Dear Friend of FLAME:
On the evening of March 8 of this year, 29-year-old American Taylor Force and his wife were viciously stabbed by a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist as
they strolled on a boardwalk in the Israeli seaside city of Jaffa.
The Forces were tourists, neither was Jewish. Taylor Force himself was a West Point graduate and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He died shortly after the
attack, and his wife was critically injured.
Police killed the murderer shortly after the deed, but within hours the terrorist was praised as a "martyr" at his West Bank funeral and in
Palestinian media.
Such incidents of cruel, bloody incitement against Israel, Jews—and even non-Arabs who would dare to visit Israel—are commonplace in Palestinian society.
All day Palestinian TV stations broadcast audio and video hysterically accusing "the Zionists" of murdering Palestinian children in cold blood—nearly all of whom are teens shot by authorities as they tried to kill Israelis with knives. Many of these TV messages exhort viewers to avenge the
children's deaths.
At the heart of Palestinian hate for Jews and Israel is the belief—also daily repeated in Palestinian media—that Jews are animals (hyenas, pigs,
snakes) who have no right to occupy Arab lands, and specifically the Palestinian "homeland," which includes all of present-day Israel.
It is within this context—in a bold triumph of fantasy over facts on the ground—that France is convening a summit this week to force Israel and the
Palestinians to make peace. John Kerry, ever the naïve striver after his Nobel Peace Prize, has agreed to join 20 other countries in attendance. The
fact that neither Israel nor the Palestinians has been invited to the party only underscores the futility of such a meeting—but then again, Paris in
early summer can be so fine.
What the Europeans and Kerry ignore in their compulsive do-goodism is the glaring reality that the Palestinians don't want peace and don't want a two-state solution. They want Israel. Perhaps just as important, even if the well-intentioned Western nations
could find a "moderate Palestinian," a leader who does want peace and isn't obsessed with defeating Israel, still no peace could be forged.
Because the Palestinian people have been conditioned for decades to rabidly hate Jews and believe they can and must defeat them. They would never
permit such a "Jew-loving" leader to live.
Indeed, even Yasser Arafat, father of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, admitted that he couldn't accept Israel's generous land-for-peace offer in 2001, because he would have been quickly assassinated—as was Egyptian strongman Anwar Sadat in 1981
following his signing of a peace treaty with Israel.
This week's FLAME Hotline tells a touching, personal story about Palestinian hate. It's by Micah Lakin Avni, son of Richard Lakin, another American who was
recently killed by a terrorist in Israel. Mr. Avni tells his father's poignant story—of a man who loved peace and lived for peace, but whose
aspirations and goodwill were brutally struck down by a vicious 22-year-old who cared nothing for peace.
I think you'll find Mr. Avni's short article to be both informative and useful as you discuss the upcoming Paris "peace" summit with friends, family and
colleagues. It's important our fellow Americans realize that incessant Palestinian incitement poisons any chances of peace with Israel—and that
peace talks are useless until the incitement stops.
In addition, I hope you'll also quickly review the P.S. immediately below, which describes FLAME's current hasbarah campaign to support Israel's
touch-and-go negotiations with the Obama administration to renew U.S. military aid to the Jewish state in these treacherous times.
Best regards,
Jim Sinkinson
President, Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)
P.S.
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Every year, the U.S. allocates $3 billion in aid to Israel, and the White House is currently playing hard ball in negotiating a new agreement with
Israel right now. Enemies of Israel often criticize this investment, arguing that it's a waste of taxpayer money. Though nothing could be further from the
truth, too many Western media are buying it! That's why FLAME is publishing a new position paper in media nationwide—which explains the inestimable
strategic value the United States receives from this support of the Jewish state. I urge you to review this outspoken hasbarah message: "Why Does Israel Matter?" This inspirational piece is appearing in magazines and newspapers, including
college newspapers, with a combined readership of some 10 million people. In addition, it is being sent to every member of the U.S. Congress and President
Obama. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. Remember: FLAME's powerful ability
to influence public opinion—and U.S. aid to Israel—comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you'll consider giving a donation now, as you're
able—with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to
donate now. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the financial and political support it needs—from the U.S. Congress, from President
Obama, and from the American people.
As of today, more than 15,000 Israel supporters receive the FLAME Hotline at no charge every week. If you're not yet a subscriber, won't you join
us in receiving these timely updates, so you can more effectively tell the truth about Israel? Just go to
free subscription.
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The Anti-Israel Poisoning Starts Young
Palestinian Schools honor the killing of my father, a teacher. This would break his heart.
By Micah Lakin Avni, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2016
My Father, Richard Lakin, a 76-year-old retired elementary-school principal from Connecticut, was on a bus in Jerusalem last October when two young
Palestinian men boarded and began shooting and stabbing passengers indiscriminately. Two passengers were killed that awful day and 16 injured, including my
father. Despite the efforts of first responders and the nurses and doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, my father died two weeks later. He had been shot
in the head and stabbed multiple times in the head, face, chest and stomach.
Over the past seven months I've spent a lot of time trying to understand what would cause two educated Palestinian men in their early 20s to board a public
bus and butcher a group of innocent civilians, many of them senior citizens. I'm sorry to report that the Palestinian reaction to the attack has led me to
believe that the "peace process" is more one-sided than ever.
My father grew up a fighter for civil rights in America. He took those values with him in 1984 when he emigrated to Jerusalem, where he taught English to
Arabs and Jews. He was a kind, gentle-hearted man who dedicated his life to education and promoting peaceful coexistence.
Yet Palestinian newspapers praised Baha Alyan,
one of the terrorists who murdered my father, as a "martyr and intellectual." Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has met with the families of
the attackers and praised them as "martyrs." A Palestinian scout leader said Baha Alyan, who was shot and killed by a security guard before he could kill
more innocent passengers, was "an example for every scout."
Muhammad Alyan, the father of Baha Alyan, has been invited to speak at Palestinian schools and universities about this son the "martyr." He recently spoke
to children at Jabel Mukaber Elementary School in East Jerusalem, about a half a mile from where my father lived. Tragically, many Palestinian children,
perhaps most, are still taught to honor terrorists and fight for the destruction of Israel.
All of this would break my father's heart. In 2007 he published a book called "Teaching as an Act of Love" summarizing his life's work and educational
philosophy. The message of his book is that every child is a miracle that should be nurtured with love. After Baha Alyan's father visited Jabel Mukaber
Elementary School, I asked school officials if I could come and share my father's message of peace and coexistence. My offer was rejected.
As long as Palestinian leaders nurture a culture of hate,
encouraging school children to go out and kill, more violence is inevitable. By encouraging hatred, they distance all of us from the love and belief in
peaceful coexistence for which my father stood.
My father's book begins with a quote from William Penn: "I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any
good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."
My father lived by those words. If only his murderers had as well.
Mr. Avni is the CEO of Peninsula Group Ltd, a publicly traded Israeli commercial finance institution.
