“I did not know that Palestine is not a country,” was the retort I received as we talked about the anticipated address by Netanyahu before both the Senate and the House.
The clock is ticking as the days count down until the UN General Assembly meeting in September. It is then that a vote will take place, and if I were a betting person, I would put all my money on a unanimous vote, a single exception (Israel), for a Palestinian state.
Even if I am mistaken, and a few courageous countries, like Canada and Australia, may oppose, or even abstain, the recognition of a “Palestine” by the Body of Nations is inevitable.
Contrast this anticipated vote with one 63 years ago. On Saturday night, November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 was adopted at the 128th plenary meeting, paving the way for the establishment of a Jewish state.
In favor: 33 countries
Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussian S.S.R., Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukrainian S.S.R., Union of South Africa, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Uruguay, Venezuela.
Against: 13 countries
Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.
Abstained: 10 countries
Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.
The small strip of land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River will be split again, leaving even less for the Jewish people of their rightful and legal homeland.
I am not sure what is more worrisome; the impending inevitable vote and recognition, or the ignorance of the world that Palestine is a figment of the imagination soon to become a reality.
There are those who mistake Israel for an all-powerful nation, a great country, not a tiny enclave within a sea of Arab states. They do not realize Israel is a country of some seven million people, and the total number of Jews around the world is another seven million, or altogether approximately the same number as before World War II.
Hype and propaganda have made it easy to mistake Israel for Satan, as hardly a day goes by without the front pages of all the leading papers in the world and the daily news vilifying the Jewish State.
Therefore the burden and responsibility to put things in perspective falls on Israel itself. The fact that my dinner companion, highly educated and well versed in current events, thought that Palestine “is” rather than “is not” is indicative of the ongoing failure of those entrusted with foreign affairs and public diplomacy in Israel.
Ignorance begets hatred. A simple way to fight ignorance is by educating, enlightening, exposing. Israel is not doing any of these, at all.
I do not belittle for a moment the great ability of Israel’s enemies in crafting stories. They came up with a narrative stolen directly from the Jewish textbooks. They “borrowed” the Jewish yearning to go back to their homeland, hijacked the eternal capital of Israel that has been the very essence of being Jewish, mimicked the “right of return” once the modern Israel came into being and took over the overall Zionist narrative.
Then they went further. First they stole then claimed it as theirs and now they expand on the lies. Worse, they rewrite ancient and modern history, stripping and denying Israel, the rightful owner, from any connection, any claim on its own legitimate history.
They will stop at nothing until the Jews are decimated. Once they worked with Hitler, now they battle alone, determined to complete the task.
For them, the very idea of a Jewish state is the height of racism, although many Muslim countries actually exist with no such counter-claims or criticism. Strip the Jews of any rights; they deserve none. Their fate must be only one—the ovens.
Take a look, for instance, at the Israeli Arabs: equal-rights citizens of the State of Israel. The only discernable difference between them and the Jewish citizens is of their own doing. Otherwise, they speak perfect Hebrew, demand all the rights, enjoy all the privileges, ask for —and receive—correcting benefits (like Affirmative Action in the USA) and serve in all echelons of society, from the Supreme Court to the Knesset, from local law enforcement to running municipalities.
Recently they stopped being Israeli Arabs, a minority, and became “Palestinian.” They too now claim to be the owners of the land, a fifth column created and cared for by Israel herself, actively operating to undermine the country’s very existence.
Today there is no difference between the “eternal refugees,” supported by a huge UN bureaucracy, and the Israeli Arabs. They are all now all called “Palestinian,” determined to rid the land of the Jews.
The noise one hears of a “two state solution” is not only impractical (unless one talks about Jordan and Israel, a de facto solution of “Two States” that have emerged from a “partition plan” as an unintended consequence), but it is ominously misleading.
The Palestinian terrorists, including the previously named “Israeli Arabs,” do not want to be separated from Israel. They do not want borders, fences or walls. They do not want different identity cards or passports. They do not want any impediments, and most importantly they do not want to give even an inch of all they now claim is theirs.
Israel, the totality of the land, is theirs – at least in their mind’s eye. All must be “returned,” nothing can be given to or saved for the Jews.
There is only a “ONE STATE SOLUTION” and Jews have no part whatsoever. They, in fact, do not exist in this future plan.
The upcoming recognition by the UN is a critical game changer for the Middle East greatly affecting the dynamics of the conflict. War will be inevitable, as it was in 1948. It is also a driving force for the Palestinians, to see how successful the plan of the century can be: Can the world be duped into believing that the Palestinian terrorists, once simple terrorists, have become a nation? Stated differently, can they murder and inherit? Can everything they have stolen be recognized as “theirs?”
Given the number of countries that have already recognized “Palestine,” we are on a sure path to the inevitable. The ploy seems to have worked. The world once again has been conned and will ultimately, as always, pay a severe price for their folly. This so-called “unilateralism” is uncomfortable for the Jewish Left and Extreme Left. For two decades (and more), they have been advocating a “two state solution,” the rights of the “Palestinians” and Israel’s obligation to give, allow, permit and essentially cease-to-exist.
What exactly will they do after the UN Vote, as their life achievement and focus of their struggle will have materialized—go out of the destroying-their-own-people business?
For two decades and more they have acted under a pretense of great concern for the demographic question and for Israel’s behavior under very extreme circumstances. It was all “for and on behalf of Israel.” But in truth, they cared little. They did nothing to strengthen the Jewish state aside from the lip service that has achieved nothing in two decades. They have contributed to the deterioration of Israel’s position, and they want her to give even more. When one only criticizes, one is left with nothing to show for one’s achievements and contributions. They are not builders, but destroyers. This is a pitiful legacy.
It is time for Israel to wake up and begin fighting in earnest. She has very little time, but she can start by simply educating the world with the truth.
It is time for the Israeli Arabs to make up their minds: Are they better off as a religious minority in a Jewish state, or as part of a majority in any of the other Arab countries including Iran? The answer should be clear to them, yet they act counter to their own best interest.
There will come a day that decisions will have to be made. Arabs may not have the choice of staying in Israel—for instance under a real “two state solution” that recognizes a Jewish state’s right to exist.
Israel’s Left and American Jewry will have to find a better pastime than maligning Israel. Maybe they can find a constructive way to maintain their Jewish identity, for it becomes evident to anyone looking closely that with each passing generation the connection to Judaism and to Israel is becoming more distant. It is growing so weak it barely exists any longer.
For Israel to survive, all those who benefit from her existence—Israelis in Israel, Muslims in Israel, American Jewry, indeed the entire world—will have to begin acting rationally for their own benefit, not hers. Since the end results coincide, all they need to do is fight for, be concerned with and care for no one else but themselves. Selfishness will suffice to save Israel. All paths will converge into Israel’s continued existence
