by Clifford D. May
Israel is "not only the canary in the coal mine, it is also a crucial part of the mine." If Americans will not defend Israel, they will "prove unable to defend anything else. The Israel test is finally our own test of survival as a free nation."
Dear Ann,
During the Republican
Party debate, hundreds of thousands of people read your tweets
lambasting four of the candidates -- Gov. Chris Christie, former Gov.
Mike Huckabee, and Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz -- for expressing
their strong support for Israel. Based not just on what you said but
also on how you said it ("How many f---ing Jews do these people think
there are in the United States?"), quite a few of those readers have now
concluded that you're anti-Semitic.
Let me sum up, in one
paragraph, what I think I know about anti-Semitism: It's as old as the
Judean hills. It morphs but never dies. It's a derangement syndrome. It
can afflict those on either side of the political spectrum. Those
afflicted cannot be reasoned out of it because they weren't reasoned
into it.
Look, I'm not jumping
to the conclusion that any of this applies to you. I get that you're as
much an entertainer as a pundit and that being provocative is part of
your shtick. That said, would you ever tweet about "f---ing blacks" or
"f---ing Hispanics"?
OK, let's put all that
aside and focus on what you now say you intended: to charge that the
candidates were declaring their unshakable support for Israel only to
pander to American Jews. Will you bear with me while I raise a few
points that challenge conclusion?
"No better friend, no
worse enemy" -- that ancient motto, I would argue, describes how the
world should regard the United States. But President Barack Obama has
spent years attempting to conciliate America's enemies while
demonstrating disdain for America’s allies. Remember the bust of Winston
Churchill he removed from the White House? Remember the missile shield
for Poland and the Czech Republic he canceled? The Kurds have been
asking for weapons as good as those being used by their enemies (who
also are our enemies), but Obama has refused.
And, most recently and
significantly, he concluded a deal that will facilitate the flow of
billions of dollars and sophisticated arms to the Islamic Republic of
Iran, a terrorist-sponsoring regime dedicated to a global revolution
against American power, a regime responsible for killing and maiming
thousands of Americans over the past 36 years, a regime that controls
four Arab capitals and has vowed to annihilate Israel. Obama claims his
deal will block Iran's path to nuclear weapons. He seems to believe it
will inspire a more moderate mood in Tehran. Polls show most Americans
are unconvinced, as is a majority in both houses of Congress.
Perhaps you figure
Iran's rulers want nukes only to use against Israel and, unfortunate as
that would be, it's an Israeli problem, not an American problem. What,
then, do you make of their efforts to build ICBMs? They don't need ICBMs
to mass-murder Israelis. They need ICBMs to deliver nukes to targets on
other continents. Like the one you and I live on.
Those who call
themselves "jihadis" -- Shia and Sunni alike -- are right about one
thing: Israel is the Middle East's lone outpost of Judeo-Christian
values. Israelis believe in democracy, freedom, pluralism, tolerance,
human rights and minority rights. About 17% of Israel’s citizens are
Muslims. They enjoy rights not available to Muslims in any
Muslim-majority lands.
And at a time when
ancient Christian communities are being slaughtered in -- and eradicated
from -- many of those Muslim lands, Christians in the Jewish state are
safe and free. Their numbers are growing. Their holy places are
protected. This would not be the case were the jihadis to drive Israel's
"f---ing Jews" into the sea. You get that, don't you?
When jihadis vow to
defeat "Crusaders and Zionists," it is Christians and Jews they are
talking about. They refer to America as the "Great Satan" and Israel as
the "Little Satan." Their struggle is both ideological and kinetic, and
it is the most significant of this century. Israelis are on the front
lines. Front-line troops deserve support, don't you think?
Years ago,
then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig put it slightly differently. He
called Israel "the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that
cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located
in a critical region for American national security." In partnership
with Americans, Israelis are doing cutting-edge work in such critical
areas as missile defense, cyber warfare, port and airport security and
intelligence.
Israelis have never
asked American soldiers to defend them. They would not want that. They
would, however, like Americans to support their right to defend
themselves. Most Americans do. I assume you do, too.
I'm running out of
space, so here's my last point for today: George Gilder, as I hope
you'll agree, is one of contemporary America's most brilliant
conservative minds (and, as you probably know, he doesn't happen to be
Jewish). A few years back he wrote a book called "The Israel Test." His
straightforward conclusion: Israel is "the most vulnerable source of
Western power and intelligence."
More to the point,
Israel is "not only the canary in the coal mine, it is also a crucial
part of the mine." If Americans will not defend Israel, they will "prove
unable to defend anything else. The Israel test is finally our own test
of survival as a free nation."
I think most of the
candidates on the stage last week understand how Gilder reached that
conclusion. You clearly don't, but you're smart enough to follow
Gilder's reasoning. Unless this is not about reason. Unless this is
about something else. In which case, no words or argumentation will
convince you.
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a columnist for the Washington Times.
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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