A Threat That Became Kal ve-Homer [a minor to major inference]

A rebuttal to the argument that violent resistance is futile. It is claimed that because the Yishuv is surrounded by enemies who outnumber it resistance is impossible. Those who oppose resistance seek alternative methods, such as binationalism. But these ideas are themselves doomed to fail, because the hatreds and prejudices the British are fostering among the Arabs make them predisposed not to trust them, and they rightly sense in such proposals weakness. The Etzel is honest about its aims and the limits of what it wants. Only the showing of force can prevent attacks from the Arabs. The Etzel does not consider the Arabs to be its enemies. The Arabs are jealous of the Jews' standard of living, and that may lead to attacks if the Jewish state is small and weak. But if the Jews are strong and well defended there will be peace with the Arabs.