With the peace process stagnant at best, and the knife intifada continuing unabated, it may be understandably tempting for Israel to take action on the West Bank without a negotiated settlement—whether to withdraw unilaterally, to annex overwhelmingly Jewish areas, or to pursue some other plan. The temptation, argues Yaakov Amidror, should be resisted:

Those advocating for a Palestinian state say that while a comprehensive solution cannot be brokered at this time, steps must be taken to advance it. . . . The proponents of this approach seem willing to pay a hefty price for meager results that could, at some point, work in favor of the notion of an independent Palestinian state.

[Thus they] are willing to roll the dice and risk a potentially devastating result, one that would tear Israeli society apart for no actual achievements in the international theater or with regard to the Palestinians, who are sure to keep fighting the remainder of the “occupation.” Moreover, terrorism will only become worse, as it has after every Israeli concession. . . .

When standing on the edge of the cliff, keeping still is better than stepping forward. This is always solid advice, and it is doubly true for the chaotic Middle East. . . .

Israel should [instead] focus on improving the lives of the Palestinians, as well as on how to navigate the situation the day after Mahmoud Abbas’s regime ends, as he has no heir apparent.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.