By Dan Hennessy

“Now Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his forces together; thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it. Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, "Thus says Ben-Hadad: 'Your silver and your gold are mine; your loveliest wives and children are mine.'"

And the king of Israel answered and said, "My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours."

1Kings 20:1-4

Ahab, king of Israel, the son of Omri, was the seventh king of the separate kingdom of Israel, and second of his dynasty.  He reigned in Samaria for twenty-two years.

The great lesson that we learn from his life is the depth of evil that a weak man can fall into when he abandons himself to the guidance of another person whose intentions are not pure. 

At first threat from a northern thug-ocracy, Ahab was willing to give up not only his people's gold and silver, but "the best of [their] wives and children."  No matter what he does after making this unthinkable concession, a deplorable aspect of his character is established.  

Tragically, this biblical passage bears similarity to the land-for-policy advocated by a succession of Israeli Prime Ministers, to include Ehud Olmert, at the behest of the Bush Administration's Department of State.     

We read in the Bible of three campaigns which Ahab undertook against Ben Hadad II, king of Damascus, two defensive and one offensive.  Israel was victorious in the first two, but Ahab, mistakenly confident that a disguise would bring him safety in battle, was slain by a “certain man who drew a bow at a venture” (1 Kings 22:34; 2 Chronicles 18:33) while riding a chariot in the third campaign.

The historical narrative explains how the king of Israel first capitulated to a siege undertaken by Ben-Hadad II, king of Syria, by handing over to him the most precious things of Israel: silver and gold, even “the best of your wives and children.” But when Ben-Hadad comes knocking on the door again with more demands, as dictators and terrorists always do, Israel's king realizes that his enemy's intentions are total conquest. Ahab, perhaps envisioning his own eventual destruction, seeks and receives wise counsel prior to acting.  The counsel he receives from his “cabinet” of elders is brief and to the point: “Do not listen or consent.”

Ahab sends messengers declaring that this second round of demands will not be met.  Ben-Haddad, who might be viewed as a forerunner of Yassar Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, Osama ben Laden, Hassan Nasrallah, and other current leaders of the terrorist-jihadist movement, sends words through diplomatic channels that he will transform Israel to dust in the event that they refuse his “deal.” 

(Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush comes to mind here, with its "offer," through diplomatic correspondence, to treat America well if it converts to Islam.  As does Yassar Arafat's speech at the United Nations in 1974, when he was first accepted as a legitimate statesman while serving as the leader of an known terrorist organization.)
 

The cabinet of elders are again summoned and Ahab's response is firm and resolute.  Ahab attacks Syria, as encouraged by a prophet, defeating the Syrian army “with a great slaughter.”

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with Ehud Barak as his Defense Minister, is ready to give away “gold and silver, wives and children” again, just as Ahab did at the first threat from Ben-Hadad.  As prime minister, the current Defense Minister tried to also do this through the July 2000 Camp David talks, offering up Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, and more to the Arab cause. Ariel Sharon became part of the give-away legacy, handing Gaza over to become the terrorist base it now is. 

Yassar Arafat, the Ben-Hadad of his time, rejected the wholesale offer of Barak, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Holocaust denier who fills the slot vacated by Arafat, is making it hard for Olmert to give Israel's heart away, too, wringing the life slowly from Israel's peace-seeking soul through the so-called “negotiating” process. 

After Arafat's rejection of Ehud Barak's wholesale deal, the al-Aqsa Intifada “suddenly” erupted.  Ariel Sharon’s contribution to the give-it-away cause created a new regional base of terrorist operations in Gaza.  Does anyone recall the process that gave the Sudenland to Hitler?  Does anyone see a pattern here?  Can we not predict what will happen when Abbas/Fatah/Hamas/PA rejects the next land-for-peace-deal offered by the U.S.-led alliance? 

Another violent reaction will be orchestrated and greater demands will follow.

The truth of the matter is, as stated in the Los Angeles Times by Moshe Ya'alon, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center, “before any lasting on-the-ground movement toward peace can be achieved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, foreign emissaries, as well as some Israelis, will have to shake off some long-disproved tenets of the conventional wisdom about the dispute.”

The elders of Israel told Ahab “Do not listen or consent” to demands from the enemy poised to strike at any moment.  Once committed to a policy of no-appeasement, when the prophet was asked by the king "who will start the battle?" the prophet answered, "You will."

It is a terrifying thing to realize that Ahab, one of the most weak-minded, evil kings in the history of Israel, only appeased the terrorist-king Ben-Hadad once before protecting his own (and his people’s), interests.  Since the 1992 Oslo agreement dovish Israeli governments, encouraged by the Bush Administration, have given the Arab world reason to believe that Israel has lost its will to survive.

Perhaps Ehud Olmert should read the account of Ahab's dealings with the Syrians, beginning in the twentieth chapter of 1 Kings.  Ahab died while disguised, hiding the fact that he was a king.  Israel could die as its non-leaders diguise themselves as leaders.
 

Perhaps better yet, President Bush should read the account aloud to Condoleezza Rice and stop pushing land-for-peace demands toward a two-state solution in appeasement of the enemy, as both short- and long-term policies contribute directly to the completion of the pan-Arab effort to push Israel into the Mediterranean sea. 

To disguise oneself as an enemy of terror while promoting larger terrorist objectives is a dangerous conflict of ideas.

Like pushing an entire nation in an open-air chariot into battle.