Writing for Tech Central, Ken Adelman asks “The Right Questions“:

Acts of terrorism against civilians — whether against Israelis, by homicide bombers, or against Americans, by genocide regimes, such as Saddam Hussein’s — are too horrendous to wait until they’re launched. Vigorous action is needed before such dastardly crimes are perpetuated. Thus the need for a broad perspective when appraising the actions that we democracies must take against terrorist organizations or states.

[…] Free societies simply cannot afford to wait until terrorist groups or regimes use explosives — or chemical, biological or nuclear weapons — against us, before we react. In a fundamental sense, we must react even before they act.

Hence the need for ‘preemption.’ And hence the need for the Ahtisaari team [appointed by the UN to investigate the battleground in Jenin and led by the former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari] to expand the scope of its report back to the United Nations by asking the right questions.

Adelman is spot on. Consider Israel’s actions in response to this latest intifada, for example. Only after such questions of premption are “officially” posed (and answered) will we ever be spared the lazy and convenient “cycle of violence” conclusions ubiquitously invoked by cowardly and ineffectual world leaders and a “neutral” mainstream press. And only then will opinion shapers begin to recognize on a wider scale Israel’s right to self-defense.