Flawed choices

Surrounded by dreadful enemies whose self-stated raison d’etat is the eradication of the small Jewish nation, Israel does everything it can to survive.

By CHERYL Z. ROSENBERG
At the Ironi Heh High School, the English teachers who taught the election project flank some of the visuals (photo credit: Courtesy)
At the Ironi Heh High School, the English teachers who taught the election project flank some of the visuals
(photo credit: Courtesy)
For most Americans, Judeo-Christian principles are philosophical values and moral beliefs held as ideal, the epitome of virtuous beliefs and behavior. Voters who find it difficult, at best, to cast a vote for either major political party’s nominee may be tempted to select an alternative option. They may vote for a third party candidate, even though such a choice cannot produce a winner.
Or they may relinquish their civic responsibility and forgo voting altogether, an equally unproductive choice which grants to others the power to elect an American president.
Surely those who abstain from voting may be sending a message that each party’s nominee is too flawed to champion.
However, if the number of those who abstain is great, then the results of the election may not accurately reflect the will or interests of the majority. The election might be determined by those who recognize there are imperfect choices, but are willing to vote anyway based upon other considerations. For Americans in Israel, one such consideration is who can best uphold America as a bastion of democracy and a reliable defender of Israel.
The American Left unfortunately thinks Israel is neither.
Though well-intentioned, American liberals appear unable to be convinced of a reality that is over 4,000 years old. There has been a Jewish presence in Israel for almost all this time. While the Left professes to seek the truth, acknowledge historical data and recognize facts on the ground, it is adamant that Israel is an irrevocably flawed, illegal occupier.
But what of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 San Remo Peace Conference and the 1922 Mandate for Palestine, ratified by the League of Nations and incorporated in 1945 into the UN Charter in Article 80, all of which conferred upon the Jews a national homeland in Palestine?
How can the American Left with any intellectual honesty disregard UN Resolution 242, the 1949 4th Geneva Convention, the 1993 Oslo Accord, the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty and the 1995 Israel-Palestinian Authority Interim Agreement? Secure borders, the transfer of minority populations, borders, settlements and “occupation” are all addressed in these legal, internationally recognized documents. In an attempt to assist the Arabs, whom they view as victims, the American Left has diligently worked to revise the narrative of Israel’s true history.
Plus, American liberals, Jews included, are unable to acknowledge Israel’s thoughtful governance under protracted existential threat. They also ignore the Jewish state’s diverse population and political representation in the only democracy in the Middle East. Moral restraints practiced by the IDF are not even exercised by the United States.
Surrounded by dreadful enemies whose self-stated raison d’etat is the eradication of the small Jewish nation, Israel does everything it can to survive. What is more, the Left is willing to use Israel as a laboratory to prove its own vision of “Kumbaya,” a simplistic folk song in which divine assistance is requested in order to realize human rights and world peace.
We must elect a president – and a Congress – that are reliably pro-Israel. Every state in the US provides absentee ballots on the Internet up to and including on Election Day. In addition, there are 11 drop boxes in around Israel provided by “iVote Israel,” a project of Americans for Jerusalem, a non-profit organization which will return ballots to the United States postage-free. Both Beersheba and Efrat provide such voting and the rest are located in the center of the country. Be counted for Israel. Do what is right for Israel.