Messaging
It is a modern progressive notion that “civilians” should not be “targeted” by the military or police, when clearing riots or terrorist nests.
Gaza may serve as an example, along with the “West Bank” and southern Lebanon, where active, murderous “Palestinians” enjoy the support of approximately the whole population. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in all these places approve what was done by the armed “Palestinians” on October 7th, and say it should be done again and again. But a more useful distinction would be the specifically technical one, between those who are using weapons (including rock-throwers), and those not using weapons, at the moment. We needn’t shoot members of the latter group; let them self-pacify.
By a more liberal policy on shooting the former, however, we might save lives. For once the general population of “Palestinians” comes to realize that we are no longer “just kidding,” mothers might instruct their children more carefully. Adult perpetrators of violent acts would no longer have to wonder about their chance of survival (for it would shrink to nil), thus reducing everyone’s anxieties.
The same approach should be taken throughout the West, and indeed in Toronto, where a Jewish delicatessen was firebombed, penultimate night. (Our intrepid cops, reading the graffitoes scrawled on the premises, suspect that there was “hate motivation.”)
Complacency may be found in the German mainstream press, reporting the number of arrests during New Year celebrations in Germany. This declined by 10 percent from the previous year. And while many dozen policemen were, as usual, injured, their injuries were “minor” — i.e. none were killed. The reader must then dig through the “hard right” Internet to learn what happened, and where, in the course of that evening. For Europe was put on fire.
The number, for instance, of cars that were torched, in the hundreds around Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, &c, increased, together with the number of stabbings on the street, and desecrations of many other kinds; but we should look to the future. A perfectly robust response to the rioters would, for instance, reduce the need for arrests by 100 percent.
It would also turn the tide on Islamism, and Woke Leftism. For Islamophobia — “the fear of Muslims” — is only half of what is required. It is the passive part. We need a more active strategy against Islam and the Left.
Progressive notions are unsound. They don’t “communicate.”
While freedom of speech, and the freedom of peaceful association, are recognized in law, neither resembles a licence to intimidate. The authorities should not be shy when making this distinction. Let them be bold in making it understood. Their message should be: “Live and let live, or we’ll kill you.”