Standing by Israel to push us over a cliff

By GUEST BLOGS
By Yisrael Rosenberg
US Secretary of State John Kerry says he’s on a mission. He claims to seek a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict that has plagued the Middle East for at least the past century. Last week, he stated:
“I can promise you that America will stand by the side of Israel every step of the way.”
Judging from the way that Mr. Kerry is twisting Israel’s arm practically out of its socket - he is indeed standing by Israel’s side ... so that America can shove Israel over a cliff.
Mr. Kerry is the chief evangelist of the not-so-new idea that Israel should - no, MUST - make gestures, ‘confidence-building measures’ to Mr. Abbas and the Arabs. Never mind that for the past century, the Arabs have been claiming that ALL of the Land of Israel is theirs, and must be emptied of the hated Jews.
In an interview on Thursday, November 7, 2013, Mr. Kerry warned that if Israel fails to reach a peace agreement, it faces a third ‘intifada’ (violent Arab attack campaign) and international isolation. Kerry’s prophecies of doom are not divorced from reality; that he is one step away from inciting for violence against an Israel that doesn’t do what he tells her to do. In addition, Mr. Kerry leveled sharp criticism at Israel and her people for continuing to build in areas that he thinks will become part of a Palestinian State.
The time has come to make some points clear to Mr. Kerry. Israel is currently building homes, schools and other public infrastructure in the towns of Elon Moreh, Neveh Daniel, Kedumim, Carmel, and throughout Jerusalem. It has been building in these areas since they were liberated in a series of miraculous wars that Israel was forced to fight in order to defend itself from annihilation at the hands of its neighboring states.
Israel will continue build in these areas, for one simple reason: because they are the heart of the Land of Israel, the Land of the Jewish People now and forever. Mr. Kerry and those who think like him must understand that we have not come back to our land after a 2,000-year exile just to give in to threats to take that land away from us, no matter who is delivering those threats.
Israel, unlike the Arab criminals who rule with an iron fist in Ramallah and Gaza City, has no problems with other peoples living in our land. The Jewish State is willing to discuss peace arrangements with any genuinely interested parties. But we will not accept sovereignty of any foreign nation on the soil that was given to us by God more than 3,000 years ago as the one place in the world where we are enjoined to dwell.
Mr. Kerry and those who think like him may complain: ‘but the Israeli leadership has expressed a willingness to create a Palestinian state!” That may be true, but those Jews who claim to support such a policy are in actuality stating ideas that are far removed from the true will of the people of this land. And as the true cost of such an idea - the creation of a terrorist state in the very heart of our own national inheritance - seeps into the national consciousness, expect that the Israeli nation, no matter how hard they are pushed, will never fall for such a trap.
Unfortunately, as a result of Kerry’s recent and relentless pressure, Israel has indeed knuckled under, implementing policies so harmful to national security, spirit and prestige that no other self-respecting country would even consider such a move. Kerry managed to force Israel to free 104 despicable Arab terrorists some of whom were serving extended sentences for murdering unarmed Israelis in cold blood. Fifty-two were released so far, 26 in recent weeks. The murderers dispatched their almost exclusively Jewish victims with knives, axes, and gunshots to the head, and in some cases with their bare, bloodied hands. Upon their arrival in Ramallah, Mr. Abbas’s hometown - these bloodthirsty killers were handed large stipends and a hero’s welcome, and elevated to celebrity status.
And what of the ‘gesture’? Did that soften Abbas’ position vis-a-vis the Jews of Israel? Or, according to most basic axioms of Middle Eastern diplomacy, did this act of pure cowardice on the part of the Israeli people generate even more contempt for the Jewish nation in its native land?
Here are Abbas’ words at the official celebration welcoming the murderers to Ramallah:
“No one expected that Israel, which hands down life sentences and decided that they [the prisoners] would go from prison to the grave, [would release them]... We say to Israel: Die in your rage. Go to your cemeteries and recite over your dead whatever you recite!” (Palestinian Media Watch, November 5, 2013)
Ladies and Gentlemen, anyone with any basic sense of reason still left in their heads: What is going on here? Whom is Mr. Kerry kidding? Does he really expect that the Jewish nation can make peace with these primitive, violence-worshipping fans of the murderers in Ramallah? Does Arab policy leave room for friendly, neighborly coexistence with the Jews of the Land of Israel? Look what Mr. Abbas says:
“All Palestinian land is occupied - Gaza is occupied, the West Bank is occupied, the 1948 lands (i.e., Israel) are occupied and Jerusalem is occupied.” (Palestinian Media Watch, November 5, 2013)
There is no room for Jews in Mr. Abbas’ vision of a post-agreement Land of Israel.
Westerners like Kerry seem impervious to the reality of the Middle East. This is not a gentlemen’s argument between the civil people of Massachusetts, New England. This is a struggle between a people, the Jewish People, in its native, God-given land - and a group of impostors who are trying to rob it from us at gunpoint.
The ‘Palestinian People’ is a make-believe nation, a rag-tag mob of immigrants from surrounding lands such as Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. In the late 19th century, when the Jews were busy turning an abandoned desert wasteland into a Garden of Eden, the Arabs saw an opportunity for economic gain and began pouring into the Land of Israel.
The true raison d’être of the ‘Palestinians’ (their very name means ‘invaders’) is to push the formerly-exiled Jewish People into a new consciousness, which will bring them to rise up on their feet and redeem the land that God gave them as an eternal inheritance. The Arabs’ impudence is matched only by their brutality. They arrived in our land to escape starvation, and instead of thankfulness, they murder us every chance they can get.
No, Mr. Kerry. Anyone who is still alive and kicking, eschews psychotropic drugs, and was not bought off some time ago can see that you are pursuing a fantasy. You cannot really expect that it is in Israel’s interest to negotiate with people who so powerfully lust after our annihilation. Listen to what the Arabs themselves are saying for all to hear. The solution of the Arabs of Ramallah, and their brethren in Gaza City, is straightforward: make the Land of Israel completely clean of the Jewish People.
"In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands," Abbas said in a briefing to mostly Egyptian journalists. (Jerusalem Post, July 30, 2013).
So how has a Brahmin Senator from Massachusetts, someone who should know better, come to behave so illogically? After all, America and its leadership claim to support Israel’s interests - ‘watching out for Israel’s security’, as they mouth over and over like some Hindu mantra. (I’m not interested in anyone’s claim to support Israel’s SECURITY, Mr. Kerry - I want dealings with those who support Israel, period.)
The answer is simple. When national leaders fail in their responsibility for protecting the interests of their own people, they often turn to bait-and-switch tactics. It pays domestically to take out your frustration on a loyal ally who, with enough pressure, will keep its mouth shut and do what it’s told, right?
It is obvious that Mr. Obama and his loyal servant John Kerry are leading the United States into a deep pit, one the country has not seen in its 237 years of democratic independence. America’s prestige has suffered in the eyes of the world as a result of America’s demonstrated lack of resolve in dealing with bullies like Syria and Iran. True, the downward spiral may have begun at 9/11. But under the Obama administration’s shepherding, America’s fall from power is fast becoming a nosedive.
The world does not tolerate an international leader nation that openly and repeatedly displays weakness in the face of adversity. America’s recent unwillingness, or inability, to stand up for the principles of freedom and democracy that made her famous is interpreted throughout the world - and particularly in the capitals of the Islamic dictatorships here in the Middle East - as weakness to be exploited.
Turns out that Mr. Kerry, in his completely asinine demand that Israel surrender to the threats of the barbaric group who rule with an iron fist in Ramallah - is merely kicking the can down an uncharted road in the hopes that the American people will not catch on.
Mr. Kerry claims to be a man of faith. It is therefore relevant to know with certainty what the Bible (and, unbeknownst to many, the Holy Quran itself) says about the Jewish People and its relationship to the Land of Israel. Long ago, God promised the Children of Israel that He would exile us if we did not heed His laws. Eventually, we indeed messed up, and God was good to His word.
But at the same time that God promised to exile us, He also promised that He would return us one day to our patrimony, the land He gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob our forefathers and their descendants for all time. And in modern times, despite the opposition of the world - particularly from the descendants of Ishmael - God is keeping His promise.
We are in the post-Holocaust era, the time when the Jewish nation is now experiencing a resurrected national life in the Land of Israel, the very land that the Creator Himself promised to the People of Israel as an eternal inheritance. Let it be clear: messing with the Jewish nation at this point in history, in contrast with the period of our long and painful exile, is sure to bring sharp consequences for friend and enemy alike. For, as God established - those who bless us will be blessed, and those who curse us - will be cursed.
Yisrael Rosenberg is a Boston-born marketing and technical writer who lives in Jerusalem and is the author of the Hebrew-language book “Rak Besorot Tovot” (‘Only Good News’).