Going Punch for Punch

Whether the Obama administration realizes this or not, it has now officially created a schism between itself and Israel and her supporters.

When I first heard about the 1600 houses granted approval for construction, I too had a knee jerk, reactionary response and immediately thought disapprovingly of my government’s actions.

Then I got to thinking and reading and researching. That changed things drastically.

Who do Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton think they are to castigate Israel?

Do they truly believe Israel is some American lap dog to boss around? Will they soon rub our noses into our own urine or chain us to the dog house?

It was bad enough to endure President Obama’s disastrous speech in Cairo, where he made the offensive and incorrect statement tying Israel’s right to exist to the Holocaust. Not only was Obama appeasing the Arab world at Israel’s expense, he then forgot that Israel has a right to exist as the Jewish State because this has been Israel, in one form or another, for thousands of years. Obama forgot that this was Israel long before Arabs were here, Mohammad was born or there was a religion called Islam.

Let us get our facts straight, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton. Israel has paid an enormous price for the fallacy of American Presidential dreams, i.e. attaining a Middle-East peace accord that the Arabs have historically never wanted.

Israel has given up so much for Peace and received nothing in return but pieces of paper that are barely maintained by Egypt and Jordan.

One must remember that it was Israel that discovered and drilled all the oil wells in the Sinai Peninsula that brings Egypt millions today. It was Israel that created the blueprint for the Egyptian resorts that thrive in the Sinai today. What has Israel gotten in return? Peace so cold it belongs in the arctic; a peace that may survive no longer than the length of Hussani Mubarik’s lifespan.

The same goes for Jordan. No one can ever be sure if the Hashemites will remain in power. If they fall, the probability is the shaky peace accord that exists now will disappear with them.

America, why do you think you can tell Israel she is wrong for approving building in East Jerusalem? It was made very clear by Prime Minister Benjamin Netyenyahu that the 10-month settlement freeze would not pertain to Jerusalem.

Is it Israel’s responsibility that President Barack Obama made a naive and tragic mistake by demanding of Israel a complete halt to settlements? This is something no Israeli government has ever agreed to before. Not even the government of Itzhak Rabin!

Has America forgotten the sacrifices that Itzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netenyahu and Ehud Barak made to negotiate a peace? All of the before mentioned Prime Ministers have offered the Palestinians a state, all have offered land for peace and all received war in return.

Israel has given up so much for peace, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton, but what have the Arabs and Palestinians done for Peace? Virtually nothing.

What are the Arabs willing to cede to Israel for peace?

Are the Palestinians giving up land? No, they most certainly are not. Are they giving up money? No, in fact they will probably be getting a whole lot of money just to sign on the dotted line.

So what are the Palestinians giving up? To attain peace the Palestinian are giving up the hope for the complete and utter destruction of the state of Israel, the displacement of its majority population and its replacement with a foreign Arab government and population. That is a good deal for the Palestinians.

On the other hand for Israel to attain peace she must give up land; she must give up water resources. Most importantly, by giving up land she is giving up defensive positions, i.e. security. All of this must be given to a nation that has spent its life trying to annihilate Israel. Does this sound like a good deal for Israel?

Israel has been a staunch ally of the United States since her creation. Israel played a central role in America’s defeat of the Soviet Union: not Egypt, Syria, Jordan or the Palestinians; but Israel. It was on Middle-Eastern battlefields that American hardware and solidarity defeated Soviet support to the surrounding Arabs; not in Korea and not in Vietnam.

What has Israel gotten in return for this friendship, these sacrifices she has taken on not just for herself but for America, too? The outrageous – but obeyed -- request by the older Bush to Itzhak Shamir to tolerate Skud attacks from Saddam Hussein, without a word or an act in reprisal immediately comes to mind. Would any other nation have shone such solidarity with an ally?

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, this is what Israel has received in return for standing by America through good and bad times (something most of America’s European Allies have not done): suicide attacks that have killed more than 2000 Israeli citizens since the start of the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993; 8000 rockets from Gaza and the constant attempts by so-called peace/human rights activists, anti-Zionists and Jew-haters to delegitimize Israel.

Where is our reparation/compensation for all of the lands – bought and paid for by Jews from wealthy Arabs– that were ceded by the British to Trans- Jordan, at the time of the Mandate?

Where are the billions of dollars in property, goods and possessions that were stolen from Jews ejected from surrounding Arab countries?

Has Israel EVER placed any of these perfectly reasonable demands on the negotiations table? Has Israel, in other words, EVER demanded the “right of return” (a mere code word for the destruction of Israel) that the Palestinians demand?

You, Mr. Biden and Ms. Clinton, are representatives of a country that built itself in large part on the nation-building concept of “Manifest Destiny.” In fact, had Manifest Destiny not prevailed in the development of the United States, most of the Southwestern part of the country, from Texas to California would be part of Mexico today!

Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, “belonged” to the Jews long before Arabs arrived on the scene. Judea and Samaria were parts of the original ancient kingdom of Israel, millennia before they became today”s West Bank.

So what belongs to whom? And who has the right to what? I think it would behoove both of you to have your staff do comprehensive research before you shoot your mouths off from the hip.

In fact, the only thing you can accuse Mr. Netanyahu of is incredibly bad timing, and that wasn’t really his fault! He was sabotaged by his own Ministry of the Interior.

But then, bad timing is one of those painful factors Israel has had to live with and through, for decades.