Eighty years ago today, allied forces valiantly fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy. We honor all those whose service and sacrifice produced the unconditional surrender of the Nazis – and, in due course, the imperial Japanese – whose aggression ignited a world war. 

 

The planet’s complete liberation would take another year. The devastation entailed and the toll in lives, both military and civilian, would prove staggering, with non-combatants subjected to mass destruction with, other things, firebombs and two atomic weapons. 

 

It behooves us to remember that such extreme measures were deemed then both legitimate and necessary as contemporary critics of Israel’s campaign to defeat those who murderously attacked the Jewish State last year ignore her unprecedently successful efforts to minimize “collateral damage.” Israel is, moreover, as entitled as we were to insist on the unconditional surrender and complete eradication of her enemies. 

 

This is Frank Gaffney.