Rob Eshman, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, suggests in this week’s editorial that Israel should maintain the bedrock of shared values with the United States in order avoid “quickly put[ting] Israel at odds with the administration of Barack Obama.” He adds: “For 61 years, Israel’s sales pitch to American Jews, and, but extension, to all Americans, can be summed up in two words: We’re you. Israel stands for the American ideals of democracy, peace, coexistence and justice.”
It seems that Eshman completely misses the point: The bedrock of shared values is solid as ever, unshakable, indestructible. President Obama and Israel’s leadership may find themselves on a collision course, irrespective of any statements or policies by the new Israeli government. There are much greater forces at play, and Israel has long lost its lure as America’s ally in the Middle East.
Moreover, Israel may find itself at odds with practically the entire world, simply because it exists as a Jewish homeland. Thus, Israel must be strong from within, know what drives it and maintain a course of self-reliance. Israel must be focused on its continued existence, on caring for its people and on continuing to bring to the world discoveries and developments that arise from its one and true treasure – the ingenuity of its people. Israel is a light onto the nations, bestowing good onto the world, making it a better place.
We indeed have an image crisis, and “on-going bias against Israel in the media and on campuses” is not a figment of one’s imagination (or what according to Eshman is “what many American Jewish organizations claim”). The image crisis begins right with us, as we have strayed off the path of self-respect. We no longer recognize our basic duty to first uphold our own truths, beliefs and axioms. We fail to defend Israel first before offering so easily to “give it away.” We have become too politically correct, too concerned with the welfare of others before that of our own and with how would things look or sound to others.
We cannot expect anyone else to respect us, when we do not respect ourselves. Nor should we constantly blame others for our own failures. Former Secretary of State Rice was very clear to then Prime Minister Olmert, essentially relating the same message. The criticism of our enemies is a reflection and magnification of what American and Israeli Jews say in the first place. So let us stop blaming others for the hatred that starts within the body of the Jewish People itself, and let us cleanse ourselves.
We blame a caricaturist for correctly portraying exactly what Israelis said on the front page of the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. The caricature portrays a headless soldier walking the Star of David that is made to resemble a shark about to swallow or bite into the tiny, defenseless, innocent, starved Gaza. In response, the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center top-paid executives in releases to the world cried “foul,” protested against the spread of “anti-Semitism” and called for action (i.e. asked for donations so that Abe Foxman and Rabbi Hier continued visibility would justify or overshadow their $700K+ a year salaries).
We, the Jewish People, must look inward, free ourselves from this disease of the great divide and return to unity. God, our common denominator, has given us the recipe: “Join them one to one, so that they become one.” Apparently, the divide existed also in the time of Ezekiel and God was going to make us one: “They shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more.” [Ezekiel 37:22] It is not “left and right” or “’extremist’ religious right and Peace Now.” We are all one people, the Jewish People, and we have the right to exist in one place, and only in that place – the Promised Land, the State of Israel.
Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s new Foreign Minister and head of the third largest party in Israel, received 11.7% of those who voted to the 18th Knesset on February 10, 2009. 394,577 eligible voters voted for Lieberman’s party, giving him 15 mandates, or one of every eight seats in the Knesset. Lieberman himself, single handedly, received an equivalent number of votes to all the Arab parties (Ra’am-Ta’al, Hadash, National Democratic Assembly-Balad) and the left-most party Meretz combined.
Eshman quotes unnamed “people who advocate on behalf of Israel” as telling him that “Their job got much, much harder. The reason can be explained in two words: Avigdor Lieberman [sic].” Eshman got it wrong: Our job is much, much more difficult exactly because of the failure of self-anointed advocates to recognize simple truths:
First, the so-called diplomatic stalemate with palestinians will be easily resolved when the palestinians decide they truly want peace and will be willing to pay the price for such peace (let them start by stopping all terrorist attacks and stopping to teach hatred in their school, on the PA TV and at the mosques). They do not.
Second, Israel giving land will not bring the peace we, the Jewish People, so crave. In a recent visit to Israel, I asked Hagit Ofran, an Israeli full time employee of Peace Now who directs “Settlement Watch,” if her job would be finished and if Peace Now would cease to exist is Israel were to give all of Judea and Samaria in return for a long-lasting peace. It was Hagit’s long hesitation that provided the real answer.
Third, Liberman calls are exactly the same “bedrock of values” Eshman references. Do we not recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a solemn oath of loyalty to the United States? Did President Obama not talk about service and giving back, stopping just short of a national draft? Were we not raised on the motto “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country?”
It was the very same Inaugural Address on January 20th, 1961, that President John F. Kennedy reminded us:
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Israel’s Foreign Minister said the very same things, but Eshman refuses to hear. This is not “right vs. left,” it is evil vs. good, and evil must show its sincerity while good must remain strong.
Be warned, Liberman is not the obstacle of peace. Liberman, the diplomat who lacks any diplomacy skills, is the child who shouts “the king is naked.” Let us listen to what he has to say – if we recognize the truth, we may find the way to protect Israel and ourselves and avoid a further deterioration of the “image crisis.”
