Israel Heals Brother-in-Law of Hamas Leader

The difference between Israel and the Palestinians has never been so starkly illustrated; four months ago the brother-in-law of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had a serious cardiac problem which could not be solved in Gaza. So what did Israel do? It sent a Magen Adom ambulance to the Erez crossing, picked the man up, and rushed him all the way to a Petah Tikvah hospital where he stayed for a week until his condition was stable again.

Haniyeh viciously attacks Israel every chance he gets; after the terror attack in Sinai on August 5 that killed 16 Egyptians, he joined with the Muslim Brotherhood and actually accused Israel of planning the attack, saying, “The attack’s method confirms some sort of Israeli involvement aiming to achieve political and security goals, cause tension on the border with Egypt and destroy joint efforts to end the Gaza blockade.”

Just today an Egyptian airstrike killed 20 terrorists in response to the attack.

At a rally to for the 23rd anniversary of Hamas, Haniyeh bellowed he would never recognize Israel:

There is no future for the occupation in Palestine. Palestine is from the sea to the river, from Rosh HaNikra to Rafah. The siege will not change our belief, wars don’t cause people give up resistance and resistance leaders. We will not recognize, We will not recognize, We will not recognize Israel!

In 2010, 180,000 Palestinians were treated in Israeli hospitals. It’s the nature of the Jewish state to treasure human life; Jewish history is replete with examples of Jewish doctors who have bequeathed a legacy of life-saving ideas that eased the misery of those who suffer. (See Salk, Jonas; Sabin, Albert; Ehrlich, Paul; among hundreds of others).

In contrast to the hate that spews out of Hamas, many Palestinians, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, and most of the Arab world, Israel is a beacon of light waiting for the hate and darkness around it to vanish. And despite its attempts to reach out, there are always those who call for its destruction.

There is no moral equivalence here, Mr. Obama.