OBSEQUIOUS, NO! ASSERTIVE, YES!

By Schmoel Yitzhak



A quick dictionary check offers the following definition of obsequious: servile, fawning. And as for obsequiousness: to comply with.

Israel has spent much too much time being servile, subservient and deferential to both its enemies and so-called "aliies" (if there is such a thing) as well.

Clearly, this strategy -- of subconscious behavior, if you will -- does not work.

It dismally failed at Oslo -- the worst scam in which Jews were conned since World War II -- and has misfired in a dozen other critical episodes; not the least or which was the withdrawal from Gaza.

Ah, and here's where Israeli obsequiousness resulted in a gratuitous kick in the ass.

Playing Mister Nice Guy, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon went against all conventional Sharon wisdom and decided to simply give the precious Gaza land where Jews had miraculously turned garbage into gold over to the Arabs.

The sweet gesture was hailed -- for about one-and-a-half days -- far and wide as an Israeli peace-inducing gesture that would certainly inspire reciprocation from the Arabs.

And -- fair is fair -- the Arabs have returned the favor more than a thousand-times-over. The Jews offer land, plus their warm hand in peace, and in return Israel receives thousands of rockets exploding all over its land.

In place of obsequiousness, which has been proven to be a useless strategy, Benjamin Netanyahu must review the policies of his most assertive predecessors, starting with the pre-Gaza-giveaway Sharon. He should check out Menachem Begin at his most dogmatic and declarative; ditto for Yitzhak Shamir.

Bibi's new theme should be 180-degrees away from obsequiousness and turn to something roughly equivalent to ENOUGH, ALREADY!

When the empty suit disguised as America's president reiterates his ridiculous demands that Israel take "bold steps" toward producing Israeli-Arabs peace, the Prime Minister should boldly counter with a few facts:

FACT ONE: Barack Obama, you never have set foot in Israel since becoming president. Don't tell us what to do until you see how embattled we are, from the Lebanese border in the North to Gaza in the South.

FACT TWO: Not one but two Israeli prime ministers offered the Arabs -- fake name "Palestinians" -- more than 90 percent of the territories. Repeat; 90 PERCENT. To that super-generous offer the Israelis were told to go fly a kite!

FACT THREE: Uncle Sam's leader -- knowing nothing about "settlements" because he's never seen one firsthand -- leaned very, very heavily on Bibi to impose a ten-month freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria. Despite the fact that his Likud brothers and sisters had endlessly objected, Netanyahu agreed. The unprecedented offer was to be in exchange for Mahmoud Abbas & Co. returning to the negotiating table. All Abbas did was
walk in the other direction.

FACT FOUR: Richard Goldstone has gone public with an unprecedented denunciation of his "Report" which had condemned Israel for counterattacking after Hamas had endlessly attacked Southern Israel with rockets and mortars. (And, by the way, still is doing so.) Not once has Obama nor his Secretary of State grabbed Goldstone's recantation and pointed out that Israel was right in protecting itself.

I could list at least a dozen more facts proving without a shadow of a doubt that concession-making is not the answer when it comes to dealing with the White House, Ramallah, Beirut, the European Union or any other body claiming to advance peace in the Middle East.

Nothing that Israel has done in the way of peacemaking has produced any reciprocal gesture from the Arabs because -- when all is said and done -- their principal aim has been and always will be the extermination of Israel either by rocketry from Gaza and Lebanon or via a nuclear weapon from Iran.

Does anyone in the EU, or the phony Human Rights groups remember Israel's exit from Gaza; what a noble gesture it was; not to mention as painful today as it was then?

Of course not.

Does anyone care that Goldstone's Report was as phony as a three-dollar bill?

Apparently not.

As author-psychologist Phyllis Chesler so aptly asserts, "Like a rocket, once a Blood Libel (Goldstone Report) is launched, it's done its work. Most people already moved on, their blood streams permanently altered, poisoned with Jew-hatred.

Why do you think Abbas stays as far away from the "peace process" as possible?

Among other reasons, the longer he does so, the more Barack-Clinton will apply even more pressure on Israel to make concessions which will not be reciprocated.

Recalling the Olmert-Abbas talks of yesteryear, the Jerusalem Post's Isi Leibler, put it in proper perspective.

"When negotiating with Olmert, Abbas was either duplicitous or conscious that brainwashing his constituents to hate us had been so effective that any genuine Palestinian accommodation was inconceivable," says Leibler.

"The incitement emanating from every level of Palestinian society continues unabated, with Abbas brazenly sanctifying terrorists and providing pensions for the families of those who murder Israeli civilians."

And, we might add, while Obama, the European Union, et. al. remain silent.

Conclusion: Israel must veer sharply off Obsequious Highway which goes nowhere but to the Road to Ruin.