RUTHFULLY YOURS

Hamas has had a lot on its plate this week. While engaging in the routine activity of honing its members’ military skills, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip is also busy preparing for the Palestinian Authority’s municipal elections, scheduled for Oct. 8.

Unlike its rivals in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, who enjoy unwarranted international recognition and support for false moderation, Hamas has a thankless job.

On the one hand, it does all the literal and figurative heavy lifting: operating summer camps to train Palestinian kids how to commit mass murder, smuggling weapons, and constructing tunnels through which to kidnap and kill Israelis. On the other hand, it has to persuade the residents of Gaza that life there is simultaneously good (under its rule) and horrendous (due to Israel’s blockade and previous war, which left swaths of the enclave in ruins).

This is no easy feat in general. But this week it was particularly difficult, as news emerged that Hamas operatives, employed by foreign charities, have been posing as humanitarian aid workers and stealing many millions of dollars out of the mouths of Gaza babes.

Just as this story broke, Hamas released an election propaganda video portraying Gaza as an affluent wonderland — lush, plush and full of facilities for family fun. The clip is only partially lying, because Hamas honchos do own villas equipped with swimming pools and spas. And though Israel’s military operations against the terrorist group’s rocket bases and death tunnels were responsible for collateral damage, the amount of money that has been poured into the area for rehabilitation could have covered the cost of very luxurious living for everyone, had Hamas not appropriated it for other purposes.

To deflect voter attention away from this inconvenient revelation, Hamas pulled another public relations stunt: On Wednesday, one of its unnamed representatives told Israel Radio that it was engaged in prisoner-swap negotiations with the Israeli government.

This announcement came on the heels of Tuesday’s memorial service for the Givati Brigade’s Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014, and whose remains — along with those of Golani Brigade Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul — are being held as bargaining chips for the release of hundreds of Hamas terrorists.

Muslims and Arabs who openly identify as Zionists are growing in number – powered by the freer flow of information and ideas made possible by social media and the search for answers in the wake of the Arab Spring and Islamist terror.

A new Facebook page for Arab supporters of Israel has attracted about 20,000 visitors. The page, which shares content in English, Arabic, and Hebrew, was founded by a religious Jewish woman and an Arab man. It posts examples of Israel treating Arabs and Muslims with kindness and shares surprising Arab support for Israel from across the Middle East, including Tunisians who created an Israeli flag after being unable to buy one, and who have faced threats for their views.

Muhammad Zoabi entered the spotlight as a proud Arab, Muslim Zionist in the summer of 2014. Just 17 at the time, Zoabi began to advocate for Israel in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. He posted a video demanding that Hamas release three Israeli teens who had been kidnapped a few weeks before Operation Protective Edge. Death threats soon forced Zoabi into hiding, and he found shelter with Kay Wilson, who had survived a brutal 2010 terrorist stabbing attack.

Zoabi became so popular that he reached his maximum friend limit (5,000) on Facebook, where there is even a page calling for him to be prime minister of Israel. Zoabi’s Zionism is hardly surprising, given his upbringing. His mother, Sarah Zoabi, revealed her Israeli patriotism on national television. She introduced herself on the popular Israeli show “Master Chef” as an “Arab, Muslim, Israeli, proud Zionist” from the northern city of Nazareth. “I believe in the right of the Jewish people to have their own country, which is the state of Israel, the Holy Land…. I want to say to all the Arabs of Israel to wake up,” she continued. “We live in paradise. Compared to other countries, to Arab countries – we live in paradise.”

As Europe reels from a pandemic of deadly Islamist terror attacks, the European Union is turning to Israel for assistance. From its formidable cyber capabilities to its tactics and training, Israel is a recognized world leader in the fight against terrorism and nations plagued by Islamist violence and terrorism are seeking its counsel, expertise and technology.

But the fight against terrorism isn’t the only place where Israelis have left their mark. When Israel acquired statehood in 1948, it was a semi-arid land plagued by chronic drought. But thanks to a combination of conservation, recycling, drip irrigation and desalinization, Israel no longer suffers from water shortages and in fact, exports large quantities of water to Jordan. California, which has suffered from extreme drought in recent years, has partnered with Israeli water technology companies to alleviate its water problems. Texas has followed suit and many third world countries have requested Israeli assistance in water purification.

Israel has also become a leader in green technology. Starved of natural resources, Israel has had to resort to innovative methods to meet its energy demands. Every Israeli home is equipped with solar panels to capture the sun’s rays and convert it into usable energy. By 2017 Israel will have the distinction of possessing the tallest solar tower in the world, dwarfing similar structures in Europe and the Israeli government has committed itself to making renewable energy account for 10 percent of its total consumption by 2020.

After a catastrophic blackout in India in July 2012 that left between 600-700 million Indian citizens without power, India turned to Israel for assistance. An Israeli renewable energy company, SDE, was tasked with supplying hundreds of megawatts of power to India by utilizing technology that harnesses the energy generated by the ocean’s waves. SDE has also signed lucrative deals with China as well as other developing nations.

When man-made and natural disasters struck Haiti, Japan, Turkey, Kosovo, Nepal and the Philippines, Israel was among the first to send medical and rescue assistance. Israel’s relief efforts in Haiti were particularly impressive and garnered significant positive international attention.

In every field, from cyber warfare and defense to green energy to water technology to disaster relief, Israel has contributed immeasurably to the world but it is in the military realm where Israel has made lasting contributions that have made the world significantly safer. On at least five separate occasions, Israeli military action changed the course of history for the better.

In June 7, 1967 Israeli forces liberated the eastern part of Jerusalem from oppressive Muslim rule. Jerusalem is home to the two great monotheistic religions, Judaism and Christianity. The city held little significance for Muslims who prayed toward Mecca and Medina. From the period of 1948 through 1967, the eastern part of the city, with its holy Christian and Jewish sites was under Muslim occupation. The Jordanians violated an agreement that would have permitted Israelis to visit holy sites. Jewish sites were desecrated or destroyed and the Christian population declined markedly as a result of stealth oppression.

There are no magic solutions to our problems with the Palestinians. But there are options other than repeating let alone expanding on failed policies.

In a surprise move last month, Hamas announced it will be participating in the Palestinian municipal elections in October. The Palestinian Authority’s Fatah leadership greeted Hamas’s announcement with deep and understandable anxiety. Hamas is expected to win control over a significant number, perhaps even a majority of municipal and local governments in Judea and Samaria.

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas (whose own fiveyear term in office ended six years ago) and his Fatah comrades aren’t the only ones worried. Last week, Yediot Aharonot’s military commentator, Alex Fishman, reported that the IDF’s senior leadership is also deeply concerned.

According to Fishman, in recent weeks Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has held a series of senior-level discussions, initially convened to discuss long-term Israeli strategic options in Judea and Samaria. Due to the IDF’s concerns over the elections, those discussions quickly devolved into a more limited discussion of how to prevent a Hamas electoral victory.

Fishman reported that the top generals have convinced Liberman, who until now supported octogenarian Abbas’s swift retirement, that “it is Israel’s interest not only for Abu Mazen [Abbas] to remain in power, but to empower him still further.”

To this end, according to Fishman, Liberman has agreed to adopt a plan prepared by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), for Israel to transfer the Civil Administration’s planning and zoning authority in Area C to the PA. The plan also involves retroactively authorizing tens of thousands of Palestinian structures built illegally in Area C and authorizing the construction of a new Palestinian urban center in Area C.

Area C, it should be recalled, constitutes some 60 percent of Judea and Samaria. It has a negligible Palestinian population. All of the Israeli communities are located in Area C. The IDF holds sole security control over the area.