On Sunday, this author posted The Mattot Arim, PSI, WIG Joint Statement calling for Jews in Chutz L’Aretz (Diaspora) to Lobby against the creation of a terror state in Yehuda and the Shomron.
This piece was posted with some trepidation, with pictures of our Israeli Dumber and Dumber… as well as with this author’s personal caveat.
The trepidation was based on anticipation and expectations as to how some would respond from thousands of miles away, as they sit snug and smug in what they perceive as their own safe, secure property in the US, not believing for an instant that they, like the Jews of Europe of the late 1930s and 1940s, could someday be delegitimized and dehumanized.
And yes, the responses came in.
I’ll deal with the heart-felt response first, even though it came in after other responses and appealed to those in positions of power to, for once do the personally uncomfortable and not-politically correct thing. The writer expressed sentiments of a true and pained Jewish heart irrespective of where the he sits;
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 08:44:31 -0500
From: “Buddy Macy”
To: howard.rieger@ujc.org, malcolm@conferenceofpresidents.org
Subject: Howard & Malcolm: This is so critical. I implore you to use your power to help stop this suicidal plan!!!!!!!!!!Howard and Malcolm,
Please, please: You are blessed to be in a position to help, tangibly and substantially, the Jewish People. Use it to save the Jewish State. Buddy
Now for the two other responses which arrived one after the other later on Monday, the Joint Statement having been sent out on Sunday;
Response #1
WHERE ARE THE ISRAELIS?
By Dr. Steve Carol ©
“The key issue is, however, where are the Israelis? Where are Israeli citizens out demonstrating en masse – tens of thousands in every city – banging pots and pans, shouting ‘The government must go’? Where is a nationwide strike to force the government to step down?”
“It is the people of Israel who must take the lead in reversing the present course. It is the Israelis themselves who must save their own nation.”
By Dr. Steve Carol ©
Feb. 11, 2007
Dear Friends in Israel:In reply to your just released letter: “Joint Statement by Mattot Arim, Professors for a Strong Israel and Women in Green: Jews Abroad, Do Not Remain Silent At This Time!” let me add my voice to those who have already written to you. There are those of us in the Diaspora, myself included, who have not “remained silent” and are very active in promoting Israel’s case for a Jewish state in all of the Land of Israel, Judea, Samaria, Golan and even Gaza included! We have written articles (see many of my 60 articles – copies of which have been forwarded to all of you – and many of which are posted on our Middle East Radio Forum website www.middleeastradioforum.org) and broadcast a radio show (one of only two in the entire U.S.A.) dealing with these very points for over the past three years. We have helped educate many as to the real facts of the situation and swelled the ranks of those Jews and non-Jews REALLY concerned about Israel’s current plight and indeed its very survival.
That said, we are dismayed and distressed that the people of Israel have acquiesced to the path being taken – the “disasterous experiments” as you call them – by the current government, indeed by all governments since 1993. This is a path that, we believe, if followed will lead to the termination of the third Jewish commonwealth. It took 1,875 years to re-establish a Jewish state. If it vanishes now, only God knows if and when another will ever reappear. To mention that should such an event take place, the status of Diaspora Jews would quickly take a turn for the worse.
The key issue is, however, where are the Israelis? Where are Israeli citizens out demonstrating en masse – tens of thousands in every city – banging pots and pans, shouting “The government must go”? Where is a nationwide strike to force the government to step down? Where are the massive calls for reforms to be made, for a sound policy voiced and for Israel to return to the image, status, and power it had at the conclusion of the Six Day War?
Today, Israel projects, not strength but weakness to the entire world and especially to its enemies, who like sharks smelling the blood in the water, are circling ever closer for the kill.
Excuses of U.S. “pressure” on Israel have been made and will be made again. But Israel itself is doing the work of the Arabists in the U.S. State Department. The U.S. need not pressure Israel anymore, when the Israeli government voluntarily takes the steps that will ensure the states demise.
The reality is that Israeli people themselves must exhibit the will to take harsh, perhaps unpleasant actions to correct its course. Israel should not commit politicide for the sake of “world opinion.” It should not continually weaken itself with unilateral territorial retreats, such as from southern Lebanon in 2000, and Gaza in 2005.
It is the people of Israel who must take the lead in reversing the present course. It is the Israelis themselves who must save their own nation. When the Israelis take such action, they will gain more backing from their supporters, more respect from those “disinterested” parties, and be feared by its enemies. That is the reality of the world. Unless and until this occurs, the relatively few voices supporting Israel will shrink to fewer still, as Israel vanishes. It is up to the Israelis to save their own nation. Taking the necessary steps to reverse course, show firmness, and determination will find many supporting the Jewish state.
Dr. Steve Carol
Prof. of History (retired)
Official Historian “Middle East Radio Forum”
Scottsdale, Arizona
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:25:03 -0500
From: “Dan Friedman”
To: drhistory
Subject: Re: THE RIGHT QUESTION: WHERE ARE THE ISRAELIS? OP-EDNow we’re getting somewhere, Steve. Stay on message. Once they lose their crutch there’s a (slight) possibility they’ll learn to walk.
DF
On the one hand, the sentiments expressed by these two writers are identical to the sentiments I have been voicing and shouting to anyone here in Israel willing to listen and hear. That teenagers end up leading what protests there are because Israeli adults are in mortal fear to leave their jobs to demonstrate for fear of either losing pay or losing their very jobs. They see the situation as, “not at their front door” and so the money, the food on the table, the roof over their heads trumps principles. The excuses are many, when all that massive numbers of people have to do to emulate the Ukrainian model is give a few hours, perhaps a day a month to demonstrate in shifts 24/7 until the olmert government, indeed the governing system in Israel falls.
But expressed from thousands of miles away and by those who may not know what goes on here on a day-to-day basis, the sentiments come off as coarse, disrespectful and self-serving. It is sooo easy to talk loose from perceived safety. And Dan Friedman’s crutch and walk comments were particularly offensive.
And do these two writers know or have any clue as to who they disrespected by their comments? Buddy Macy surely knows, which obviously accounts, along with his huge and overflowing Jewish heart, for the wholly different tone he takes as opposed to the other two writers.
This writer does not know and has never met Dr. Amy Rosenbluh, Chair, Professors for a Strong Israel. But as for the other signatores;
Ruth and Nadia Matar, co-chairs of Women in Green and Susie Dym, Spokesperson, Mattot Arim (Cities of Israel).
I know these three women of valor and can attest to the indisputeable fact that they each are tireless fighters for Israel, for the Jewish Nation, for Eretz Yisrael 24/7 with every ounce of their bodily strength. I’ve been either with them or part of the same battles from other venues in Israel or via this keyboard.
A poignant story to illustrate;
After weeks of Arab shelling and sniping from the mountains overlooking the then Shalhevet neighborhood of Chevron (Hebron), there was pressure placed upon Sharon to send the army to take over the area and secure Shalhevet neighborhood against Arab snipers.
Sharon resisted the pressure and didn’t send the army. Former MK and Rehavam Ze’evi, z’l, then head of the National Union faction of Sharon’s governing coalition contemplated pulling the party out of the coalition, even at the expense of losing his Ministership.
Susie Dym and I, as well as a handful of others stood vigil one night at Ghandi’s (Ze’evi’s nickname) Moledet party headquarters as the Moledet faction of the National Union party pondered it’s position.
Nothing material happened that night although Ze’evi knew of and acknowledged our presence. However, two weeks later, Ze’evi and Rabbi Benny Elon tendered their ministerial resignations to Sharon as the National Union party prepared to leave the governing coalition. Such tendered resignations take 48 hours to become effective. Rehavam Ze’evi was cold-bloodedly murdered in a Jerusalem Hotel by Arab assassins within that two day period. The National Union party never did leave the government at that point; perhaps Elon was concerned for his own life.
As for Ruth and Nadia Matar, they both have been at the very forefront of the battle time and time and time again. I don’t know if there is any woman in Israel who has been grabbed, clubbed, beaten or thrown to the ground by police or Yassamnikim more than Nadia Matar. She was in Gush Katif, in Amona and in countless other places of confrontation with the succession of evil regimes.
Dr. Steve, Dan, do you even know who you’ve directed your responses to? Further, back to the perception of safety from thousands of miles away. I need not recite history of dehumanization of the Jews of Europe of the late 1930s and 1940s.
The three ladies who Dr. Steve and Dan have managed to disrespect have together racked up lifetimes of fighting for the Jewish people. Can either of you boast similar accomplishments?
Fellas, we’re ALL in this together. What happens here WILL have a direct impact on your way of living, even thousands of miles away, EVEN in the US since most American Jews are not yet of a frame of mind conducive to Aliya and to fighting on the frontlines.
ALL of us who really care need do our share in unity. MB