Thoughts on Israel - March 2011

I recently read an article by a former teacher of mine at Hebrew University, Professor Meron Medzini. The article is entitled “Israel’s Evolving Security Concept.” Medzini, who worked for Golda Meir and has written a biography of her tenure as PM, writes:

“In 1974, a year after the Yom Kippur War, Israel gave Washington a list of requests for weapons to replace equipment lost or damaged in that war. It contained thousands of items, including airplanes, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. In response, the United States dispatched a senior Pentagon official to Israel. He met in Jerusalem with then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres.

The official asked why the Israeli list was so extensive, whether Israel had the means to maintain all of this equipment (including the necessary pilots and tank crews), and whether the entire country would become one huge maintenance base. Rabin became angry and retorted, “Look, this is what we think we need. If something goes wrong we pay the price and not you.” This factor has been accepted by U.S. as well as Israeli policymakers regarding arms sales.”

I think that the quite illustrates why I am so afraid of organizations such JStreet which seek a prescriptive approach to the Middle East peace process. At its recent conference, JStreet sought to lobby the administration to come up with its own bridging proposals, even though many in the administration fully understand that at the present time, such proposals would not work and would only have the effect of isolating Israel internationally. It is also interesting to note that JStreet seems to have lost support with center left Israeli politicians as well as many of its supporters in Congress such as Gary Ackerman. JStreet lost Ackerman due to its support of a UN Resolutions condemning Israel.

Rabbi David Saperstein warned JStreet that its tendency to appease the far left would make it a non player among American Jews. He cited the UN resolution as an example. In my opinion, he did not go far enough. There are many other instances of where JStreet has taken dangerous positions inimical to the security of the Israel, not the least of which was its allowing those who favor BDS, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions, a forum at its conference. In my opinion, this would be tantamount to a Federation General Assembly allowing a presentation by Jews for Jesus at a GA.

Now back to Medzini – Certainly, Rabin was a warrior for Israel’s security and Israel’s peace. He was in each case an “Israeli.” His statement “If something goes wrong we pay the price and not you,” needs to be well considered by those of us sitting in safety and security in the United States while the fathers and sons of fellow Jews in Israel live under the threat if Hamas and Hezbollah rockets and Iranian nuclearization.

Finally, did anyone notice that Roger Walters, the front man of Pink Floyd, decided to join the artist boycott of Israel. It is interesting to note however that Walters has nothing to say about the callous murder of the five members of the Fogel family a week and a half ago. My friend Ron Kehrman wrote an article on this which appeared in the Huffington Post. You may find the article at

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-kehrmann/an-open-letter-to-pink-fl_b_837750.html

It is really worth reading. Ron’s daughter Tal was murdered in 1983 in a bus bombing on the Carmel. She was 17 at the time of her murder.

Fred Guttman