The JJ reports - We attach ourselves to narratives because they comfort us. It’s comforting to think that the terrorist who murdered seven Jews coming out of a Jerusalem synagogue was striking a blow against “the civilized world,” as President Joe Biden asserted.

But he wasn’t, Mr. President. Alqam Khayri, 21, a resident of East Jerusalem, was specifically going after Jews.

His Palestinian brethren who celebrated his murderous act by dancing in the streets and handing out candies were not thinking about the civilized world. They were rejoicing at the death of Jews.

When the Palestinian Authority glorifies terrorists who murder Jews, as they did just recently with Karim Younes, or teaches Jew hatred to their children, they’re not thinking about the opera halls of Vienna or the art galleries of Paris. They’re thinking about the dreaded Jews who had the chutzpah to return to their biblical homeland after 1900 years.

When Hamas launches rockets from Gaza to murder Israeli civilians, they’re not thinking, “Boy are those Jews civilized, we better get rid of them.” No, they’re thinking of the Hamas Charter that obligates them to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.

Three decades ago, Israel made the mistake of sanitizing and overlooking that hatred by pretending that a political agreement based on geographical borders could end the conflict. I was one of those dreamers, and part of me still dreams of that day.

But ugly, deep, personal hatred dies hard. The narrative that has always been exceedingly difficult for westerners to contemplate is that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a political conflict but an existential one. This narrative is horribly inconvenient for the simple reason that it doesn’t lend itself to solutions– the drug of choice of civilized diplomacy.

From the minute Israel was born 75 years ago, continuing with its building of a vibrant nation with the strongest army in the region, Israel has been a victim of its success, becoming a source of constant humiliation to Arab neighbors who could never match that success. This has been especially true for Palestinians, who have been cursed with corrupt leaders who have rejected every Israeli peace offer while fattening their own bank accounts and blaming their people’s misery on those “Zionist invaders.”

Source - Jewish Journal/Twitter - Image - Flash90