Following is a speech delivered on Sunday, June 7, by World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder at a forum in New York City sponsored by The Jerusalem Post. Underlined, bold-faced and capitalized portions reflect what Lauder emphasized
By Ronald Lauder
NEW YORK — I want to thank the Jerusalem Post for allowing me to begin this very important … and very timely conference.
I have spoken to many of you one-on-one and in large groups over the years and we have had countless discussions about the future of the Jewish people and Israel.
Today, I may surprise you.
Because, today, I’d like to change the discussion.
Today, I would like to offer some new ideas and ask that everyone in this room refocus their energies – as I have – on SOLUTIONS.
It is too easy to fall into the old traps of endlessly talking to ourselves about what has gone wrong in the past …
How we’ve been mistreated … and where we may disagree.
Respectfully, I am not interested in that conversation.
Because … quite frankly … this isn’t getting us any closer to peace and security for the Jewish people.
Some could even argue that our collective situation is actually getting worse.
I believe now is the time for new, fresh solutions.
And now is the time for bold action.
Because the stakes are much too high to do anything else.
At the fundamental core of my philosophy is the belief that we can only find that peace and security through our collective ingenuity, our wit, and our skills … our brains.
The more we are divided, the easier it is for our enemies to hurt us.
When Jews act as one people … we can be unbelievably strong and capable.
But that is only half the equation.
It is not enough to be united.
We must also decide to be forward-looking.
First and foremost, I want to be very clear: no serious discussion about peace for the Jewish people and Israel can take place without a strong agreement for a viable two state solution.
This should be done with no PRE-CONDITIONS and NEVER ignoring Israel’s security.
Before I go any further on this issue … I think we need to look back and remember a particular moment in time …
A moment that reminds us all that peace is entirely possible if we have the will and the resolve to see it through.
22 years ago … on September 13, 1993 … I was invited to the White House along with several hundred Americans, Israelis and Palestinians … to watch the signing ceremony between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
As I stood there on the White House lawn with everyone else, you could feel the tension.
Everyone looked at one another … we were nervous … wondering what was going to happen as these two men walked out with President Clinton.
After the signing … the two men stood there stiffly … but with a slight push from President Clinton… Arafat held out his hand.
I was right near the front and I saw Rabin hesitate for a split second … and in that moment … everyone held their breath.
Then Rabin reached out and shook Arafat’s hand.
What happened next is hard to describe …
I have never in my life felt a spontaneous exhale from several hundred people all at once.
With that handshake … all of the tension in that space suddenly vanished …. and spontaneously, everyone started shaking hands.
That first handshake was not easy for someone who defended his country through every war since he was a teenager.
There was so much promise at that moment.
There was hope and there was optimism.
What went wrong?
In just two decades, we have reached a dangerous deadlock … and in a twisted turn of reality, much of the world blames Israel for the impasse … although we all know that is not true.
In his speech that day, Rabin said directly to the Palestinians – “We are destined to live together on the same soil.”
And as much as we have very sadly moved away from that moment of promise, the reality of that one sentence never goes away.
Because it is true – Jews and Arabs ARE destined to live side by side.
And I believe we must acknowledge that a two-state solution is the only viable, workable and negotiable end.
Of course, it will not come easy.
The Palestinians have played an on-going game of not quite recognizing the Jewish State … they continue to teach their children to hate … they name streets after terrorists.
The world ignores this.
The world also ignores the fact that the Prime Minister of Israel has said over and over again that he endorses a two-State solution … and so have many of his ministers.
The Prime Minister knows the ultimate goal of two states cannot be avoided. Let it not be said that the Israeli government opposes a two-State solution.
AND we must convince the world – over and over again – that Israel wants peace and it’s the Palestinians that are holding it up.
But we must move forward.
You know me.
And you know that I don’t compromise when it comes to the security of Israel … or the safety of Jews worldwide.
But what we are doing … how we are defending ourselves … is not working!
In my travels as President of the World Jewish Congress, I am now seeing something that I have never seen before … Jews are frightened … and for good reason.
Anti-Semitism has come out in the open again … in parades … in the media … and especially on the Internet.
Israel has now become the world’s scapegoat in the same way that Jews were blamed for every evil over the past 2,000 years.
The question of security for Jews worldwide is a problem the World Jewish Congress takes very seriously.
70 years after the end of the Holocaust … a Jewish boy wearing a yarmulke cannot safely walk down the streets of Paris or London or Berlin.
Jews have been targeted and killed in France, in Belgium and in Denmark.
For the past year, the World Jewish Congress has been working on a solution with the world’s top security firms.
We understand what’s at stake and we are doing something about it.
Four days after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish grocery store, I was in Paris … and I watched as 2 million people stood up against terrorism.
Throughout that day … I kept hearing something that troubled me.
Everyone told me that the Jewish community of France has a serious problem.
I disagreed.
The Jews of France do not have a problem.
France has a problem … every country in Europe has a problem … and it is serious.
They have to deal with the growing threat from radical Islam that they have ignored for far too long.
Those terror attacks were attacks on the very idea of what it means to live in a free society with different religions.
The solution is not more guards in front of more schools.
The solution is not every Jew leaving Europe.
And it’s not the demonization of Muslims.
That won’t solve the problem.
But here is a possible solution … I will ask President Hollande of France … to convene a meeting in Paris as soon as possible between French Muslims, French Jews and government officials.
Let’s find out what we have in common.
With these shared goals, let’s see if we can solve this problem … whether it’s political … or economic … or educational.
I believe that we will find that we have a great deal in common and that we can find a way to work together.
If it works in France, we can use this model in other countries as well.
The 2nd problem AND SOLUTION concerns the BDS Movement.
BDS is a very smart media campaign directed against Israel.
It’s not directed at the settlement issue or the West Bank as it claims … BDS is waging an economic war on Israel to destroy the State … its economy … and its very legitimacy.
It is a serious danger … and it’s growing.
B-D-S offers no solutions.
There is no 2-State solution at the end of the road for B-D-S.
They want a 1-State solution and that 1-State is not a Jewish State.
This is the same economic boycott of Israel that was attempted by the Arab States decades ago.
That effort was defeated by strong trade policies here in the United States that said it might be OK to say whatever you want about Israel … that’s free speech.
But it is not OK to engage in discriminatory trade practices
THAT is illegal.
Our solution … we should encourage the trade bill now in Congress to include the strongest possible language to discourage any business from engaging in unfair policies regarding Israel, or any other country.
Next, we have another challenge related to BDS that is even more complicated — but I think there is a solution here as well.
College students across the country are now strongly influenced … and even bullied … by pro-Arab, anti-Israeli and even sometimes anti-Semitic teachers.
This is very dangerous because for many young people, this is their introduction to the history and politics of the Middle East.
And in too many cases … what they are learning is not history … or policy … but a biased … one-sided political view that paints Israel as the villain … and the Palestinians as the victims.
The very definition of a University should be the free flow of all ideas.
But too often, we have seen speakers offering Israel’s viewpoint shouted down … or not even allowed to speak.
We have seen teachers who refuse to hear any thoughts that support the Jewish State.
Just reverse this equation for a moment … if any professor talked about minorities the way he or she talks about Jews … what would happen to them?
What makes it OK to go after Israelis – and by extension, Jews?
Colleges that enable this kind of behavior should be exposed.
A solution … alumnae and donors should know what their schools are teaching and they should act accordingly.
Finally, regarding the United Nations and the ongoing attacks against Israel.
This institution … with its twisted obsession with the Jewish State … has made a mockery of itself.
It’s hard to even remember that the United Nations began with such promise out of the ashes of World War II.
Today, it’s become more a political organization for many countries to push their own agendas rather than a forum for seeking peace.
We can’t change them.
But there are countries that should know better and we have to do everything we can to persuade them to do what is right … and not what is politically expedient.
We would not suggest that the United States cut off its funding … because we still believe in the United Nation’s potential.
But this disproportionate focus on Israel must stop.
Many great speakers will follow me here today.
We may not all agree on the methods or direction … but I know that we all share that same goal
We all want a safe and secure Israel …
We all want Jews everywhere to be safe.
If we disagree in how we get there … let’s do that in private.
But in public … let’s speak with one voice.
Because in the end … there is only one Israel … with one capital, Jerusalem.
Jews waited far too long … and paid too high a price … to lose it now.
When Jews are united … we can accomplish great things … we can do anything.
And always remember this: what we do here today is not for us.
Just as those who came before us moved heaven and earth to preserve this gift … we owe the same to future generations.
This is for our children …
And our children’s children …
It is for the future of the Jewish people …
Toda Raba.
*
Preceding provided by the World Jewish Congress.
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Mr. Roy complains because his previous letter was not printed. However, he did not follow the rules which clearly state that one must identify oneself with one’s city and state (or country) of residence. He tried to rehabilitate the letter subsequently, and was upset we wouldn’t print it on the same day that the first of his two letters above was printed. Yet again if he had bothered to read the rules, he would have understood why. The rules clearly state that there is a limit of one letter per day per writer.
We don’t mind Mr. Roy expressing his viewpoint, but the rules apply to him as well as to everyone else. For similar reasons we have rejected letters from writers on the other side of the issue.
We do not want anonymous letters, nor do we want any letter writer attempting to dominate the discussion. So we’ll give Mr. Surbeck one more chance to reply and will close this debate thereafter to him and to Mr. Roy, although other readers may choose to enter the discussion and will be welcomed –Donald H. Harrison, editor, San Diego Jewish World.
These questions are somewhat interesting and I will answer a few of them, but with the proviso that they are typical of Palestinians who refuse to admit any responsibility for the situation they complain about, and keep harping about their misery instead of examining why it happened in the first place. That’s the common thread in each one of these statements, all of which omit the reason for which what the writer complains about. Let me demonstrate… “What would you do if you lived in a prison with no way out, without permission from an occupier and every couple of years your families are decimated… in this last case 547 children are dead.” This is a perfect example of what I call a loaded sentence filled with plain lies presented as truths. There is no prison. Gaza is run by Hamas, not Israel. Furthermore, what “occupier”? International Law defines occupation as boots on the ground, of which there are no Israeli ones. There hasn’t been a single Israeli in Gaza since Gilad Shalit was freed a couple of years back. If there is no way out for the Palestinians in Gaza, it is because Hamas maintains a permanent state of belligerency, and Israel cannot consequently allow the free flow of a hostile populations (even though it allows hundreds of thousands of Gazans to visit Israel and be treated in the first-class Israeli medical facilities every year). And if “my family is decimated every couple of years” as you put it, I would look for the culprits, who are in this case Hamas, just like the German population owed it to Hitler and the Nazis to see their country destroyed and millions of them decimated in the Allies’ carpet bombings. As long as Hamas keeps attacking Israel, i.e. is the aggressor, there will be return fire and casualties. “If Hamas is so deadly, why were over 2200 Palestinians killed and under 80 Israelis, almost all IDF—only one child, a tragedy but not the tragedy of 547 children.” Poorly worded question again: the question is not whether Hamas is deadly or not, but why Hamas is cynically hiding its rocket launchers behind its women and children with the very goal of seeing them killed and maimed by Israeli return fire… and dance on their charred bodies to an all-too receptive international media corps. It is obvious that Hamas doesn’t stand a chance to win over the IDF, but that’s not what they’re after. They kill their own people to better blame Israel, and the many bleeding hearts like you who don’t even realize they’ve been had keep falling into the same trap. Does that ring a bell, Mr. Roy? “How would you feel if your fishing waters shrank from 20 miles, to 12 miles, to 3 miles and if your boat went over the line you would be killed?” Now, that’s a great question. If my waters are used by Hamas to smuggle medium and long-range rockets, it is quite obvious that Israel will set up patrols to interdict such smuggling. If I try to smuggle weaponry into Gaza in my boat to better attack (again) Israel, I should be fully prepared to see it stopped and searched. And if I refuse to stop (because I know I have weapons on board), well, it should come as no surprise either that my ship will be sunk. In what universe do you live, Mr. Roy? “How would you like your pay for work to be held up for months at someone’s discretion when the money belongs to you?” Tell me, Mr. Roy, what happens when you don’t pay your electricity bill? You know the answer to that one: it gets cut off. The Palestinians in Gaza have omitted to pay their electric bills for years, even though Israel is doing them a huge favor by letting the Israeli company that provides power to keep the lights on in Gaza. As such, “your” money is not your money. It belongs to your creditors. If you are too irresponsible to pay your bills, don’t come complaining about the consequences. The Palestinians are nothing special. They are like everybody else around the world and have to pay their bills, too. “How would you like to be allowed the fewest calories possible just to stay alive.” That’s another big lie since, even in the heat of war, Israel never stopped letting hundreds of trucks carry millions of tons of foods and supplies. The Gazans are doing very well, and are certainly not starving. “How would you like your family’s 500 year old olive orchard to be ripped out of the ground and your captors take the land for their housing?” Now you’re mixing up Gaza and Judea/Samaria, which are two very different situations. As one YouTube film showed recently, it is Palestinians who rip olive trees to better blame Israelis. You should know better than fall for that one (see http://tinyurl.com/q2qeac4). “How would you like someone else determining whether or not you get medicine, water, electricity?” ….. Here I skipped a good chunk of your long litany of complaints because they all have one thing in common, the one that not surprisingly you omit to mention: security. If there was no Palestinians terrorism, there would be no checkpoints and no security fence. The Palestinians have themselves to blame entirely for these inconveniences. Pregnant women? Right. Look at this video of a young woman pretending to be pregnant and loaded in fact with explosives which she wanted to blow up in the Israeli hospital where she had herself been treated:http://tinyurl.com/p2ev6mq . Again, here is a simple formula: no terrorism and no attacks = no security measures and no inconveniences to the Palestinian population. It may help here to remember that up until the second intifada in 2000, there were no checkpoints and no security fence, and Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank were free to go anywhere they wanted in Israel proper where many had good-paying jobs. Arafat’s murderous folly and sheer stupidity put an end to all that when he launched the second intifada. You have a problem with the current situation? Write to Mahmoud Abbas, and let’s see if he’ll pay any attention.
“How would you like your historical land to be confiscated by 5% of the population when your friends and family constitute 95% of the land (1948)?” One word: responsibility. When you attack someone and you lose, you don’t get to claim everything you lost as a result of the fight you started. Ask the Germans and the Japanese, they know a little bit about that. The Palestinians are no different. “Your saying Palestinians didn’t show up until the 60s and thus have no historical sites is wrong.” You misunderstood or you’re misquoting me. I said that the “Palestinians” as a distinct group and political force didn’t appear on the scene before 1964. Before that, they were for the most part Arabs from Egypt, Syria and Jordan whose forefathers had moved into British-mandated Palestine to take advantage of the economic boom caused by the development the Jews brought to the country. “How would you like to know that a group of illegal people are dead set on exterminating your people. You would think the Jews of Israel would understand that instead of becoming the exterminators themselves. “ This is one of my favorite lies because it is the stupidest and easiest to prove wrong: if the Palestinians were “exterminated” as you claim, how do you explain that their numbers multiplied several times over from 1948 to today (from approximately 800,000 to 3.5 million today)? Hasn’t it occurred to you that when you have mass extermination (i.e. genocide), the numbers tend to go down DOWN instead? I suggest you don’t use that false accusation any more lest you come off looking really dumb.
“…Henry Siegman, Leading Voice of U.S. Jewry, on Gaza: “A Slaughter of Innocents” I’ve never heard of Henry Siegman, but I would agree with his assessment: Gaza has seen several slaughters of innocents. The question to ask is whose fault it is, and the answer is – repeatedly – the same each time: Hamas. Don’t you dare blame Israel for merely defending itself against thousands of rockets! I also skipped your other comments about Siegman because they don’t add anything to this discussion, the bottom line of which is that you’ve got to stop putting all the blame on Israel and start giving at the very least equal share to the Palestinians. If you can’t find it in yourself to nudge them into behaving more responsibly and less callously towards their own people, don’t be surprised to see that even the two-state solution will die altogether. By making constantly impossibly unrealistic and maximalist demands, the Palestinians have been losing ground steadily since 1967. Soon, they won’t have anything left and will be facing only one choice: emigrate to another country or integrate into Israel and become part of its success story rather than remain stuck in their medieval and brutal society.
One last note: I am particularly shocked and disappointed to see that in your long rantings you couldn’t even mention one word in favor of the hundreds of thousands of casualties of the wars in Syria and Iraq. You obsess about a few hundred children killed because of Hamas rocket fire, but you have nothing to say about the hundreds of thousands killed next door? I’d say that your self-righteous moral compass is severely corroded and has become clearly obsolete. If your indignation gets ignited only when a few Palestinians get killed while attacking Israel and not when hugely larger numbers of Arabs are killed by other Arabs, I’d say your opinion has no value whatsoever.–
J.J. Surbeck
T.E.A.M.
San Diego
J.J. Surbeck,
Yes, you are right. Arafat didn’t use the term Jewish State, which I knew but mistakenly spoke. He said State of Israel. But Israel wants to be recognized as a Jewish state so my following sentence still stands: a theocracy cannot be a democracy. It’s a contradiction in terms for the simple reason other religions exist in the state. I’ve noticed a phenomenon: When people criticize Israel policy, they are accused of anti-semitism, Jew haters. And if they happened to be Jewish, they are called self-hating Jews. They are neither. How people can support Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank is astonishing. Here are some questions you should ask yourself. These are all based on FACTS that you know yourself. Not one sentence below is without backup facts.
These are questions I asked Mr. Bedein in a letter that never got printed, nor answered (See https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2015/06/04/bds-movement-financed-by-palestinian-authority/)
What would you do if you lived in a prison with no way out without permission from an occupier and every couple of years your families are decimated…in this last case 547 children are dead. (if Hamas is so deadly, why were over 2200 Palestinians killed and under 80 Israelis, almost all IDF—only one child, a tragedy but not the tragedy of 547 children.) How would you feel if your fishing waters shrank from 20 miles, to 12 miles, to 3 miles and if your boat went over the line you would be killed? How would you like your pay for work to be held up for months at someone’s discretion when the money belongs to you? How would you like to be allowed the fewest calories possible just to stay alive. How would you like your family’s 500 year old olive orchard to be ripped out of the ground and your captors take the land for their housing? How would you like someone else determining whether or not you get medicine, water, electricity? How would you like your water stolen, then sold back to you at high cost? How would you like to be questioned, sometimes brutally, at checkpoints. How would you like to be pregnant and go into labor at a check point and be denied help? In fact, how would you like to have to go through checkpoints at all just to get home or have them closed off altogether at some official’s whim? If a young student, how would you like your school invaded and terrorized by Israeli soldiers and as a twelve-year-old be taken into custody, interrogated all night, without food, drink or sleep and without your parents being informed? How would you like to always lose in court (95%+ of the times) when you are right? How would you like to be a young father from the West Bank going over to Israel to work construction for ONE day and, having never been there before, be accused of being in an auto-theft ring, arrested, tried, found guilty, be in an Israeli prison for two years and come out a broken man? How would you like your historical land to be confiscated by 5% of the population when your friends and family constitute 95% of the land (1948)? Your saying Palestinians didn’t show up until the 60s and thus have no historical sites is wrong. How would you like to know that a group of illegal people are dead set on exterminating your people. You would think the Jews of Israel would understand that instead of becoming the exterminators themselves. Yes, someday there will be a one state solution and it will be called Palestine.
I have feeling you may admire Alan Dershowitz (I hope not) … Perhaps you will take to heart what a smarter Jew says: Henry Siegman, Leading Voice of U.S. Jewry, on Gaza: “A Slaughter of Innocents”
“When one thinks that this is what is necessary for Israel to survive, that the Zionist dream is based on the repeated slaughter of innocents on a scale that we’re watching these days on television, that is really a profound, profound crisis — and should be a profound crisis in the thinking of all of us who were committed to the establishment of the state and to its success,” Siegman says. Responding to Israel’s U.S.-backed claim that its assault on Gaza is necessary because no country would tolerate the rocket fire from militants in Gaza, Siegman says: “What undermines this principle is that no country and no people would live the way that Gazans have been made to live. … The question of the morality of Israel’s action depends, in the first instance, on the question, couldn’t Israel destruction of human life? Couldn’t they have done something that did not require that cost? And the answer is, sure, they could have ended the occupation.” WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014, Democracy Now! Given his background, what American Jewish leader Henry Siegman has to say about Israel’s founding in 1948 through the current assault on Gaza may surprise you. From 1978 to 1994, Siegman served as executive director of the American Jewish Congress, long described as one of the nation’s “big three” Jewish organizations along with the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. Born in Germany three years before the Nazis came to power in 1933, Siegman’s family eventually moved to the United States. His father was a leader of the European Zionist movement that pushed for the creation of a Jewish state. In New York, Siegman studied the religion and was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi by Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, later becoming head of the Synagogue Council of America. After his time at the American Jewish Congress, Siegman became a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He now serves as president of the U.S./Middle East Project. In the first of our two-part interview, Siegman discusses the assault on Gaza, the myths surrounding Israel’s founding in 1948, and his own background as a German-Jewish refugee who fled Nazi occupation to later become a leading American Jewish voice and now vocal critic of Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories.
Rob Roy, Portland, Oregon
Ron Lauder, I like you and take to heart a lot of what you say. But I would like to counter a few of your statements:
“In just two decades, we have reached a dangerous deadlock … and in a twisted turn of reality, much of the world blames Israel for the impasse … although we all know that is not true.” The deadlock in fact is caused by Israel. If the prisoners of Gaza and the West Bank were allowed to live freely and not be under constant control, there would be no impasse. Would you like to be an Arab citizen in Gaza? Would you protest? By the way, Palestinians are semites, too.
“The Palestinians have played an on-going game of not quite recognizing the Jewish State … they continue to teach their children to hate … they name streets after terrorists.” In fact, Arafat himself recognized Israel as a Jewish state. You should mention that once in a while. The reason not to recognize a state as being of a certain religion is that a theocracy cannot by its very nature be a democracy. It’s a contradiction in terms.
“The Prime Minister knows the ultimate goal of two states cannot be avoided. Let it not be said that the Israeli government opposes a two-State solution.” Netanyahu knows no such thing. He has made clear over and over that he wants ALL the land to belong to exclusively Jews. That is the reason the illegal settlements are allowed, the huge Kedem structure (for archeologists) will be allowed even though it will wreck Palestinian heritage sites, why the IDF regularly “mows the lawn” in Gaza (over 2200 killed last summer, 547 children!),
IDF soldiers are allowed to illegally arrest, torture, and kill any Arab without consequences, Arabs are restricted in their movements even when they are citizens living in Israel proper…I could type endlessly.
“AND we must convince the world – over and over again – that Israel wants peace and it’s the Palestinians that are holding it up.” Actually, if you’ve paid attention, you’ve noticed every time there are “negotiations,” Israelis never give an inch, Palestinians make concessions, and then the goal posts are moved. This has always been the case.
“Those terror attacks (Paris) were attacks on the very idea of what it means to live in a free society with different religions.” I agree, but the terrorist attacks on Gaza come from the IDF; Israel starts the battle and the Palestinians must defend themselves with their paltry rockets against the fourth most powerful military in the world. And every time the cease fire is broken, it’s broken by Israel. Don’t listen to the MSM nor hasbara. Research it yourself and dig to the bottom of it.
As for BDS, it is not illegal, and it’s directed against companies, corporations, businesses, never against individuals. It worked in S, Africa and it will work in Israel. It’s not true that Jewish students are abused on campuses; it’s the opposite…look at Marquette just this week.
”But this disproportionate focus on Israel must stop.” Why? Netanyahu’s cabinet and the IDF have committed war crimes, easily provable.
You said that Palestinians are raised to hate. Consider the 150 Jewish summer camps. The words “Palestinian” and “Palestine” are never mentioned but the children come home so hung-ho patriotic that sometimes their parents are appalled. Patriotism and religion go hand in hand in training children to hate. In these camps the children are awakened in the middle of the night to practice “war games.” Good grief.
I wish you luck in your endeavours toward peace, but please, step back and look around.
Sincerely yours,
Rob Roy, Portland, Oregon
“Rob Roy”, I don’t know you and I don’t care to know you based on the string of nonsensical statements you made about Ron Lauder’s speech, but I also would like to counter a few of your own statements:
“The deadlock … is caused by Israel. If the prisoners of Gaza and the West Bank were allowed to live freely and not be under constant control, there would be no impasse.” That is typical of the vacuous, empty slogans that Israel haters excel in. No specifics, no context, and – God forbid – no historical perspective to help the uninformed reader to understand exactly why there is a deadlock. Just plain slander, the hallmark of intellectually lazy bums. So, to clarify that point specifically: The Palestinians in Gaza are prisoners all right, but of Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist and genocidal organization which they themselves elected freely in 2006. It’s not Israel’s fault if the same Hamas didn’t wait a year before showing its true colors to stage a coup d’état to evict Fatah (and incidentally kill 350 of its members), and has since rejected the very notion of new elections! That was 9 years ago! Gaza is not any more a prison than the Vatican and Monaco are. As for the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Palestinians in Area A are under full governance of the Palestinian Authority. Area B is run jointly, and Area C is fully under Israel’s control (and mostly empty).
“In fact, Arafat himself recognized Israel as a Jewish state. You should mention that once in a while.” This is a myth that keeps being re-circulated over and over again. He did not. What he wrote specifically was “The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security”. Nothing about a Jewish State. Besides, this was supposed to be followed by a change in the PLO Covenant to reflect this statement AND renounce terroris, It NEVER happened. If you believe he did, surely you can provide the evidence to prove it? Now, you say “The reason not to recognize a state as being of a certain religion is that a theocracy cannot by its very nature be a democracy. It’s a contradiction in terms.” So if it is, did Arafat recognize it or not? You’re the one contradicting himself. Besides, you are describing here countries like Iran, Pakistan and Libya, all three countries that call themselves “Islamic Republic of…”. Did you hear anyone talk of a “Jewish Republic of Israel”. No, because Israel doesn’t need that. It’s a fully functional democracy, something that none of the aforementioned countries, and the overwhelming majority of Muslim nations for that matter, are not..
“Netanyahu knows no such thing. He has made clear over and over that he wants ALL the land to belong to exclusively Jews.” Another piece of gratuitous slander. Ever heard of his speech at Bar Ilan? Everyone agrees that a two-state solution is the best possible solution, but anyone with a functional head can also see that it takes two adults in the same room to tango harmonioulsy, and the Palestinians have descended into such a state of societal decay and dysfunctionality that they are farther away from the 2SS than they ever were in their short history, which is why it is evident for anyone except the willfully blind that the 2SS needs to be shelved for now until the Palestinians grow up into the true partners they’ve never been. They are the ones entirely responsible for the failure of repeated negotiation attempts (the last one being the ridiculous circus displayed pathetically by US Secretary of State John Kerry). Now, a few more of your inane slogans. “That is the reason the illegal settlements are allowed”: the settlements are not only legal but also entirely legitimate. “the huge Kedem structure (for archeologists) will be allowed even though it will wreck Palestinian heritage sites”: that’s a good one: there is no such thing as Palestinian heritage sites since the “Palestinians” appeared only in the mid-sixties. You call artifacts from the 60s archaeological?, “why the IDF regularly “mows the lawn” in Gaza (over 2200 killed last summer, 547 children!)”: the IDF would not have to mow the lawn resulting in so many casualties if Hamas didn’t regularly fire rockets at random all over Israel. It’s simple: no rockets, no lawnmowing. What is it about this simple equation that you’re missing? It looks like some remedial courses in elementary logic would do you a lot of good.
“IDF soldiers are allowed to illegally arrest, torture, and kill any Arab without consequences, Arabs are restricted in their movements even when they are citizens living in Israel proper… I could type endlessly.” Right. Any idiot can type fallacies, lies and invented offenses endlessly indeed. It would help your credibility, however, if you based any of these accusations on sound research and solid evidence. But typically of all Israel haters, you only show the side of the coin that supports your argument, dishonestly omitting what caused in each case the Israeli action. Arabs are arrested primarily for terrorism-related offenses. Arab kids are arrested for throwing stones, which have been lethal in several cases, injuring and killing Israeli children. Israel fires at Gaza not for the fun of it or just for target practice, but ALWAYS in response to an initial attack from Hamas. Here is another basic lesson for you, in physics this time: action always triggers a reaction. Ponder that and let me know if you can grasp the implications.
“Actually, if you’ve paid attention, you’ve noticed every time there are “negotiations,” Israelis never give an inch, Palestinians make concessions, and then the goal posts are moved.” Here I have to stop myself and question your perception of reality. In this case, you proceeded to do a perfect inversion, either out of bad faith or sheer ignorance. Not only is it the Palestinians who have never given an inch, but in the few cases they accepted to commit to something, such the Oslo Accords or the Roadmap in which they promised to stop terrorism, they went on doing it as if the documents had never been signed, or even existed for that matter!
“I agree, but the terrorist attacks on Gaza come from the IDF; Israel starts the battle and the Palestinians must defend themselves with their paltry rockets against the fourth most powerful military in the world.” Another staggering inversion of reality. It’s exactly the reverse that has been and is still happening. “And every time the cease fire is broken, it’s broken by Israel.” I don’t know where you find your information (other than in your very confused mind), but if you were to spend only a few minutes of research, you will find that the 11 cease-fires agreed to by Israel and Hamas in the last war were ALL violated by Hamas. It became a joke and the subject of bets: how many minutes will it take for Hamas to violate the latest cease-fire? Usually not more than 5 minutes! You are so way off base it’s not funny. Probably because you are yourself so far off the reservation you don’t even realize it.
“As for BDS, it is not illegal, and it’s directed against companies, corporations, businesses, never against individuals.” Here is another instance where you gloriously missed the point: it’s directed against only one target: Israel as a state. “It’s not true that Jewish students are abused on campuses; it’s the opposite… look at Marquette just this week.” You don’t know what you’re talking about regarding the campuses. And what happened at Marquette?
”Netanyahu’s cabinet and the IDF have committed war crimes, easily provable.” Actually they have been easily disproved. The ones that are easily proven are Hamas’, and they number in the tens of thousands since each rocket they fire at Israel meets the International Humanitarian Law definition of a double war crime: it is a war crime to fire from your own civilian areas and it is a war crime to fire into enemy civilian areas. Before one single Israeli is charged with war crimes, planeloads of Palestinians need to be processed first.
“You said that Palestinians are raised to hate. Consider the 150 Jewish summer camps. The words “Palestinian” and “Palestine” are never mentioned but the children come home so hung-ho patriotic that sometimes their parents are appalled.” What a dumb analogy: so if in a conversation with any youth groups, I omit to mention any number of other racial or cultural groups that means by definition that I am raising them to hate the ones that were omitted? You’re the one who needs to be committed.
I wish you luck on the long road to educating yourself with facts, even though I realize it’ll be a tall order to remove first the muck you have allowed to be stored in your brain. There is always hope, though…
J.J. Surbeck
T.E.A.M.
San Diego