Saturday, June 4, 2011

HOW CAN ONE DEAL WITH THE LIARS EVERYWHERE?

By Schmoel Yitzhak

Many, many years ago, in the late 1960s, a Brooklyn rabbi named Kahane got the conservative Jewish community's bowels in an uproar when he organized a group called the Jewish Defense League.

It was around the time that Hebrews in the Crown Heights and adjoining Brooklyn communities had been targeted and mugged in various ways by those who did not particularly favor human beings who wore the Star of David.

Taking the most important post-Holocaust theme -- "Never Again" -- to heart, Kahane and his JDL cohorts stepped in where the New York City Police Department feared to tread.

In the very best of Brooklynese, the good rabbi essentially said, "If you want to mess with us Jews, you'll get messed up pretty good yourself."

Such harsh language didn't resonate too well on the pages of the New York Times and in places like the supposedly "liberal" Upper West Side of Manhattan and in synagogues where the "Don't make trouble" thinking prevailed.

Thus, Kahane was excoriated by the very Jews whom he was trying to protect because he dared to be perfectly candid. If we don't fight back, the rabbi insisted, we will be destroyed.

Despite the criticism, JDL members made it clear to the anti-semites that they'd have a fight on their hands, messing with Jews. What's more, Kahane put his paws where his mouth was and, guess what?

There was little to no Jew-baiting when the JDL showed up.

Unfortunately, the JDL under Kahane eventually disbanded and the rabbi eventually returned to Israel, maintained his fight-back philosophy until his assassination.

The relevance to Kahane's viewpoint today is more cogent than ever considering the multi-faceted attacks confronting Israel from the White House, from British Prime Minister Cameron, from the United Nations and, yes, from Quisling Jews who speak with forked tongue for the Obama-backed outfit called J Street.

More than ever, Benjamin Netanyahu must continue to do to Israel-haters precisely what he did when confronting the American President and, essentially, say "Enough already."

Israel has had it with the phony "apartheid" charges; has had it with innumerable Arab pre-conditions before deigning to sit down to negotiations; has had it with the masters of the Armenian massacre, Turkey, and its holier-than-thou posture toward Israel.

Bibi must go on the offensive. He must shoot down -- one-by-one -- the false charges generated from Washington, Whitehall, Ramallah and Teheran, among other places where the anti-Israel vitriol flows like wine.

Combating lies about Israel is as difficult as pushing back the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Spain but the battle must continually be met.

Since there are so many Jew-haters throughout the world -- more now than ever, it seems -- the vicious stream of fabrications never ends.

Fortunately, there still are some journalists who are willing to turn facts against falsehoods and stand up to be counted.

One of my favorites is the English writer Melanie Philips whose letter to her Prime Minister, James Cameron, rips the British leader for his unmistakeable tilt toward the Arabs and against Israel.

In it she cites two -- among many -- points which indict the Arabs (especially Mahmoud Abbas) for their unmitigated declarations that the supposed Palestinian state would be -- as Hitler would have put it -- judenrein.

How come Israel can support and give citizenship to endless numbers of Arabs but nobody condones Abbas' blatant statement that not one Jew will be allowed to live in his hoped-for nation.

This hypocritical Palestinian stance is the kind that Bibi should be countering.

That's precisely what Melanie Phillips did in her letter to Cameron. Viz and to wit:

"I wonder whether you (Cameron) might explain to both Britain and the Jewish people why you do not insist that Mr. Abbas 'engages seriously in a meaningful peace process by unambiguously renouncing -- in both English and Arabic -- his repeated assertions that his people will never accept Israel as a Jewish state, the casus belli of the entire conflict?" asks Phillips.

"I wonder also if you might explain why you implicitly endorse the racist ethnic cleansing (no Jews allowed) inherent in the putative 'State of Palestine' which you now threaten to support. I'm sure the British people in particular would be interested to know when you decided that racism and ethnic cleansing were part of your modernizing program for the Conservative Party."

Sadly, though, pro-Arab voices are heard within the Jewish community from those who sound as stridently anti-Israel as Abbas himself. That, of course, focuses on J Street which often appears to be the English-version public relations agency for Hamas-Fatah.

There may not be a Rabbi Kahane around to go after the J Street phonies but there is a Rabbi Daniel Gordis.

Senior vice-president of the Shalem Center, Rabbi Gordis confronted the J Street leaders during the group's recent leadership trip to Israel. And writing in Commentary magazine, Gordis further called out J Street in no uncertain terms for its attempts to undermine Israel and its security.

"You think that those of us who claim that we favor a two-state solution but who are not willing to give up the store at this moment are bluffing," asserted Gordis. "But that is arrogance of the worst sort. Does your distance from the conflict give you some moral clarity that we don't have?

"Are you smarter than we are? Are you less racist? Why do you assume with such certainty that you have a monopoly on the wisdom needed to get the goal we both seek?

"Why do you assume that we're stupid, or immoral, or addicted to the conflict. Why do you insist that the Fatah-Hamas agreement is a good thing, or that it's best for Israel if the United States twists its arm even harder? At a time when Israel is so alone, can you see why it's hard for many of us to buy the argument that you're genuinely pro-Israel, or that you should be part of the Big Tent?"

J Street, which is no more than a Soros-Obama front for undermining Netanyahu is more and more being revealed as less Jewish than the ayatollahs.

Good for Melanie Phillips. Good for Rabbi Gordis. Good for Bibi for not capitulating to Obama, Abbas and any other of those pseudo-peacemakers who would by their works destroy the Jewish State.

They may not know it but in so many intelligent phrases they are supporting the late Rabbi Kahane's two words of wisdom -- never again!

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