InIn MoralMoral DefenseDefense ofof IsraelIsrael

www.aynrand.org A Supplemental Issue of Impact, Newsletter of the Institute, September 2002

Editorials In Moral Defense of n Israel’s Suicide We hold that the state of Israel has a moral —By (page 2) right to exist and to defend itself against attack—and that the United States should n Israel Has a Moral Right to Its Life unequivocally support Israel. On televi- —By and sion, on radio, in newspapers, on college (page 3) campuses—throughout our culture, the n Conference in Cloud Cuckoo Land (ARI) has been de- —By Robert Tracinski (page 5) fending the use of retaliatory force against n U.N. Call for Palestinian State Spells terrorists. This ad hoc publication out- Suicide for Palestinians lines our position and illustrates the im- —By Yaron Brook (page 6) pact of our intellectual activism. We stand for individual rights n Allowing Israel to Destroy the PLO and freedom. In the name of justice, of Helps Defend the U.S. defending the good, we support Israel. In —By (page 7) a region dominated by despotism and to- n Innocents in War? talitarian dictatorships, Israel alone up- —By (page 8) holds rights. Defending Israel—our only n Radical ’s Assault on true ally in the Mideast—is in America’s Human Life own self-interest. —By Edwin A. Locke (page 9) No Moral Equality Between Israel and Its Enemies Top: Dr. Yaron Brook, ARI executive director, Impact of Our Israel and those who attack it are not moral on equals. Israel is a free, Westernized coun- Above: Dr. Brook on the O’Reilly Factor Campaign try, which recognizes the individual rights discussing America’s war in Afghanistan of its citizens (such as their right to prop- TELEVISION, RADIO erty and freedom of speech). It uses mili- tary force only in self-defense, in order to cause of its : it is an oasis of freedom n Our speakers and writers have protect itself. and prosperity in a desert of tyranny and been interviewed on such national Those attacking Israel, by contrast, stagnation. If Israel is destroyed, the ene- TV networks as Fox News Channel, are terrorist organizations, theocracies, mies of freedom attacking it will be able to MSNBC and PBS on the topic of dictatorships and would-be dictators. They turn their full attention to the United States. how to combat , and on do not recognize the individual rights of The United States must not let this happen. other current affairs. their own subjects, much less those of the n In the last seven months ARI citizens of Israel. They initiate force indis- Israel’s War Is America’s War speakers have garnered about 9,000 criminately in order to retain and expand In America’s war against terrorism, it is minutes of radio and TV airtime in their power. In contrast to the state of imperative that America distinguish friend interviews. Our commentary has Israel, such organizations and regimes have from foe, good from evil, the opponents of been heard on radio stations in 33 no moral right to exist. terrorism from the perpetrators. In the name states throughout America, as well of justice and self-preservation, therefore, as in Japan and Australia. Israel Attacked for Its Virtues America should uncompromisingly encour- NEWSPAPERS Fundamentally, Israel is the target of these age and support Israel in the common fight organizations and regimes precisely be- against the enemies of freedom. n Full-page ads featuring ARI editorials appeared in the New York Times and Washington Post, How You Can Help Us reaching millions of readers around the country. If you agree that Israel is the victim, that it is in the right, that it deserves a staunch intellectual defense—please send a (tax-deductible) contribution to the Ayn Rand n Our editorials have appeared in such Institute. Your financial support will help us produce more editorials and arrange newspapers as the Los Angeles more campus lectures that promote a rational solution to terrorism in general and Times, San Francisco Chronicle, present a moral defense of Israel in particular. See back page for details on how to send a contribution. Continued on back page Israel Has a Moral Right to Its Life Why Reason and Justice Are on Israel’s Side by Yaron Brook and Peter Schwartz

As yet another appalling suicide bombing takes place in Israel, Hatred of Israel, and of the United States, is hatred killing 19 people and wounding dozens more on a bus packed for Western values with schoolchildren in —as Hamas claims credit for the massacre—America’s policymakers still insist on seeking Like America’s war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, the Arab- an “even-handed,” diplomatic solution. Israeli dispute is a conflict between opposing . On In the past 18 months, Israel’s six million citizens have the one side are the forces of mysticism, medieval tribalism, suffered 12,480 terrorist attacks. They have buried more than dictatorship—and terror; on the other side are the forces of 400 victims—a per-capita death toll six times that of America on reason, , —and civilization. Arafat and September 11. Yet, in an abhorrent act of injustice, Israel con- his sympathizers hate Israel for the same reason that Osama bin tinues to be pressured by the United States into making conces- Laden and his sympathizers hate America, i.e., for embracing sions to Yasser Arafat, the archpatron of those terror attacks. secular, Western values. No “peace process” is possible with In the long run, this means that Israel is being pressured into such enemies. sacrificing its basic right to exist. This is not an ethnic battle between Jews and Arabs, but We should be supporting Israel’s right to take whatever a moral battle between those who value the individual’s right to military action is needed to defend itself against its nihilistic be free and those who don’t. Those Arabs who value individual enemies. Morally and militarily, Israel is America’s frontline in freedom are enemies of the Arafat regime and deserve to be the war on terrorism. If America is swayed by Arafat’s latest embraced by Israel; those Jews who do not value individual empty rhetoric, and allows him to continue threatening Israel, freedom deserve to be condemned by Israel. our own campaign against terrorism becomes sheer hypocrisy and will, ultimately, fail. Israelis have a right to the land Consider the facts and judge for yourself: Only Israel has a moral right to establish a government in that area—on the grounds, not of some ethnic or religious heritage, The Israelis and the Palestinians are not but of a secular, rational principle. Only a state based on morally equal political and economic freedom has moral legitimacy. Contrary Israel is the only free country in a region dominated by Arab to what the Palestinians are seeking, there can be no “right” to monarchies, theocracies and dictatorships. It is only the citi- establish a dictatorship. zens of Israel—Arabs and Jews alike—who enjoy the right to As to the rightful owners of particular pieces of property, express their views, to criticize their government, to form polit- Israel’s founders—like the homesteaders in the American ical parties, to publish private newspapers, to hold free elec- West—earned ownership to the land by developing it. They tions. When Arab authorities deny the most basic freedoms to arrived in a desolate, sparsely populated region and drained the their own people, it is obscene for them to start claiming that swamps, irrigated the desert, grew crops and built cities. They Israel is violating the Palestinians’ rights. All Arab citizens who worked unclaimed land or purchased it from the owners. They are genuinely concerned with human rights should, as their very introduced industry, libraries, hospitals, art galleries, universi- first action, seek to oust their own despotic rulers and adopt the ties—and the concept of individual rights. Those Arabs who type of free society that characterizes Israel. abandoned their land in order to join the military crusade against Israel forfeited all right to their property. And if there are any peaceful Arabs who were forcibly evicted from their property, Since its founding, Israel has been the victim they may press their claims in the courts of Israel, which, unlike Since its founding in 1948, Israel has had to fight five wars—all the Arab autocracies, has an independent, objective judiciary— in self-defense—against 22 hostile Arab dictatorships, and has a judiciary that recognizes the principle of property rights. been repeatedly attacked by Palestinian terrorists. Arafat is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli schoolchil- Palestinians are not “freedom fighters” dren, the hijacking of airliners and the car bombings and death- squad killings of thousands of Israeli, American, Lebanese and The Palestinians want a state, not to secure their freedom, but Palestinian civilians. Today he ardently sponsors such terror to perpetuate the dictatorial reign of Arafat’s Palestinian Au- groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al Aksa Brigade. thority. Arafat’s “police” brutally expropriate property and The land Israel is “occupying” was captured in a war silence opposing viewpoints by shutting down radio and TV initiated by its Arab neighbors. Like any victim of aggression, stations. They systematically arrest, torture and murder peace- Israel has a moral right to control as much land as is necessary ful dissenters. To call the militant Palestinians “freedom fight- to safeguard itself against attack. The Palestinians want to ers”—when they support the subjugation of their own people, annihilate Israel, while Israel wants simply to be left alone. If when they deliberately murder children in the streets or gleeful- there is a moral failing on Israel’s part, it consists of its reluc- ly praise such depravity—is a mind-numbing perversion. tance to take stronger military measures. If it is right for America to bomb al-Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan—and it is—then it is equally justifiable for Israel to bomb the terrorist strong- holds in the occupied territories. Continued on page 4

2 Israel’s Suicide The Land-for-Peace Compromise Will Lead Israel Only to Self-Destruction by Elan Journo

With unremitting ferocity, Arab terrorists this weekend ian state would thwart Israel’s ability to apprehend such again attacked Israelis through suicide bombing and sniper terrorists, and would enable them to strike more effectively. fire—brutally killing 22. Despite such carnage, despite Even worse is the prospect that such a state could readily Yasser Arafat’s hollow promises to quell such violence, serve as a beachhead for a concerted “jihad” against Israel despite his record of flouting the terms of previous peace by its many Arab enemies. deals—advocates of the “peace process” are undaunted. Far from securing peace, compromises only weaken They continue to demand that Israel resolve this conflict Israel and embolden its enemies. When Nazi Germany was by diplomatic negotiation rather than military force. Cen- appeased in 1938 by being allowed to claim Czechoslovakia tral to this process is a “land-for-peace” exchange, lead- as part of the Aryan people’s “homeland”—an earlier ver- ing to a sovereign Palestinian state. sion of “land for peace”—the result was to encourage Hitler Such a “trade,” however, will lead Israel not to to start a world war. peace but to self-destruction. Israel must recognize that it cannot achieve peace by Although the land-for-peace doctrine seems to offer a surrendering to those who are relentlessly hostile to the mutually advantageous settlement, it is a vicious deception. value of freedom. For the sake of its own survival, it must Peace requires the cessation of Arab violence, particularly refuse any future compromises—and begin to undo the terrorism. To attain it, Israel is supposed to surrender damage of previous concessions (including Barak’s naïve territories crucial to its continued security—territories that offer of 95 percent of the captured territories). As a start, it were won in the war instigated by Arab countries in 1967. To should secure its own borders militarily, forbid the establish- attain land, however, the Arabs are supposed to concede ment of a Palestinian state, and oust Arafat from power. nothing; they need only withdraw their use of force. Like any Rather than appeasing its attackers, Israel must retaliate aggressor, they are, in essence, holding the Israelis hostage. with as much force as is necessary to subdue them. And like any victim, Israel, by paying the ransom, gains no These would be the first steps toward declaring a value that it did not already have a right to. moral inequivalence between Israel and its Arab enemies. Evading the fact that Israel is being asked to cave in to extortion, advocates of the “peace process” treat If you would like to help make other editorials like this one pos- Arab and Israeli claims as morally equivalent. They ignore sible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Insti- the fact that the Mideast is dominated by Arab monarchies, tute. ARI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI theocracies and dictatorships—while Israel is a free coun- in the United States are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. try standing as the lone bastion of Western civilization in Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA that region. It is only the citizens of Israel—Arabs and 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. Jews alike—who enjoy the right to express their views, to form political parties, to elect their government. Under Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, Palestinians are subject to ruthless censorship, in contrast to Israel’s freedom of speech; expropriation and summary executions in contrast to the objective rule of law; and dictatorial edicts in contrast to political and economic liberty. Any Arab who values individual rights over tribalist collectivism—production and trade over statism and terrorism—would readily choose to live under Israeli rule rather than in a Palestinian state. The function of government is to protect the rights of its citizens. Only a free nation, like Israel, is entitled to invoke a moral right to exist. There can be no right to establish a state that consistently tramples upon rights. That is why this conflict is, fundamentally, a moral one. A concession by Israel of land for peace is a concession that it is an “oppressor”—it is a surrender of its moral legitimacy. Once Israel surrenders that principle, and accedes to a Palestinian state, it invites its own destruction. After earning a B.A. in from King’s College, London, Elan Journo worked as an associate producer A sponsor of such terror groups as Islamic Jihad and on the Radio Show. He is now a writer Hamas, Arafat has continually refused to prosecute Arab and editor for the Ayn Rand Institute. terrorists living under his jurisdiction. A sovereign Palestin-

3 Israel Has a Moral Right to Its Life, force Israel to appease Arafat, we will be broadcasting, loud and continued from page 3 clear, that terrorism can bring America too to its knees. We should urge our government to recognize that there is Palestinians have consistently sought to only one means of achieving long-term Mideast peace: Israel’s destroy Israel sweeping retaliation against the scourge of terrorism. In 1947 the Palestinians rejected the U.N.’s offer of a state larger than the one they are demanding now. Instead, they joined in a If you would like to help make other editorials like this one pos- war aimed at wiping Israel from the map. Today, that hostility sible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Insti- has only hardened. For example, in a televised public sermon, a tute. ARI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI Palestinian Imam declared: “God willing, this unjust state [of] in the United States are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. Israel, will be erased.” Palestinian textbooks are filled with vile, Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA anti-Jewish propaganda, such as this exhortation from a fifth- 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. grade Arabic language text: “Remember: the final and inevitable result will be the victory of the Muslims over the Jews.”

A Palestinian state under Arafat would become a base for terrorism

A Palestinian state headed by Arafat would be a launching pad and a training ground for terrorist organizations targeting, not only Israel, but the United States. Forcing Israelis to accept a Palestinian state under Arafat is like forcing Americans to accept a state the size of Mexico, 12 miles from New York City, ruled by Osama bin Laden. As long as the Palestinians sanction aggression, they should not be permitted their own state.

Arafat’s meaningless words will not restore life to his terror-victims—past or future No rhetoric by Arafat can change the fact that he is a hater of freedom and a destroyer of innocent human life. Imagine Osama bin Laden being enticed by American diplomats to announce: “We strongly condemn operations that target American civil- ians, especially the last one in New York. We equally condemn the massacres that have been, and are still being, committed by Yaron Brook is the president and executive director of U.S. occupation troops against Taliban civilians in Kandahar, the Ayn Rand Institute and a recognized expert on the Shah-i-Kot and Tora Bora.” Would any sane individual thereby philosophy of Ayn Rand. Dr. Brook has been interviewed endorse an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghani- more than 120 times by all media on a wide variety of stan and the creation of a Taliban state, headed by bin Laden, issues, including: environmentalism, animal rights, the alongside America? If not, why should Israel be expected to act energy crisis, the Middle East conflict and ter- so suicidally? rorism. Recent notable appearances include Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, CNN’s America, for its own benefit, must allow Israel to TalkBack Live, and MSNBC’s Alan Keyes Is Making Sense. uphold the principle of self-defense Peter Schwartz is chairman of the board of directors of The growing demand for Israel to negotiate with Arafat comes the Ayn Rand Institute and editorial director of its op-ed from an unprincipled, range-of-the-moment mentality. Surren- program. He teaches an advanced writing course at the dering to extortion—which the “land-for-peace” catechism en- Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center. Mr. Schwartz was dorses—is profoundly immoral and impractical. In the 1938 the founding editor and publisher of The Intellectual Activ- version of “land for peace,” Nazi Germany was appeased by ist, a periodical covering political, cultural and philosophic being allowed to take over Czechoslovakia as part of the Aryan issues. He is the author of “The Battle for Laissez-Faire Capi- people’s “homeland”; the result was to encourage Hitler to start talism.” He is the editor and contributing author of Return a world war. of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution by Ayn Rand The Arab-Israeli conflict could become a dress rehearsal (Meridian/Penguin 1999). Mr. Schwartz is also president for a wider, global conflict. If America now stops Israel from of Second Renaissance Books, a publisher and distributor retaliating against Arafat, the father of international terrorism, of pro-reason, pro-individualism titles. how can it ever justify retaliation against its own enemies? If we

4 Conference in Cloud Cuckoo Land Mideast Peace Conference Premised on Fantasies and Evasions of Fact by Robert Tracinski

On Thursday the Bush administration announced that it would American power. By agreeing to make peace in Israel as a pre- join with the United Nations, the European Union and Russia to condition for our war against Iraq, we are giving them every host an international peace conference to settle the conflict in the incentive to make sure the killing continues. Middle East. No location was announced for this meeting, but I But the ultimate fantasy, the fiction on which everything else can suggest a neutral country that would be perfect for the idea: rests, is this: We can make peace by negotiating with terrorists. Cloud Cuckoo Land. A news report on the peace conference proposal reminds Cloud Cuckoo Land is the fictional city in the clouds from us that “The last international conference on the Mideast was Aristophanes’ play The Birds, a parody of the mystical fantasies held in Madrid in 1991,” which “paved the way for the past decade of the philosopher Plato and his followers. So it seems like the of progress.” Yet this is a decade that has seen constantly natural location for a conference based on a gossamer foundation accelerating Palestinian terrorism. In the decade before the 1993 of fiction and fantasy. Oslo accords, Palestinian terrorists killed 209 Israelis. In the two Fantasy No. 1: The Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and a half years after that, they killed 213 Israelis. And in the past and its release of Yasser Arafat constitute “progress.” 19 months, terrorists have killed more than 400 Israelis. Oddly, the According to Colin Powell, “This is a time for prompt action Israelis aren’t eager for another decade of this kind of “progress.” to take advantage of this new window of opportunity that has Perhaps when this new conference is done bringing peace been presented to us.” The vague grammar—the opportunity to the Middle East, its participants can move on to other impor- “has been presented to us”—is no accident. Powell doesn’t want tant controversies, like the partitioning of Atlantis and ending to admit who gave him this opportunity. world hunger by distributing all of that green cheese from the Remember that Israelis tried for a year to get a mere “seven moon. Those goals are as firmly rooted in reality as the new days of quiet” as a pre-condition for negotiations—yet Arafat Mideast peace conference. would not give it to them. It is only now, after weeks of relative calm, that diplomats can start talking about a peace conference. But it was not Arafat who gave us this lull in the killing. The killing If you would like to help make other editorials like this one possible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Institute. ARI is a was stopped by Israel’s vigorous military offensive—in defiance 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI in the United States of Powell’s demands. are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. Fantasy No. 2: Re-arming Yasser Arafat is the path to peace. Everything about this new peace conference is up in the air. Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA We don’t know who will participate, what proposals it will dis- 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. cuss or even what results it is supposed to achieve. (Here is Powell’s best description of the conference’s goal: to “pull together ideas and create momentum and figure out a way to move forward.”) But there was one specific measure that everyone agreed should be taken right away: rebuilding Arafat’s “security apparatus” so that he can get to work on—get this—cracking down on terrorism. Israel’s invasion unearthed a mountain of evidence that Arafat not only tolerates terrorism but has actively funded and coordinated terrorist attacks. This includes documents show- ing that the chief of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank worked with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to plan suicide bombings. Yet these are the people we are supposed to re-arm to stop terrorism. Plato’s followers—the inhabitants of the original Cloud Cuckoo Land—believed that the facts of this world are an illu- sion, and that they had to look inward to discover the real reality, the “Realm of Pure Forms.” His contemporary followers in the diplomatic corps apparently believe that Arafat the terrorist is an illusion and that the “pure form” of Arafat is a statesman. Fantasy No. 3: The Arab world is interested in making peace Robert W. Tracinski is a syndicated columnist for Cre- with Israel. ators Syndicate and is the publisher and editor of The This obviously explains why the Saudis hold telethons for Intellectual Activist, a magazine analyzing political, cul- the families of terrorist bombers and allow their ambassadors and tural and philosophic issues from an individualist perspec- state-run newspapers to publish the foulest anti-Jewish incite- tive. His commentary has been published in the Chicago ment. This is also why the Arab nations have refused to take in Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Cincinnati Enquirer, Los Palestinian refugees, herding them into semi-permanent camps Angeles Daily News, San Jose Mercury News and the where they are promised the “right of return”—over Israel’s corpse. Philadelphia Inquirer. The Arabs’ only real goal is to thwart the assertion of

5 U.N. Call for Palestinian State Spells Suicide for Palestinians Only Individuals Dedicated to Freedom Have a Right to “Self-Determination” and to Create a State by Yaron Brook

Tuesday night the United States introduced and the U.N. Secu- rights. What Arafat desires, however, is the “right” to rule rity Council passed a resolution calling for “a region where two rightless serfs in a state run by a ruthless dictator. Nobody has states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and a right to create and maintain such a state. recognized borders.” A Palestinian state run by Yasser Arafat Palestinians would be better off staying under Israeli rule will not deliver long-awaited “salvation” for Palestinians; it (as some Palestinians admit, when safe to do so). To the extent would only bring them more misery and death. that the Arabs living in Israel have accepted Western values Consider Arafat’s and the PLO’s long history of terrorism such as individual responsibility, property rights, and the rule and violence. Over a span of 35 years, Arafat and the PLO have of law, they have thrived. The material evidence of that flourish- been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israeli, American, ing can be seen in the relatively high standard of living found Lebanese, and Palestinian civilians. Through the PLO, Arafat has in many Arab villages in Israel. Indeed, Palestinians rely on the orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of Israeli school children, relative economic freedom and prosperity offered in Israel to the hijacking of airliners, numberless car bombings and death- make a living. squad killings. Often Arafat’s violence has been targeted at his But Israel also offers Palestinians more precious values. Arab “brothers,” as is evidenced by the PLO’s role in Jordanian What Arab country gives its inhabitants the liberty to (1960s–’70s) and Lebanese (1970s–’80s) civil insurrections. And protest, to publish articles and books opposing the government he hasn’t changed his ways. Recently Arafat attempted to smuggle (as many Jews and Palestinians do in Israel)? What Arab coun- into Gaza a shipload of Iranian arms to be used against Israelis, and try has free elections or a judicial system in which all are treated Arafat’s al Aqsa Brigade deliberately target and kill Israeli women equally before the law? None. In Israel, Palestinians have more and children through suicide bombers. freedom and more economic opportunities than they have in any Consider also the track record of Arafat’s Palestinian Arab country, and than they could possibly have in a future Authority—the temporary governing body of the Gaza Strip and Palestinian state run by the PLO or any other dictatorial group. West Bank territories. Arafat is the dictator of the Palestinian If the choice is between a Palestinian state run by terrorists like Authority in everything but title. The Los Angeles Times has Arafat and remaining under Israeli rule, the latter is by far the described his domination as stretching “from the largest to the better option. most minor matter.” Palestinians live in constant fear of having If Palestinians were serious about having their own free their property arbitrarily confiscated by Arafat’s corrupt “po- state, they would start by deposing and arresting Yasser Arafat lice” force. Laws prohibiting free speech are common and are for his crimes against his own people. In place of the terrorists enforced brutally. To silence those who oppose him, Arafat now representing them, Palestinians should send to the nego- shuts down radio and TV stations and imprisons and tortures tiating table representatives who believe in and honor individ- journalists who criticize the Palestinian Authority. Dissenters ual rights—leaders who plan to establish a free civilized country are arbitrarily detained, tortured, or “encouraged” at gunpoint where violence is abhorred and suppressed. Only then will to leave the territories. In November 1999 a group of prominent Palestinians have earned the right to a state of their own. intellectuals who signed a petition accusing Arafat’s regime of corruption was summarily jailed. They were lucky; some recal- citrants are assassinated. Remember the mayor of a Palestinian If you would like to help make other editorials like this one possible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Institute. ARI is a village, Zuhir Hamdan, who publicly stated that his villagers 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI in the United States preferred to live, not under Arafat, but Israel? He was gunned are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. down, but luckily survived. Arafat’s current regime is barbaric and oppressive. One Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA can logically predict that conditions in an independent Palestin- 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. ian state would be worse than they are presently. Viewed in this context of dictatorial rule, the alleged right of Palestinians to “self-determination” is groundless. No group has a right to its own state if what it seeks is a dictatorship. Arafat’s “Palestinian self-determination” really means more of Yaron Brook is the president and executive director of Arafat’s despotism—it means granting legitimacy to a state that the Ayn Rand Institute and a recognized expert on the is utterly hostile to its own citizens. philosophy of Ayn Rand. Dr. Brook has been interviewed As Ayn Rand wrote, “the right of ‘the self-determination more than 120 times by all media on a wide variety of of nations’ applies only to free societies or to societies seeking issues, including: environmentalism, animal rights, the to establish freedom; it does not apply to dictatorships.” The California energy crisis, the Middle East conflict and ter- only legitimate reason to found a new state is to escape tyranny rorism. Recent notable appearances include Fox’s The and secure freedom. Thus, America’s Founding Fathers rightly O’Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, CNN’s fought for independence from England’s oppressive rule; the TalkBack Live, and MSNBC’s Alan Keyes Is Making Sense. United States was founded on the recognition of individual

6 Allowing Israel to Destroy the PLO Helps Defend the U.S. Israel Is America’s Military and Cultural Front Line Against Terrorism by Andrew Bernstein

It is time that the United States recognizes the true nature of Yasser tinian state, which given Arafat’s hostility to the West, would only add Arafat and his regime. The PLO has been engaged in a terror campaign another sovereign nation to those already supporting terrorism. against Israel for decades, and today supports fanatical suicide bomb- An Israel free to defend itself is both an ally the United States ers, who deliberately target and murder innocent civilians. The recent can trust and a military outpost from which we can strike back at murder of the Israeli minister of tourism, Rehavam Zeevi, was made those who attack us. Given that the Saudis and other Arab nations possible by Arafat’s refusal to end the terror campaign. Now, the have shown themselves to be at best unreliable allies in the war Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—Zeevi’s murderers— against terrorism and at worst part of the problem, this is an vows to destroy “the entire Zionist political echelon.” Arafat, while important consideration. protesting that he wants an end to violence, refuses to take any There are also deeper moral reasons for setting Israel free to meaningful action against them. defend itself. The United States government needs to understand that Nor have Arafat’s terrorist activities been directed exclusively more than Israel and America are under attack by terrorist organiza- against Israel. He has for many years shown his hatred of America, as tions and regimes: Western Civilization is. Our murderous and tyran- when he had George Curtis Moore and Cleo Allen Noel—two U.S. nical enemies are strongly committed to their anti-Western ideology. diplomats in Sudan—murdered on March 3, 1973. Despite receiving At its deepest level, this is a struggle between two philosophies and hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid, the PLO supplied two civilizations. Western Civilization is vastly superior to Islamic weapons to the Shiite terrorists who murdered 241 American Marines culture in its ability to promote man’s life on earth. But the terrorists in Beirut in 1983. Additionally, they harbored terrorists who collabo- are morally committed to their philosophy. Are we committed to ours? rated with bin Laden’s 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. And The U.S. government must fight this war in the name of the right and have we forgotten the PLO’s 1985 murder of Leon Klinghoffer, the supremacy of Western Civilization. wheelchair-bound American passenger aboard the Italian cruise ship, Israel is the lone country in the Middle East that stands for the Achille Lauro? freedom, individual rights, secularism, reason, science and prosperity. And Arafat uses brutal force against his own subjects as well. Every Arab government is a dictatorship—be it a monarchy, theocracy Under the PLO, no one—Muslim or otherwise—possesses any rights. or military state. Only in Israel is there freedom of speech and of the The PLO is a relentless oppressor not only of the Palestinian Christian press, freedom of religion and the right to private property. The honest, minority, but also of their fellow Muslims. A recent case in point is that non-violent Arab living in Israel enjoys far greater freedom than he of Zuhir Hamdan, a Palestinian mayor of a village in Jerusalem’s would under any Arab regime, including the PLO. Israel, as the sole suburbs, who openly stated that the people of his village preferred to Western nation in that region, must be encouraged to apply its military live under the Israelis not Arafat. The PLO shot and gravely injured superiority to achieve victory over the terrorists. Hamdan for his views. Permitting the Israelis to defeat the PLO and to fight terrorists The United States has learned a horribly painful lesson about is good for the United States, both militarily and morally. We will then terrorism: appeasement only invites more and worse attacks. The have an effective, trustworthy ally fighting by our side. More impor- atrocities of September 11 were merely the latest and most egregious tant, it will show the world that we are committed to the values of attacks against us by Islamic terrorists. They have murdered U.S. Western Civilization, that we will defend them to our last breath, and servicemen in Saudi Arabia, bombed our embassies in Kenya and that we will not yield. Such uncompromising commitment to freedom Tanzania, attacked the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen—and we have done and to Western values is a weapon far more powerful than any in our nothing to defend ourselves. For the same reason that we are now nuclear arsenal. reversing our policy of appeasement and defending ourselves with force, we should allow and encourage Israel to defend itself with force. For years, the U.S. government has pressured Israel into suicid- If you would like to help make other editorials like this one possible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Institute. ARI is a al negotiations with the PLO. Israel had Arafat and his organization 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI in the United States surrounded south of Beirut in 1982, and was ready to eradicate the are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. terrorists, but was restrained by President Reagan, who pressured the Israelis to allow Arafat and his organization safe passage to Tunisia. Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA Despite the price paid in blood by innocent Israelis and Americans, the 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. Bush administration continues to urge Israel to withdraw its troops from the West Bank and to exercise “restraint.” But Arafat’s organi- zation supports bin Laden’s quest to destroy America, and it is consequently as much in our interest for the Israelis to eliminate the Andrew Bernstein, Ph.D. in philosophy, is a senior PLO as it is for us to wipe out the Taliban and al-Qaida. writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif. The For several compelling reasons the United States must desist Institute promotes , the philosophy of Ayn from restraining Israel. The destruction of the PLO will weaken terror- Rand, author of and . ists who hate the United States. It will strengthen Israel, our sole ally Note: this version has been edited slightly from that in the area, who will no longer have to live under the daily threat of originally sent out and published. terrorism. And the PLO’s demise will prevent the creation of a Pales-

7 Innocents in War? A Free Nation Should Not Let the Fear of Causing Civilian Casualties Hinder Its Self-Defense by Onkar Ghate

Amid calls from Afghani leaders to stop our bombings in order individuals in the Mideast who celebrated by dancing in the to prevent further civilian casualties and debates about how to streets on September 11 are innocent? take the war on terrorism elsewhere, one legitimately wonders Other civilians in enemy states are passive, unthinking whether the war will be a success. The efficiency and bravery of followers. Their work and economic production, however mea- our military is cause for optimism. The administration’s fear of ger, supports their terrorist governments and so they are in part killing civilians in enemy territory, which first enabled Taliban responsible for the continued power of our enemies. They too soldiers and leaders to take shelter in populated areas and later are not innocent—and their deaths may be unavoidable in order to escape capture, is worrying. for America to defend itself. (Remember too that today’s civilian If our war on terrorism is to have any chance of success is tomorrow’s soldier.) in such places as Iraq, which is more heavily populated and But what of those who truly are innocent? industrialized than Afghanistan, we must recognize that our The civilians in enemy territory who actually oppose their government’s concern—shared by many Americans—about kill- dictatorial, terrorist governments are usually their governments’ ing civilians is morally mistaken. first innocent victims. Any such individuals who remain alive The government of a free nation is simply the agent of its and outside of prison camps should try to flee their country or citizens, charged with one fundamental responsibility: to secure fight with us (as some did in Afghanistan). the individual rights—and very lives—of its citizens through And the truly innocent who live in countries that initiate the use of retaliatory force. An aspect of this responsibility is force against other nations will acknowledge the moral right of to uphold each citizen’s right to self-defense, a responsibility a free nation to bomb their countries and destroy their govern- our government in part meets by eliminating terrorist states that ments—even if this jeopardizes their own lives. No truly inno- threaten U.S. citizens. cent civilian in Nazi Germany, for example, would have ques- If, however, in waging war our government considers the tioned the morality of the Allies razing Germany, even if he knew deaths of civilians in terrorist states as a cost that must be he may die in the attacks. No truly innocent individual wishes weighed against the deaths of our own soldiers or civilians, or as to become a tool of or a shield for his murderous government; a cost that must be weighed against achieving victory over the he wishes to see his government toppled. enemy, our government thereby violates its most basic function. We should not allow human shields, innocent or other- It becomes not an agent for our self-defense, but theirs. wise, to deter us from defending ourselves. Morally, the U.S. government must destroy our aggres- The U.S. government recognized the truth of this on Sep- sors by whatever means are necessary and minimize U.S. casu- tember 11 when, in order to defend those citizens it could, it alties in the process. ordered the shooting down of any more airplanes-become-missiles, To be victorious in war, a free nation has to destroy even though this meant killing not only the terrorists but also the enough of the aggressor to break his will to continue attacking innocent American civilians captive onboard. (and, then, dismantle his war apparatus and replace his govern- The government must now recognize that the same prin- ment). In modern warfare, this almost always necessitates “col- ciple applies to civilian casualties in the Mideast. lateral damage,” i.e., the killing of civilians. War is terrible but sometimes necessary. To win the war In fact, victory with a minimum of one’s own casualties on terrorism, we must not let a mistaken concern with “inno- may even require a free nation to deliberately target the civilians cents” deter us. As a free nation, we have the moral right to of an aggressor nation in order to cripple its economic produc- defend ourselves, even if this requires mass civilian deaths in tion and/or break its will. This is what the United States did in terrorist countries. WWII when it dropped fire bombs on Dresden and Hamburg and atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombings were moral acts. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for If you would like to help make other editorials like this one pos- sible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Insti- instance, precipitated Japan’s surrender and so achieved victo- tute. ARI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI ry with no further U.S. casualties. In that context, to sacrifice the in the United States are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. lives of hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers in a ground attack on Japan would have been morally monstrous. Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA But, it will be objected, is it not more monstrous to kill all 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. those innocent civilians? No. The moral principle is: the responsibility for all deaths in war lies with the aggressor who initiates force, not with those who defend themselves. Further, the objection contains a mistaken assumption: it Onkar Ghate earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the is false that every civilian in enemy territory—whether we are University of Calgary in 1998, where he lectured on phi- speaking of Hitler’s Germany or Hirohito’s Japan or the Tali- losophy, presented papers at conferences, served as a ban’s Afghanistan or Hussein’s Iraq—is innocent. teaching assistant and won a Canadian government schol- Many civilians in the Mideast, for example, hate us and arship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research actively support, materially and/or spiritually, those plotting Council. our deaths. Can one seriously maintain, for instance, that the

8 Radical Islam’s Assault on Human Life Anti-Reason, Anti-Freedom Ideas in Islam Encourage Terrorist Fanaticism by Edwin A. Locke

The monstrous attacks on New York and Washington on Sep- the need for a separation between church and state. Many tember 11 shocked, saddened, and angered all Americans as well Muslims left the Mideast specifically to escape theocracy and as the rest of the Western world. its consequences—especially the lack of freedom. Some causes of this tragedy have already been identified: The terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center vividly poor intelligence; inadequate airport and airplane security; and, betrays their motivation. This was not just an assault on most important, the weakness of the U. S. government, which America—which they view as the embodiment of Satan—or on has done nothing to punish those countries that have fostered capitalism, although it was both of these. At the deepest level terrorism over the past two decades. it was an assault on life itself. The World Trade Center symbol- However, there has been an eerie silence regarding the ized the principle that man can, with reason as his guide and most fundamental cause of the attack: the ideas of the terrorists individual rights as his protection, live successfully on earth by themselves. This is due largely to the popular doctrine of producing the material values his life requires. It represented “multiculturalism,” which asserts that all cultures are equal and the antithesis of the anti-life, anti-this-earth philosophy of the none may criticize another. But the terrorists’ acts cannot be religious fanatics who worship death and the afterlife. understood without grasping at least two fundamental premises The only proper response to people who have declared of their avowed philosophic base: Islam. war on life and happiness—and everything that makes them First, in Islamic philosophy it is a moral duty and a moral possible—is to give them what they want: death—and to recog- to kill “infidels”—those who do not accept Islam. The nize that this is not just a war of weapons but a war of ideas. Koran is replete with such commandments as: “fight and slay the Ultimately, our biggest danger is not terrorist attacks but at- Pagans wherever you find them . . . those who reject our signs tacks of moral self-doubt—by ourselves. We must proclaim we shall soon cast into the fire . . . those who disbelieve, gar- loudly and with moral certainty the values we stand for: reason, ments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured rights, freedom, material prosperity, and personal happiness on down on their heads . . . as to the deviators, they are the fuel of this earth. hell.” This is not to say all Muslims agree with this idea, but the terrorists take these teachings of the Koran seriously and liter- ally. In his “Declaration of War against the Americans,” Osama If you would like to help make other editorials like this one pos- sible, please consider making a contribution to the Ayn Rand Insti- bin Laden repeatedly cites religious texts in addition to the tute. ARI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to ARI Koran to justify his holy war. He especially favors martyrdom in the United States are tax-exempt to the extent provided by law. and boasts that Islamic youths “love death as you [the Ameri- cans] love life.” The highest level of paradise, he claims, is Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA reserved for those who die in battle. The young terrorists, he 92606. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. says, “have no intention except to enter paradise by killing you.” Islam may oppose suicide, but it glorifies dying in battle, which is how the terrorists view their acts. Second, Islam, unlike Christianity (since the Renaissance and Thomas Aquinas), has no respect for reason as a means of gaining knowledge or guiding actions. Islam advocates total domination of every sphere of life by religion, including the legal system, politics, economics, and family life. The individual is not supposed to think independently but to selflessly subor- dinate himself to religious dogma. The word “Islam” means literally: submission. The Koran states that knowledge comes from revelation, not thinking. The ideal Islamic society is a theocracy (religious dictatorship) run primarily by clerics. We have seen this before in the West—it was called the Dark Ages. These two Islamic ideas together easily lead to religious fanaticism. The fanatic demands unquestioning obedience based on faith and rejects any attempt to question religious dogma. The fanatic cannot be reasoned with, because he rejects reason Edwin A. Locke, Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Mo- totally. The fanatic cannot be persuaded that his views should tivation at the University of Maryland (retired), has pub- be modified on the grounds that they are inimical to life, because lished more than 230 articles, chapters and books on sub- life on earth is not important to him. Although there are other jects such as leadership, work motivation, goal setting, job possible interpretations of Islam, the terrorist fanatics are con- satisfaction, incentives and the philosophy of science. He sistent and uncompromising advocates of its doctrines. is internationally known for his work on human motivation, It is true that many Muslims who live in the West reject and is the author of such books as The Prime Movers: Traits religious fanaticism and are law-abiding and even loyal Ameri- of the Great Wealth Creators and Goal Setting: A Motiva- cans, but this is because they have accepted some Western tional Technique That Works. values, including respect for reason and individual rights and

9 Impact of Our Pro-Israel Talk What Your Donation Campaign, continued from page 1 Triggers Major Can Support By supporting ARI, you can help finance Providence Journal, Houston Radio Interviews more editorials (like those reprinted here) Chronicle, Los Angeles Daily News At college campuses around the country, and live campus lectures in defense of and Chicago Sun Times. Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the America’s and Israel’s right to fight ter- n Scores of Web sites around the Ayn Rand Institute, has been presenting rorism. A tax-deductible donation of world—from Tulsa to Taiwan an uncompromising talk titled “In Moral $1,500 will help pay for one campus lec- to Tel Aviv—have published Defense of Israel.” Drawing large audi- ture (this includes travel and security for our editorials. ences at such campuses as the University our speakers). So far, ARI speakers have of Arizona and Rice University (Hous- presented more than two dozen campus ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES ton), he has also been in high demand for talks, reaching more than 2,320 students, radio interviews. n professors and members of the public. In the last seven months alone, the In March, on the day he was to Ayn Rand Institute has sponsored Untold millions have listened to our deliver his lecture at CU Denver, Brook speakers on radio and national television. 56 college campus lectures, was invited to appear on the Mike Rosen including such topics as Mideast $2,000 can finance the research, writ- Show, the most popular talk show in Den- ing and distribution of one editorial. But terror and Sept. 11. ver, for a one-hour discussion of the con- n More than 2,320 students, whatever you can donate will be put to flict in the Mideast. His comments drew good use defending the values we all professors and members of the such a response from the host and the general public attended ARI’s cherish. Our editorials have been pub- audience that Brook was invited to remain lished in newspapers and on the Internet, campus lectures, which were held at on the air for an additional 40 minutes. such universities as: Harvard, reaching an aggregate circulation of about Thus, began a small chain reaction. 150 million readers each year. Stanford, CU Denver, University of Having listened to Brook’s 100 min- Chicago, University of Michigan, By supporting ARI, you will be help- utes of trenchant commentary, the produc- ing to defend Israel and America’s war UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon ers of the Ken Hamblin Show called him (among many others). against terrorism. Through us, your efforts immediately after the interview. They invit- will be amplified throughout the culture. ed him to take part in another interview. Send a check or money order (or “Reaching college students and the your credit card information) payable to general public,” said Brook recently, “is cru- the Ayn Rand Institute: About the cial, because they are still open to reason. Ayn Rand Institute They are open to hearing the truth about Ayn Rand Institute, Dept. ISR Israel and about America’s foreign policy.” 2121 Alton Parkway Founded in 1985 the Ayn Rand Insti- A number of people who attended Suite 250 tute (ARI) promotes the philosophy of Brook’s lecture that night came because Irvine, CA 92606 Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged they had heard him on the radio. Brook Phone: (949) 222-6550 and The Fountainhead. ARI fights the noted: “Radio interviews are a terrific way Fax: (949) 222-6558 intellectual battle for reason, individu- of reaching hundreds of thousands of E-mail: [email protected] alism and freedom. Whether the target people. So I was gratified that not only is America, Israel or any other Western was I able to have so much airtime, but Or visit our Web site, www.aynrand.org/ nation, there is no question that the that people who heard me showed up for support and donate by credit card. world’s terrorist nations have as their the talk.” avowed enemy the values of life, liber- ty and the pursuit of happiness. Only by presenting an unequivocal and un- compromising defense of these ideals can we win this ideological war. Web Site Defending Israel In addition to our other projects, On a new Web site we have collected such as producing editorials, ARI defends all of the Institute’s editorials, press Western values by means of campus lec- releases and essays in defense of Is- tures. Colleges today are awash with the rael. We encourage you to visit the pernicious doctrines of moral relativism site and to tell your friends, associ- and multiculturalism. One of the many ates, family and coworkers about it. tragic results of this trend is that—in a The site is continually updated and perverse inversion of fact and morality— offers visitors an easy way to forward college professors defend Arafat’s terror- articles by e-mail. ists as “freedom fighters,” while likening Israel to Nazi Germany! ARI recognizes the life-or-death importance of defending Left: www.aynrand.org/israel/ Israel as a step toward a rational foreign policy for America. Publisher: Ayn Rand Institute, 2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92606. Phone: (949) 222-6550. Fax: (949) 222-6558. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.aynrand.org. Editor: Elan Journo. 10 Designer: Simon Federman. All rights reserved ©2002.