Editor’s Note: San Diegans are receiving notes from their family members and friends who are in Israel at this time of grave crisis. As we receive permission from the authors to reprint these letters, we will bring to you–from many perspectives–a running commentary.
From Rabbi Bill Berk (In response to a letter from a friend in the U.S. opposed to Israel’s course of action):
JERUSALEM, Nov. 21 — To My Old Friend:
I received your email. Thank you for sharing your issues—I understand that you have profound disagreement with Israel’s recent conduct. You argue that Israel’s behavior in the weeks leading up to this war was not appropriate and that killing Jabari, the head of Hamas’ military wing, was a huge mistake. You claim in your letter the following: 1. Israel has its boot on the neck of Gaza in too many ways; 2. Nothing will stop Hamas rockets–you can’t kill your way out of the mess in the Middle East; 3. Netanyahu is like George Bush—a thoughtless bully. He is jerking us like “political poodles on a leash.” In other words he is manipulating the Israeli people including thoughtful people like me; 4. Israel is losing all its friends except for right wingers and the “Christian Tea Party.”
Here is my response: As to the weeks leading up to this mess see Ethan Bronner’s New York Times piece (November 19, 2012) on Israel needing to stop the supply chain from Iran to Gaza. We cannot live with a hostile entity on our border—right on our border—that is receiving and using bigger and deadlier weapons from Iran. The United States couldn’t live with a nuclear armed Cuba 90 miles away from Florida. What a relief it would be if Gaza was 90 miles away! Tel Aviv is 52.9 miles from Gaza. Jerusalem is 51.5 miles from Gaza. A million Israelis are less than 40 miles from Gaza. Regardless of whether Israeli foreign policy is liberal or conservative, creative or stupid, having people on our border, that incredibly close, who are up front about seeking to destroy us and who are shooting bigger and bigger weapons at us—this is not intelligent. The threat of course exists of even deadlier weapons coming into Gaza as it gets easier and easier for Gaza to import weaponry directly from Iran. The United States was willing to risk nuclear war to eliminate the Cuban threat! Israel is willing to risk a little political capital to eliminate the Hamas threat. So it doesn’t matter how intelligent or sensitive Jabari was—he was in charge of this weapons pipe line.
As for your other arguments:
- Israel has its boot on Gaza. In a symbolic sense this is correct—the Palestinian people are under occupation and life is not pleasant. Gaza Palestinians, however, are free to do anything except fly out of an airport, travel to Israel, and import weapons by sea. With Egypt now opening up to Gaza they have free access to Egyptian controlled Sinai. When we pulled out of Gaza we hoped they would build a paradise, build up what could be an incredible tourist industry, create farms and factories, and build a new paradigm for Palestinian life. Needless to say this has not happened. Hamas took over in a violent coup. It is one thing to call Hamas a bunch of thugs (as you do in your letter) but it is another thing to draw conclusions from that fact. Israel speaks and acts from the place of Western democratic values. Hamas speaks and acts from the place of a fanatic Islamic ideology which interprets every Israeli kindness as a sign of weakness. In the last few days we have been sending trucks into Gaza full of food and medical supplies and to Hamas this is proof of our softness and vulnerability. Were we to respond to Hamas from the place of thuggery we would have by now killed tens of thousands of Gazans. That is not who we are.
- Nothing will stop Hamas rockets—you can’t kill your way out of the mess in the Middle East. It may be true that ultimately political, diplomatic, and perhaps even spiritual activism will be the only thing that can stop the rockets. However, in the meantime, military action can reduce the pain and suffering that comes from Hamas shooting rockets at us. It may be that the call of the hour is for great diplomatic creativity. I, myself, think Israel should offer a 30 year cease-fire that cannot be broken by Hamas. (Some Hamas activists have argued for a short cease fire that can be broken if they offer a verbal warning.) In the absence of such creativity I cannot in good conscience disagree with a policy that seeks to destroy the rockets and those who fire them at us. Furthermore it is not clear that military action won’t do the trick. Military action worked against the Germans and the Japanese. Sometimes military action does work. Our 1962 naval blockade disarmed Cuba.
My biggest criticism of my government here is its abysmal failure to be creative—creative with Hamas, creative with the Palestinians, creative with the settlers. But that does not mean I cannot support what might turn out to be short-term solutions. Since it is obvious, and you admit it, that no creativity will come from Islamic thugs, it must come from us. But that is no guarantee that such creativity will be successful. Prime Minister Barak and Prime Minister Olmert both made incredible, bold, creative diplomatic moves to end the occupation and Arafat and Abu Mazan refused to even take the offers seriously. I wish our current Prime Minister would be as creative but in the meantime we have to defend ourselves, even if that defense is short-termed.
- Netanyahu is like George Bush—a thoughtless bully. He is jerking us like “political poodles on a leash.” In other words he is manipulating the Israeli people including thoughtful people like me. This argument is the most cynical and painful, especially as it is personal (directed at me as well as the rest of my fellow stupid Israelis). I did not vote for Netanyahu. I do not like Netanyahu. But to suggest that he is manipulating the 86% of all Israelis who support what we have done in Gaza over the last week is a bit much. It is certainly possible that there is some political calculation in his decision to hit Hamas hard. But you need to know that Israelis are not easily manipulated. They are famously independent minded. Furthermore Netanyahu has not been trigger-happy in the last four years of leading the country. This is his first war and so far it has been waged with great care. So far there are very few civilian casualties. We have not turned off Gaza’s electricity. We have sent food. These are not the actions of a thoughtless bully. Some of his advisors are smart and compassionate people. He has acted modestly. Furthermore one can ask the question if sometimes manipulating a reluctant population into a war isn’t a good thing. Many accuse FDR of manipulating Pearl Harbor in order to drag Americans, kicking and screaming, into a war they didn’t want. Netanyahu didn’t have to drag us at all—we were all tired of hearing our friends and relatives in the south of the country complaining about living in shelters and stairwells.
- Israel is losing all its friends except for right wingers and the Christian Tea Party. We may be losing friends. It may be that the American left will go the way of the European left. It may be that Israel goes against the grain of American politics. After all, the results of this November’s presidential election seem to indicate that the power of the Christian right wing (which is very pro- Israel) is beginning to decline. Many look at Israel as a society stuck in primitive tribalism while the rest of the world becomes ever more like a global village. I would suggest another narrative. In a neighborhood that hates the global village, in a neighborhood that abhors pluralism, Israel is a thorn in the side of Arabs who hate this modern idea of tolerance for minorities. Please remember we are the minority in this part of the world. And what a colorful minority we are! Despite the racism that has seeped into our body politic in recent years this society is remarkably into the very values that the left supposedly stands for. We have a former President of our country in jail for sexual harassment. We have Tel Aviv voted the best city in the world for gay life. Following the earthquake in Haiti our army built a field hospital there in three days—it took America a couple of weeks to build another one. The world is a tough place. The good guys are not always rewarded. Look at how America bends its values and keeps its mouth shut in order to keep the Chinese happy. I’d like to be liked by the left. But long ago I learned that they may not always like me. As my mom put it when Black left-wing anti-semitism emerged in the late 60’s—“I have not changed but the country has changed.” What is left is not always so left. In the meantime, let’s do what we can to save life and to make our lives livable.
Best from Jerusalem,
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From Liz Halpern:
JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 –I’m sure you guys know already, since it was over 25 hours ago, but the sirens went off in Jerusalem right after Shabbos began. First and foremost, I want to let you know that I am safe and was safe the whole time. Clearly Hashem is watching over me. I was supposed to be in Tel Aviv Thursday night and Friday afternoon, but didn’t go up. Sirens sounded there then. Most of the girls at Mayanot were walking to the Kotel Friday night, but I stayed back because I had Shabbos dinner plans with friends and wouldn’t have time to go back and forth. The rocket landed close to where we are. The girls walking are absolutely traumatized. I am unharmed. Those of us who were in the Beit Midrash were singing the 12 P’sukim. We heard the siren but it didn’t sound like a Tzeva Adom (color red), and we looked out side, and people seemed to be acting normal. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I didn’t have to run into a shelter in panic like the girls who were attempting to walk to the kotel.
I was talking to a friend back in America earlier this week and she asked me if we were feeling the war here at Mayanot. I told her no, we really weren’t, and that I almost felt guilty for it. How could I possibly be living in Israel and not feel the war? It has since occurred to me, that I do feel the war. I am feeling it in its full terrorism. We were talking about it here, how we can’t let terrorism win. We must continue to live our lives, not in fear. That doesn’t mean we are being careless, it means we are being aware of our surroundings, avoiding the bus station and most busses, but continuing to go down the street when we want a frozen yogurt.
Hashem is hard to believe in sometimes. But even harder, for me, is the concept of Moshiach. I will tell you this right now, never have I believed so much that it is true, and that Moshiach is coming. I was rereading over the past couple of parshas and drawing parallels. Using the Torah as a guide for life can be frightening. I reread it and see how Hashem explicitly told us what was coming. This week, we learned the story of Jacob and Esau. And how one nation will consume the other. The time has come for Israel to stand up for itself and strongly defend its right to exist. I have have many friends who are waiting to be called up to do just that. Rumor has it we are about to enter Gaza on the ground. Please keep them and all the soldiers and people of Israel in mind in the coming weeks.
This operation is unlike most in history because it has been given a biblical name. “Pillar of clouds” as it translates in English refers to the clouds that lead us out of Egypt, the ones that protected us and guided our way.
All this being said, many of us are going out to dinner tonight, to say a temporary goodbye to our friends who are leaving for the safety of America. Girls are starting to fly home tomorrow. I am staying. And I am grateful to have the choice to stay, that none of you are pressuring me to come home. I feel safe in Israel. I feel safe in Jerusalem.
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Liz Halpern, from Colorado, is studying abroad in Israel. She is a cousin of SDJW co-publishers Don and Nancy Harrison
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From Mayor Alon Schuster
SHA’AR HANEGEV, Israel, Nov. 17 –Things are not good at all, BUT Knowing that we are not alone is really encouraging. Shavua Tov, Alon.
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Schuster is mayor of the Sha’ar Hanegevv municipality which lies next to the Gaza border. Sha’ar Hanegev is the partnership region of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County
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From Rabbi Bill Berk:
JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 — Many of my friends have emailed and asked about my welfare and to share a few words about what is going on. Batya and I are safe. This has been a tense few days. You are watching television and suddenly you see the words at the bottom of the screen “Siren in Ashdod” and then you hear the siren on the television and a few seconds later you might hear a “boom.” For those of us who grew up in quiet suburban American communities it is jarring, to say the least. But, hey, Ashdod isn’t Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. You worry about the folks in Ashdod but it seems far away. After all it takes an hour to drive from Jerusalem to Ashdod. As the crow flies it is 34 miles away. And then suddenly we got the news—rocket heading to Tel Aviv. That certainly raised the blood pressure a bit. Then a few minutes after Shabbat came in we are luxuriating in the soft light of Shabbat candles and enjoying Jerusalem quiet when suddenly for the first time ever, we hear the dreaded siren. Its not on t.v. It is directed at us—a rocket is headed towards us. Quickly we made our way to the stairwell and went down a few floors where it is considered safer. After what happened in Kiriat Malachi (3 dead in a 4th floor apartment) we have learned it is not good to be in an apartment that is on the upper floors. We wait a few minutes and head back to our apartment. I have heard the sounds of war before—on the border with Lebanon and during the 2nd Intifada. But this is the first time somebody is aiming at me. Needless to say we were stunned, along with all the other Jerusalemites.
It is important to know that between January 1, 2012 and the day before Israel killed the Hamas military commander they shot 750 rockets into Israel. Over the past few days they have shot another five or six hundred rockets at us. These rockets are aimed at all of us—civilians—all over the country. What are we supposed to do? What would the United States do if UCLA was closed due to rocket fire from Mexico? What would America do if Canadian terrorists shot rockets into Minnesota and they had to close the University of Minnesota? My step-daughter was sent home from her college in Ashkelon. The whole school was evacuated. She said the scene on the buses and the cars fleeing Ashkelon reminded her of World War II movies where people grab a few belongings and run.
Of course this is not 1939. We have a very strong army, navy, and air force. We know how to defend ourselves and we will defend ourselves. I’ll add one overtly political comment. I think it is fair to criticize Israel for not being as creative as we might be in dealing with the Palestinians. But the whole world, especially the Islamic countries, has been totally unresponsive to the thousands of rockets fired at Israel since we left Gaza. The news is full now of reports of world leaders coming here—now. Where were they when hundreds of thousands of Israelis were huddling in stairwells and shelters? Now you come? It’s a bit late. It is uncomfortable for the world, apparently, when we defend ourselves. This, however, is now squarely on our agenda. Let us pray that soon we’ll have some Islamic creativity and some new thinking—it’s time to accept the fact that Israel is here to stay.
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Rabbi Berk, formerly of Phoenix, Arizona, leads educational cultural tours within Israel. He plans to officiate at the bar mitzvah in April of the son of SDJW columnist Bruce Kesler.
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