I weep as I witness outrageous verbal attacks on Israel. What makes these verbal assaults and distortions all the more painful is that they are being orchestrated by President Obama.
For me, the situation today recalls what occurred in 70 AD when the Roman emperor Vespasian launched a military campaign against the Jewish nation and its ancient capital of Jerusalem. Ultimately, Masada, a rock plateau in the Judean desert became the last refuge of the Jewish people against the Roman onslaught. I have been to Jerusalem and Masada. From the top of Masada, you can still see the remains of the Roman fortifications and garrisons, and the stones and earth of the Roman siege ramp that was used to reach Masada. The Jews of Masada committed suicide rather than let themselves be taken captive by the Romans.
In Rome itself, I have seen the Arch of Titus with the sculpture showing enslaved Jews and the treasures of the Jewish Temple of Solomon with the Menorah, the symbol of the Jewish state, being carted away as booty during the sacking of Jerusalem.
Oh, you may say, that is a far fetched analogy. Please hear me out.
The most recent sacking of the old city of Jerusalem -- its Jewish quarter -- took place under the Jordanians in 1948 in the first war between the Jews and the Arabs, with at least five Muslim states -- Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq -- seeking to destroy the Jewish state. At that time, Jordan conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank and expelled every Jew living in the Jewish quarter of the old city, destroying every building, including the synagogues in the old quarter and expelling from every part of Judea and Samaria every Jew living there so that for the first time in thousands of years, the old walled city of Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank were "Judenrein" -- a term used by the Nazis to indicate the forced removal or murder of all Jews.
Jews had lived for centuries in Hebron, the city where Abraham, the first Jew, pitched his tent and where he now lies buried, it is believed, in a tomb with his wife, Sarah, as well as other ancient Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs. I have visited that tomb and at the time asked an Israeli soldier guarding it -- so that it was open to all pilgrims, Christians, Muslims and Jews -- "where is the seventh step leading to the tomb of Abraham and Sarah," which was the furthest entry for Jews when the Muslims were the authority controlling the holy place? He replied, "When we retook and reunited the whole city of Jerusalem and conquered the West Bank in 1967, we removed the steps, so now everyone can enter," whereas when Muslims were in charge of the tomb, no Jew could enter it. And I did.
I am not a religious person. I am comfortable in a synagogue, but generally attend only twice a year, on the high holidays. When I entered the tomb of Abraham and Sarah, as I recall, I felt connected with my past and the traditions of my people. One is a Jew first by birth and then by religion. Those who leave their religion remain Jews forever by virtue of their birth. If they don't think so, let them ask their neighbors, who will remind them. I recall the words of the columnist Robert Novak, who was for most of his life hostile to the Jewish state of Israel, in an interview with a reporter stating that while he had converted to Catholicism, he was still a cultural Jew. I remain with pride a Jew both by religion and culture.
My support for the Jewish state has been long and steadfast. Never have I thought that I would leave the U.S. to go and live in Israel. My loyalty and love is first to the U.S. which has given me, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, so much. But, I have also long been cognizant of the fact that every night when I went to sleep in peace and safety, there were Jewish communities around the world in danger. And there was one country, Israel, that would give them sanctuary and would send its soldiers to fight for them and deliver them from evil, as Israel did at Entebbe in 1976.
I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the U.S. and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust on both sides. The contrast between how the president and his administration deals with Israel and how it has decided to deal with the Karzai administration in Afghanistan is striking.
The Karzai administration, which operates a corrupt and opium-producing state, refuses to change its corrupt ways - the president's own brother is believed by many to run the drug traffic taking place in Afghanistan - and shows the utmost contempt for the U.S. is being hailed by the Obama administration as an ally and publicly treated with dignity. Karzai recently even threatened to join the Taliban if we don't stop making demands on him. Nevertheless, Karzai is receiving a gracious thank-you letter from President Obama. The New York Times of April 10th reported,
...that Mr. Obama had sent Mr. Karzai a thank-you note expressing gratitude to the Afghan leader for dinner in Kabul. 'It was a respectful letter,' General Jones said.
On the other hand, our closest ally -- the one with the special relationship with the U.S. -- has been demeaned and slandered, held responsible by the administration for our problems in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The plan I suspect is to so weaken the resolve of the Jewish state and its leaders so that it will be much easier to impose on Israel an American plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving Israel's needs for security and defensible borders in the lurch.
I believe President Obama's policy is to create a whole new relationship with the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and Iraq as a counter to Iran -- The Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Muslim world, which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon. If throwing Israel under the bus is needed to accomplish this alliance, so be it.
I am shocked by the lack of outrage on the part of Israel's most ardent supporters. The members of AIPAC, the chief pro-Israel lobbying organization in Washington, gave Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she had carried out the instructions of President Obama and, in a 43-minute telephone call, angrily hectored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Members of Congress in both the House and Senate have made pitifully weak statements against Obama's mistreatment of Israel, if they made any at all. The Democratic members, in particular, are weak. They are simply afraid to criticize President Obama.
What bothers me most of all is the shameful silence and lack of action by community leaders -- Jew and Christian. Where are they? If this were a civil rights matter, the Jews would be in the mall in Washington protesting with and on behalf of our fellow American citizens. I asked one prominent Jewish leader why no one is preparing a march on Washington similar to the one in 1963 at which I was present and Martin Luther King's memorable speech was given? His reply was "Fifty people might come." Remember the 1930s? Few stood up. They were silent. Remember the most insightful statement of one of our greatest teachers, Rabbi Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"
We have indeed stood up for everyone else. When will we stand up for our brothers and sisters living in the Jewish state of Israel?
If Obama is seeking to build a siege ramp around Israel, the Jews of modern Israel will not commit suicide. They are willing to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, but they will not allow themselves to be bullied into following self-destructive policies.
To those who call me an alarmist, I reply that I'll be happy to apologize if I am proven wrong. But those who stand silently by and watch the Obama administration abandon Israel, to whom will they apologize?
Heidi Kingstone: Village People
The big decision facing any ex-pat in Kabul on any given Thursday, the start of the Afghan weekend, is what to do that night.
What can we do? (Not hypothetical) I'd like to know.
Thank you!!
Visit Gaza and watch IDF jets buzz you every night, see if you
can avoid their bombs?
Both sides have been wrong, including Israel. But so many of
you dare not think that.
Obama has an agenda to push, and he intent on pushing it, without any consideration for Israel's needs for safety and security in a region that is hostile and armed to the teeth with Iranian weapons, soon to be nuclear. What would motivate him to put Israel in such dangerous waters. I can only venture to say that all of his past associations at Harvard and in Chicago are coming home to roost. His advisors are anti-semitic, such as Samantha Powers, Z. Brzenzski, Jimmy Carter. If anyone believes Obama isn't anti-semitic because he hired a Jew to work for him, Rahm Emanuel, court jew,
think again.
My fear, Mr. Koch, yes I am afraid, is that the Obama plan will remove one half a million Jews (between E. Jerusalem and West Bank settlements), and drive them into Tel Aviv, which will ghettoize them, until the day the missiles hit. Three million Jews all huddled together, with no where to go. God help us all.
Deborah Lurya http://jewtudes.blogspot.com
THAT is exactly why we should get out of this region.
No more money for Israel, which does not need it or appreciate it.
No more money for anyone there. No advice.
No soldiers especially in case of war.
Let them fix it or else. We have tried and get blamed, enough !
Another holocaust is brewing, really, or have you been drinking?
Right wing fools, in Israel and the US, are far more dangerous to it's peace
and future than most Arabs.
Albert Einstein
Letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, January 3, 1954
be as dangerous as any other......and he was so right !
I still find it hard to understand how people suggest that Israel is some rogue, tolitarian state just searching for a fight. Speaking as if Israel is the greatest danger to the world. Even most of Israel's Arab neighbors have come to realize that Israel's goal is to live a peaceful existience. Yet some how people like EnMasse have been convinced that Israel is the new Iran.
Well I live in Israel, in Tel Aviv, and am secular. And let me tell you a short story. I get my hair cut next to Rabin Square. My stylist was a girl straight from sweden. She told me that she moved from Sweden to Israel with her boyfriend because in Sweden they are slowly losing their freedoms, while Tel Aviv is the most free and liberal place she's been in her life (and she's travelled pretty extensively, also having lived in Spain).
That's right, Tel Aviv (and the majority of Israel outside of religious neighborhoods) is probably freer than most cities in the United States. We have a robust, pluaralistic society, freedom of speech (inspite of the propoganda you hear in the press), and a dynamic, introspective society that is very critical of itself.
If you want to believe the lies and propoganda, feel free. But you're only lying to yourself, and others.
And the story I told you was both true and told to me by a girl from Sweden, not switzerland. She says that slowly they are passing laws that restrict the personal freedoms of citizens, and at the same time the large population of muslim immigrants that refuse to integrate into society often make people uncomfortable, afraid to speak up, and as a result lose their freedom of expression as the result of intimidation, not law.
deborah Lurya http://jewtudes.blogspot.com.
I suggest maybe you read up on history, then visit Israel before starting to claim that its another Nazi Germany in the making. And the corrupt press doesn't count.
And they're having a hard time reconciling a domestic policy which they more or less approve of, with a foreign policy which they feel is unjustifiably deligitimizing Israel in some misguided effort to bring peace to the middle east. Misguided because this same president, who has a very apparent dislike for the sitting democratically elected prime minister of Israel, is only putting pressure on the one side of the conflict that has already made concessions and continually announced its readiness to negotiate (Israel), all the while completely supporting the rejectionist approach of the Palestinans. So the real question is, What's a Liberal (American) Jew to Do?. Read about it here: http://anothermudpit.blogspot.com/2010/04/whats-american-jew-to-do.html
Did you miss that Bibi clearly insulted VP Biden, and hence the real target,
Obama, FIRST !?!?
Then the sob has the gaul to come to our country and do it again at AIPAC.
Israel has done this quite a few times to GOP and Dem Presidents, this
is nothing new.
And some of you wonder why millions in the US are fed up with right wing Israel ?
Seriously ?
Imagine for a moment: an Israeli government even more to the right of this disasterous one, where Jewish religious zealots that insist on a state from the Niles to the Euphrates start to feel cornered by an outraged world. Imagine these nutters holing up in Jerusalem and threatening to "fight to the death" for their vision of Jewish hegemony over Arab land. And imagine that they have access to nuclear weapons...
While Obama is pontificating about nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists, he needs to consider this Masada option. There will be no smoother transfer of illegal nuclear weapons from one hand to another, than from one Israeli to another: the state to the zealot.
While you attempt to control your emotions, many of us support our President's call for peace in the region, requiring all sides to comply with UN resolutions, and end illegal settlements and the apartheid system the Israelis have developed, not unlike the Warsaw Ghetto. Thus we will call again and again for economic sanctions, divestment, boycot, and cessation of all military and financial aid to Israel.
In reading the various comments I am appalled at the lack of knowledge of the true situation vis a vis Israel and its Arab neighbors (i.e., the so-called "Palestinians").
"Palestinian land?" 'Jerusalem the capitol of Arab Palestine?' "Israel took away and occupied Palestinian land?!"
Do any of you readers know anything at all about the history of the region, or do you merely take today's headlines at face value as "the truth"?
For starters & a quick 'crash course' in Jewish history vis a vis Christianity and the advent of Islam, I would recommend this site: http://www.aish.com/jl/h/48964541.html.
Then, read about the expansion of the Ottoman Empire over Israel, which was called by its Roman-given name, Palestine; and then about the British Mandate which succeeded it, here: http://www.aish.com/jl/h/48951681.html, and here: http://www.aish.com/jl/h/48961671.html
You might better understand why the United States should support Israel as the homeland for the Jewish People, with Jerusalem as its Jewish ancient capitol, and you might just get a broader picture of whose land this rightfully is, and who is perpetrating "The Big [Arab-Palestinian] Lie."
As for " whose land this rightfully is...?" Let's get this straight. If someone came to your home and told you their relatives lived there 3000 years ago and that you are being thrown out because it is now their house, would you stay and fight or would you move? No? Didn't think so. Now you know how the Palestinians feel.
The Nethanyahu goverment has insulted and derided this administration over and over again. This is a Israeli government which has ignored intl law, geneva conventions, UN sanctions, etc. for far to long. The terror of the settlers against palestinians under IDF protection has now become a institution, with settlers conducting regular pogroms against palestinian villages. All this while the Israelis are pretending to act in good faith saying they want "peace". They don't want peace, they want land.
There is also that quaint and outdated concept of international law. It is not just a question of basic intolerance for different and even subversive opinions and actions, whose expression is a fundamental value in every democracy.
It is also a manifestation of edginess and aggressiveness that prove what you and others like you want so much to show in Israel and abroad: trying to make the stink of Israel’s failed policies smell like roses when we all know they just stink
What are those rockets that are flying into Sederot every fewweeks. Are they carrying fruit baskets? Why are innocent people dying in Israel from rocket launches. Have we forgotten the bus bombings before the "wall" was built? Without that wall, thousands more would be dead. Instead rather than purchasing weapons with which to attack Israeli citizens, why not build roads, houses, create jobs for it's people.
Funny the Arabs inside the greenline never complain. They work, they vote, they live freely. I have met many of them in Jaffa and other cities in Israel, and they appear happy and well fed.
Pogroms in Gaza? Excuse me, my grandparents escaped from Ukraine pogroms by the Kossaks. They would come into a village on their big white horses drunk, and set fire to it, for sport. Please choose more truthful adjectives and verbs, or you may sound silly. http://jewtudes.blogspot.com
The vast majority of Israelis live lives on par with Americans, while millions of Palestinians (often only a only a few miles away, or in Jerusalem, right on top of each other) live lives of stateless, right-less, squalor, unimaginable poverty and fear of the daily violence heaped upon them by the settlers and the IDF occupiers who guard the settlers.
The settlements in no way enhance Israelis security or stability, rather, they inspire terror against both Israel and the US. Living in NY, you saw first hand what the settlements and their attendant occupation helped to inspire.
The settlements are internationally condemned, and are a violation of the Geneva convention. Not a single nation on earth recognizes their legitimacy, while many nations have felt the terror that the perception of western complicity helps to inspire against them. In the Arab and Muslim world, all the radicals must do is point to the settlements and the occupation, and the horrors that they have brought down on the Palestinians for decades in order to gain new recruits.
The settlements are morally indefensible, do nothing positive, and in fact endanger the US and Israel.
If you really care about the US and Israel, you would back your president as he helps lead the US to domestic and international security and Israel back into the family of nations who respect human rights and uphold international law.
The vast majority of Israelis live lives on par with Americans, while millions of Palestinians (often only a only a few miles away, or in Jerusalem, right on top of each other) live lives of stateless, right-less, squalor, unimaginable poverty and fear of the daily violence heaped upon them but he settlers and the IDF occupiers who guard the settlers.
The settlements in no way enhance Israelis security or stability, rather, they inspire terror against both Israel and the US. Living in NY, you saw first hand what the settlements and their attendant occupation helped to inspire.
The settlements are internationally condemned, and are a violation of the Geneva convention. No a single nation on earth recognizes their legitimacy, while many nations have felt the terror that the perception of western complicity helps to inspire against them. In the Arab and Muslim world, all the radicals must do is point to the settlements and the occupation, and the horrors that they have brought down on the Palestinians for decades in order to gain new recruits.
The settlements are morally indefensible, do nothing positive, and in fact endanger the US and Israel.
If you really care about the US and Israel, you would back your president as he helps leads the US to domestic and international security and Israel back into the family of nations who respect human rights and uphold international law.
Comparing Karzai and Netanyahu is not very informative because these two leaders and their respective countries are so different.
There is plenty of time to address matters as they arise, but if given too much attention, some of the common differences can become exaggerated, and it consumes as much diplomatic resources as can be made available. Both leaders are still allowing the harmony to spread from their last meeting.
His first duty is to us, our needs and our money. We have sent billions of dollars to Israel as they subject the Palestinians to their apartheid rampage.
It is not Obama’s policies that increasingly endanger and isolate Israel, it is ISRAEL’S policies that increasingly endanger and isolate Israel.
What is it that Obama has done to Israel that is so terrible? He has simply re-stated policies that have been in place for years.
The United States has always opposed settlements and it has always demanded that illegal outposts be dismantled. The only difference between Obama and his predecessors is that he is not backing down. He may even succeed in achieving his goals.
How would that be bad for Israel? The illegal settlers terrorists are a disaster and everyone knows it.
... "We have indeed stood up for everyone else". Really? When? We fought your war in Iraq and that is enough. We will not fight your war for Iran. Enough Ed. Enough.
You want us to support Israel? Don’t build illegal settlement colonies in the Palestinian capital or on Palestinian land.
You and the rest of the "Americans" who care more about Israel than they do the United States of America should do us all a favor and move there, just surrender your passport upon your departure. No man can serve two masters.
Excuse me?
1. Is there any reason that you decline to refer to the city by its more common name?
2. Is your characterization of it as "the Palestinian capital" an implication that it is not "the Jewish capital" or "the Israeli capital"?
Under international law, neither east nor west Jerusalem is considered Israel’s capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel’s capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
East Jerusalem is in occupied Palestine just like all the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since June 4, 1967.
He said (pre-election) Jerusalem will never be divided. *sighs*
I think that is far closer to the real truth.
An Unholy Alliance if ever there was one.
Speak up, Mayor Koch. Tell the truth.
What is it that Obama has done to Israel that is so terrible? He has simply re-stated policies that have been in place for years.
The United States has always opposed settlements and it has always demanded that illegal outposts be dismantled. The only difference between Obama and his predecessors is that he is not backing down. He may even succeed in achieving his goals.
How would that be bad for Israel? The illegal settlers terrorists are a disaster and everyone knows it.
You want us to support Israel? Don’t build illegal settlement colonies in the Palestinian capital or on Palestinian land.
You and the rest of the "Americans" who care more about Israel than they do the United States of America should do us all a favor and move there, just surrender your passport upon your departure. No man can serve two masters.
Obama is more concerned with the real estate decisions of an ally than with the offensive nuclear ambitions of a foe. Do you still think that O's policies are not at fault?
They damn well know it and so does the rest of the world. Bibi is forcing the conflict because he and his government DO NOT WANT PEACE.
They are pushing the issue ON PURPOSE.
Obama administration is RIGHTEOUS in their response and condemnation of the Bibi move on building settlements and violating the Accord Agreement. Quit dodging the outright obvious facts.