“From the River to the Sea, Palestine must be free!”  The slogan, a staple at the anti-Israel demonstrations, has a barely veiled genocidal meaning that it being revived into an operative plan. It does not refer to Gaza or Judea and Samaria aka “The West Bank.”

The slogan refers to the intention of the Palestinians across the political spectrum to kill and expel Jews from Israel, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan river – about 40 miles wide! — and replace it with an all Muslim “Palestine.”

“Palestine” is the name given by the Romans some two thousand years ago to replace “Judea”, the Jewish nation they vanquished and expelled. In our time, the name was appropriated in the Sixties, by Yasser Arafat, to displace the Jewish people and replace the resurrected State of Israel.

Despite the legal mumbo-jumbo of the Hamas and PLO charters, this is the policy of the vast majority of Palestinians, according to every poll.  And it is the demonstrated meaning of the massacre carried out by the Palestinians – not just Hamas and Islamic Jihad but hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians who raped, dismembered, murdered and kidnapped men, women, children and babies.

This is not the first time that the Palestinians have demanded or tried with violence to force the end of the Jewish presence in Israel. They have tried, again and again, and failed.

They rejected the UN Partition Plan of 1947 and they tried to exterminate the fledgling Israel state, most fleeing at their leaders’ urging, others leaving in the wake of fighting in Israel’s War of Independence. The scenario repeated in 1967, when the Arab states aimed to strangle Israel by cutting off its access to shipping and oil and gathered around the Jewish State to exterminate it. The surprise attack of October 1973 was another failed attempt.

In each case, the Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace and compromise.

In the wake of the October 7 Massacre, Israel is furious and threatened as never before. The Jewish State suffered the greatest loss in its history, the greatest loss of life of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. Israel is intent on destroying Hamas as a functioning entity, and it’s not bluffing.

The Palestinians have been warned to evacuate their homes in the theatre of war, just as Israelis were forced by their government to flee the border areas for their own safety.

They had best comply. Failure to do so will lead to needless loss of life. And it will lead to massive expulsion and loss of life.

The same applies to the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. The same applies to disloyal or violent elements among the more than 2 million Arab citizens of Israel. This is not the time to be trifling with the IDF. The gloves are off. Live fire will be used.

Should Arabs anywhere raise their arms and threaten Israelis, or disrupt the just war effort, the IDF’s response will be swift and uncompromising.

All the demonstrations and threats of Muslims and Arabs and their supporters will only lead to more painful losses for the Palestinians.

The October 7 Massacre forever changed the rules of the game. If Jews are threatened or massacred in their homes, the Arabs will swiftly find themselves homeless, or lifeless.

If so, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free…. of “Palestinians.” If the Arabs dare repeat the violence of October 7, or do not stay out of the way of Israel’s sacred mission to rid the area of the Hamas-Isis terror group, they will find themselves bringing upon themselves a second “Nakba.”

Israelis will not shed a tear. The survivors of the Shoah and the Jewish expellees from the hostile surrounding Arab states suffered enough for lacking a state. We have shed enough for the victims of the massacre of Israelis and citizens of dozens of other nations. Israel is a diverse, multi-ethnic society with equal rights and opportunities. We welcome all those who want to live with us in peace, either as citizens or good neighbors. It is now clear that it is Us or Them. We are not going anywhere.

The Arabs must choose. If they wish to live peacefully in Israel and its neighborhood, they must now — right now — get out of the way of our mission to rid “Palestine” of Hamas and other terror-supporting elements.

Any person who supports the terrorists, from the river to the sea, is free. To flee.