As Israel Turns 70 Who Will Defend Her?

Wednesday night into Thursday, Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora (the land outside of Israel) who support Israel, celebrated the miracle of Israel and its 70th birthday. Seventy years ago, and six months after the UN voted for partition of the British Mandate, David Ben-Gurion announced the establishment of the State of Israel in Eretz-Israel (the land of Israel). Ben Gurion: "We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel."

At the time, Jews in the Diaspora did rally round the new Jewish state. As Howard Sachar wrote: "...by the end of the war (WWII), the revelations of the death camps and the plight of the Jewish displaced persons effectively transformed Zionism into the single most urgent force within the American-Jewish community." (Quote from "A History of the Jews in the Modern World.") As an aside, the Jews of Palestine fought alongside the Allies in WWII, whereas the Arabs of Palestine, under the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, sided with Hitler and the Axis Powers. Today, we have any number of Left-wing Jewish anti-Israel groups, such as J Street, The New Israel Fund, and IfNotNow. These groups, along with individual Left-wing Jews, opposed President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his commitment to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. For these Jews, every other country can declare their capital city, but not Israel.

In speaking with one of those Left-wing Jews who opposed the recognition of Jerusalem, I was told that it would result in hundreds being killed. Why, I do not know. Actually, slowly but surely other countries are deciding to also move their embassies to Jerusalem. Even worse, I was informed by that same individual that, as the United States has nuclear weapons, and as France and the U.K. also have nuclear weapons, why shouldn't Iran also be allowed to have nuclear weapons. There is no possible reply that would get through to someone with that mindset. Clearly, Iran being a leading state sponsor of terror was not an issue for this individual. Iran repeatedly threatening to wipe Israel, the sole Jewish country in the world, off the map, did not resonate with this Jewish, Left-wing individual. So, I doubt it would make any difference to this individual that in February, Israel shot down an armed Iranian drone over Israeli territory, the drone having been launched from an Iranian base in Syria. Such an attempted attack is, of course, an act of war. Said a former head of the Mossad: "We are on a collision course with the Iranians..."

The mainstream media, such as the New York Times, is not supportive of the Jewish state. In their 4/12/18 editorial, "A Violent Response to Nonviolent Protests," the paper was highly critical of Israel for using, at times, deadly force to defend its border with Gaza. The Times: "...in general, the protests have been peaceful." In that case, "in general" the response by the Israeli Defense Forces has also been peaceful. Of course, the burning of hundreds of tires in order to create a smokescreen that would allow the Arabs to tear down the border fence and sneak into Israel would not warrant any mention. The Times tells us that since these Friday protests began at the border, "Israeli forces have killed at least 29 Palestinians and wounded more than 1000." It's always a numbers game for the Times, which seems disappointed that not enough Jews have been killed, as the Times told us: "There have been no known Israeli casualties."

The editorial also tells us that the Arab protesters are only "demanding to return to lands their families lost in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's founding." What actually accompanied Israel's founding was an attempt by five surrounding Arab countries to destroy Israel after Ben-Gurion issued Israel's declaration of independence. The Arab world announced before the UN partition vote their complete opposition to the establishment of a Jewish state. Notwithstanding Arab hostility, Ben-Gurion said this in the declaration of independence: "We appeal - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions." As the Times well knows, these Arabs are not seeking a return of the relatively small number of still surviving dispossessed Arabs from 1948, but millions of their descendants. That would effectively end Israel as the sole Jewish state, and create the 23rd Arab state.

As a reminder, Palestine, never a country, was the Jewish homeland. The Arabs of Palestine continue to refer to the establishment of the State of Israel as the "Nakba," or catastrophe. With that in mind, the New York Times was only too happy to print an Op-Ed by Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List, the leading Arab political party in Israel. Mr. Odeh is a member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. His Op-Ed focuses on what happened to his family and other Arabs during Israel's war for independence. All the blame, of course, lies with Israel, as Mr. Odeh ignores the historical facts surrounding Israel having to fight a war for independence. He ignores that there were three different causes for Arabs being displaced from their homes: the surrounding Arab countries told them to get out and that they would be able to return after Israel was destroyed, some left of their own accord in order to not be caught up in the war, and yes, some were displaced by the Jews. And, he gives little attention to the fact that he, and other Arabs, serve in the Israeli legislature.

Seventy years ago, the European Jews displaced by WWII and the Holocaust resettled in other countries, including in Israel. Seventy years ago, the hundreds of thousands of Jews displaced from their historical homes in the surrounding Arab countries resettled elsewhere, including in Israel. But for seventy years the Arabs of Palestine have been used as props by the Arab world, in part to distract from their own internal problems. Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, uses their own people as props, telling them that they will get all the land of Israel. So, instead of building their own modern society, Hamas uses tens of millions of dollars to build rockets to send into Israel, and uses building materials to build underground tunnels so they can sneak into Israel and kill Jews. Just recently, Israel located and destroyed what may have been the longest of such tunnels.

Seventy years ago, no one would have predicted that Israel would survive its war for independence against the much larger Arab armies. It was a true miracle, as the new country of Israel was not defeated. Seventy years later, the Israelis have created a modern society, with a dynamic economy. They are leaders in science, medicine and technology. Is Israel a perfect society? Perfection does not occur in this world. The aforementioned individual with whom I was speaking expressed that Israel would be overrun demographically by the Arab population, advising me that Jews constituted only 65% of the population of Israel. I corrected him by stating that Jews were at least 75% of the population. Then, I am sure that I caused him to be completely dumbfounded by my further comment regarding the demographics. If it actually came down to Israel being a majority Jewish country versus a true democracy, I said that I come down on the side of Israel remaining a Jewish country. Who will defend Israel? I will. Am Yisrael Chai! The nation of Israel lives! The Jewish people live!