The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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My wife and I are back home after a two week visit to Israel. The trip was everything we hoped for. Having seen the land, trudged the roads, and interacted with the people, I now understand why the Psalmist could declare, “If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem , let my right hand forget its cunning. If I forget thee, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” The memories/bonds formed there will never fade.

Most of our time was occupied with matters of faith. But, we did have occasion to explore the Israeli side of the Middle East geopolitical equation. Every Israeli citizen we talked to wants peace and is willing to make concessions to that end. They want a two state solution. They’ve given up Gaza. They’re willing to give up the Golan Heights and realize that international pressure will force them to give up the West Bank. But there is another Jewish reality, expressed in two words, that is central to their aims — “Never again!”

 We came home to find the Obama administration engaging in some fence mending with the Jewish community. In a meeting with fifteen rabbis, presidential advisor Rahm Emanuel said the administration has “screwed up its messaging” on Israel and that it will take “more than a month to make up for fourteen months.”

 Recently, the Israeli navy intercepted a flotilla of “aid” ships enroute to Gaza. In the ugly incident which followed, several Israeli commandos were injured and nine “peace activists” were killed. In terms of tactics and public relations, it was a disaster for Israel. The denunciations followed swiftly. Turkey demanded an apology and threatened further action. In a cryptically worded communiqué, Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan said, “For a final solution, you cannot ignore Hamas. That’s what we are saying.” European governments followed suit. The matter was referred to the United Nations Security Council. Iran said it will send naval support if another attempt to break the blockade is mounted.

 Here in the United States pundits weighed in. Peter Beinart, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, expressed the frustration a lot of American academics are feeling with Israel — “In the world of AIPAC, the Holocaust analogies never stop, and their message is always the same: Jews are licensed by their victimhood to worry only about themselves… Since Jews are history’s permanent victims, always on the knife-edge of extinction, moral responsibility is a luxury Israel does not have.” In other words, Jews are fixated on the Holocaust and use that as justification to engage in morally reprehensible actions.

 Then, all hell broke loose.  Helen Thomas, when asked what Israel should do, said, “Get the hell out of Palestine.” When asked where they should go she replied, “To Poland or Germany.”

 Thomas subsequently apologized and embarked on a forced retirement. But, the cat was out of the bag. The anti-Israel sentiment is far more pervasive and mainstream here in America than we’d like to believe. I’ve heard that same sentiment expressed more than a few times here in Emporia.  

Is it all as simple as “getting over the Holocaust” or “going back to Poland or Germany ?” As Richard Cohen pointed out in the June 8th Washington Post, Jews tried after WWII to go back to Poland , only to be brutalized again. In Kielse, for example, 42 Holocaust survivors were murdered in a pogrom upon their return to Poland. The truth is, Jews weren’t wanted in Europe then, nor are they now. The Jews have had their beards plucked out in Europe. They’ve been forbidden to own property. They’ve been called “Christ Killers” and “money grubbers.” Their synagogues have been burned. They’ve been gassed and incinerated by the millions in Poland and Germany. And, today, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian mullahs are committed, by charter, to the destruction of Israel and the death of every Jew on the planet. Given that, the question that I think needs to be answered is “How can you possibly expect the Jewish people to forget?”

 Richard Cohen also cited the case of Branda Kalk, a survivor of the Holocaust and the subsequent murder of her family in Poland. When asked by the United Nations investigating committee why she wanted to go to Palestine , she replied, “I know the conditions there. But where in the world is it good for the Jew? Sooner or later he is made to suffer. In Palestine , at least, the Jews fight together for their life and their country.”

 The Jewish people have learned what happens when one passively gives in. It’s a bitter lesson, seared in their consciousness. They will never forget. The world may stand against them. Allies may abandon them. But they will not forget. They will not go quietly into the night.

 To that end, I stand with them.