Opinion
By Takis Theodoropoulos
Israel has been at war for four years, but that has not stopped it from holding elections. This matters because it shows that democracy has existential importance for a country surrounded by totalitarian regimes. Israel is an outpost of Western-style democracy in a part of the world where the religion dominant in Arab societies rules out democracy as a form of government. Beyond the deep historical roots of Muslim hostility towards Jews, Israel's democratic system is viewed as a source of contamination in the Muslim world. When will the West finally accept that Islam and democracy are incompatible? In Israel's elections, an Arab party, in this case a Palestinian one, won 15 seats. Since neither of the Knesset's two major parties has managed to secure an outright majority, this small Palestinian party could potentially hold the balance of power. Analysts consider that outcome unlikely, but the party's very presence in parliament is enough to disprove claims that Palestinians are subjected to "apartheid". Imagine a Jewish party holding seats in Iran's parliament. Iran has democracy, too, but some democracies are more democratic than others. I will not spend much time on the sanctimonious claim that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians. Since the State of Israel was founded in 1948, every war it has fought has been one of self-defense. And, of course, Israel's supporters in Europe and America conveniently forget that, if anyone has genocidal intentions, they are the Palestinians who want to extend their territory from the sea to the river. In other words, they want to erase the State of Israel from the map.
Four years after Hamas's terrorist massacre in Israel, and following a war with Iran and its Hezbollah proxies, Israel remains a formidable military power. It acts like the Israel of the biblical kings, the very kings admired even by Nietzsche. I believe this is what has fuelled the resurgence of antisemitism in European societies. After the Shoah, Europe embraced the Jewish cause in an effort to atone for its own guilt. Deep in the European subconscious, the Jew is supposed to be a victim. For Europeans to accept him, they need him to be weak. That is why they cannot accept that the Jews have built a state, small in size but so powerful that, from the moment of its founding, it has not only made the desert bloom with orange groves but has also found itself in a constant state of war with its neighbors. If nothing else, Israel is showing a frightened Europe the mistakes it has made by backing down without a fight in the face of the advance of Islam.
