1) The modern doctrine of "conflict resolution," which has long exercised think tanks, political science departments, and democratic governments, is obsolete and even counterproductive. This liberal humanitarian doctrine presupposes that the parties to a conflict share the basic values of Western civilization. It should be obvious, however, that Islam and other bellicose or imperialistic ideologies like communism and Nazism, make nonsense of this doctrine. Even a superficial knowledge of history informs us that some conflicts have no solutions short of war—for example, the Arab-Jewish conflict which began in 1918 with the promulgation of the Balfour Declaration.
2) Instead of vainly seeking a peaceful solution to this conflict, Israeli statesmen should think of winning it. Hence, their minds should be preoccupied with the subject of war and of preparing the nation for war—both physically and intellectually. Their pathetic "information" campaigns about Israeli democracy and Israel's devotion to peace—intended to win international support and affection—are worse than useless. They disarm their own people; they arouse the contempt of Arabs; they confuse public opinion in the democratic world; and they foster western appeasement of the Arab-Islamic world.
3) The Israeli statesman—assuming he possesses intellectual integrity and moral courage—must go on the offensive. He must warn his people about the pernicious nature of the enemy, its deadly objectives. He must warn the people that their lives and property, their cherished beliefs and values, are in danger. He must tell them that self-indulgence and materialism, passivism and moral relativism, are mortal enemies which in the past led to the defeat and destruction of Athens, of Republican Rome, of France and Czechoslovakia.
4) The statesman must remind his people that their well-being ultimately depends on their having something noble to fight for: freedom and self-government, justice and human dignity. He should arouse in his people pride in their own past and achievements, how they owe their present freedom and prosperity to the sacrifices and heroism of their fathers and ancestors, and that it is their sacred duty to preserve and augment these blessings for posterity.
5) Like Harry Truman, the Israeli statesman should carry a copy of Plutarch with him. The better to understand human nature and war he should study Thucydides. He should review the war-time speeches of Churchill. And, as Sun Tzu warns, he should not yield to public opinion.
6) Unlike certain American presidents he should be hardheaded and convey to his people a clear sense of moral priorities. He must understand that a democracy's success in wartime ultimately depends on civic virtue and strong family ties which the democratic state tends to undermine by fostering secularism and self-indulgence.
7) Confronted by global jihad, the statesman must know how to counter the effete tendencies of humanitarians and the benign but Alice-in-Wonderland doctrines of sheltered academics. These overly civilized individuals of our consumer-oriented democracies forget that the desire for safety, wealth, power, and glory—which continue to motivate of human nature—are the engines that drive men and nations to war, and they demand eternal vigilance.
8) The statesman must be fully aware of the ruthlessness than animates our enemies—the enemies of civilization—and he must be capable of employing ruthlessness to prevent their encroachment. An "outreach" diplomacy is sheer folly; a "carrots and stick" diplomacy is futile, and so too is the policy of "reciprocity." Unlike Jews and Americans, the enemies of civilization are not interested in understanding us or in resolving differences. They want to kill us. Hence it is our duty to kill them first.
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