Local writer scores U.N. - The Jewish Standard

Shortly after the United Nations declared Zionism to be racist, Englewood resident Alex Grobman — then studying at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University — attended a seminar with school principals from all over Israel Not one of them was sure how to answer the accusation or explain it to their students, Grobman recalled.

"That’s when it became clear to me that the Israelis hadn’t begun to understand [how to respond]," Grobman said. And "not only didn’t they understand how to respond, but they didn’t respond for a number of years."

In November, Grobman, president of the Institute for Contemporary Jewish Life, unveiled "Nations United: How the United Nations Undermines Israel and the West," which, he said, is "a response to a myth I felt had to be debunked."

Starting with the roots of Soviet anti-Zionism and moving forward to the passage of UN Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism, the book also explores Israel’s relationships with the UN and the Arab world since, up to, and including the second intifada.

Grobman, who began his research in ‘001, said this book differs from other myth-busting books — like Mitchell G. Bard’s "Myths & Facts of the Middle East" — because of its depth in tracing the evolution of a specific myth.

"In this book, there are a lot of people who have talked about Zionism equaling racism. I look at who is responsible [and] why [it passed], and it turns out it was a compromise, because what [certain UN members] really wanted to do was throw Israel out of the UN," Grobman explained.

"Not only do I deal with the resolution, but I show how the UN has consistently created a problem for Israel and become a forum where condemnation of Israel is an almost daily occurrence," he said. "These attacks are a direct assault on what Israel stands for: an open and democratic society where there is individual freedom. This is an attack against the West, to destroy the American way of life."
Airline hijackings, Grobman noted, were first used against Israel but have become a widespread tool of international terrorism. Anti-Semitism is a tool used by those who want to destroy democracy, he said. "The Jews are the first to be attacked because they are the first line of defense. These warnings are dismissed or ignored by the world."

While Grobman has gone into great detail to back up his positions in the book, it is not meant for those who agree with the proposition that Zionism equals racism.

"You will never be able to change the minds of people who hate Israel, who hate democracy," Grobman said. "Just like you cannot change someone who is a denier of the Holocaust. They have their own agenda, they have their own justifications for what they believe."

Rather, Grobman said, he wants his book to be available to people who have not made up their minds and still have questions. Every member of Congress and of the United Nations should have a copy of this book, he said, so they can "see that allowing the UN to have this forum for incessant condemnation of Israel is really not in the interest of the West."

"Nations United" was published by Balfour Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, in November and is available at Teaneck’s Judaica House. New Leaf Publishing is an Evangelical Christian publishing house and its subsidiary, Balfour Books, deals specifically with the subject of Israel. The book will have a wide release in bookstores in January.

Local

comments