By: Davorin Kopše
These days, we are watching the powerful attack with missiles of Israel by the terrorist group Hamas from Palestine. This group is also engaged as a political and parliamentary party in the otherwise internationally unrecognised state of Palestine. It is unbelievable that part of Slovenian politics does not condemn terrorist attacks, but hides behind the florid expressions of regret of the victims. The victims are certainly deplorable and it is unacceptable that there are victims, but it is also or even more unacceptable for Hamas to do so, which some covertly support, and Levica supports it directly. If Hamas had not sent deadly rockets over Israel, there would have been no casualties.
The very thought of having a political party in Slovenia with views that are in complete opposition to practically the entire democratic world is appalling. In my firm belief, Levica party is at least indirectly supporting terrorism, which I prove below by defining terrorism and the way Hamas and Levica operate.
The establishment and existence of Israel
The State of Israel was established by proclamation on May 4th, 1948. It was proclaimed by the head of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion. The foundations for the establishment were historical, as Jews had lived in the area for thousands of years before Christ. There, many religions intersected, and fatal frictions took place between Jews and Muslims, resulting in Jewish displacement. The United States recognised it under the leadership of President Harry S. Truman. Meanwhile, the British initially opposed the creation of a new Jewish state for colonial reasons. Britain, which had its own colony in the area, wanted to maintain good relations with the Arabs in order to protect its vital political and economic interests in Palestine.
In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, intense negotiations to resolve the Palestinian and Jewish issues have been going on since 1946, when Truman set up a special committee. As early as the end of the year, Truman announced an admission of 100,000 displaced persons to Palestine and advocated the establishment of a Jewish state. On the basis of what has happened so far, a special commission of the United Nations had recommended the division of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, as it had found that coexistence in peace is impossible. On this basis, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 on the division into Jewish and Arab states. They divided the area, which until then had been under British control.
Going through time and what is happening in the Middle East, it must be made clear that the Arabs have so far rejected all offers for a final solution to the crisis in the region. In the last century, there was a whole series of offers on the table that Israel, on the other hand, accepted in turn. From this fact alone, we can see who cares about lasting peace in this area.
International recognition of Israel
Already during the founding of Israel, the United States was well aware of the strong friction between Jews and Arabs, so they recommended United Nations custody with restrictions on Jewish immigration, however, this recommendation did not include support for the establishment of two states. In the end, Truman also decided to recognise the state of Israel, which to this day has become a strong scientific research center with a strong industry of high-tech products that have high added value in the market. Due to the permanent threat in the region, Israel has also developed a strong military force that keeps the country sovereign and relatively secure. Israel spends about seven percent of its gross domestic product on a modern equipped army, which ranks them among the world’s top democracies. Israel is also one of the world’s nuclear powers – it has atomic weapons. The threats come from the entire Arab and Persian world, where Islam dominates, so in the security field, a strong army and intelligence services have meant survival for them for decades.
Terrorism
Terrorism is a form of terror that is used in a targeted manner with well-defined goals. It is a form of guerrilla activity that has certain requirements. To make it easier to understand, let me say that the partisan way of working also had elements of guerrilla warfare. The basic difference between guerrilla warfare and classic terrorism is that guerrilla members are in uniform and consider themselves an army, or strive to become an army with an intention of destroying an enemy. Guerrillas are committed to the goal of influencing the political order and, in principle, have no interest in intimidating people. At the same time, I am not talking about the area of partisan struggle in the area of the former Yugoslavia, where it was somewhat different. In addition to fighting the enemy, the Yugoslav partisans also carried out a revolution, using all means. This is why some experts classify them as terrorists, at least in part.
As a rule, terrorism does not have broad support in the social environment and is also not usually part of a broad political movement. With Palestinian Hamas, this is somewhat different, as it is a political force with strong support from the population.
Interestingly, the terms terrorism and terrorists first came into use in the French Revolution, although the forms of action, typical of the time after it, were used long before. At the time, the bloody regime that maintained the gains of the revolution was called terrorist. In the early period after Christ, groups also appeared in Palestine, trying to use violence to drive out the Romans, which could be appropriately termed terrorism at the time. The actions were aimed at prominent Jews who were accused of collaborating with the occupying authorities. After this, the Yugoslav revolutionaries did not invent a way to terrorise the people, but sought it out in history. Terrorism therefore has a tradition in the Middle East as well, except that it has “modernised”.
Not to delve too deeply into the breakdown of terrorism, let me say that there is a consensus among scholars of this phenomenon that there is no general definition of terrorism. If we want to extract the common features of terrorism, we must study it interdisciplinary. In doing so, we must take into account the broader social conditions of its emergence, and above all, the consequences are important. These are destruction, civilian casualties and fear, and an additional desired broader consequence is general chaos.
Hamas was declared a terrorist organisation
Hamas was founded in 1987 as a branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. This was not directly conflicting with Israel before that. It acted in particular against the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). A year after its founding, Hamas declared that it had been established for the liberation of Palestine, which also includes territory encompassing Israel. After the overthrow of Israel, they want to establish an Islamic state in its territory.
Hamas’ military wing is attacking Israeli civilians and soldiers, which is often described as retaliation against Israel. In their tactics, they have identified suicide bombings as an element of combat, and since 2001 also rocket attacks. Their missile systems are outdated and inaccurate, but in recent years they have reached almost the entire territory of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Because these systems are not accurate, they use them unsystematically (by heart), which is why they most often hit civilian targets and thus cause casualties among civilians. Human Rights Watch has condemned Hamas for war crimes and crimes against humanity for this. They emphasised that there was no excuse for attacks on civilian targets.
Hamas winner of parliamentary elections
In January 2006 on the Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian parliament and defeated the PLO-affiliated Fatah party. This victory has prompted the EU, the United Nations, the US, and Russia to determine aid to Palestine under the condition that they refrain from violence. They also made it a condition for them to recognise the state of Israel and accept the rejected agreements. Hamas rejected the terms.
Despite the fact that Palestine has some attributes of a state (among them the parliament), Palestine does not meet most of the conditions for international recognition. Among the most basic are the conditions for international assistance listed above. Thus Palestine does not even have an army. Its tasks are performed by the military wing of Hamas. This party has defined in its programme the complete destruction of Israel and the erasure of this internationally recognised democracy from the world map.
Levica party is in favour of recognising Palestine
In view of all the above about Palestine and its efforts, it is justified to be concerned about the fact that the Slovenian parliamentary party Levica is striving for the recognition of Palestine. In Slovenia, the parliamentary party Levica has been striving for several years to recognise a de facto non-existent state led by none other than the terrorist organisation Hamas. Anyone who supports the recognition of Palestine, led by the terrorist organisation Hamas, supports terrorism.
Since last Monday, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel. Most of them are intercepted by the Israeli army with its anti-missile shield, but a few still fall mainly on civilian targets, where they cause casualties and panic.
Slovenia supports the right of states to defence
The Slovenian government has, of course, sided with Israel’s right to defence, which is a universally recognised right of every sovereign state. As a sign of support, like some other European countries, it hung the Israeli flag on the government building. Part of the politics from KUL opposition circles condemned this gesture as something unacceptable, while they never questioned the open sympathy of the Levica party in particular for the terrorist organisation Hamas, which with the strong support of the Islamist state of Iran seeks the complete destruction of one sovereign democracy. Let us not forget that during Cerar’s government, Palestine was almost recognised. Everyone can judge for themselves where this would put Slovenia and its reputation.
These facts tell in an eloquent way who is who in Slovene politics, what s/he stands for, and consequently how much s/he is worth.
Davorin Kopše is a veteran of the war for Slovenia, a candidate for the European Parliament, and an active citizen.