The conflict between Israel and the Islamist extremist terrorists seeking to eradicate it is made dramatic by the scenario unfolding now – with Hamas holding captive a 19-year-old Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, and Palestinian Arab terrorists also claiming to hold captive an 18-year-old Israeli, Eliahu Asheri. It is easy to see that they are hostages, and Israel’s efforts to free them – from taking out bridges in Gaza and arresting a Palestinian cabinet minister there to sending warplanes to buzz Bashar al-Assad’s seaside Syrian palace – only underscore the importance the Jewish state places on individual lives.

Syria yesterday called Israel’s visit to Mr. al-Assad’s palace “an aggressive act and a provocation.” We’d interpret it as a recognition by Prime Minister Olmert that the terrorist groups dominating the West Bank and Gaza get backing from sovereign states, namely, the governments of Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Sharon was making the same point when he bombed Syria in October 2003 in retaliation for a Hamas terrorist attack on a Haifa restaurant, and Mr. Olmert’s actions are an early signal that he may prove to be a worthy successor to Mr. Sharon. After Mr. Sharon bombed Syria in 2003, the American State Department made the error of calling on Israel to exercise “restraint.” The thing to remember is that unless the regimes in Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are replaced with governments committed to freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and peace – and unless America backs Israel’s measures to defend itself from hostile neighbors determined, as they have been for nearly 60 years, to destroy it – Israel will be a nation of hostages, as will America.