Unconditional Surrender
Jed is my college roommate and lifelong friend. This is his letter to the Review and Outlook section of the WALL STREET JOURNAL, Oct. 24. I share the sentiments.
To the Editor:
In 1945, the Allied powers demanded unconditional surrender of the German government, and the total dismantlement of the Nazi regime. Civilian households throughout Germany hung white sheets from their windows as a signal of acquiescence and defeat to the advancing Allied armies. Russian soldiers raped two million German women. This was the heartbreaking price that Germany had to pay for the choices of its democratically elected leaders, and its quiescent citizenry.
Because Israel is the Jewish state, there will be no rape of the Palestinians. But bad choices, even democratic ones, have their ineluctable consequences. The necessary corrective of fire and lead which will presently descend upon Gaza can properly end only with white sheets and the destruction of Hamas. Like the Nazis in the final days of April 1945, Hamas won’t hesitate to slaughter its own citizens who show insufficient resolve. Regrettably, this is a price Gazans must now pay.
Only then will the stage be set for a Palestinian Adenauer to arise, who can lead his people to the peaceful prosperity that Israel has unflaggingly offered since the day of its founding.
Jed Arkin
Tel Aviv, Israel
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
