Friends in Peril

I have so many friends whose children, adults now, have moved to Israel. Studies show that Israeli citizens are among the most satisfied with their lives, despite the occasional hardships and increasingly frequent spates of violence from angry Palestinians, from individual terrorist acts to shelling missiles from a very decimated and hopeless Gaza. It has to be unnerving living in a country surrounded by hostile neighbors, especially when the standard of living and quality of life for Jewish citizens mirrors life in most economically advanced western democracies… and the Palestinians within Israel’s borders as well those in adjacent states living in an impoverished third world. I fear for them and the millions of other Israeli Jews surrounded by danger every day.

Israel, one of America’s most steadfast and reliable allies, is rationally concerned with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction into the region, particularly those with nuclear force. To some historians, it’s just a matter of time before some catastrophic attack ignites Israel and surrounding nations in Armageddon, which is the dream of so many evangelicals who believe that that holocaust will trigger the Second Coming of Christ, and the Rapture that will only spare true Christian believers. It just might kill millions without any offsetting religious relief, however. To Donald Trump, his severe support of hardline policies is his evangelical mandate.

Israel remains an amalgamation of Jews from all over the world, many bringing expertise and education to a nation of technological excellence, where astounding inventions and patents are the rule. One has to ask the question of whether political policy should embrace hardline military and ethnic superiority that defines the current government of Israel, one that increasingly tells local Palestinians that they are living a life of dwindling hope and opportunities as second and third class “citizens.” Is growing the population of Arab locals with nothing left to lose truly in Israel’s best interest? Is rubbing the Arab world’s face in that degradation making Israel stronger… or increasingly vulnerable.

Knowing that Israel’s popularity with the rest of the world, based on the litany of United Nations General Assembly votes against them, places them as one of the most despised countries in the world – with pretty much the United States (itself losing power and influence by the day) as its only significant ally – one has to wonder if this growing isolation protects Israeli Jews… or puts them more at risk. When people have nothing left to lose, do they cower in abased submission and accept their fate… or do they explode with murder and retribution on their minds? Are long-term Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and his “whatever you want Bibi” American mega-supporter Trump – and their hardline policies – really good for Israel or could they go down in history as the fomenters of anger, retribution and the rise of conflict that just could destroy this precious if not precarious state?

I see too many who consider questioning Israeli policies as evidence of antisemitism. Conflating support of Judaism with support of Israel “right or wrong” suggests that pro-Israeli Zionism is necessary to avoid that antisemitic label. Very much like stating that opposing Donald Trump, as the President would have you believe, is both unpatriotic and un-American. But just as there is opposition among Israeli Jews to their government’s hardline policies – believing that violence and intolerance breeds resistance and more violence, a cycle that seems to be escalating – there are many local American Jews who are watching what appear to be pro-Israeli policies that are only making the longer term prospects for Israeli security more vulnerable. I agree. I believe that history will show that the Trump-Netanyahu cable was toxic to regional peace and security.

The United States has engaged in gratuitous, one-sided gifts to Israel’s “under indictment” Prime Minister, who is struggling for his political life. Our policies are most definitely an administration attempt to influence Netanyahu’s chances of reelection, tying American support to his coattails. The latest foray – Jared Kushner’s 180 page, January 28^th “Deal of the Century” blueprint for settlement of the Palestinian conflict as detailed in my recent Peace without Freedom or Dignity blog – has been rejected by local Palestinians and lambasted by regional Arab leaders. Everyone (even Trump and Netanyahu) knows the plan is, was and always will be dead on arrival. It was a political document, obviously created by a post-impeachment president to cater to his evangelical base, an electioneering effort… not a serious attempt to diffuse escalating regional tensions.

Do those Israelis most impacted by this conflict – those living in Jewish settlement on the Palestinian West Bank – believe that this Netanyahu/Trump cabal reflected in this proposal will truly bring peace? Noga Tarnopolsky, writing for the February 5^th Los Angeles Times lets us know that these locals are aware that this proposal will not be implemented in whole or in part… and that, effectively, nothing has really changed: “On these contested hills where rosemary and thistle grow, Tatzi Cahn does not expect President Trump’s recent Middle East peace proposal to significantly change her life on land she and other Jewish settlers regard as a biblical birthright.

“Unlike Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who view the plan they unveiled last week as a windfall for Israel’s West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, she does not believe it will significantly affect her life. But it does offer her legitimacy.

“‘The best thing was Trump declaring that basically, he recognizes the history of the rights of the Jewish people over the land of Israel,’ said Cahn, a mother of nine. ‘Yes, we have a strong army,’ she added, glancing toward the rocky landscape, ‘but when you think about it, it is a miracle that we are here ... the few against the many.’… The political extension of Trump’s recognition, giving Israel permission to annex the West Bank or parts of it, has outraged Palestinians, who make up nearly 87% of the territory’s population of 3 million.

“Although the plan — presented as ‘a vision to improve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli people’ — foresees a four year-settlement freeze on a few communities, it is widely seen as Trump’s stamp of approval for Israeli expansionism. That prospect, according to Palestinian leaders, the Arab League and the European Union, destroys any hope of a two-state solution.

“The views of Cahn, 43, reflected the sentiment of many settlers who fear that international attention focusing on the plight of West Bank Palestinians, who have lived under Israeli military rule for 52 years, will result in Jews being pushed from their homes. The Trump plan calls for no Israeli or Palestinian to be uprooted.

“Although Cahn said crucial details, such as possible settlement evacuations and the Palestinian right to self-determination, ‘remain too complex,’ Trump’s recognition of Jewish links to this ancient land are a vindication.” Want to know how local Palestinians feel? Listen to rhetoric of their rejection, the tone… and see the seething anger in their eyes. They are very close to becoming a mass of human beings in that most dangerous of categories: those who believe that they have nothing left to lose. With support from regional Arab neighbors, that that cannot be good for Israel’s security and future.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and perhaps finding a path to hope with dignity would be better for Israel’s long-term security than rubbing Palestinian faces in the mire of their powerlessness.