YNET OP-ED – ISRAEL MUST SAVE THE WORLD FROM ISIS

Israel must eliminate ISIS while it’s still small

Op-ed: The jihadist organization is neither a state nor an army; it’s an enchanting idea. That’s why it’s important to hit those spreading this foolish idea before it turns into an epidemic.

Some time before the Yom Kippur War, a Syrian tank managed to infiltrate the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, wander around the road and return home safely. Almost three years ago, in the summer of 2012, terrorists managed to break through the border crossing in Kerem Shalom and drive on the nearby road for quite a few minutes.

In both cases, there were those in Israel and the IDF who claimed that this was a “red light,” a sign of what was about to happen, a warning signal, but the decision makes downplayed these warnings and moved on. We are the good guys. We will always win.

It’s no secret that relatively small forces secure our joint borders with the Arab states. We have no money to invest in divisions to protect us from infiltrations from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. The peace agreements with the latter two have been lasting for decades, and they are largely doing our job and guarding the joint border.

But our eyes are not shut to the danger lurking in the near future, likely from the direction of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula. Islamic State fighters are on the borders, and with them there is no way – it’s either us or them. They should be given credit for not concealing their intentions. We should be condemned for shrugging. We overcame all the Arab armies together in the Six-Day War, so won’t we overcome terrorist a gang? Why not? Let them try.

And that’s just it. In a situation in which it’s either us or them, Israel and the IDF must find every way and every trick to defend the lives of the State’s citizens. And in clearer words: Take preventive steps, prevent what is expected to happen in months or years. And in politically incorrect words: Kill them while they are still small.

That’s what we did in the Sinai Campaign, in the Six-Day War and in many security operations between the wars. That’s what we tried to do in the first and second Lebanon wars. That’s what they did to us in the Yom Kippur War. They seized an opportunity.

It’s true that the diplomatic international situation is not in our favor right now, but the major Arab regimes are actually smiling at us: We have a joint enemy which is multiplying in members and courage, threatening their stability and massacring soldiers and citizens. The Jordanians are extremely concerned that ISIS will infiltrate their country, and if they succeed, God forbid, we will find them on the fences in Qalqilya, near the Israeli city of Kfar Saba.

We will be called war mongers here and now. No, we are peace mongers, and we mainly wish to live. Sometimes, when there is no other choice, others have to die in order for us to live. It’s terrible, it’s horrible, but it’s always better if we say it than if others say it about us.

We should remember that ISIS is neither a state nor an army. It’s an enchanting idea. That’s why it’s important to hit those spreading this foolish idea before it turns into an epidemic.

Some will say: A war now? Have you gone mad? Why the entire power of the State of Israel and the Zionist Movement lied in extending the intervals between one war and another, in that 100-year war which only changes names.

Some will say, based on the worn-out saying, “If I am not for myself, who is for me, and if not now then when?”: When will we try to crush them? When they include millions? When they reach our borders and attack soldiers and settlers? When the idea of the “Islamic state” spreads beyond the Middle East to all Western countries as well?

And others may say: What do we know about them? Who will cooperate with us and why should we deal with them now? We are still tired after Operation Protective Edge, and there are people among us who are very tired of wars in general. That’s the last thing we need.