If you are very concerned for Israel, you are not alone. New pronouncements by George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Moratinos (EU) relating to the implementation of the “road map” are only the most recent cause for uneasiness. It is plain to see that there will be tough times ahead. Who will be there to stand up for Israel? Whose voices will be authoritative and respected enough to make a difference?
The need for such support is especially great today for a number of reasons. Israel is alone among the nations; only the United States is recognized as a friend – but not an unqualified one.
Furthermore, far from the loss of friendship among the nations there is, even worse, an ominously escalating anti-Israel bias which has taken over in recent years and now hovers darkly over Israel’s horizon. But, unfortunately, an anti-Israel attitude may be perceived even within the Jewish community. Even if these voices are heard by the majority of Jews as discordant and non-representative, those anti-Israel, anti-Jewish forces in the world-at-large do hear, understand well and are bolstered by that loud minority of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Jews.
It hurts deeply when we learn that:
● Peace Now is reportedly subsidized by the EU to promote its pro-Palestinian views.
● A recent anti-war ad appeared in the New York Times – after the war on Iraq had begun – signed by approximately 100 rabbis. This is seen by many as anti-American.
● The major newspaper of the Los Angeles Jewish community, the Jewish Journal, is an example of many Jewish community organs which do not reflect the point of view of the majority of its readers vis-a-vis Israel – not even at a time when it is critical to support the Jewish state. The paper makes only a slight gesture toward a pro-Israel viewpoint but its pro-Palestinian perception comes across loud and clear. Is an editor’s biased policy more important than the survival of Israel?
Let us look now at the Arab Americans, growing in number and influence, who are exploiting every opportunity to promote their cause in America, their cause seemingly being the depreciation and dismantling of Israel.
They project themselves into U.S. prisons, into high school curricula (particularly since 9/11), and onto college campuses where their efforts to downgrade Israel have achieved frightening results. Jewish students are under siege, there being no sanctuary for them, no support from faculty or from peers. In the U.S. military there are now 13 Arab chaplains, 9 of whom have most extreme radical fundamentalist backgrounds.
The Jewish community on the other hand, has not in similar fashion spread a coherent pro-Israel viewpoint to the wider community.
How must we understand the president’s abrupt turnaround, i.e. his adamant stand on implementing the “Road Map” – without the 15 critical changes that Ariel Sharon insists are necessary before implementation? We note that the chief of the National Security Agency, Condoleezza Rice, following up the president for emphasis, stated that no one should even imagine that the current version will be amended.
We have also seen that it was Colin Powell who called Sharon to inform him of the impending war (only 90 minutes beforehand). This was a breach of protocol, for President Bush should have personally delivered that message, not the secretary of state. Why this lack of respect, particularly after Sharon heeded every request that the United States asked of Israel?
The president’s apparent change of heart is more than puzzling. He has aggressively assigned the CIA to the job of supervising the implementation of the “Road Map”; on the other hand, the Palestinian terrorists are rewarded with a state and their choice for prime minister of a published Holocaust denier and terrorist is not only approved but praised.
We believe that the president’s reconsideration or change of heart is really not that but rather the payment of a perceived political debt to Tony Blair (whose pro-Palestinian stand is well known) for his career-risking support of the U.S. in its effort to remove Saddam and his treacherous regime.
We recall painfully a previous time when Great Britain paid a political debt to the Emir Abdullah and 78% of mandated Palestine was sliced off so that Abdullah could realize his aspirations for a kingdom of his own – – and Transjordan was born. Now, in payment of a debt to Blair, the plan is to strip Israel of its biblically-ordained heartland, pushing Israel back to the very vulnerable Armistice (dubbed Auschwitz) lines of 1949.
Israel must not allow itself to be manipulated again, to let others pull the strings and do what they want with it. The Jewish community and its friends must rise to this challenge without further delay.
We have only touched upon some of the threats to Israel’s existence and to the life of the Jewish community. This is clearly a critical moment, for the Land of Israel is one of the three legs – along with Torah and Jewish Peoplehood – upon which creative Jewish life is based.
Jews must speak with one voice in support of Israel, at least with regard to the major issues of its territorial integrity and its creative survival. “Eit la’asot lashem.” It is time for Jewish leadership to shake off its lethargy, change its “rules of engagement” and do G-d’s will.
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