Says Israel’s not the problem

I am an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor, one deeply attached to my adopted country, the United States of America, which gave me and my family opportunities, freedom, and a new meaning of life.

On the other hand, I love the State of Israel. I love the people, the open society, the freedom of expression, and I am deeply concerned about the distorted image projected in the world about it nowadays.

I fully agree with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s April 9 column, “Obama and the deafening silence of American Jewry.” But I would like to go even further.

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Please do not accuse me of double loyalty. I am 100% loyal to the USA, and this loyalty prompts my concerns about the Obama administration approach to the Israeli-Palestinean conflict.

The whole policy started long before the Biden “accident.” Don’t try to push down my throat that the stupid chutzpadik anouncement of some Israeli bureaucrats about the “new” building policy in Jerusalem caused the changes in our stated policy.

Biden was smart enough to accept the apologies of Bibi (his personal friend) and go to dinner in his house.

This policy shift was in the works for years, and the Obama administration is just accelerating it by going far beyond any expectations and assurances given in tens of empty speeches.

Does anybody in his right mind believe that the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq is endangered by the Israel-Palestinian conflict? Does the administration think that the average American will believe that the GIs in Afghanistan are dying because of the “housing problem” in Jerusalem?

Does anybody with a sane mind believe that our “national interests” are jeopardized by Israel?

What are our interests in Afghanistan? To build a democratic country in lieu of a corrupt tribal society that resisted change for decades (if not centuries). Are we so naive? Or does Obama think that we are?

Do not try to push down our throats the idea that if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is solved, everything will be OK in the world.

The corrupt Arab societies (please forgive me for generalizing) are not interested in Western types of democracies – and these cannot be imposed anyway. These democracies are the result of centuries-long evolution, and cannot be emulated by persuasion, war, peace, or money.

Israel is a country of about 7 million Jews in the midst of about 700 million Arabs. It is an intolerable “cancer” in the mind of these people. They feel it has to be eliminated in one way or another. They tried several times already and no doubt will try again and again. Is this the desire of an American administration?