Obama's Example For Israel...

Obama’s Example For Israel…Change

by Gerald A. Honigman

Israel has a very important lesson to learn from Barack Obama…and it better do so quickly.

I checked out Obama’s official website, Obama For Change, and here’s what’s highlighted:

With the right leadership, and a change of attitude and focus, Barack Obama brings a new viewpoint to discover solutions to the problems at hand.

It’s about time...It’s about change.

Exactly.

Now, I’m a registered Independent voting for John McCain, but certainly my own country needs a good dose of proper change…in how we get energy, as just one example. McCain knows this as well.

Certainly, if this idea is important for America, it is even more so for Israel.

Jews and/or Israel have been undergoing change imposed from the outside for centuries.

In the 19th century, the Reform movement emerged among Jews who--among other things--were determined that the days of the imposed ghetto, degradation, and such (from which Napoleon had freed them) should never return.

Assimilation was the name of the game--to the point of recommendations to change the Sabbath to Sunday. The idea was to rid themselves of their identities as Jews. Henceforth, they would just be Frenchmen, Russians, Poles, Germans, etc. of the (much diluted) Jewish faith…not German or French Jews.

Sounded reasonable--if not a bit pathetically nauseating--no?

Too bad the Germans, Poles, French, and so forth didn’t see things this way.

Modern political Zionism, leading to the resurrection of the state of the Jews, arose because--in perhaps the most enlightened of nations in the 19th century--France--the most vile anti-Semitism proved to be alive and well, targeting even the most assimilated of Jews--whom Alfred Dreyfus, of the infamous Dreyfus Affair, symbolized. And it flourished amongst the intelligentsia as well as the rabble.

Another assimilated Jew, Theodore Herzl, was a reporter from Austria covering Captain Dreyfus’s railroaded trial. Shocked to the core at seeing mobs shouting such things as “death to the Jews,” he later wrote, Der Judenstaat--The Jewish State.

So much for that change…

It was as if G_d was saying, “ Israel will be reborn--whether you Jews like it or not!”

In the Jews’ quest for normalcy, they bent over backwards in the pursuit of modern political Zionism to create a state like all others…somewhat reminiscent of the Reform movement’s motivations, but on a national scale.

Now, don’t get me wrong, not all saw things this way. Religious Zionists saw G_d’s hand in all of this…the Hebraic prophecies unfolding as planned. I agree. And they too had many supporters.

But most of the Zionist leaders who came to rule both pre-state and post-‘48 Israel also deluded themselves into believing that the rest of the world would forget that Israel was the Jew of the Nations.

Well, since Auschwitz, it’s not proper--in at least some circles--to be “anti-Semitic.”

No problem…

Utilize absurd double and moral equivalence standards, and replace anti-Zionism for anti-Semitism, and the age-old animus now remains kosher.

All other peoples can demand national liberation except the one people who needed it the most…the condemned to wandering “G_d-killers” of the Christian West and the “slayers of Prophets and Jew Dogs” of the Arab/Muslim East.

Being the oldest, still existing victims of imperial conquest, the Jews were expected to simply remain that way.

Seeking to gain acceptance in an “Arab” world which sees them as sons of apes and pigs, too many Jews then continued to pursue this change even further in pursuit of a “post-Zionist” Israel.

Again, recall one of the key motivations of the Reform movement…What can we do to change ourselves so we’ll gain acceptance from the Gentiles?

Unfortunately, ignorance of one’s enemies has characterized too many of those who have called the political shots in Israel. The very idea that dhimmi Jews (or Kurds or Berbers or Copts or black Africans, etc.) should demand political rights in what Arabs consider to be purely Arab patrimony and the Dar ul-Islam is laughable to anyone truly familiar with this subject.

Add to post-Zionism a continued movement away from the idea of Israel as a Jewish State, and you have the mess Israel now finds itself in.

So, so much for those changes as well.

Therefore, guess what?

It’s time for Israel to try another type of change…a return to its proud roots.

It’s time for Israel to stop trying to alter itself to be accepted by others.

The values of Jews became the moral guidelines for much, if not most, of the modern world; and, despite its imperfections, Israel is still that light unto the nations the Bible asked it to be.

The national liberation of the Jewish people in the land in which they have thousands of years of continuous history--Zionism--ranks as noble as any of such movements can be. If Arabs can have almost two dozen states--conquered and forcibly Arabized from mostly non-Arab peoples--then why not one resurrected state for Jews?

No, Israel has nothing to cover up for…certainly nothing to revise its very being. If compared with the same set of lenses to the “Arab” world (rarely done), Israel should indeed be canonized. Indeed, as I write this article, black Muslim African refugees fleeing Arabs from Darfur are fleeing to Israel.

What’s needed now is change--but done the right way…

There are Jews in Israel who still have the sense of justice, passion, and compassion of Golda, Ben-Gurion, Jabotinsky, and Begin. Where are they?

Where are the leaders who will insist that Israel no longer trade live, captured, rabid butchers for the bones of dead Jews--regardless of how nice they make it sound? Where are the leaders who will institute a quick death penalty for such “heroes?” Better yet, why are they taken alive?

Where are Israeli leaders who will insist on “peace for peace” instead of “land for peace?” It’s obvious that the latter has not worked…it’s only brought closer to fruition the Arabs post-’67 “destruction in stages” plans for “their” kilab yahud--Jew dogs. Think Gaza…the same will happen after a total Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, aka, the “West Bank.” Not to mention the Golan. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ben-Gurion Airport, the Knesset, and so forth will receive what Sderot gets daily now.

Where is the change which will bring new Israeli leaders who will insist that Israel get a reasonable territorial compromise granting it real borders to replace former, UN-imposed, suicidal Auschwitz/armistice lines a la UNSC Resolution 242? America’s United Nations’ representative in ‘49, Ralph Bunche, openly stated that those lines were never meant to be Israel’s permanent borders.

The Arabs will never play ball, you say…

Of course they won’t. So what?

They don’t accept a 9-mile wide Israel either. Think about what other nations have done thousands of miles away from home in the name of their own national security and interests.

Israel must do what it must do to thrive--not just survive.

Demanding reasonable territorial compromise merely undoes the injustice created by the Arab invasion of a nascent Israel in 1948 and the mostly armistice lines--not borders--which emerged as a result. Those lines simply marked the points at which a half dozen invading Arab armies were turned back. As would become all-too-common later on, the UN only got involved after the Jews turned the tide and had the Arabs on the run…not before, to stop the Arabs’ initial aggression.

Where are the new Israeli leaders who will tell the State Department’s next James Baker or Condi Rice, when he or she insists on such things as Israel supplying its enemies with weapons (which were then used to massacre Jews in yeshivas, etc.), to go fly a kite?

Where’s the change which will bring to the fore proud Zionist Jews who will draw the lines beyond which no further retreat will be allowed--regardless of who is twisting the arms, turning the screws, and increasing the heat from across the sea?

If it means losing American aid, then so be it. My prediction is that such games will backfire big time on any White House which lowers itself this way.

Millions of fair-minded people will not expect the sole, resurrected Jewish State to sacrifice itself on the petroleum greased altar of international hypocrisy so that Arabs can get their 22nd state--and second, not first, in the original 1920 Mandate of Palestine. Jordan sits on almost 80% of that territory.

So, as a solid McCain supporter (despite some concerns ), I’m now hoping that Israelis will do some real soul searching and take a cue from the Obama camp.

Replacing Olmert with someone of similar ilk will accomplish nothing but a continuation of the sort of change we’ve explored earlier…the change that gave Israel its first military defeat, handed over a live Samir Kuntar, and so forth. The latter’s head needed to have been parachuted onto Hizbullah’s headquarters.

That Condi loves Tsipi Livni should send another disturbing signal as well.

Israel must get itself new leaders, at all levels, who will place the overall Zionist forest ahead of individual, parochial trees which hold fragile coalitions together. Olmert should have been dumped long ago.

The change that Israelis must insist upon may very well determine if the Jews’ long-awaited, reborn state will continue to even exist.

Hamas and Fatah’s Abbas refuse to recognize a Jewish Israel. Abbas’s “moderates” just sung praises to a returning butcher--Kuntar--who murdered a father while his 4-year old daughter watched and then beat her skull in with his rifle butt against a rock until she too was dead.

In short, the type of change that Israel must have will bring forth leaders who will know how to better address such things. And for those who care, it’s time to do all that’s legally and humanly possible to see to it that this happens sooner rather than later.

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John Hagee And CUFI—Friend Or Foe?

John Hagee and CUFI...Friend Or Foe?
by Gerald A. Honigman

There’s a debate going on among Jews these days about organizations like Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United For Israel.

Millennia of forced conversions, massacres, expulsions, autos-da-fes, dehumanization, demonization, and so forth--frequently done in the name of the Christian Prince Of Peace--have taken their toll. The road to Auschwitz itself was indeed paved with many ‘religious’ stones.

A good friend of mine and myself were recently discussing Christian support for Jews and Israel. Neither of us are naïve, and both of us are seasoned observers of the Jewish scene.

I remember, as a small child, having Christians knocking on my door telling me that my family was going to Hell…in Philadelphia, no less--with some 400,000 Jews in its environs. Imagine what it’s like out yonder ways.

As a doctoral student, I remember studying Christian theology as part of my interest in 1st century C.E. Judaism and the revolt against Rome. So I know the theological reasons for some Christians’ support of Israel as well as the fate of Jews after the 2nd Coming in that theology.

While doing those graduate studies, I also worked for years for an organization which monitored Christian proselytizing groups (among other things). So, when it comes to skeptics on this issue, I’m no greenhorn.

Having said this, I’m convinced that groups like Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United For Israel (CUFI) and Christian Action For Israel (CAFI) are among the best friends both Israel and Jews have right now…at a time when any of such friends are indeed a rarity.

CAFI has helped me spread such articles as Thinking Jerusalem around for years now http://christianactionforisrael.org/thinking.html And check out CUFI’s Nights To Honor Israel and tell me you see something other than good here… http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=events_honor_israel

Few things are ever clear cut or risk free, and many Christians still embrace replacement theology.

But, here in the States, tens of millions of these folks have more clout than a relative handful of Jews--over half of whom don’t really care about Israel anyway. I deal with the latter too. They’re funding Obama, crying about the poor ‘Palestinians’ Israel allegedly abuses, asking Israel to make suicidal concessions, etc. and so forth. I worry about such tribal members more than Evangelicals right now--especially since there are plenty of similar Hebrew morons in Israel too.

I’ve worked with local pastors involved in John Hagee-type activities (’Peace For Israel’ celebrations, interfaith pilgrimages to Israel, and so forth) for years now. I’ve seen tears in their eyes as they and their flocks embraced Jews and asked them for forgiveness for past Christian sins towards the Jewish People. Thousands of folks--mostly Christians--attended these local events. Not a Jewish dime was involved--all Christian sponsored, raising huge amounts of $$$ for Israel at same time.

But, again, as I stated, I’m not naive. I understand Christian theology quite well.

They believe what they believe, we believe what we believe.

But, as long as they’re not forcing it up our derrieres (as was done far too often in the past) and focusing on what they’re focusing on instead, I don’t know what else one can ask for.

These particular folks are not actively proselytizing us...indeed, I have openly discussed this with them. And they have rejected replacement theology and frequently speak of this rejection.

Do some other Christian groups engage so--including some associated with CUFI?

I’m sure…

But, again, that’s more our problem than theirs.

Would they like us all to be good Christians. Probably...And we’d like them all to see where they strayed as well.

So what?

On this particular issue, the real question is, what are Jews doing wrong if the beauty and messages of our Hebraic Prophets, Psalms, and Torah are being ignored or simply bypassed by our own people?

Sorry, but if you want someone to blame, then start with our own religious leaders.

If our Bible teaches “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” “What does the Lord require of thee but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy G_d;” “Offer Me not vain sacrifices if ye do not justice for the widow and the orphan;” etc. and so forth, and our kids still think they have to go elsewhere to find a G_d of love, then--again--whose fault is it? Not CUFI’s…that’s for sure.

If one has never seen thousands of Christians at a rally for Israel, lobbying Congress, the President, etc., then please try to imagine this. I have…Such support is critical here in the States--and thus for Israel too. We have too many Hebrews like James Baker’s “Jew Boy,” Dan Kurtzer (now Obama’s Middle East point man), in the Government instead who, to get ahead, accept the oil-tainted State Department’s view that to be pro-America one has to be hostile to Israel.

I’ll take my chances with John Hagee any day over such fellow tribal members.

CUFI, CAFI, et al are fighting for a better here and now for Israel--something such above Jew landsmen don’t think twice about undermining. Are they concerned about the Hereafter too.? Sure! But the deal is that they don’t get the latter without the former...

So, along with my Christian friends (and not all Christians are our friends), I’ll worry about the World To Come after this one is made safer for Israel and Jews in the here and now.

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