailing the promotion of extremism and terrorism. This starts, above all, with Palestinian children. Each and every day, young Palestinians are taught to hate Israel and the Jewish people. They are told that Israel and its people need to be destroyed and that they should sacrifice their lives to achieve this objective. It makes me wonder why, after being in control of Judea and Samaria for more than five decades, has Israel not taken control of what Palestinian youth are taught. Indeed, it is my contention that in order to reduce the incidence of terrorism against our citizens, Israel must assume control over Palestinian education. We've let the likes of UNRWA, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority pollute the minds of young Palestinians for far too long and it's time to put a stop to it.

But of course, re-shaping the minds of young Palestinians will take time. I would say, at least a generation, if not longer. So what about the here and now? I think a good short-term solution would be to convince the Palestinians that killing Israelis will not drive us from Judea and Samaria, but will do just the opposite. To do this, I suggest that each time one of our people is killed by a Palestinian terrorist, we respond by formally annexing one of the communities that we have built in Judea and Samaria. So for example, since a Palestinian terrorist has just murdered a very upstanding Israeli citizen in Raziel Shevah, leaving his six children fatherless, including an eight-month old baby, Israel should respond by passing a law formally annexing, say, Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion, or one of the other thriving communities we've built in our Biblical homeland.

Will Iran's Islamist dictators launch a war against Israel to save their skins?

Today, I read a summary of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Strategic Assessment for this year. Among other things, the assessment talks about the possibility of another war breaking out on Israel's northern front, which would involve Hezbollah and possibly Syria and Iran. The worst case scenario involves a conflict involving all of the aforementioned three. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think that this assessment was done in time to take into consideration the popular uprising now taking place in Iran. I mention the assessment and the Iran protests in the same context because I think those protests could increase the chances of the worst case scenario taking place.

History teaches us that ruling regimes often use foreign wars in order to deflect their people's attention away from domestic problems. Remember the period between George W. Bush's inauguration as U.S. President and the September 11th attacks? Bush had won what was arguably the most controversial election in American history, ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court voting along party lines and handing him the presidency. As Michael Moore noted in his film Fahrenheit 911, Bush struggled to get any of his agenda carried out and looked like a lame duck president. I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto at the time, and I still remember one of my professors predicting that Bush would be a lame duck president because of the way he got elected. But then 9/11 happened. After that, Americans rallied around the flag and their president in the war on terror. And the rest is history.

Right now, Iran's Islamist regime is facing a full-scale revolt by the Iranian people. It's not surprising that they're accusing their enemies of sowing the seeds of dissent in the Islamic Republic. I think there is a real possibility that Iran's Islamist rulers will try and instigate a conflict with Israel in order to refocus their people's attention. Just think about it for a moment. If Iran attacked Israel, the Jewish state would certainly retaliate and the Islamists could use the destruction that such retaliation would bring in order to rally Iran's people behind the flag and end the uprising, just as U.S. President George W. Bush used the 9/11 attacks to deflect attention from his unpopularity. It's a frightening thought, but unfortunately it's quite possible for such a scenario to play out.