ANALYSIS/OPINION:

ISTANBUL — If you have ever spent time in Israel, or even studied its history in an intellectually honest way, you have no choice but to acknowledge the entire BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement is a huge lie meant to further the destruction of Israel and has nothing to do with helping the Palestinian people.

The Palestinians have been offered a peace deal many times and refused; they don’t want peace. They want to rid the region of Jews. Israel even pulled out of the Gaza Strip some years back, to no avail. All of the concrete sent to Gaza for construction was diverted to building tunnels to attack Israel.

Most people don’t know that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs are free, can vote and can live in peace. I’ve been there many times and have seen it with my own eyes.

I’ve also stood in Sderot, Israel, right on the Gaza border, and seen the unguided Qassam rocket projectiles fired into civilian areas. I’ve seen parents scrambling to get their children to safety. I’ve seen teachers herd their kids into the school bathroom in hopes the rockets won’t harm the children.

It is a false hope, of course — the hot shrapnel will cut through all but the hardest of materials to slice up human flesh efficiently. At one point during the 2014 Gaza war, Sderot was hit by 2,500 rockets during a 12-month period. The Palestinian leadership does not want peace and has never accepted the right of Israel to exist.

All of which offers a little perspective on Thursday’s dust-up over the Israeli government’s refusal to allow two Democratic congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, prominent BDS supporters both, to enter the country. Put aside for a moment the fact that trip was no doubt conceived as a cynical attempt to propagandize and stage some more misleading photo ops. I’m sure that both of them were planning to scream “racist” and find only “facts” that support their hateful boycott effort.

It was, after all, another member of “The Squad” — New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who declared that the Palestinians have no choice but to riot over the supposed repression they face at the hands of the Israelis. In the same way the left finds “hate crimes” everywhere in the U.S., Israel’s critics will undertake the same mission in Israel, on steroids.

Jerusalem’s holy sites are already a powder keg. The fake news press won’t tell you that Israeli authorities forbid Jews from walking on the Temple Mount itself in order to not inflame the situation with local Muslims. Jews are restricted to the Western Wall only, except for certain special times of the year. This is responsible governing, not hate.

All of this poses a question for America’s Jewish community, which heavily favors the Democrats in their political giving and at the ballot box. Why are they silent? They could be a powerful voice in steering the Democrats to a more rational, honest policy toward Israel, a long-term American ally.

The Israeli government is well within its rights to stop these two charlatans from entering the country, and I’m glad they did. Israel’s defenders in the U.S. need to fight back against the false reporting and PR stunts by those in the clown car that is the modern Democratic Party and its enablers.

Enough is enough.

⦁ L. Todd Wood is a former special operations helicopter pilot and Wall Street debt trader, and has contributed to Fox Business, The Moscow Times, National Review, the New York Post and many other publications. He can be reached through his website, LToddWood.com.

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